CURRENT NATHANIELISMS

• “Why?” “WHY, MOMMY?” "WHHHHYYYYY?”—Aaargh! "Because, because, because!"
• “Mommy you say, ‘Knock-knock’ and I say, ‘Who there?’”—when he goes into the bathroom to wash his hands.
• “Let’s wrestle on the bed, Dad!” But the way he says wrestle is SO cute…“Let’s wessel!”—this “guy-time activity” includes moves named “buckin’ bronc,” “big tunnel/little tunnel,” "bulldozer" and, gee, Mommy’s favorite, “body slam.”
• “I sorry. It was an accident.” (Said in the most syrupy, sing-songy voice possible.)
• His growing lists of excuses when he’s not keen on doing whatever it is we’re asking him to do: -“I can’t. I’m too floppy”—said when it’s time for a diaper change -“I too young.” “I too little.”—said especially at clean-up time -“I too sad.”—big poutty face and puppy dog eyes -“I too mad.” -“I too bad.” or “I can’t. I want to be bad now.” How can that not make you laugh? -“I too poopy.”—when it’s time to sit still on his bottom and he’s been hiding something from us. -“I too scared.” or “It too scary.”—usually said in reference to bedtime or time outs. -“It too hard.” -“It’s too far.”—when he’s sick of walking somewhere. -“I’m too late.” “I too busy.” (These two break my heart—he doesn’t hear these that often, does he?!) -“I too sleepy.” -“I too cold.” -"It too yucky." or "messy" or "slimy"--why he can't touch something...or eat something
• “I have something for you, Mom. It’s a present for you. You open it.”—he’s fascinated with filling empty boxes, bags, briefcases, and containers with lids with miscellany around the house.
• “Which one do you like?”—like which puzzle we should do or which car I get to play with. Of course, after we choose, if it’s not the one he had in mind, he corrects us, “No. You like this one.”
• “Pick a card.”—this was on a “Sesame Street” sketch with Grover one time and now…
• We still play the burrito game (“What does a burrito say?...‘Ole!’”) when he’s wrapped up in his hooded towel after bath time and we still “crawl like a tiger to bed,” but now we’ve added “peek at Mommy” before story time. Nate and Jason will peek around the office door while I’m catching up on the computer and “scare me” with silly faces.
• “Do you understand?”—after he tells us the way it should be. “No, it’s not time for bed now, I need to read a book. Do you understand?”
• “I’m very disappointed, Dad.”—most-recently said to Jason when told it was almost time to clean up.
• “Oh, that be strange.”—whenever he discovers something wasn’t how he expected it
• “I be very gentle.”—when petting the neighborhood animals, hugging a baby or touching our faces
• “I take just a teeny, tiny bit”—when he’s sneaking food during dinner prep
• “It’s my favorite in the whole, wide world.”
• “I need it!” (fake crocodile tears included)—especially after we say “no” to something or we take something away as a consequence
• "Let’s hide from Frank! Frank not fiiiiind us. Mommy, you Frank.”— Frank is the combine in “Cars.”
• “Help! It’s morning time! The black sky turn blue.”—the “help” is so we’ll come get him out of his room
• “Cool.” He officially uses the adjective. He put on some new shoes the other day, “Huh. Cool shoes!” he declared approvingly.
• “No. Not yet.” Not yeeeeet—sing-songy—whenever he’s not ready to shift gears
• “The jelly fish are chasing us…run!” (I think this comes from the jelly fish scene in “Nemo”)
• “Hold me.”—when he’s feeling vulnerable. It’s said with a desperate tone—like a woman about to faint in some black and white ‘50s film.
• “Please. Pretty please.”—like when he got a candy surprise at bible school last Sunday and he wanted a piece once we got to the car.
• "You say 'Boo!' And I say 'Aaaaaaa!'"
• "Mommy, you say, 'Moo, Moo.' Daddy and me say, 'Quack! Quack!'" (from a Sandra Boynton CD)

LIKES:

• Trains are currently winning out over cars—he takes his trains with him wherever we go, chose Thomas & Friends pillow over Lightning McQueen pillow and Thomas big-boy underpants over Lightning
• Sandwiches—especially ham & cheese or PBJ (with strawberry jelly), pretzels & red apples, bagels, raisins, carrots, cherries, blueberries, yogurt, oatmeal, PANCAKES (“I’m chowing down!”)—yesterday he ate 8!, grapes, bananas
• Singing—“Life is a Highway” (from the movie, “Cars”), “Mary Had a Baby,” “Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas,” “Deck the Halls” (and other Christmas leftovers), "Wheels on the Bus," "Baa-Baa Black Sheep," “The B-I-B-L-E,” “Thomas and Friends,” “Here Comes Racecar Johnny,” and any song he randomly accesses from his little brain or even makes up to suit his current melodic need. It seems he's always singing something!
• Straws—especially with milk * Jumping—off bed, on bed, off couch, on couch, off curb, on curb, off trunk in his bedroom, etc.
• Puzzles --the wooden board manipultors and the 25-piece ones
• Crashing—trucks, cars, trains—you name it, they typically end up in a big pile. They can fall off a cliff, off the tracks, down a hill, in a lake, etc. “Help, Mommy! My trucks they crashed!” He says with a smirk of mock urgency and concern.
• Still very attached to his lovies, “Doggy” and “Ducky” (lucky for us, he’ll do with one or the other in times we can’t find both)
• DVDs or TV shows—Thomas, Auto B Good series (especially “High Gear”), Little Einsteins, Super Why, Richard Scarry, The Magic Schoolbus, Clifford Books—The Magic Schoolbus, Berenstein Bears, Caillou, Big book o’ Trains, Richard Scarry, Clifford, Dr. Suess

DISLIKES:

• Afternoon nap time. He still needs it, but he’s trying to wean himself off of it. Lately, if I want him to take a nap, I have to time my errands so we’re coming home about 12:30-1:30 pm and he falls asleep in the car. Otherwise, he resists and insists, “I’m not sleepy.” Yesterday he was sitting up in his bed (after about 15 minutes of “quiet time”) yelling, “Nap time is over! Nap time is OVER! Mommy, Daddy, nap time is OOOVERRR!”
• Being told, “No.” We’re working on this. He’s apparently at a transition stage developmentally because all the old discipline tactics are no longer working—time outs, putting favorite toys in “time out,” revoking privileges, rewarding good behavior, etc.
• Having his diaper changed. He’ll usually volunteer to have us change it in the morning when he’s “very, very wet,” “poopy” or his pjs are wet. Otherwise, if it’s a full or even a dirty diaper throughout the day, he FIGHTS it. We’ve gotten to the point that he’ll usually accept a two minute warning before we change the stinky ones that we notice. “Nate, are you poopy?” “Yes. I want you to change me in two minutes,” he recites. If it’s not stinky and we don’t notice it; he’s quite content in his warm, cozy pocket of poo—like a toddler mud bath, I guess.
• He’s becoming a little more finicky at the table, too. With certain breads, he won’t eat the crust (a toddler rite-of-passage, I know). If food has black burn marks on it (like pizza crust), he won’t eat it. If a food had flecks on it (like herbs & spices or a piece of rice, etc.), he won’t eat it, etc. He doesn’t like casseroles because of this nuance—he likes to eat each type of food separately. Hmmm. Great.