☺Singing the ABCs, the “Veggie Tales” theme song, any tune from “Mickey Mouse’s 40 Classic Children’s Tunes” (including “What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor?”—not too sure how that song made it onto a children’s CD in 2007!), Bible songs from Sunday School, “Life is a Highway” (from the “Cars” soundtrack…“I’m a good rider all night long.”) and any song from Sandra Boynton’s CDs (including “I Need a Nap,” “The No Song,” “Dog Train,” and “Broccoli”)
☺ Pointing at every letter on every sign or book or box he sees and saying its sound. If he’s standing, he’ll get excited and jump as he says it. (So imagine a two-year-old boy jumping through a store going “ffffffffffffff” or “nnnnnnnnnnnn” or “tuh-tuh-tuh-tuh”—it’s a little spastic to say the least!) At the library a mom was sitting at a table reading a book to her young daughter. The mom asks the girl, “Do you see the cat?” I hear Nate start to spell c-a-t (but he doesn’t use letter names, he uses sounds). He says the sound “kuh” innocuously enough but then runs over to the girl, tilts his head so he’s in her face and shouts “AAAAAAAA” “tuh.” He might be figuring out his way with letters, but he definitely needs some help with the ladies!
☺ Wrestling, bulldozing or making “Nate Sandwiches” on the bed with Daddy (one of his favorite parts of the day!)
☺ Watching anything “Leap Frog,” “Super Why,” or “Veggie Tales” on TV or DVD with “Sesame Street,” “Bob The Builder,” and “Cars” coming in a close second.
☺ Playing with his Brio-like wooden train and tracks—which cars will fit under the bridge (“in the tunnel, Mommy”) and which cars won’t? (That’s what happens when you mix & match sets!) Thomas and Rusty don’t fit; the blue engine, yellow car, green car, the caboose (“boose”), and others do.
☺ Counting to 20—well OK, he skips 17 & 18 and calls 15, “fiveteen,” but he’s trying. ☺
☺ Loading dump trucks with anything (usually cars, of course) and transporting everywhere!
☺ Shamu (or as he says, “Shampoo”) and the water park at Sea World. Here’s one of Nate’s first jokes: During bathtime, he took his orca water toy (which obviously looks like Shamu) and rubbed it in his hair shouting “Shampoo! Shampoo!” laughing at himself (since he calls Shamu, shampoo—he was interchanging the two). Well, we thought it was funny.
☺ Playing in water—any water he can find (splashing in puddles, turning on every faucet within reach, in the bathtub, dumping water from one glass into another glass at the dinner table, etc.) It keeps us on our toes.
☺ Racing cars or role-playing with them—the other day I overheard him saying (with one John Deere tractor in each hand), “Follow me! I can fix it. You have an ouwie on your tires.” And one tractor rolled in behind another tractor to get a band-aid. Sometimes he tucks his cars into bed, too. “Shhh, Mommy! Blue car is sleeping.”
☺ Coloring (especially letters—if there’s a word on the page, he won’t color the picture, he’ll color each letter!) He seldom colors the whole picture, he usually picks a feature—all the mouths, say—and colors only the mouths.
☺ Noodles (but not mac-n-cheese), blueberries, PBJ sandwiches, strawberry ice cream, grapes, watermelon, cucumbers, broccoli, carrots, sausage, Grandpa’s blueberry pie, pancakes (can down 6 in one sitting!), cottage cheese, strawberry yogurt and birthday cake (Mom writes through gritted teeth).
☺ "Reading !" Yes, when he’s quiet upstairs, he’s either playing with his cars & trains, coloring on the carpet (with red permanent marker—fun story) or he’s flipping through the books on his bookshelves. His favorites remain the “I Spy” series; Berenstain Bears (he loves Papa Bear’s antics); “Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed” (that’s the first book he could “read” to us); any book with a car, truck, train, tractor, or airplane; the "Bob The Builder" Telephone Book; “Maisy,” “Caillou,” and Richard Scary books (especially those with a transportation theme).
☺ Spelling “Nate” or “jet” or “cat” or “fun” or “mad” or “pig” or “stop” or “Tad” or “Mom” or “Dad” or “fat” or “bat” or “let” or “dog” or “car” and some other words he’s memorized with his foam bathtub letters or Leap Frog magnetic letters.
☺ Manipulating puzzles, building “big, big, big towers” with blocks, general problem solving
☺ Setting up picnics for Mommy and Daddy around the house with his fake food, tea parties
☺ Shouting, "Quick! Follow me!" whenever he wants us to come see something or play with something.
Nate's Not-So-Favorites:
- The Purple Monster and the Black Monster that show up in random places to scare him— usually his bedroom, but sometimes they’re in the car or downstairs.
- The White and Black Tractors that scare him (he woke up in the middle of the night a few weeks back talking about these hooligans and they’ve been around ever since.)
- Getting Frustrated—we’re trying to teach him self control (er, “anger management”). He will take big exaggerated breaths tilting his head to the sky in response to our prompts to “take a deep breath in” or he’ll yell through clenched teeth in a very cute, angry voice, “I’m just mad!” and hit the air in response to our prompts to “use your words.”
- Diaper changes. He screams bloody murder when we change his diaper and will sit in a dirty nappy for hours without telling us he needs a change. We’re in what we call the “potty exposing” stage. He knows that his big boy potty is there when he wants to use it. He’s used it a couple dozen times apparently to appease the parents, but I don’t think there’s any interest in getting out of diapers in the near future.
- The Naughty Chair—“Nooooooo! [Insert blood-curdling scream.] I’ll be a good boy! I’ll be a good boy!” [Insert *KISS*] Then when he calms down, “I ‘pologize, Mommy-Daddy.” Followed by hanging his head LOW and looking up with BIG puppy dog eyes.
- Being carried when he wants to walk—“Nooooo!” [same high-pitched scream] “Any! Carry! Me!” “Any.” [growl] “Carry.” [grunt] “Me.” [growl]
