Nathaniel is 22 months old. Despite his most lasting nickname, “Baby,” he is far from babyhood. He will probably have to inform his siblings in his own complete sentences to stop calling him that, and even then, they might continue. Because he is their baby brother and there is a facet of that truth that remains, no matter how old they are.
He continues to be a friendly little man who has smiles for EVERYONE and still sweetly blows kisses to sign “thank you.” He is laidback, except when he isn’t. He is SO happy, except when he isn’t. His moments of abysmalness are rare and spaced far apart, but he has them. He is so firmly grounded in his own ideas but is also quick to welcome suggestions from trusted sources (especially Zach. The Olson Brothers phenomenon has begun). When we tell him that he can’t have a lick of Rissa’s candy cane until he finishes his last 2 bites of dinner, he refuses his dinner AND the candy cane. And then Rissa offers it to him because she loves him and wants him to be happy and he gets it anyway. Because when he is happy (which is 97% of the time), he makes everyone else happy too. His smiles. His snuggles. His jaunty little walk that suggests he has a plan and will bring it to fruition. His increasing vocabulary of action words… Spass! (splash) Stomp! Fro! (throw) Bussssss! Socks!!!! Buh-beee! (baby) Every animal is named by its sound. He still loves Ahf-ahfs, but has also expanded to Moooos, Baaaaas, Sssssssss’s, Buzzzzzz’s and Grrrrrrrrrrs. He LOVES babies. He loves to kiss them. He loves to poke them in the eyes. He loves to bend down to get eye-to-eye with them and smile adorably and talk to them, right in their little faces. He loves to pounce them. He is often thrilled to not be the littlest kid in the room!
Nathaniel has been an easy baby all along and we fear that this sweet phase will end. But it won’t. Because he’ll always be our little man. While withstanding his ironclad willpower of stubbornness exhausts his mommy and daddy, he is very kind and very loving. We hope to cultivate his love for people and his friendly acceptance of others into an amazing ministry of love for God’s kingdom. Wouldn’t it be revolutionary to know a Christian who loves well? I dream of it for all 3 of my children… that they will love God and their neighbor as much as they care for themselves. Revolutionary, I tell you!
Matt asked Nathaniel if he wants to be called Nate, and he nodded decisively. Of course, that has been Matt’s plan all along… I mean he named this kid! Nathaniel was always going to be Nate… unless he didn’t want to be Nate and he wanted to be Nathaniel. I sidetracked that train of thought by inventing Thanny… it will be my special name for him but obviously canNOT be his actual nickname. Not if he wants to survive the playground at school later in life, anyways! Nathaniel has a very defined “yes” nod and “no” nod and he was adamant that Nate sounded good. I worried that he didn’t like my name for him anymore, so I asked, “Do you like Thanny?” The little sweetheart, he beamed at me and pointed to his chest as if to say, “I’m Thanny! Who would possibly not like Thanny?” Mommy’s special pet name is intact! We call him Nathaniel for most purposes, but Matt will continue trying out Nate and I would never give up my usage of Thanny. Moms get automatic dibs on preserving silly made-up names!
Nathaniel loves buttons. Now that we have a garage door opener, he screeches “butttt!” when the van pulls out of or into our garage. He wants to push that thing! He can’t talk on the phone because he is too busy getting excited about the BUTTONS! He loves calculators and phones and remote controls and garage door openers and computer keyboards. He can reach doorknobs and is earnestly working on unraveling the mystery of opening a door by himself. He has taken it upon himself to up his game in puzzling. Forget these individual pieces with a peg that he has to fit into an individual hole! He wants to do interlocking puzzles! He works SO HARD on this – it is remarkable. Usually, he comes to find me and prompts me to follow him and help him. I sit nearby and he holds up a piece that is giving him trouble and I find the one that goes with it. I hand him the two pieces and he links them. Then I choose another and another… if he knows a piece is the right one, he can figure out the orientation and place it by himself. Eventually, we either finish the puzzle or he decides on a new activity… scrunching it up and tossing it in the air for fun. In my opinion, his cutest ability is to point to himself on cue. Whenever I ask, “Who’s delicious?” he smiles, points to his chest and says, “Ahhh!” for “I am!” He also answers to “Who’s Mommy’s little bub?” and “Who does Mommy love?” and other variations along those lines. He has referred to himself twice and it sounds like “Thanno.”
You know I have pictures. And I know that the photos will tell the story of Nathaniel’s adorableness better than my words ever could. Enjoy.
