Mon petite Pet Sitter

Most of the time I love having Nate come with me to work.  I like the company and he is my little pet sitting protege.  I love that he's been around animals since he was born and he loves them, plays with them, and is generally gentle with them.  Cute story - today after giving some doggies their treats, one pup was blocking the door.  Nate patted her and said " Scuse me, Gracie" to get around her and out the door.  Sometimes he hollers "love you" as we leave the houses.

I remember when he started "helping" by playing in the yard and sometimes presenting me with little gifts.

Over the past couple months or so, Nate has increasingly wanted to help more.
He wants to walk the dogs. (Shout out to Barney and Bailey!)

And play ball (Holla, Annie!)

He likes to taunt play with the kitties too. (Here's Finny - or "Finnegan Begin-Again" as I like to call him)

That's all fine and dandy, but let's get down to the real reason Nate loves to pet sit... the poop.  I know I've mentioned it before, but right now he's all about the poopies.  When I ask, "Do you want to go see the doggies or kitties?" he always replies with "Poop!  Bags!  Cat/dog poopies!"
(Deep down inside, I really hope it doesn't lead to any weird poop fetishes in the future!)

He likes to scout the yard for poopies.

Then he likes to look at them and tell me "Poops!  Mama, Poops!" about a million times.  Then he reminds me that I need to use a bag to pick it up.  It's kinda cute and a pretty good value to instill about picking up pet waste, but he expects me to pick up every poop, everywhere.  Goose poop in the yard?  "Mama, Poop, Bag!"  Another dog's poop while out on a walk?  "Poop, Mama, Poop!".  GAHHH!

Once I pick it up, he wants to look in the bag to size up the cool poop we just captured.  Sometimes he likes to look multiple times.  I do like that he wants to take the bag and put it in the trash can for me.  It IS pretty helpful so I can't be upset about that.
(Hey, Gracie "the one-eyed wonder"!)

Just this week, he's ventured into scooping litter boxes too.  Actually he likes me to do it, then he simulates poop scooping.

Aside from the poop fascination, I think I'm well on my way to getting him trained properly.  I'm hoping in another year or so, I can just sit back and read a book while he does all the work!  Is that so wrong?

Current Obsessions

In addition to Nate's love of BALL, he is also quite the fan of the following things:

(Read: I hear about these things ALL.DAY.LONG)

• Fire trucks.  We visited a local fire station last week with some friends.  We also spent lots of time at the fire station with Daddy when he was on shift on Sunday.  Nate can't seem to get enough.  "Daddy, Fire Truck" is what I hear when we see an ambulance, fire truck, hear any type of siren, or play with his many fire trucks. 
• Snakes.  Nate has a fake snake that he likes to tote around.  He likes to say "Eeek, snake!" because that's what Mama says.  We went to the zoo last Saturday and even after we visited the reptiles, we had to hear about snakes all day long.  I took him back to the zoo on Wednesday morning and all we did was visit the snakes.  Three rotations through the reptile and nocturnal galleries.  Squee!
• Poops (dog and cat).  I've got a whole post planned for this.  I can tell you're waiting with baited breath.
• Pee-pee and poops (of the human variety).  Tis the season for bodily function awareness.  I'm hoping a few more months of talking and mimicking and we'll be set to start full-blown potty training.  *You know you're a toddler's mom when you say "Bye-bye poopies" before flushing and then realize your child is upstairs napping.
• Counting.  Nate can count to 10 and he likes to practice counting all the time.  When we read books, he counts butterflies or piggies or candles or bunny tails, etc.  We also do lots of countdowns and 1-2-3 GOs!
• Worms.  I'm not sure the fascination but I'll just chalk up to boy-ness.  Alive, dead, big, little - it's all a good time to him.  I especially love it when he picks them up and hands them to me.  Double squee.

Hey, what's this?

Wook - It's Nate's big boy bed!  

Mike converted the crib into the toddler bed on Thursday afternoon.  Nate likes it and has done so well!  He pretty much stays in at bed time (he's only gotten out once to come say hi).  He pretty much likes to have his entire book collection in bed which is fine if that's what keeps him in there.  If by some chance we forget a particular book, he'll hop out, get the book, and hop back in bed.  Last night though, Mike and I heard some racket and we were very curious as to what was going on up there.  When we peeked in, Nate had dragged out his little Leapfrog keyboard and was sitting in bed, fingers on home row and banging out something very important.  I told Mike that Nate must be updating his blog which in my head is called "The Life and Times of Nate Double-You".

Here's the last picture of Nate in his crib *sigh*

Testing out the new digs while Daddy works

First night in his bed

Playing Ball

Nate's been all about "BALL GAME" since our trip to the baseball game last week.  Even when we're watching baseball on TV, he stands in the middle of the room waiting for the pitch.  And then he swings.  It's so cool!  We got him a t-ball set and brought it out today to play.  Nate wasn't timid at all.  After watching Daddy take a few swings, he got right up there and hit the ball.  What was even more awesome was when Mike pitched the ball to Nate and HE HIT THE BALL!  I guess the tee isn't so necessary! I'm a proud Mama, obviously.

I can't get the video to embed but here are some links to see Nate hit the ball.

Nate hits the ball
2nd hit!

Just the other day I was talking to a friend about how sometimes you can just look at a child and catch a glimpse of who they are going to be in 5 or 10 years.  I get that feeling with this picture.

 Action shot - right after he hit the ball

Ball Game

The Tides home opener was last night.  Mike prides himself on making the past 6 opening games in a row.  For the first time in a few years, the weather was awesome.  We ate hot dogs the size of our legs, ate french fries, drank lemonade, and had a grand old time.  Nate loved it.  He learned to "stomp, stomp, clap" to We Will Rock You and he learned "Charge!", although we're still working on the timing of that.  He loved clapping and cheering and getting in and out of his seat a million times.  He shouted Baseball and Ball Game all night and first thing this morning when I got him out of bed.  It was a great time!

Eating french fries from a helmet (always a fun time)

Watching the pregame fanfare

Telling Daddy he wants his own glove

Our seats were 2 rows from the field

Picture with Daddy

Nate's new hat

Cheering on the team

 Drinking lemonade (he thinks he's hot stuff)

 With Mama (aka proof I was there too)

The joke's on me

So.  Guess who got me good today on April Fool's Day?

Nate.

Yep.  My barely 2 year old beast angel of a child.

It was an early morning start for us this morning.  He got up around 7:30.  I prefer 8:15-ish but it's not like I can control it that much.   By 9 a.m. he was getting a little fussy, whiny and that lasted a few minutes.  Then we pulled out the PlayDoh and there's always some dramz about that at some point.  "Worm Mama, Worm!!"  "NOOO!!! BALL, BALL!!!" And so it goes.  I just chalked it up to getting up early.  Then we were going to head out the door for a quick errand around 11.  Then Nate went into full melt-down mode after I took his socks off to put on the sandals he insisted on wearing.  Once his shoes were on he was all "SOOOOOOOOOOCCCCCCCCKSSSSSSS, MY SOCKS" while being angry and crying and rubbing his socks on his face.  God forbid but I tried to take off his sandals to put his socks back on.  FREAKING A.  It was more than I could take so  I put him down for a nap.  He was fit to be tied (where the hell did that phrase originate??).

So.  Nate in crib.  Me barely in my room to turn on TPIR.  I heard a loud bang which I assumed was Nate hitting his head (he likes to do sometimes when he pissed).

And then... He pulled off the ultimate prank on Mama.

Foot steps in the hallway and into my room.  He was still pissed and screaming but I think at one point I heard him mutter "Now what, biznatch?"

In my naivete, I thought to myself "Self, maybe he was so fired up he had a crazy built up energy that allowed him to propel himself out of his crib."

Mike and I talked on the phone (because of course it's a work day for him) and we discussed IF this may happen again (hahahaha) what will we need to do?  Anchor the dresser to the wall.  Put all the lotions up and out of his reach.  Start closing his door and putting a safety lock cover thingies on the door knobs.  Convert his crib to the toddler bed so he doesn't injure himself trying to get???

So we have a plan of attack, but we're not gonna need it.  You know, until oh, 3 hours later when Nate wakes up from his nap and hops the rail like he's been doing it all his life.  And then again 10 minutes after bed time and I hear the pitter patter of his little feet looking for me upstairs until he finally goes to the gate and bellows "Mommy".  When I went up there to retrieve he simply said "Hi Mommy!" and let me pick him up and put back down for the night.  At least I hope it's for the night.

So, the little stinker must've been planning his prank for a long time.  He certainly found a trick that will last way longer than just one measly day.  Good one, kid.  Ya got me!

It's a good thing he's so cute.