My Middle Child

I’ve been meaning to dedicate a post to Nathan for awhile now, but other things seem to pre-empt it. One thing I’ve learned is to not try and force a post. (Cue Scotty) I can’t do it, Captain.

Emily gets a lot of press because she’s a baby. Everybody loves babies, me included. That first year of life is such a momentous one. They go from floppy blobs (different from floppy boobs) to walking, talking, eating machines. That, and she’s my first girl. It’s a whole new world of dreaming for me.

Graham gets a lot of press because, well, he’s Graham. If you know him in the flesh, he’s a pretty crazy kid. He’s also at the stage where you can have completely long conversations with him, and he comes up with the strangest comments. Take last night for instance. I was reading the boys a bedtime story and was telling them how much God loved them, and that Jesus does too. He pipes up, “Yeah! Jesus…Jesus is going to give me new Incredible jammies! Blue ones! Then I’ll have a new suit.” This kid spends his day changing into his six (SIX!) different pairs of super hero jammies. If God and Jesus are as big and loving as I say they are, then surely they have access to the BLUE Incredible jammies. Wal-Mart doesn’t even have those.

Enough about those two! This post is about Nathan! Sweet, sweet Nathan.

He’s pretty darn cute to boot.

I’ve heard about the “Middle Child Syndrome” and want to make sure that he doesn’t feel I’m contributing to it by the lack of posts dedicated to him. I’ll also be sure to tell him that I don’t put any stock in the Middle Child Syndrome. Matthew and I are both the Oldest Child, and we can attest to the fact that it’s the oldest child who really gets the short end of the stick. But that’s another post. Or twelve.

Nathan and I actually get a lot of one-on-one time in the week. Graham has Playschool two mornings a week, and Emily often spends a good chunk of that time napping. Nathan and I bake cookies, build towers, cuddle on the couch. Lately we’ve been doing more of his favourite activity: GOING OUTSIDE! We’ve been outside a lot this past week. Exploring the yard and even tilling the garden. Nathan’s been riding his quad a lot – that kid can drive! He’s 2 1/2 and he amazes me with the skill he has in maneuvering that thing. We spent two hours out there this afternoon, and I managed to snap a few shots of my Nathan.

The past few days have been sunny and quite warm. Finally. Not that the cold stops Nathan from being outside, but I’m much happier when it’s not so bitterly frigid. The suns rays have been breathing life into me. I hope they also put some colour into this white pasty skin of mine.

Nathan is a neat kid. He says “hi” to anyone and everyone. He is a lovey dovey guy too. I’ll ask if I can have a hug, and he’ll run to me with a big smile on his face and his arms spread open wide. I’ll pick him up and he’ll squeeze as hard as he can and smother me with kisses. I lap it up, because I’m guessing he won’t do the same thing when he’s thirteen.

His vocabulary has been exploding every day for the last couple of months, and we are starting to have some pretty funny conversations. He’s also been asking the dreaded “Why?” question. Oh, the Why Question. Why? Why? Why?

I don’t want to ramble on with minute details, but I plan on making a concerted effort to give Nathan more airtime. I also want to cut down the lengths of my posts. They seems to be getting longer and longer. You guys are going to start hearing (Cue Charlie Brown’s teacher) Wa Wa, Wa Wa, Wa, Wa. I think Matthew hears that a lot too, but that’s also another post. That being said, I’m going to stop typing. Now.