Skip to main content

First Day of Spring!

It's funny to think of how anxious I've been for Spring's arrival. We've had the warmest winter I can remember. Temperatures have been spring-like and sunny for weeks and months. But the advent of Spring is still a milestone. It means we are inching closer to Spring Break, a much needed respite from work and surviving the "ides of March" within our classrooms.

Nathan has been talking about the transition from Winter to Spring for a few weeks as he tries to understand the seasons. In the car ride home on many afternoons, he'll ask, "What comes after Spring? And then it's my birthday?"

Nathan seems to talk our entire 20 minute commute home, in fact. He has lots of ideas about how the world works as well as questions. One day recently, he declared he was going to paint my car red with purple polka dots because those are his favorite colors. Just a few days ago, a song came on the radio and we had this cute conversation:

Nathan: "Mommy, what is this song?"

Me: "A song about Jesus."

Nathan: "Who sings it?"

Me: "Oh, I don't know."

Nathan: "Jesus sings this song?"



Nathan is also taking his big brother role very seriously lately. He will turn to Andrew and tell him important facts. While leaving their school, Nathan leaned down and announced very seriously, "Andrew! The sun is out so we can play basketball!"

Andrew patiently listens to Big Brother but doesn't always follow Nathan's directions. Nathan has recently decided he wants to be Andrew's teacher and boss. We're trying to encourage the former more than the later. 

In addition to feeling anxious for Spring Break, I am feeling anxious for my flowers to bloom. I wait all year for their arrival and then I try with all my might to will them into bloom, just to make sure all goes according to my vision. We've recently relocated several plants from the backyard to the front and I'm excited to see how they'll look in front. Every day after work right now, I can't help but go outside, "just to look". I guess I'm impatient!


The large plant in upper right is a lily we transplanted from the backyard. If it blooms, I'll know we didn't kill it. 

This little birch was a new addition last spring. We planted three and two have survived. 

We are taking volunteers for a few yard & household projects over Spring Break. I hope this new season brings you joy as well. And I hope I survive my classes until I get there.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Happy New Year!

The year 2012 has arrived! I can hardly believe that I can now say my son was born "last year"! Tomorrow will mark seven months since Nathan's arrival. At the start of each month I've tried to take pictures of Nathan in our brown leather chair. I've used the series to capture his growth. Thus far I am not too crazy about the quality of these photos. In my opinion, the photos I took today are better. Nathan is sitting up pretty well now which is a great improvement over the previously propped up pictures from months before.  We used the natural light to show off his beautiful blue eyes. You might notice that he spit up on himself as we got started. But he smiled and played with his toes and the even licked the chair as I took a few photos. My sister, Ellen, gave me a book for Christmas titled, Mamarazzi . While I haven't read but a few pages, I look forward to picking up tips to great picture taking.

Parenting Cliches

As a fairly new parent you often look for bits of wisdom from those with more experience.  Most of the time these fall into pretty standard parenting cliches.  "They grow up so fast," "Blink and you'll miss it,"  "Just wait till he's older," "Your life will never be the same." One I often hear is some derivative of, "Every stage is precious, just enjoy the now." Or something to the fact that every stage of a child's development brings some sort of new equally wonderful parenting experience. And while I appreciate the advice and the sentiment, count me a skeptic.  I just can't imagine how any stage could be better than the current stage that Nathan is in.  So yes this is just a blog involving my bragging about how great Nathan is.  He may really be the cutest kid alive.  (If you don't want to take my word for it, just ask his Auntie Jenny) Nathan is 20 months old, he is walking just fine, but just learning to run....

Nathan, 18 months

Can you believe it? Can you believe that Little Man Nate is already 18 months? Nathan's Famous Hot Dog on Halloween. At 18 months, Nathan is 33.25 inches tall and nearly 29 pounds, but mostly, he is on the go. Nathan is curious about the world around him, spending lots of time opening doors or drawers, saying "uh-oh" when he finds something new. I know for certain I will have to buy a new set of measuring cups when we move again, as Nathan has adopted some into his toy collection, while others are just plain MIA. He loves pushing his cars, trucks and lawn mower around the house. He is quickly learning to match shapes with puzzles and point to his nose, ears and belly. He uses sign language to say "please" and "more" as well as ask for "help". We have just started practicing the sign for "thank you" and he seems to be grasping that one. Nathan will put his cup in the refrigerator or sink when he is "all done", and u...