Welcome to Two!

From Easter to Nate's Birthday was a bit of a blurr. On May 8, one week before Nate's 2nd Birthday we decided to get Nate a big boy bed.

I found this great race car bed on Craigslist, and although bigger than I thought, I couldn't resist. He was starting to resist the crib and climbing out of the pack-n-play at daycare...so we figured it was time. Due to the way my testing schedule at school worked out, I was had a week and a half off, so I thought if he had trouble adjusting, it would be best to make the transition while I wasn't working. He loved it when he saw it! The first night in his big boy bed he only broke out of the room one time and cried for about 10 minutes before he gave up and crashed out. He slept the whole night in this new bed! We were so proud of him. Naptimes were a bit more difficult and he sometimes ended up falling asleep next to his bed, but by time I returned to work he was a pro! Hardly any fussing! We did have to put a latch on the door after the 4th night as he began showing up earlier and earlier in the morning in our room with an enthusiastic, "HI!"

Nate and Bob got me beautiful flowers for Mother's Day and we spent the afternoon relaxing at the beach. I then spent most of the week cleaning and planning, since Nate's birthday was on Tuesday, Bob's mom Sharon arrived on Thurs. evening, and we had his party scheduled for Sun. Nate and I spent his 2nd birthday at the zoo and then met G-Mot (Lowell) at work and took Nate to McDonald's for lunch. He really was mostly just interested in the toy. Sharon was thrilled to see and spend time with Nate, and I took advantage of that! I spent the whole day Friday doing errands for the birthday party...with an hour time-out for a much need massage. Saturday Sharon and I took Nate for a big boy haircut and then Bob and I left Nate with Sharon again and headed to his end-of-the-year soccer party. That evening we got to go out to dinner with friends, a nice treat since one of them is usually babysitting and we can't go out all together. Sharon said her visits are getting more and more fun! Nate is so interactive and warms up quickly, especially to people he remembers. He is working on naming people and Aunt Suzanne is Suz, Brian is Yeah Yeah, Grandpa is Popah/Papa, Grammy was hoping for (and may have gotten) a name, but most of the time if he isn't sure what to call someone he calls them "You."

Sunday we had Nate's birthday party and although we don't know very many little people, friends and family came to enjoy a relaxing day at Dinosaur Park. I will post birthday party pictures when I get them back. Suzanne's friend at work made Nate and awesome CARS cake and he got tons of cool stuff! Lots of Disney CARS and sports equipment. He had a great time, even though he was exhausted and face planted on the cement at the beginning of the party. He had a nice knot on his forehead for the remainder of his party and for the week.

Then it was back to work and daycare for a long week and a half stretch. Nate managed to fall and hit his eye on the corner of the coffee table on his 3rd day back at daycare and had his first black eye. Looked like it was going to get worse, but he seems to recover quickly. Carron said he cried for a few minutes then said, "All Gone" and went off to play. Welcome to two!!! Two bonks in a week!

We had a nice Memorial Day Weekend, spent a day at the beach and a day cleaning up the backyard, getting all Nate's new toys set up and Barbecuing (Thanks Suzanne and Brian!!!). Sure is hard to get things done with a little helper!

We are looking forward to summer and only have 4 more weeks of school. I am still trying to figure out what I am doing exactly next year, full time? job share? grade? but know everything will work out. And after 22 weeks of training I am hoping I am ready to run the Rock and Roll Marathon (my first and last) this Sunday. It has been an interesting and rewarding experience, but it has taken a lot of time and I am looking forward to having my weekends back. Wish me luck!