Nathan loves to swim, and now that he’s competent with a back float he can go where he wants to without our help. Here are a couple of recent videos of Nathan swimming, the first is in the pool in our residential complex and the second was just a few days ago at his last swimming class of the year.

Nathan and Ebony

Only two more months until his second birthday….I just can’t work out where all the time has gone! It’s been a busy month too, trying to get ready for the new baby, trying to get organised for Christmas, trying to tidy the flat so I don’t have to look at all the mess while sitting down feeding the new baby but that’s an almost impossible task when you live with a little hurricane who can create havoc so much faster than I can tidy it up.

Nathan’s speech has improved dramatically this month, though his pronunciation is still difficult to understand, particularly if you are not familiar with Nathanese. He’s also started reciting nursery rhymes/songs and is very pleased with himself when he gets to the end of them so that the end of the songs are always rushed and loud! He misses some of the small words, but gets most in his recitation. He loves ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’, ‘Row Row Row Your Boa’t, ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ and ‘Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ and recites them all in a monotone. When we get in the car now he demands his nursery rhyme CD by saying “Baa Baa Black Sheep” which is the first song on the CD.

I think Nathan is at the stage where he has really strong emotions, but just doesn’t know how to control them yet. The smallest thing can set him off crying in such a distressed manner, and yet if I manage to distract him onto something else he’ll be happy again within seconds. Mostly he cries because he wants to do something himself….the biggest culprit at the moment is driving the car. He always wants to jump into the driver’s seat and ‘drive’ which involved fiddling with all the buttons and things in the car, sitting on the seat and pretending to steer and pulling on the seatbelt. When I need him to go into his seat after ‘driving’, he gets very very upset. Also other things like closing the back door when we go out, or turning off the radio, he sees as his jobs and he gets upset when I do them automatically.

Nathan is also an independent little soul. He will go to the fridge and get out what he wants rather than ask me for it in the first place. He does point to the freezer and ask for “cold peas” which are, of course, frozen peas which he loves. He has also discovered a love of ice, probably my fault because I love cold water on these warm, muggy days so I stick bottles of water in the freezer and drink them when they’re half frozen. When the ice is all chunky and I can shake some out of the bottle, I shake some into a little bowl for him and he is delighted and plays/eats it until it’s all gone.

Number and letter recognition has improved, and he is starting to understand the o’clocks thanks to a little Thomas the Tank Engine book that he has and loves. There is a clock that you change the time on as you read through it, with various things happening to Thomas or his friends from 7 am to 6 pm. He still loves his books and pesters us to read to him, though many he knows so well he can almost recite them. He will take my hand and tell me “mummy, out of kitchen” (or wherever I am) just because he wants a book read, or something else he wants me to do with him.

The things we’ve been doing this month include:

Trying to listen to baby’s heartbeat at home.

Putting up the Christmas tree…which he’s taller than this year. 😀

Eating pizza and finishing off with gelato.

Playing ‘chase me’ at the playground.

We went to Solly’s second birthday party.

Driving…with Mummy as passenger (he opens the door for me and asks me to sit down and shut the door).

Went to Sculpture by the Sea.

Spent some time with Shirley.