Nate’s Notes: Thankful

nate at piano with concussionNate is unfortunately still not feeling great after his concussion last week, and isn’t up to writing much. Since it is Thanksgiving Week, I decided to ask my little guy what he was thankful for, what makes him happy. These are his responses…and I quote:

“Thank you fow my food. Thank you fow my family. Thank you fow my special planes. Thank you fow my special fwiends. Amen.”

“I like playing with Windlifter, Blade, Dusty and all that stuff.”

“Matching things makes me smile, which is the same as happy. So can we do that?”

“Putting chapstick on makes me happy. Thank you fow chapstick. Sometimes my lips just hurt. It is a pwedicament.”

“Thank you fow my multivitamin and my pwobiotics. I LOVE pwobiotics. They are delicious. Do you?”

“I like stowies. They make me happy. Can you tell me a stowie? No…not that one.”

“Chwistmas makes me sooooo happy. Hey- is it Chwistmas?”

“Momma?  I’m not happy or saying thank you fow bumping my head.  Is that okay?”

And there you have it.  We are hoping he’ll be back at it next week!  Stay tuned.

Nate’s Notes: Some Days Are Just Bad Days…No Matter How Old You Are

NOTE: Our regularly scheduled Alaska blogging will continue next week. Today I needed to get some big feelings out.

 

Today I woke up grumpy. Yea, you heard me. I. Was. Grumpy. What- I’m a toddler who is loved and provided for so that automatically makes every day rainbows and unicorns??? Clearly you’ve never been three years old.

How many times have I told you that sometimes BIG feelings just happen? How many times have I told you about life under four feet tall?? Don’t you listen??? Do you big people think I WANT to feel this way???? Do you want to see my angry face?????

Momma always asks me to press the reset button. Well, today it wasn’t working. I tried.

Dressed and trying to make it a good day, I got on my stool for breakfast. Momma was humming. Lyla was babbling and smearing yogurt all over herself, perfectly happy and unaware of these BIG feelings. Well, at least I had good food to look forward to. Maybe that would help. And then I looked down. What was this? I don’t want eggs and sausage!! I glared at a grinning Momma, who quickly stopped smiling and stared back. “I don’t want this!!” I yelled. She didn’t talk, but instead raised one VERY serious eyebrow…big people code for “That is not acceptable. Stop now.”   But I couldn’t. Obviously she didn’t get the breakfast food change request I sent with my mind. Grrrr…I showed her my angry face.

And so the day continued this way. It was a struggle. It was a fight. It was actually painful. There was whining. About that…It’s time you big people accept whining as a part of language. When we communicate this way, you make (try to make) us stop and call it whining. When you people do it, you call it complaining and talking out your feelings.   It’s NOT different!!

And if I hear one word about taking pictures or see the cameras, I might flip my lid.  

Finally, Momma said, “Nate, sweetie, you seem really angry and frustrated today. What can we do about that?” Well…ding ding ding!!! Congratulations Momma- you get the prize! Just for being SOOOO aware, I may add a star to your reward chart, and we might play a game that doesn’t end in crying!!!  Or maybe I’ll stay in bed tonight and let you sleep!  Just kidding, we don’t actually care if you sleep.   Jeez Louise*. Before I could share my witty response with her, she scooped me up in her big arms, gave me a hug, and told me I was very loved.   For the first time that day…I felt a little smile.

*Still waiting to meet this Louise person.

Nate’s Notes: And The BIG-ness Keeps Coming!!!

Today we saw huge ice cubes! Our BIG boat floated right up next to them in Alaska. Momma said there would be giant ice cubes, and we might see seals, whales and puffins. You know what? She was right! Well, I don’t know about the puffins. Some people on the boat said they saw them, but I didn’t see the puffins…so they probably weren’t there.

These giant ice cubes were sooooo cool! Get it…cool…ice…cool?! I feel like sometimes I have to slow things down and spell them out for you big people because you get too busy. It’s exhausting really. So yea, these ice cubes were sticking up way way way out of the water. There were even big pieces floating in the water that we HIT and ran over with the boat! Toddler Boy Brain = Exploding.

Giant Ice Cubes

Giant Ice Cubes

Kaboom!!!

Kaboom!!!

We hit ice with the big boat!

We hit ice with the big boat!

It was super cool. Yea, and cold. Like….brrrrr. We bundled up with hats and sweatshirts and jackets. I’ve never been in a place that cold! No really, I haven’t…I’m from California. Of course…EVERYBODY had a camera, not just Papa, Daddy, Momma and Uncle Tim. It seemed like everywhere we looked on the boat, people had their cameras attached to their faces. Jeez big people. Ever think about just looking and enjoying? Momma says we can take pictures with our minds. What’s wrong with trying that?

And THEN…BOOM!!! CRASH!!! BANG!!! Lyla jumped and “ran” for Momma’s leg. Why is she always hugging Momma? Doesn’t she know she’s already taken?? Stop already. Anyway… I froze (more ice humor people). It sounded like the ice cubes were yelling or growling…or something like that! They were breaking and crashing into the water. That actually scared me a little (okay, a lot), but I’d never tell anyone that. I know I’m still little, but when the ice cubes boomed and crashed, it made me feel even more little. I may have even quietly grabbed Momma’s other leg, but pretended it was to make sure she was okay. I looked at Daddy though, and his smile made me feel safe. I knew I didn’t have to be scared. With Momma and Daddy as my steady, I was okay.

I went back to looking at the huge ice cubes and listening to their giant noises. And took a picture with my mind. This…this I would never forget. KABOOM!!!