Baby videos!

So, first off, apologies for the massive space between posts. To recap, Nate is now two, Texas is experiencing a massive drought and heat wave, and now we have a little girl. Enough with the typing, bring on the videos!

And one more!



Since the typing just usually means the posts don't go up, I'm stopping now and posting. Enjoy.

Fun at the Museum, almost 2 year old style

While we were in DC over Memorial Day weekend, Nate and I visited the Natural History Museum. The video posted below needs a little explanation. You see, we were in the main hall, looking at all the dinosaur skeletons, and Nate saw everyone taking pictures of the bones. Naturally, he thought our video camera was a regular camera, and insisted on taking some pictures. When it goes super-blurry, that's Nate holding the camera up to his face, as if he were looking through a viewfinder.




Also, afterward we ate a sandwich on the Mall. I don't know why I like this video so much, but I do.

Garden Update

So as the heat really ratchets up here in Texas, I thought I'd give another update on our garden. But first, some thoughts on the overall experience.
Going into it, I sorta envisioned something fairly nostalgic. Probably along the lines of "victory gardens" and all that. I'm now understanding that, like most hobbies, the wonders of modern industry can do a far, far better job than I could. Not only can I get good quality produce from a grocery store, but it comes in far cheaper than the effort I've put in so far. Now, a lot of that was initial cost, and next year (yes, there will be a next year) probably won't be nearly as expensive. Since I've started viewing it as sort of an experiment and with less of an end state in mind it's been much more rewarding. And who knows? Maybe it's just the ridiculous Texas heat that's keeping things down. For those of you that don't know what Texas is like, the past week highs have been in the high 90's, and soon we'll consistently be hitting 100. It will stay this way, with little to no rain, until September.
But with that, onto the photos. We've got one monster cucumber that's still waiting to turn green, and another smaller fully ripe one. We had more cherry tomatoes, but I'm pretty sure the birds are eating them. We're getting a few sweet and hot peppers too, and a few onions as well. The fennel is coming in nicely.
Also, our pigeons are back. Can you find her? Note, she's not the one eating our produce. If we didn't have pigeons nesting, I'd get one of those owl statues to protect the garden.

Again, growing up

Some of you may have seen the photos on Jill's facebook page, but Nate's got himself a new bed. While the position of it in the video below is no longer accurate, it's fun to see Nate jumping around in it.



He's generally sleeping just as well in the bed as in his crib, with the added benefit that our backs no longer have to haul him out of his crib. And while we put some pillows down on the floor next to his bed, he's already woken up once when he fell out of bed. I guess the rails weren't quite big enough. Stay tuned for more updates, to include our resident pigeon and a garden update.

Cooking with Nate and Dad

Following a strong family tradition, Nate helped me cook and we made a mighty pasta sauce together. As growing proof that he's getting older, here's a nice video of him chopping up some mushrooms with a dinner knife. Note that the knife isn't sharp in any way, nor is he even holding it right. But the concentration is fantastic. We'd previously gone over the ingredients we were going to use, but man, he was just focused on those mushrooms. More proof that he's growing up soon.

Some news, and a video for one

Thought I'd go ahead and catch everyone up on the latest here at the Sparks household. The biggest news, at least in my mind, is that recently Nate has increased his credentials as a Texan. That's right friends, he has been bit* (or stung to be more precise) by fire ants.

Oh fire ants!

You may have seen the video online where they form a little raft out of themselves on the surface of a tank of water to keep from drowning. You may have cheered for the fire ants as they huddled together, saving themselves from the briny depths. You may have marveled at their ingenuity and teamwork. You are wrong to have had these emotions, specifically because you have never been bit by a fire ant. If so, you would have cursed the experimenter in the video for not killing them all outright. Fire ants are invasive, hardy, and tiny. Their bites hurt and burn and itch like crazy. There is an old hymn that goes "All things bright and beautiful / All creatures great and small / All things wise and wonderful / The Lord God made them all." This is not true. Fire ants are not from God - they are from the devil himself.

Incidentally, except for the initial bite, they haven't been giving Nate too much trouble. It must be all the jalapenos he eats.

Switching gears entirely, here's a video Nate made for his yiayia on her birthday. Enjoy!




*I know bitten is the proper usage, but for some reason the Texan in me wants to use bit. In this context it seems right.

Fun in the garden, again

Here's another video of Nate roaming our garden and backyard. Usually he goes to town on the herbs, but it seems that the throat gunk that was plaguing him curbed his appetite. Enjoy the embed.

Jumping at the Zoo

Betcha can't guess what this post is about. Here's the video, but note that it was taken close to a month ago. Just this morning Nate had his first two feet off the ground hop (other than that time on a trampoline). I took some other video of Nate at the zoo, but it honestly isn't that exciting. Mostly Nate looking at sleeping animals and telling them to "wake up", to no avail. Hope you like this one.

Digging around in the ground

So it looks like we're going to give the whole garden thing a whirl this year. Since soil in Texas is kinda lousy (hooray for clay!) we decided to try a raised bed. We got the bed in place yesterday, and today Nate helped me fill it with dirt. Here's Nate helping get the new topsoil out of the bag.


Here he is when we've got some most of the soil unloaded.


Finally, here he is watering the dirt.


His eyes were closed a surprisingly high percentage of the time I tried to take pictures. After talking with the folks at the nursery (the garden variety) we're going to hold off on most vegetables until we're less likely to get another frost. Yes, it's going to hit the 80's this week. No, that doesn't mean we're out of the woods. So far we've got some spring onions, parsley, fennel, dill, and not enough dirt and not enough room. More updates to come, later.

Pillow Hat

Don't we all create new games to play as children? Nate has embarked on this journey with a curious game he likes to call "pillow hat". For the record, he came up with this on his own yesterday morning. We're just sitting there on the sofa and he keeps saying "pillow hat", not content until we're both wearing pillows on our heads. The video is after about ten minutes of playing, so he's a little less excited, but you get the idea.



And yes, he's getting pretty regular with the sentence use. The words are usually pretty separated, but still recognizable. Fun times with the kid. Oh, and he also knows that one two and three are said together, and in that order. Still working on getting the fingers to match, but it's a start.

Mr. Potato Head fun, and a little boy's first three word sentences...

So, Nate was given a Mr. Potato Head for Christmas (thanks Yia Yia and Grandpa).  I love Mr. Potato Head.  He can be serious or funny.  His arms can go at his side or coming out of his head.  Here are some pictures of Nate playing with Mr. Potato Head.  I am not sure if Nate knows that the pieces are not really meant for his face, but he sure had a lot of fun.  He especially likes the glasses.  :)

Also, this morning Daddy made Nate and I blueberry pancakes for breakfast.  It was quite surprising when Nate said, "Dip it Daddy," to Dave telling him to dip his pancake in syrup.  He followed it by saying, "Momma, do it."  I can't believe he is talking so much!  He is growing up way to fast!  Oh, how we love him.

Last Friday, Nate and a bunch of his buddies went to the Fort Worth Science Museum and Stock show. We especially liked the museum. It had one room teaching kids about light in many capacities (which was our favorite). We saw dinosaurs, went grocery shopping, and even ran into our friend Will (he did not go with us, so it was a surprise)! It was such a fun day that he passed out after only 5 minutes in the car. Too bad he woke up when we got home and never returned to sleep (until nighttime). Anyways, here are some great pictures of the fun we had that day.

A Nickel in the Wayback Machine, first edition

So this isn't really current, but it's still a lot of fun. This is Nate in Greece, driving back to our house, eating Cheerios from a bag with his eyes closed. The sheer will to eat Cheerios is staggering. Hope you enjoy.

Great Day in the Morning!

First off, who says this blog has to be all about Nate?

Second, the real post. We were driving out by the mall and Jill tells me to look to my right, and that I'm about to be very, very excited. She did not disappoint.

First a Freebirds, and now this?! It made my day, that it did. While BJ's was the go to site for a guy's night, Five Guys is gonna give it some stiff competition. Three cheers for franchising!

A fun day with friends

Nate and I were blessed with friends to play with today.  Here is a snapshot of morning milk with his little friend Noelle.  She came over for the morning before we took her to school (her mom just started a new job, so we are watching her some).  Nate and Noelle were so sweet together this morning.  First they ate breakfast and had their milk and then they danced the morning away.  Too sweet. 

Later on in the day, our friend, Connor, came to play.  They have such a good time together.  I love watching Nate play with his friends.  We are so lucky to have such a wonderful group of kids just moments away.  Here are some sweet pictures of the two of them playing together today.  :)

Nate, the bilingual (trilingual?!) child

Hear this, hear this!

So he's been doing it for about a week now, but our child is now a confirmed polyglot. Not only has he mastered at least 60 words in English, but he's starting to add Greek as well. You see, in Greek there's this little nursery rhyme called κούνια μπέλα or "kounia bella" for you English speakers. Basically it's about a woman falling off something (a swing I think?) and then socking the guy that catches her. Anyways, we always sing it when we hoist Nate off the ground with our legs (trust me, it's safe). While he hasn't mastered the κούνια μπέλα yet, he has mastered πάλι, which means "again", which he says whenever he wants to play κούνια μπέλα. A special thanks to his γιαγιά (grandmother) for teaching him. Master of languages!

Also, the kid is fluent in gibberish.

Smooth Moves

Ok, no time to type. Here's the video from the other night, hosted on youtube. Smooth moves Nate, smooth moves.

Big Little Nate

Nate is growing so fast these days. With his vocabulary soaring, he now sometimes uses two word sentences. Dave and I counted last night that he knows and uses regularly, on his own 62+ words! Some of his favorites are: cookie, milt (milk), bye, momma, daddy, Ollie, no, snow, eat, more, outside, cheese, and ice. His first sentence was "Ollie outside" and yesterday he said "Snow outside." He has become quite polite by almost always asking for things with "please?" We just adore him.

Today, I took him to the gym with me so I could workout. It has a fun area for kids to play, and Nate did not even cry when I dropped him off. This is a big improvement since the first day of preschool. :) He is such a big boy! Speaking of big, he is now tipping the scales at 28.2lbs which is the 75% for weight. He sits at the 50% for height and his head is still off the charts big.

It is common for him to walk around the house talking on either a play phone, the real phone, or some object he is pretending to be a phone. He talks mostly to momma, daddy, and yayayaya (I think this is Yia Yia--his grandma). He also still looks and calls for Ollie. Ollie is his uncle Adam's dog (and Aunt Blake's too). He sure does love dogs and now "woofs" repeatedly when he sees one. Lucky for Nate, we will get to see Ollie this weekend at the lake.

Nate is getting some new teeth too. His canines are popping through, and he has kept a toy in the mouth for the past week to help alleviate the pain. Why does teething have to be so painful?

Well, I think this is good for an update for now.