Between Babies: Nathan and Banner have been texting more lately, which is harder to document...

Subject: Howdy Banner
From: Nathan
Date: Tue, 7 May 2013 11:54:21 -0500
To: Banner

How's it going, Banner Man? I know it's been a long time since I've said hi, but there is just so much going on lately.

I want to say thank you for all of your encouragement to help me start crawling. I love being able to chase after my dog, and it's so funny when my dad crawls after me. The only bad thing is that crawling hurts my knees when I get to the tile floor. I've been trying to figure out how to crawl without putting my knees on the ground. So far, nothing's working. I'm also experimenting with standing. I know you had trouble getting out of the stand for a while, so mostly I practice standing and then sitting back down. Every now and then I need to rub my eyes and forget myself and let go of whatever I'm holding on to. That's the end of standing. Mom says I need something called balance. Now, where am I supposed to get that?

Oh, and I seem to keep getting in trouble at daycare. One day, I was trying to give one of my friends a kiss on the forehead and they told my Mom I bit another baby. I had to listen to this whole lecture about how we bite our food, not our friends. Then, another day, I was trying to help my little buddy stop crying. Obviously he was crying because he didn't have a paci, so I offered my hand for him to suck on. But no, that meant I got yelled at and my mom got a call saying I was putting my hands in another kid's mouth. Grown ups just don't understand me, of course it might help if they bothered to ask me what I was doing.

I am not enjoying my mom's experiments with giving me new foods at all. Mom knows the things I like and she doesn't seem to understand that is what she should give me. Yellow eggs are really yucky, as is cheese and for some reason she thinks I might like avocado again. Avocado's been off the list since February. Don't even get me started on beans. GROSS! She also thinks that for some reason I should be picking these things up and putting them in my mouth myself. Ummm, no! I started just throwing the food on the floor for my dog to eat. I mean I'm not going to eat it and he is nice enough to lick my face after I chase him. I think that merits payment of food.
 
I have to tell you about this game called peek a boo? Have you played it with your parents? I can put ANYTHING in front of my face and when I take it away they laugh like crazy. I don't get what's so funny to them, but when they laugh, I laugh just to keep the game going.
 
The other really cool thing I've been doing is playing with gravity. I know you told me about gravity ages ago, but, I haven't found a single thing that gravity doesn't pull to the floor, no matter how many times I drop it. This gravity guy never gets tired of playing with me and my toys.

Oh, and I got something called a "haircut" last weekend. That was super fun. They put a big cape on me. I felt like a superhero, except I wasn't able to fly around. Oh, and there were mirrors ALL OVER THE PLACE! I didn't know which one to look at.
 
Anyway, that's all the good news for now. I'm getting to spend the day at home with my mom because I have another ear infection. I kept trying to tell my mom that I didn't feel good last night, I don't know why she didn't take me to the doctor until today. But it is nice being home because there are a lot of crying babies at daycare now. They don't know the fun of crawling around the room and getting into everything yet, but I'm trying to show them.

Talk to ya later,
Nathan

From: Banner
Date: May 10, 2013, 1:03:58 PM CDT
To: Nathan
Subject: RE: Howdy Banner

Dude, you need a balloon.  They completely defy gravity.  Best toy EV-VER.  They fall UP.  Just don’t let go outside because then the balloon goes bye-bye forever.

I have no idea about this “haircut” thing you mentioned, but EVERYONE seems to be getting one except me.  I tried to ask my mom about it, but she says I need something called “hair” before I can have it cut.  Details.

In other news, I’ve graduated to running now.  It is like walking but faster.  I think it is loads of fun – especially when mommy and daddy have to chase me to keep up.  I love to be chased.  I laugh and laugh and laugh.  It sure makes mom and dad look tired, though.  I think they should both start taking naps so they can keep up.

All the boys in my class keep leaving or graduating.  It makes me sad.  My bestest buddy, Brox, moved to Ennis in mid-April, and now my new best friend, Henry, just transitioned this week into the twos down the hall.  I mean, there are a couple of other guys in my room, but I’m just not as close with Taylor or Kane.  So, I’m mainly just chilling with the ladies right now.  But those girls…man, they are nothing but trouble.  Did you know that it is frowned upon to tackle girls?  Yeah, me neither!  I like to lure them in with a hug, and then *wham* I tackle them to the floor.  So.  Much.  Fun.  My teacher ruined everything, though, when she told my mom about it.  Now I’m supposed to be working on something super-annoying called “gentle”.  Boo.  Gentle is no fun at all.

Oh, and I hear you about the ear infection.  I was diagnosed with one a couple of weeks ago, but the medicine didn’t make it better so I had to go back to the doctor this morning and get more.  The only slightly cool thing is that my ear infections get so bad that snot starts to come out of my eyes.  This completely disgusts my mother, which almost makes the pain worth it.  

Your buddy,

Ban-Ban the Tackling Man