Kipper Love

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Originally uploaded by deirdred75.

It was hard to tell sometimes who was more excited about the other, Nathaniel and Kipper. Both of them are pretty similar in temperment, loving, excitable, explore things with their mouth. They had a great time together.

Nathaniel and his Great Grandmother

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Originally uploaded by deirdred75.

Here is Nat and little Grandma. Notice the fancy cookie he has in his hand .. Nathaniel ate half a box of these.

Future Pianist

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Originally uploaded by deirdred75.

He loved little Grandma's piano. He also forced everyone in the room to clap for his performances. Those drifing off during his concerto were given strong warning looks.

All Dressed Up

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Originally uploaded by deirdred75.

Here is Nathaniel with Grandma and both of them in their Christmas outfits. We think Nat really had a Gordon Gecko look about him. We kept handing him cell phones and yelling 'Greed is Good.' Doug, Jay and I thought it was hilarious.

With Uncle Jay

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Originally uploaded by deirdred75.

One of the only pictures of Jay and Nathaniel to come out unfortunately. Jay was a great uncle to Nathaniel and really amused him. Here they are playing with Safari Jeep, his favorite toy.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Twas the Night Before Christmas
Originally uploaded by deirdred75.

Thankfully Nathaniel started recovering about 24 hours before we had to leave for the United States. We were pretty close to having our doctor certify Nat as medically unfit to travel. But his cold didn't steal Christmas and we had a great time with Doug's family. Here we are in little Grandma's living room as Doug reads the Night Before Christmas pop-up book to Nathaniel.

Christmas Morning

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Originally uploaded by deirdred75.

Here are Grandma and Nat, opening up presents on Christmas morning. He was pretty pleased with all of his loot. And we got pretty much everything back with us. We only took back two more bags than we came over with.

Really Really Sick

Really Really Sick
Originally uploaded by deirdred75.

This is at the height of his flu/ear/throat/bronchial infection. He and Doug are watching a Duke game early one monring before Doug heads off to work (probably one of the last free mornings Doug has had). He looked like this for about a week. He was a pretty sick little guy.

Tunnels

Tunnels
Originally uploaded by deirdred75.

Here he is at Crechendo, our toddler gymnastics class. He goes through stages ... one week its all tunnels and the next its nothing but climbing. The toddler years are fickle years it appears.

Nathaniel is also getting sick in this picture, but still fairly functional.

Cheese and Crackers

Cheese and Crackers
Originally uploaded by deirdred75.

Nathaniel seems to go through food fads right now. He worships a food for like four days, eating it like its the best food in the world, then suddenly that's it, he has no interest in it anymore. Makes it difficult when all you have brought along on a trip is a food that is no longer in the acceptable category. Here he was in the height of his Boursin cheese on Ritz crackers phase. He is just starting to get the flu or whatever illness it was that he struggled with for two weeks (we visited the doctor four times and the ER twice during that).

First Haircut

First Haircut
Originally uploaded by deirdred75.

Instead of on the chair we ended up cutting his hair like this ... he looks like a happy camper doesn't he?

In the Chair

In the Chair
Originally uploaded by deirdred75.

In December after getting far too many comments regarding Nathaniel's mullet, we decided to take him for his first trim. We let him watch Doug get his hair cut first in hopes that would be reassuring. That didn't quite work.