Almost 16 months

Nathan loves company and we've had plenty of those in the last month. First it was Nana and Pops (James' parents) who came for their annual visit. Nathan got it into the habit of starting each day by running to Nana's room and reading a few books together (which was great for the rest of us who got to sleep in a little). The same day that Nana left my best friend from Shanghai, May, came to visit and it took Nathan a few days to adjust. He was definitely sad when Nana left and even said "Nana, all-ga (all gone)" the next day. The same day that May left, WaiPo (my mom) came from Shanghai to look after Nathan for a few weeks while our nanny Sarah goes on vacation. Anyway, there's lots of changes going on at home but Nathan seems to be adapting well. My mom has quickly observed that all he really seeks is attention, even when he hits people, he's just wanting a reaction and inviting them to "play".

It's been more that 2 months since my last post and Nathan's started doing so many new things:

• Peek-a-boo is still his favorite game and we play it everywhere. He loves it when I hide behind a piece of furniture and jump out. He'll also cover his own face with his hands and peek through. Whenever he starts doing that I'll sneak up really close and go "boo".
• Running around with towel over his head... Yep, he's definitely not afraid and doesn't seem to mind running into furniture. I usually keep an eye on him when he's running around like a ghost and make sure he doesn't hurt himself too badly. He loves running into people's arms like that.
• Mega blocks is definitely his favorite toy now. He was more into destruction than construction in the beginning but is starting to put blocks together. Interestingly he prefers smaller blocks to bigger ones and usually picks out all the 1x1's to make a tower. He also loves to dump all the blocks out onto the floor so the pile of megablocks has become a permanant fixture in the center of our living room.
• Favorite books have changed as well. He's more into books that he can participate in now, such as "From head to toe" and "Mr. Brown can moo, can you?". He loves the sound of cork popping (which only James can do) and tries to go "cocka-doodle-doo" as well. "Good night moon" is still an all time favorite.
  
• One word that he's saying really well now is "hot" (usually sounds more like "hottu"). When he wants water he says "wuga", and "mm.." is for moon. Another word he's trying to say is "cheese" but he'll just go "chhhhh" and end up spitting all over the place. It's quite a funny site...
  
• Pretend play is starting! He pretends to talk on the phone when ever he gets hold of a cell phone.
  
• Nods and shakes his head a lot for "yes" and "no", but not sure if he really knows the meaning yet since he seems to nod his head to 95% of all questions.
• Friendly guy - loves waving to people and not shy at all. Apparently at the park he's pretty popular with the regulars and learned to beg for food, which I'm not too thrilled about since he now knows what a lollipop is even though we've never given him one.
  
• Food-wise he's got a really healthy appetite and it's pretty easy feeding him. Our favorite restaurant is this sushi place down the road. We went there for dinner earlier today and Nathan had his usually order of gyoza plus some tofu. At home nanny still spoon feeds him but we usually just let him make a mess in feeding himself. He can have a lot
  

Overall, Nathan's just so much more interactive now. He seems to understand a lot of what we're saying but still can't say many words, which is probably one of the reasons why he gets frustrated so easily these days. He's definitely becoming more and more strong willed and loves to "boss" mommy and daddy around. But as long as we give him attention and respond promptly to his "demands", he's a pretty happy and cheerful kid, and brings us so much fun and joy.