Family vacation: Weekend in Tahoe

Nathan, Alex and I spent the weekend in Tahoe with friends of ours -- 2 families which we have known for about a year, since all of our first children were born.

We had a fantastic time -- skiing, relaxing, and just "living" among each other and each family's particular schedule and rhythm.

Nathan, Lincoln, and Eva had a lot of fun playing together and learned a lot from each other. Nathan, having the benefit of a well padded and carpeted floor, took his first real steps by himself and walked throughout our suite, impressing his mom and dad quite a bit.

If you're "polite company," please don't read this post...

Ana saw by Nathan's scrunched-up face that he was having his morning constitutional, and asked him if he was doing a "po po" (rhymes with "go go" and is Spanish for poop).

He repeated it back to us, and very clearly let us know that it was indeed a "po po".

Go go, po po!

(p.s. the milestone documented here is not Nathan's first po po -- it is, of course, Nathan's first awareness of and comunication about it!)

The hits keep coming...

Nathan now consistently says a few more things..

• "Nounou" = Nounours (Teddy Bear in French)
• "Dodo " = Dodo (short for Dormir, to go to sleep, in French)
• "Doh" or "Ahnnn" = Donne (give me, in French)
• "Boom" or "Boon" = Boom (something fell to the ground...)
• "Bobo" = Bobo (when you hurt yourself, you have a "bobo" in French)
• "Awa" or "abba" or "agua" = Agua (water in Spanish)
• "Papie" = Papie (Grandpa in French)
• "Mamie" = Mamie (Grandma in French)

Nathan's vocabulary

Nathan has been making some pretty solid gains in his vocabulary and word/action association lately, so I thought I'd try to capture a few of the more interesting ones on video. Of course that's near impossible.


Here's a rundown in textual form while I gather the necessary video footage...

• "Maman" = Mom (Alex, sometimes Sam)
• "Papa" = Papa (Sam)
• "Non non" = no. Or sometimes it just means wait a minute.
• --> ("Screaming amazingly loud" also still means no sometimes...)
• "Woo woo" or "bow woo" = Dog (or any furry animal)
• "Baim" or "Bain" = Food ("Pain" is bread in French)
• "Hi" or "Cou cou" = Hello
• "La la" or "La le" = "Le lait"
• "Bye bye" = Aurevoir
• Nathan will consistently and eagerly do the "how big is nathan... so big" game
• He will also pretty consistently say "Beee" and clap his hands. We think he might be trying to save "bravo."

Nathan's 1st Birthday party

Nathan had his first birthday party today at the South Beach Harbor community center.

We were planning to go there to set up right after Nathan's nap (10 or 10:30A) but Nathan amazed us by sleeping until 11:30A. It made setting up a little bit of a rush but luckily Lois and the Sorkins showed up first and helped out by babysitting Nathan and blowing up balloons.

The other casualty of our late arrival was the forgotten packet of plastic utensils we left at home (doh!) -- Thanks to Tea, Ana, Nena and Mirko who brought some utensils with them and saved us from having to eat birthday cake with our fingers!

We had SO MUCH FUN and are so blessed to have had so many friends and family come out to help us celebrate (and clean up after...) Nathan's big day!

Nathan the Birthday Boy!


...pushing Kati around in the Radio Flyer

...calling the store for an emergency milk delivery ("does that come in a pony keg size?')

...getting ready to (watch Deborah) blow out the candle

...asking Eric to take this nice "family portrait" so he can reminisce about "the good old days" when he's older (2?)

...and finally, taking a picture of the "King for a day" after Bill found the "Feve"in his piece of Galette des Rois

Happy Holidays and Prosperous New Year

From our family to yours, happy holidays!