twenty-three months.

This has been a rough month...Nate developed a high fever that lasted for about 12 days, usually staying between 102 to 104 degrees. My poor little boy turned into a human pincushion as he went through several rounds of lab work, a tuberculosis test, a chest x-ray, catheters, and lots of swabs. After all of that testing, we're still not sure what happened. What I can report is that my happy, healthy boy is back! As mysteriously as this mess started, it went away.  As a mother, I've never been more worried and consumed with something; it's such a helpless feeling when even the doctors are not sure what's going on.

After much ado, I'm finally able to talk about Nate at twenty-three months. Some recent Nathan-isms include:

-starting to learn words to songs and actually sing along
-says some words with a nearly-British accent: Peter is "Peetah" and treasure is "trea-sha"
-begrudgingly I admit that he recognizes the McDonald's sign.  We started letting him have chicken nuggets on the weekend and now he knows the golden arches. It makes running errands interesting, because he knows the roads and we take a lot of alternate routes
-says "cheese" when you take his picture, but does not necessarily look at the camera
-demands your full attention when he wants to talk to you. Multi-tasking does not satisfy this one, as he'll say "Momma...Momma....MOMMA!!!" and then he'll grab your face and center it with his so that you are nose-to-nose
-alerts me pretty consistently to his poopy diapers by saying "I stink". Unfortunately, he still thinks it's a game to run away and avoid changing, so potty training may be a ways off for us
-is sleeping in a toddler bed and not causing all too much chaos; when he's by himself he usually only goes after his stuffed animals rather than ransacking his dresser
-wants you to follow him everywhere. Nate will lead you by the hand and say "c'mon" about a million times until you go

Here are some photos that recap our story, good times and bad, through his twenty-third month. I can't believe he will be two years old in only two days!