The biggest news first. Drumroll please…Nate has one less tooth in his head. Well, kind of. His permanent tooth had half-way grown in behind his baby tooth, so for a while he had one more tooth in his head. But now he’s back on track without even a hole. That’s convenient!
Nate is such a great kid. It would take me hours to write everything great about him. Here’s just a sample of what he’s been up to as of late.
This kid talks, and talks and talks. Still. He explains everything step-by-step. He asks questions until he understands, which usually doesn’t take very long at all.
He gets sucked into Infomercials. Granted, they do seem to be written at a young child’s level. He will try to convince me we need whatever gadget is being sold. “Mom! It comes with a free cupcake holder! It’s very powerful! But dad will have to buy it because it’s hundreds of dollars.”
Nate is a great friend. He tells me all the time that he doesn’t know why some kids are mean to other kids. We talked the other day about Ely and how it might be hard for him to make friends because he is partially blind and gets frustrated with things easily. I overheard him tell someone that he was working hard to become Ely’s friend. That sure made a mom’s morning.
Nate is the best big brother. He plays with his sisters to no end. He’ll put up with their emotional swings and bossiness. He’ll make them laugh. They love him with all the little sister love they’ve got.
Nate can get very stressed out when trying to make decisions. Hmmm, sounds familiar to me. Sometimes he’ll tell me to just make the decision for him. Again, sounds familiar to me.
He hates being put on a timer. This stresses him out more than anything, I think. Panic attacks including hyperventilating and crying usually ensue.
Nathan ponders. When he is told or taught something, especially gospel-oriented, he ponders and then asks very thoughtful questions. Similar experiences happen routinely. Just the other night we read and talked about Mosiah 27:9 “…causing much dissension among the people; giving a chance for the enemy of God to exercise his power over them.” Well, tonight he asked Rob, “If children break the commandments, will the devil have power over them?” Rob gently explained that the devil doesn’t have any power over children; that Heavenly Father loves and protects him.
Rob and I love our high-spirited, highly-spiritual son.
I’m just in love with his music. It’s angst-ridden and romantic, which I tend to like. Here is his 
I was antsy for a trip and found $80 airfare to New York. We were already planning on going next year, but why wait with airfare like that?! I’ve been busy putting together our Plan of Attack on the city. I don’t have all the details yet, but it includes miles of walking, thousands of photographs, and fronting as upper-west-siders (think: You’ve Got Mail) or as Brooklyn Heights residents as we will probably rent an apartment rather than stay in a hotel. I’m stoked to work our way through the city, first through the eyes of immigrants, then weaving our way through the villages of the free-thinkers, and finally, up the ladder to peek through the eyes of socialites. 
