ZOMG THE ZOO!!!!!!!!

It's been a busy week and it makes us feel old.  It's hard to get Nate out and about but Annie and I knew early on that we wanted to do as many normal things in the outside world as possible with Nate. With Nathaniel on Spring Break this week we decided to get some things done.  High on that list for Nate was the zoo. 

We were trying to decide which zoo to attend, San Francisco or Oakland.  We based the decision solely on the fact that Oakland had elephants.  We did not, however, take the zoo's topography into account.  That may have been a mistake.  The Oakland Zoo has hills.  Or maybe it's better to say that the Oakland Zoo is made up completely of hills.

Hills + heavy wheel chair + Nate + equipment that comes with Nate = and exhausting day.

 

Nate was largely unimpressed with the lone elephant, boring him to death by doing nothing but eat some hay nearly as far as possible from the fence. Regardless of which zoo we attended Nate loved it and now we are sore.  In our defense we had done some hiking with Nate in Huddart park the day before which already had us a bit worn down.

About 8 months ago Nate started getting more and more anxious about life.  Not having any control over situations, including control over your own body, makes everything more nerve racking.  Annie and I have worked very hard to try and break him from this and we've seen some success lately.

I couldn't believe Nathaniel was willing to pet a goat.  He loves animals.....but always at a distance.  Not only did he want to get close to the goat but he even petted it, and enjoyed.  He enjoyed it so much he wanted to pet all of the goats.

 

 

 

Towards the end we got to see the tortoises which was a huge delight to Nate.  It's always fun for us to see Nate do normal things in spite of his limitations.  For me, at least, I forget that he's just a normal 4 year-old in most ways and I remember when I see him pulling on the railing's of the paddock trying to get himself as close as possible to the animals.  I look around and see other kids doing the exact same thing and it makes me happy.

 

 

All in all it was great trip and Nate loved it.

 

 

Nathaniel's Birthday

For the longest time, at least starting in college, I didn't see much point in celebrating birthdays.  All it says is that, through very little effort of my own, I was able to not die for another year.  In fact one year I forgot altogether it was my birthday until my mom called me.

 

Well, for Nate each year means something.  We came so close to losing him on several occasions and each passing year is not only a celebration of Nate's continued existence on Earth but of our gratefulness for what he brings to us each day.

 

And Nate's birthday couldn't have come at a better time.  Annie and I have been completely ignoring him as we've tried to get everything moved into or new apartment so it was a good excuse to stop everything and spend the day with Nate.

 

This meant doing whatever Nate wanted and what he wanted was the Children's Discovery Museum.  Nate had a lot of fun and was able to participate in a lot of the activities. 

 

 

He did the bubble pull and was able to hoist the sheet of bubble out all by himself.  Of course by the time I thought to film it has was pretty well spent but I was pretty impressed with his ability to pull up the thing hand-over-hand.

 

 

And boy did Nate love Waterworld, and by that I DO mean the great Kevin Costner classic.  On a more related note, Nate loved the waterworld area of the CDM.  He got pretty good at throwing balls into the whirlpools.


 
 
 

 We ended the night with Transformer cupcakes and some presents.  Nate's ability to pull levers, throw balls and crank wheels were not the only feats of strength performed that day, he was even able to blow the fire on his candles.  He couldn't blow them out but he definitely made the flames move.

All said and done, it was a great success and probably his best birthday.  If you asked Nate what his favorite part was he would probably tell you the hollowed out Fire Truck at the museum....or the hollowed out ambulance.....or the bones of a Mammoth......or being sung to at Tiny Tots....it was hard for him to choose and it changed moment to moment.

 

I'd say that's a good B-day.

Coastin'

Nate has had a great year so far.  Just in this month alone he has had his first sleepover, started primary and visited his first amusement park.  AND!  Nate went on his first roller coaster and LOVED it.

 

We decided to go to Happy Hollow this last week.  We try to do things with Nate that sound painful and exhausting for us because that's usually a good indicator that it is something exciting for him.  Nathaniel has never been on anything even resembling a ride and even though there is some anxiety for us to do something like this we knew it would be good for him and us.

 

 

 

 

First up was the Merry-go-round.  Nate thought it was loads of fun so we thought we'd check out what other rides there were.

 

As we neared the back of the park Nate saw the roller coaster and it was love at first sight.  I don't think he knew exactly what it was but he saw it going around the track and knew he wanted to be on it.  The ride seemed pretty tame so Nate and I put on our matching shirts and hopped on.

 Nate was so excited to be on the rollercoaster, I thought he was going to shake himself apart.  Once the ride got going I was worried that he was going to have a smile permanently attached to his face.  This may sound great but if he has a permanent smile then what was he supposed to do during serious moments? 

Anyway, Nate loved it.  He loved it so much we had to ride it again immediately. 

Nate has a lot of anxiety issues.  The world is full of loud and scary things and he doesn't have any control over them, he can't just run or walk away from something that is upsetting him.  This makes him a little more anxious then other kids his age but one thing I know, Nate is ALWAYS up for something that gets his adrenaline up. 

 

 

Let's Talk About Christmas

Annie and I were very excited for Christmas this year since it was the first year that Nate was really going to be aware of everything and be excited for it.  Almost as soon as he discovered Transformers he knew what he wanted from Santa this year and it never deviated, Optimus Prime.

 

It was great fun to see Nathaniel participate in traditions that I had as a kid, not to mention how much fun he had with uncles, aunts and cousins, which he saw lots of.

 

This was Nate and Callie making Candy Cane cookies to put out for Santa on Christmas Eve.

 

It was delightful to seem him with a Christmas wish but Annie and I also wanted to make sure Nate understood what Christmas was really about.  So, we mixed up the traditional Christmas activities with food donations, hospital visits and a book drive for kids in the hospital. We told him he was helping the kids that need help.  I think we can safely say that Nate was just as excited about the Nativity story as he was Santa.  This made his role as one of the wise men on Christmas Eve particularly exciting for him. 

He could not wait to get in his wise man costume, which he picked out himself.

Maybe one of these days the secret film of the Green family Nativity will see the light of day.

The 3 wise men.  Uncle Marcus probably changed his costume about 6 times that night....what a diva.

Pajamas on Christmas Eve.  Nate finally is able to make sure his love of construction vehicles follows him to bed now with his construction vehicle jammies.

"Hmmmm, do I like what's happening"

Is it just me or does Nate's left arm look really tan?

Christmas morning finally arrived and Santa brought Nate an endless supply of Transformers.

And then Nathaniel saw it under Grammy and Grandpa's Christmas Tree.  Optimus Prime!

Optimus Prime reaction shot.

Nate loved Christmas, received Optimus Prime (which he played with for 6 days straight) and was able to experience giving to those who are in need this season. And in his nightly prayers he still prays for Heavenly Father to bless the kids who need help.

Scooter Board

Have you seen Nate's scooter board?  He has gotten so fast on this thing.  We take him off his vent and he cruises around Grandma's hardwood floors all day.  The other day he did it for an hour and a half straight. 

 

 

He also just developed a new move where he chases his own bum around in circles.

 

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our hospital book drive!

 

Thanks to all of you we were able to donate over 120 Christmas books to children at SCVMC and LPCH.

Both hospitals were so grateful for the donations and we are grateful to you for supporting our little project.  We hope these books have brought just a bit of cheer to the kids who received them.

 

Nate went with when we took this batch to LPCH and he was very, very excited.  He always says "please bless all the little kids in the hospital" when he says his nightly prayers.  I am happy that he is learning that a big part of Christmas is giving to those who are having a hard time. 

 

Thank you for your kindness and support.  Merry Christmas!



Guess who Nate got to meet yesterday?

Last year Nate met Santa but he was a bit overwhelmed.  He didn't cry but he did not want to get closer.

This year Nate was very excited to meet him and tell him about how much he wanted Optimus Prime for Christmas.  I think he was a bit in shock about meeting Santa.  He looked like he was star stuck the whole time but he was definitely happy about it.

As a reward for meeting the big guy Nate and Callie got candy canes which they were apparently very proud of.

Nathaniel has been getting more and more anxious about doing things lately.  We are not sure why but it's getting harder and harder for him to leave his very small comfort zone and I was pretty sure he would have at least a mildly negative reaction to Santa once he got close but it was a Christmas miracle.

I think it helped that Nate had the support of his cousins Callie, Samantha and Micah.  Callie and Nate were headbutting and punching each other before hand to psyche each other up. 

I am not joking. They were literally bonking their foreheads together and laughing and then punching each other in the stomachs.  Although by the time we got a picture they had calmed it down a bit.  It was kind of delightful.