Nate Set to Fire Mommy

Nate's publicist/mommy has been busy with her other writing commitments recently and as such has been slacking in her 'Nate the Great' duties. She understands that Nate's loyal girlfriends and family members (cough, Glenn and Bob) have been checking the blog regularly and have been quite unimpressed with its staleness. To make up for her recent shortcomings, mommy is posting a photo of Great-Uncle Glenn and Sir Nate at Great-Grandma Glenora's 75th birthday party last month Markdale.

Nate's Rep Denies He Was in Rehab

While our little party animal has definitely been out of commision for the past few weeks, he hasn't been in rehab as some outlets have been reporting. The weight loss and gaunt appearance are the result of DDD (Dreaded Daycare Disease) that has forced Sir Nate to stick close to home reading My First Truck Board Book over and over and over again. Our little patient has even taken to bringing this favourite literature to bed with him at night, and leaving the light on, just so he can read well into the wee hours. Mommy and daddy have each made trips to Dr. Barman with the little sickie, only to be told that it's a cold/flu virus that's hit the kiddies hard this season. On a positive note, the steady stream illnesses has made Mr. Hard to Get very clingy, which mommy secretly loves. He's even learned to name all of his family members in his Christmas photo album, thanks to many an hour spent on mommy's lap. (Bob! Paul! Evan! Gigi! to name a few.) To help bring Nate out of his sick-induced slump, mommy took him to Culture's this week for his favourite blueberry/strawberry smoothie which seemed to raise his spirits slightly. We're hoping the trip up north this weekend to the fresh country air will mend him once and for all!

Brotherhood of the Travelling Pants

Like the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants storyline, Nate #1, Nate #2, Theo and Joshua's mothers all met in their pre-natal class and have formed a close bond ever since. They reunited today to trade hugs (real men hug, dontcha know?) sippie cuts (our Nate had his first taste of goat's milk, oops) and toys (trains, action figures, police cars and kitchen accessories.) Mommy became slightly concerned at one point when her wee Nate seemed to turn into the Incredible Hulk and flipped Nate#2 right over the bean bag, barely breaking a sweat in the process. It wouldn't have been the least bit surprising if his shirt had ripped apart and he had turned dark green. (Mommy made a mental note to cut back on the protein.) Also attached is a photo of the bosom buddies when they were a few weeks old.

Like Father, Like Son

Nate was kind enough to lend his sleeping daddy his blankey and duckie the other day after he came home from an Indian buffet and needed an afternoon nap on the couch. Which got mommy to thinking...that must be where Nate gets his ability to sleep soundly, because it certainly isn't from her. Like his father, Nate is a blistfully unaware of the nightly riots that seem to take place outside his window when the bars let out, or the deafening firetrucks that storm past 30 Church on a regular loop. Even the church bells tolling every hour on the hour don't seem to disrupt our marathon sleeper because when Nate's tired, he doesn't joke around. Take last night for instance. After a hard day at the office (daycare) our boy came home, polished off a man-sized meal, then proceeded to hit the deck at 6 p.m. never to be heard from again until 8 a.m. You'd think that 14 straight hours would be enough shut-eye to keep him sailing through the day, but think again, because a 3.5-hour afternoon nap ensued. Mommy is starting to think they should put Nate on the daycare payroll because they obviously have him doing hard labor all day.

Nate Considers Blackberry

Nate is taking the weekend to make a big decision; Blackberry or Personal Assistant? Move over Busy Philipps, there's a new Busy in town. Between his two days at daycare and his Mondays with Nonny the Nanny, he's having a hard time slotting all of his wives, buddies and various appointments into the remaining timeslots. Mommy realized just how busy he'd gotten this week when she tried to make an appointment for Sir Nathaniel at the doctor's office. She finally managed to secure a time that fit his complicated schedule, but not after some serious juggling. So what kept our Busy Bee occupied this week? He entertained one of his wives, Gracey, for dinner and a couch jumping session. He helped ring in his great-grandfather (Giga's) 87th birthday where he polished off an entire piece of cake before digging into his mommy's (no wonder he has kankles). He made a pit stop at Top Cuts (Great Hair for Less and Purple Suckers Too) for his first 'professional' haircut and managed to squeeze in a training session for his new sous-chef, Matthew as well. The cherry on top of his week came when Auntie Beth presented him with an owl she had knitted for him last night. Some competition for ducky? Thankfully, Nate understands the value of some down time and has been fulfilling that need with Bob the Builder.

Nate is the Perfect Grandson While Parents Chill in Mexico

Our little man spread the love between his grandparents last week while his parents took the Mayan Riviera by storm for Wendy & Dave's nuptials. He spent the first weekend with his Grammy and Grandpa pointing out the local hotspots, stopping only briefly inside the friendly churches to warm up. (Pass a TD bank? Dada! Pass Tim Horton's? Nonno!) Luckily the sitters stuck to Nate's Saturday market routine so he wasn't thrown off track too much. Nonno and Baba then took the babysitter baton on Sunday afternoon and highlights included watching Tipi Tales and Vivere (Italian soap opera). Nonno innocently brought Nate along to Giga's doctor's appointment on Monday only to learn that Nate 'doesn't do' doctor's offices. Despite a brief stress-filled 48 hours without his Beloved Blankey mid-week, calm was restored on Wednesday when said blankey was discovered lodged under the crib between a diaper box. Grandpa and Grammie breezed back into town on Thursday to take the final leg of the race. (Grandpa Andy gets the creative award of the week for skating Sir Nate around Nathan Phillips Square's ice rink in his stroller.) When mommy and daddy returned on Saturday afternoon - they had to do a double-take to recognize their grown-up boy! Many thanks to the ace babysitting team for their 10 out of 10 effort!

Nate Does Daycare

Our little student-in-training started his third week of daycare and is finally starting enjoy the experience after a rougher than expected start! The first few days were met with bring-the-house-down screaming and monstrous tears anytime mommy or daddy left. (Truth be told, mommy wasn't much better.) There were even a few calls home from the daycare to come retrieve our master-crier. But slowly the tide began to turn and by the end of last week, our man was bringing home glowing reviews on his daily report card. Napped? Check! Ate all his lunch? Check! Nate even completed a tiring 9-4 shift today and when mommy went to pick him up, found him happy as pie with a mouth full of sand. Yum! Nate will still be spending Mondays with Nonno the Nanny and completing his daycare studies on Tuesdays and Thursdays.