Nate Lays Low at Country Estate

Our city slicker turned his back on the T-Dot and headed north for the week to spend time with his family while his daddy was travelling in Europe and India. The week started off with a bang - Nate bringing the fine weather with him - but things took a turn for the worse when our usually sociable guy turned sour on a group of babies at the park. Mommy knew something was up when he would have nothing to do with her friends' happy children. Not even a Baby Mum Mum could entice him to join the festivites. A trip to the Harrison Park Inn for lunch with great-grandma Glenora and Uncle Bob was also cut short when a visible distraught Nathaniel made himself known to the busy lunch-time restaurant. After deciding that it may not be a teething issue afterall, poor wee Nate had to bend over so his grandpa Andy could take his temp. Turns out it was a fever that had felled our boy and then a nasty rash ensued. A trip to the family doc (who delivered mommy) revealed that our little patient was dealing with a dose of Roseola. His first virus, sniff! But no panic necessary, Nate-dog has made a full recovery and has set his sights on crawling up the stairs. Daddy won't believe the changes (including a much larger tuft of hair) when he gets home tonight!

Brotherhood of the Travelling Pants

Nate hosted three of his buddies this week for some poker, hard liquor and good old fashioned cigar smoking. And after the 10-month-old bad boys finished discussing the latest roller coaster ride that is the stock market, they feasted on Cheerios and Sweet Potato Puffs. Mommy met Joshua, Nate #2 and Theo's moms in pre-natal class about one year ago at the Midwive's Collective on Dupont and kept in touch as our sweet innocent boys grew into the ladies' men that they are today. Attached is a photo of the boys mere weeks old with their proud moms and then on Wednesday flying solo on the couch. Sit with mom? How embarrassing!

Lock Your Doors - Nate is Crawling!

To all you ladies who thought Nate was trouble before - watch out cause he's coming your way - and fast. As of April 13 at 8:45 a.m. Nate-dog has been on a tear, crawling throughout the house like never before. While he spent the past couple of months in reverse he's officially switched it into first gear and is taking no prisoners. It's only been a few hours and already we understand what everyone has been warning us about. Hurricane Nate is tearing apart magazines, knocking over mommy's neatly stacked collection of chick-lit and slamming his fists on the laptop. He has a talent for zeroing in on prey that is strictly off-limits. In fact, his new motto is: 'the more dangerous, the better.' He's already asked mommy if he's allowed to go on a pub crawl now that he's mastered the skill but we'll have to wait for his fake ID to arrive.

Radio Silence After Nate's First Casting Call

Nathaniel 'Nate-dog' Durkacz got the call that every young aspiring model waits for -his first audition! One fresh morning in March, the Babyface agency called our blue-eyed boy to say his photo had been chosen and the following day he was due at a casting call for a financial company's billboard campaign. Well, to say our man was jazzed was an understatement. He ordered his mom to high-tail it to the Eaton Centre to pick out the perfect outfit which as you can see from the photo turned out to be a classic mix of 'baby boy meets Bay St.' The next morning, mommy let her working boy get his beauty sleep and then after lunch paraded him down Adelaide St. to the casting agent's office. After filling in some paperwork, Nate was escorted by a beautiful female photographer (who happened to take a shine to our boy) to have his Polaroid taken. Unfortunately for Nate, his first model shoot was forever tainted when she began to coo "Jackie, over here, smile Jackie!" Mommy never did follow instructions very well and was forced to explain nicely that she had filled out her name and not her son's on the forms - strike 1. Next up was the moment of truth. Our man was brought into a large, intimidating room with nothing but a lonely high-chair at the front and a casting agent sitting sternly in the back. The high-chair could have been on the set of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire thanks to the sheer force of the lights. A video camera began to roll as Nate was fastened into the high chair and ordered to perform. "Tell us about your son in under 1 minute!" piped the man at the back of the room. "Well, he's very social, loves to be around people," mommy gushed while Nate sat stone-faced trying to figure out what the hell was going on. "He really does, don't you Nate?! Come on, wave hello to the nice man!" Eventually, Nate warmed up (how could he not under those lights?) and a few smiles emerged over the course of the Longest Minute Ever. On our way out of the casting room, our boy met up with the same beautiful woman who had taken his Polaroid earlier. Of course now that he wasn't being filmed our favourite flirt decides to put on his best performance, getting so excited that his forehead hit mommy in the lip which caused her to bleed as the other hopeful moms looked on. Very cool. Thanks Nate. Unfortunately, it's been about a month and our pride and joy is still no closer to becoming a billboard darling. He hasn't quite thrown in the towel on his modeling career yet but mommy has overheard him telling friends he's thinking of starting a new venture as a Baby Rapper. Move over Snoop!

Nate Says Dada!

Proving that he's a real man's man, our little chatterbox's first official word is 'dada'. Although the apple of Anthony's eye doesn't seem to be reserving the moniker for his proud papa. Instead, an innocent man walking along Front. St. was clearly caught off guard when Nathaniel identified him as 'dada.' But no matter, we are convinced that this is just the beginning and that 'mama' will be following shortly.

Nate Racks Up Frequent Flyer Miles

Our little jetsetter has arrived back home from yet another flight to Ottawa on Porter Air with his mommy. He was a superstar flyer - much less nervous than his momma and spent the flight eating Mum Mums and flirting with the beautiful female flight attendants. Nate-dog spent the weekend kicking back with his buds Alex, Amelie and Mathis at their home in Orleans. On a jaunt to the mall on Saturday he got so excited at an indoor playground that he could have passed for a young Incredible Hulk. He stopped short of tearing off his shirt but did scream with delight and flex his muscles as he took in all the playground equipment and throngs of small children. Other highlights of the eastern jaunt included jumping in the stationary Jolly Jumper, hula hooping in the living room and sharing a single bed with mommy on Saturday night.