This is Nathaniel--around here we just call him Nate. :) Nathaniel means "victorious" and that is exactly what we have planned for this man in training...that he would be "victorious" in all his endeavors for the Lord!
Well, he is getting an early, inward start to that end as God gave this child a victorious spirit! This little guy is ALL boy and he is on the go, busy and fully taking advantage of this life he has been gifted! Like "Samson" of the bible, he has been blessed with a head of beautiful hair and, it seems, the strength to go with it! :) He takes absolutely no guff from those 2 older "little" sisters that you see in the pictures to the left.
One day, before Nate was even a year old, I heard a call...no a cry...from the other room for me. My hands were in the middle of meatloaf so I asked "what's the matter?" With a bit more volume and urgency the reply was "Nate is punching me in the face!" "Sure... okay... :) ... be there in a minute." When I finally had my hands cleaned up and made it into the other room, sure enough, there was Nate stretched out across and on top of his, then, 4 year old sister. He was giggling maliciously while whacking her in the face. Each hit brought more distraughtful cries from the big sister and more laughter from the baby. Needless to say, I removed him promptly (while giggling a little myself :) and told him he was not to take down and beat up his big sister again!
There is no dressing him up in tutus, feather boas, hats or other princess type attire. They have given up trying. And although he does love to push their baby strollers around, it is because they are just the right height for him and he does not allow any dolls or stuffed animals along for the ride. Whenever they try to put one in, he promptly screams, picks it up and hurls it across the room. Poor dolly lands with a thud and a cry from her little voice box. But that does not detour this little warrior. Occasionally, his sippy cup or favorite blanket is allowed to accompany him, but usually he is a lone wolf on the path. And lest you think strollers are still a bit on the sissy side...out of the 2 that we have, he always chooses the green one over the pink!
Well, Monday was the day.... A difficult day for the Mama, but necessary. It was time this little man received his first full haircut. I have trimmed his bangs 7 or 8 times since he was born, but Daddy felt it was time for the locks in the back to say "bye-bye". Now...this was not an easy feat, let me tell you. My kitchen is just not set up like a child's boutique-type, hair cutting salon. So...are you ready to picture this scene... :) Dad held him in his lap, Big sister Brianne (16) held his head and big brothers Jesse (13) and Jacob (11) took turns holding his hands. Now had he cooperated this would not have all been necessary, but his name means "victorious" after all and he was determined to be victorious in thwarting our efforts to remove him from being the poster child for "Hair Club for Babies". However, one little guy could not out-wit, out-twist, out-maneuver the rest of the entire family! Especially when we brought in the big guns like 2 chocolate chip cookies and his juice cup. We were victorious! It was a tad uneven in places so I did my best to straighten it while he was recovering from his ordeal in the bathtub.
He may have lost the hair that likened him to his bible buddy, Samson, but believe me when I say that the strength is still there. :)
