Midwest Trip Part II--Summary and Pictures

We're home safe and sound and although both Nicholas and I are exhausted and he has had a few re-entry problems, I'm so very glad we went on this trip. It was everything our midwest trips usually are plus some surprise bonuses.

We had a good visit with a bunch of friends and family. Unfortunately our visits with one of my grandmothers took place in a hospital and nursing home and under less-than-ideal circumstances. It was rough for me emotionally, but I am so grateful to have had that time. And Nicholas did shockingly well with it. Much to my surprise, he recognized Grandma each time and was excited to see her. Since I can't imagine he remembered her from Christmas and she was not up for interacting much with him on this trip, I'm not sure why he was so excited, but every time we walked into her room he greeted her with enthusiasm. It was touching and important to me in a way I can't articulate.

We got to see more relatives than I anticipated because our trip happened to overlap with their visits to my grandparents, and Nicholas ate it up. One of my cousins was there with her 7-year-old son, who Nicholas promptly decided was his favorite person ever. All you had to do was say Cameron's name and Nicholas broke into a grin. Because they were there we also did more than we usually do, rather than just sitting around the house. One day we went to Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum and another we went swimming at my aunt's house. We wanted to take the boys to the zoo, but since the heat index never dropped below 100 that week, we nixed that plan.

My camera batteries died about 5 minutes into our trip to Churchill Downs and I haven't gotten pictures from my cousin yet, so for now, this is the best picture I have of that trip:

From 2010 June

Nicholas was mostly nonplussed by the whole thing, although interested in the horse statues and riding simulator games. He did not enjoy going out on the track, but I can understand that because it was so hot I could actually feel the makeup melting off my face.

He loved swimming, though. The pool was really warm and he had his big cousins to watch and (great) aunts and uncles to cheer him on, so he was in seventh heaven. He did a good job of "swimming." If I said "kick" he did a perfect frog kick and if I said "splash" he hit the water with his hands. When he did them both, it looked like he was swimming. And he figured out that I was moving him when he did it, so started doing it on his own when he wanted to go somewhere.

Here he is in his swim ensemble, excited because he saw one of the dogs:

From 2010 June

After a few days in Louisville seeing lots of relatives, we headed up to Cincinnati to see my college friends and their families.

On the way up we met some friends on Xavier's campus. Some areas around campus have been completely reconstructed since I was there, but the academic mall still looks the same. We let Nicholas walk around on the "X" in front of the library and of course took pictures at various spots.

Here he is on the academic mall, happy in the shade:

From 2010 June

And here is the little Musketeer showing his school spirit:

From 2010 June

He then had a great time with the "big kids" and all their cool toys while I reveled in the chance to spend some time catching up with my college friends. I think we both would have been been happy to stay there for weeks.

From 2010 June

There are more pictures in the Gallery, as usual. Overall Nicholas did a very good job and I was so glad to have had the chance to go. The flight home was difficult because he had to skip his afternoon nap, I forgot that the Louisville airport doesn't have the fastfood options BWI does so he had a dinner of crackers and chocolate milk, and our flight was delayed long enough that we didn't land until after bedtime. But no fullscale meltdowns, so I will consider it a success.

Midwest Part I--Skill Development

Nicholas and I are still in Louisville (for only about 20 more hours), but this is the first of what I'm sure will be many posts about this trip.  I'll write about all we've been doing some other time (maybe when I upload pictures), but this post needs to be quick, so I'm just going to give you a quick update on what Nicholas has been up to skill-wise.  Quite a few things have really clicked this week for our little boy.

For one, he is walking a lot more.  We've been saying for a long time that he had the ability to walk but mentally didn't think he could walk on his own.  Well, when we were in Cincinnati he started walking on his own a lot unprompted.  My guess is that he was so busy paying attention to all the people and toys and activity that he forgot to focus on his fear of walking alone and just intuitively walked when he wanted to get somewhere.  He still prefers to hold a hand, but sometimes he is now wandering away on his own without seeming to notice.

The second big skill he has been working on this week is talking.  "Cracker" is still his favorite and most-used word, but it is getting much clearer.  It is now more like "acka" and very clear and forceful.  The other phrase he uses all the time is "gotta go" (or occasionally the variants "I gotta go" or just "I go").  He uses it so often that we all started using it this weekend, even in ways that are grammatically incorrect, because it was cute and fun.  (For example, "Nicholas, do you want to gotta go?")

Those two words/phrases are the only ones he uses very clearly and consistently.  Here is a list of other words he has used this week in appropriate and conscious ways, but isn't consistent on:

• a ca: cat (he often uses indefinite articles)
  
• ba: bath (also used for the baptismal font at church this morning, but given that it looked like a small pool, it was an understandable mistake)
  
• baa: bottle (not a baby bottle because he doesn't see those, but these wooden soda bottles my grandparents have)
  
• mama
  
• ah gon: all gone (not when something is actually used up, but when he drops something from his high chair, because I say it is "all gone" as his punishment for throwing things)
  

He also seems to be trying to say "milk," but it sounds like "gak" or "ack" and so there has been a few times when I think he is just making noise or complaining and then he finds another way to show me he wants milk and I go "ahhhhh" and feel bad that I was telling him to stop whining when he was getting frustrated trying to talk to me.  

I'll write more later this week, but overall Nicholas has been doing really well.  He has been having lots of fun, although he has also been annoyed by his lack of control over the schedule and the amount of time spent in the car.  All things considered, I am very proud of him.  The last big hurdle is the plane ride home tomorrow, so hopefully he will continue this trend.  I will be glad to be home with Joe, but am very very sad to leave here.

Uncle Patrick's Graduation

We went up to New York this weekend for Uncle Patrick's high school graduation and a visit. I don't have many good pictures, so I may update this later with some of Richard's, but for now, here is what I have:

Uncle Patrick looking dashing in his graduation attire, while Nicholas is captivated by the balloons off to the side.

From 2010 June

Graduation was at a park on the Hudson, so we took a few pictures by the river.

From 2010 June

This picture is grainy because it is a still captured from a video, but I love it anyway.

From 2010 June

While we were there Nicholas really enjoyed getting the chance to play a real piano. He likes our electric keyboard, but this was much more exciting! And since he (at least for now) does a good job of playing it rather than banging, hopefully he isn't doing any damage. There is a video of him playing in the Gallery, but here are a couple snapshots:

From 2010 June

From 2010 June

Now Nicholas and I are headed off on a week-long trip to Louisville and Cincinnati. I may blog while we're gone, but won't be able to upload pictures since I'm not lugging my computer. (Flying alone with him is going to be challenging enough without having to deal with the extra hoops involved in taking a computer through security. It is bad enough that I have to get both of our sets of shoes on and off while juggling all our stuff and a child who does not do well with staying put.) Wish me luck.

Building Towers

Look how tall his towers are getting! I'm so impressed with him.

From 2010 June

I took this picture yesterday. Tonight he was waaaaayyyy too cranky to play at all. I'm hoping he was just tired and will be happier tomorrow.

95.6

This post is accompanied by a huge knock on wood. Just saying.

After staying below 100 all day yesterday (okay, so one time it was 99.8), Nicholas woke up this morning as cool as a cucumber and happy as a clam. We took his temperature and it stopped at 95.6. No fever there.

I decided that staying under 100 all day yesterday and no medicine since 7am yesterday counted as "fever-free with no medicine" for 24 hours and off to daycare he went this morning. And so far I haven't gotten a call to come get him!

Back to glorious library worktime I go, but I wanted to update you all.

And, just to be safe, I'm going to knock on wood again.

Sick Peanut Update

Nicholas' fever has been lower today than the past few days, but still something of a fever and was craaaaaanky (so much so that I mentally wrote a post earlier today entitled "Meltdowns,") so I took him to the doctor as planned. The doctor couldn't find anything wrong and concluded it must be a virus of some sort.

The good news is that he doesn't have an ear infection. The bad news is that there is nothing we can do to make him better.

By late this afternoon he felt basically normal temp to me (with no Tylenol since 7am) and was acting delightfully cheery, so I was beginning to have hope that he was on the mend. But when I went to put him down for a nap a few minutes ago he was starting to feel pretty warm again, so it looks like we're not out of the woods yet.

It looks like I may not get to go into the library again tomorrow afterall. I'm also beginning to worry that if this drags on much longer we may have to rethink some of the travelling that we have coming up, and I really don't want to do that. But exposing people with weak immune systems and those who are trapped on an airplane with us to an unidentified random virus is just not cool. Not to mention that travelling with a sick baby would not be particularly enjoyable for any of us.

Please get better, buddy. I know it is worse for you than it is for me, but I for one am ready to move on.

Home Sick

Nicholas is home from daycare today, as he was yesterday. Since I need to use his naptime to squeeze in some work, this will be brief, but here is the update:

He has had a fever since Sunday afternoon, with no other symptoms. This is proceeding exactly like his last ear infection, but since he isn't pulling on his ears or reacting when we touch them, the doctor treats it as a random fever rather than a possible ear infection, so won't see him until the fever has gone on for 4 days. I will call tomorrow morning (because I insist on counting Sunday and Weds each as one of the 4 days even though it will have been less than 3 full days) and try to get him in. My hope is to have him back in daycare on Thursday because I have a lot to do before he and I begin our busy few weeks of travel.

For now he is in delightful spirits as long as he has some Tylenol in him to keep the fever down. As he goes about happily playing it is aggravating that he can't be at daycare, but I know that they can't risk exposing the other kids to him when we don't know what is wrong.

Into the Deep

Nicholas has been swimming before, but this weekend was our first opportunity to take Nicholas to the pool at our apartment complex.  As with all activities, he was a little wary at first, and mostly wanted to study all of the other people there and what they were doing.  I'm also told (by those who actually went in) that the water was a little on the cold side, so he took some time to acclimate.  Once he did, though, he started to have fun, and even tried kicking a little bit.

So, we fully expect that he'll start having a ton of fun at the pool ... and he better, given how much we've anticipated that he would.  Anyway, not much else to report, I think, but we will share one photo of our tentative scientist-swimmer.

From 2010 June

Gra-gah

It may not be obvious in writing, but "Gra-gah" is Nicholas for "cracker." Try saying it out loud (with a somewhat guttural second g) and you'll see. (Joe thinks it is closer to "ca-ca" so obviously this effort at phonetic spelling is not precise.) And this word only applies to graham crackers. (It reminds me of the story my grandmother always told of me as a little kid insisting that only chocolate chip cookies counted as "coookies.")

I don't know if it is technically his first word, because he has been saying bunches of things recently that seem to be efforts at words. The other day in the grocery store, for example, he repeatedly said "ap-pa" as he reached for apples. (And, yes, I let him get some apples even though I wasn't planning to buy any because if he asked for them by name he got the reward of putting them in the bag.) And in this video he is working on saying "block," although I don't know whether or not he actually got it. (As a side note, you can see his new very serious nod "yes." He is actually really good at using this in conversations in the perfect place, usually leading us to break out laughing.)

He has a bunch of other things that seem like words at the time but then I start to second guess because he isn't consistent with any of them. I am only now counting cracker because he has used it deliberately on multiple occasions over a span of days. But even that he only uses about 1 out of every 10 times he wants a graham cracker. The rest of the times he whines and looks longingly towards the counter where they are stored.

This whole "firsts" thing is hard because (at least with Nicholas) it is really ambiguous. When was his first step? I certainly don't know and frankly am not sure how to answer the frequent question of whether or not he is walking yet. And, yes, I know that it really doesn't matter at all.

Rainy Day

Well, we apparently missed our shot at getting a video of the cute new face because all the responses he was getting from everyone for it have led him to exaggerate it, making it more weird than cute. But I did get a video tonight of him playing basketball and making the new version of this face. You may have to click on the HQ option at the top to make it clear enough to actually see the expression. I'm wondering if he'll ever go back to the cuter version or if this is here to stay.

And here he is proudly showing me his basketball. Between standing holding the ball, the mouth full of teeth, and the new haircut, he looks like such a big boy.

From 2010 June

He is acting more and more like a big boy all the time as well. Well, except for the fact that he can't talk and so when he wants something he just whines really insistently or tries to forcibly pull you towards the desired object.

Today when he insisted that we had to go outside, I decided to humor him even though it was raining. I figured we'd take one step outside and he'd want to go back in. So shoes on, light coat on, and downstairs we went. And he was a little taken aback at first, but didn't turn back. So we stood for a few minutes just a few feet outside the door with him watching the rain intently and occasionally turning his head up only to flinch and look back down. We ended up staying outside for 15-20 minutes exploring the world in the rain. This included a delightful time at the little stream that forms at the edge of the parking lot whenever it rains. He though the boats I made out of leaves were fascinating. Not because they were like boats since he doesn't really know what those are yet, but because he could watch them move with the water.

It was great to watch him. Most of the time he was studying things intently, but every couple minutes he would look at me with this huge grin and sparkling eyes like I was his accomplice or something. It was a "Mommy, we're having an awesome adventure!" look and I hope I can keep it imprinted on my brain because it absolutely made my heart melt.

He really is our little scientist, always looking for new things to figure out and testing things very methodically. Today at Storyville he carefully took all the plastic eggs out of their carton and then in putting them back in their spaces would test them in each space to make sure they were all the same. He isn't quite up to the shape sorters yet because anything beyond circles and squares are too hard to get properly oriented, but once he has the motor skills for that I think he will love those toys. Luckily we can adapt some of the blocks he already has to this purpose simply by putting the lid on their box.

We have to start being careful what we say around him because he knows a lot more words than I realize and he is picking them up quickly right now! Today we were talking to the people in the management office at our complex and one of them mentioned he had seen us playing in the rain and Nicholas promptly turned towards the glass door to look out at the rain. A few minutes later the woman asked him what the bird was, referring to the Oriole on his hat, and he started pulling me towards the door. And sure enough, there was a bird outside the door that he could see through the glass. I didn't know he knew what a bird was or what rain was. There are multiple incidents like this every day right now. It feels like high pressure with him picking up on so much we say.

Soooo Close

Nicholas is getting so close to talking. He is saying bunches of things that I swear sound like words, but he has done this before and they just turned out to be his syllable of the week and were quickly forgotten.

But today when he was playing peekaboo by hiding behind the wall, he would say "a-boo" when he peeked out. That and laugh like crazy, of course. And when he heard the lightrail (which we just call "a train") this evening while we were out on a walk, he lifted his arm (which is what he does in greeting or when he sees something he is excited by) and said "a-tray."

Now, these are likely just coincidences, but between those and the suddenly frequent use of "ma" syllables around me, I think he is getting really close. However, it is Nicholas so what will likely happen is that he will now stagnate at this point for months. It is just what he does. He gets 90% of the way to a new skill and then just stays there for months on end before connecting the last dot. It is what he is currently doing with walking, it is what he did with sitting. (Remember when he had to have a pillow behind him for months because he could sit up fine most of the time but would randomly throw himself backwards sometimes?)

But today at daycare he was repeating "agua" to the teacher, so at least he talks in Spanish if not in English. (And I think she was right that it was intentional rather than random because she said that after he did it each time he did his cute raised shoulders, hunched back shy-looking smile that he has started doing when he knows he did something good. I know that description doesn't sound cute, but I can't find the words to describe it. Until I capture it on the camera you will just have to trust me that it is adorable. In fact, I think it is the most adorable thing I've ever seen. He is so aware of himself now!)

Discipline

And so it begins.

Up to now our discipline has really just been limited to mealtimes and the issue of throwing food. But Nicholas has started showing signs of understanding and remembering a lot more and so we figure it is time to start working on breaking bad habits and stopping others from forming.

This revelation came because we decided to start gently working on his thumb sucking and he picked up on it much more quickly than we expected. In the past couple weeks the thumb sucking has increased, going from just when he was tired to basically whenever his right hand wasn't otherwise occupied. So we started just gently removing his thumb when it didn't seem to be serving a purpose and mentioning to him that he shouldn't suck his thumb all the time. Our hope was just to keep it from getting worse. But he picked up on it really quickly and much more thoroughly than we had anticipated. Not that he has stopped (in fact it is at least as frequent as it has been), but he will look at us before he puts his thumb in, showing that he already knows that he isn't supposed to. And a couple times today when we asked him to take his thumb out he cried fake tears. We're trying not to make it a big deal, just gentle and casual intervention to start planting the idea that he doesn't need to suck his thumb. I'm not sure whether that is the right tactic or not, but we'll see.

But based on this experience, we've started trying to actively intervene on other behaviors we had previously figured he was too young to understand. So we have started to clean up toys when he is done with them, asking him to help and talking about cleaning up. And today when he threw blocks (throwing is a skill he mastered just this weekend) I started trying to lay the groundwork on what are appropriate things to throw. Right now I'm not sure how much he is comprehending.

This is going to be a long road.

On a random other note, Nicholas' other two molars are coming in. He was being an absolute pain in the butt all day and I was losing patience and then it occurred to me that the only other times he is this awful is when he is teething or going through a growthspurt, so I put Orajel on the sections of gum where the molars have been visibly starting to break through. And since he went from completely awful to a little cranky, I'm assuming that was the problem. This week should be fun. Thank goodness for daycare.

On a more positive random note, Nicholas learned to stack blocks today. He was working really hard at it and by the end of the day he could reliably stack one on top of the other. When he tries to add a third it only stays about 1/4 of the time. He doesn't understand soft touches and so usually accidentally knocks the second one off because he bangs the third one on top with such force. But he is trying and working on hand-eye coordination, so I am happy to encourage him.

Busy Day . . . and Funny Videos

Nicholas had a busy (and apparently exhausting) day. On our Wegman's trip this morning he became a tad bit obsessed with the train and this giant stuffed cow on the cheese counter. So much so that he got really mad at me if I tried to walk away from them.

After a nap and a fun lunch date with Daddy (who was working at a nearby coffee shop for the day), we went up to Allison's house. Nicholas was even more interested in the dogs and cat this time around and started to get the hang of petting them.

From 2010 June

His favorite part of playing with the pets was definitely trying to chase them. Luckily the dogs have gotten pretty mellow in their old age and the cat was able to easily jump up on high surfaces to escape.

We then went to this really cool playground nearby. Nicholas really only wanted to swing in the same old baby swings, but I think this playground will be awesome for him next spring. You can only sort of tell in this picture, but there are huge wood castles and all sorts of fun tire structures.

From 2010 June

But the highlight of the day was our evening playtime (after a few meltdowns, occasioned I assume by a long day and a short nap in a hot car). There are some hilarious videos in the Gallery, but this picture is my favorite:

From 2010 June

Nicholas discovered that crashing his car into things was more fun that driving it around. Hopefully you can hear his giggles over my own laughter in the videos.

First Haircut

I'd been putting off getting Nicholas' hair cut because I love the baby curls, but it really had just gotten out of control (with the humidity the curls around his ears were looking more like wings), so this evening we took him to Joe's barber. And so I present the story of Nicholas' first haircut in pictures:

Here is Nicholas before the haircut began. And this is after this morning I took our scissors and trimmed his bangs because there was hair in his eyes bothering him.

From 2010 June

Nicholas was so captivated by the flaps in Where's Spot? that he didn't mind the woman messing with his hair. Well, until the end when she had to do the front and hair started getting in his face. Then he got antsy and annoyed.

From 2010 June

Such a good sport!

From 2010 June

And here is the final product:

From 2010 June

I must admit that I miss the curls, but as long as he keeps giving me this smile, the rest is window dressing:

From 2010 June

Blood Draw

Nicholas had to have blood drawn today, which was a traumatic experience all around. I don't know what the rules are in other places, but in Maryland kids who live in a certain subset of zipcodes have to be tested for lead when they turn 1. I assume it is based on the decades when the bulk of houses in that area were built or something, but for all I know it could reflect which state representatives were the most powerful the year the law was passed. Anyway, we unfortunately fall into one of the zipcodes that requires testing.

They had to bring in a second tech to hold his arm still because he was too strong and the one couldn't hold his arm and do what she needed to do. So I held Nicholas while one tech held his arm still and the other drew the blood. They actually did a really good job--only one poke and all done quickly. But that certainly didn't mean it didn't hurt. I had brought his favorite books, which were enough to distract him a little while the tech looked for a vein, but as soon as that needle went in, he threw his head back and screamed bloody murder the entire time. I have to admit that I cried a little too because he was so distraught. He had no understanding of what was going on, when it would stop, or really even what that kind of pain feels like.

He recovered pretty quickly, basically when they finished putting the tape on and he could have his thumb. No smiles for anyone, but at least the tears had stopped. When I went to get him out of the car when we got home, though, he looked at me warily, which broke my heart. Instead of his usual, "Yay, you're here--let's go!" smile, it was an "I don't know if I trust you anymore" look. Ouch.

But then we came upstairs and I gave him a bottle to ensure he got some food and liquid in his system and Elmo happened to be doing a cooking segment on the random talkshow that was on the TV when we turned it on. Nicholas was very excited to see Elmo on TV! He doesn't yet realize that Elmo actually belongs on the TV. After that and some of the walking game between me and the couch, I put him down for his nap and took a nap myself. The whole thing wore me out.

Random Thoughts

No, I still haven't gotten around to a Nicholas 1-year post, but maybe things will finally calm down next week and I will get to it. Hmm, yeah, doubtful. But here are a few random thoughts from today:

• Apparently the only time the baby swings at our local playground are in the shade is before 9:30am. This actually works out well because that is also the only time of day that it is cool enough to go for a walk. I have the feeling Nicholas and I will be taking lots of walks first thing in the morning. What we've been doing is taking a roundabout route to the playground so I can get a half hour walk in even though it is only 5 minutes away.
• It finally feels like summer to me. Now this could be the 90 degrees and humidity we've had, but we had some of that a few weeks ago. No, I think it is the sense of freedom. That and maybe the way the light is this time of year. I submitted the final copy of my dissertation yesterday. The defense was the last point when I could fail or be held up, but I needed to do some copyediting and formatting fixes on the dissertation and submit the final version. A formality but one I needed to take care of. Anyway, it is done and I have now been officially taken out of the department's system of graduate students, so I'm really and truly done. Ahhhh!!!
• Nicholas is still at the same stage with walking that he was 2 months ago. He has stood up on his own a few more times, but he doesn't do it regularly and it doesn't seem to have changed anything. He still things of walking as part of a game rather than a mode of locomotion. Oh well, I see no need to push him.
• Nicholas has never had lots of bottles, but cutting them out entirely has made food even more of an issue. He now eats 5 times a day and often goes through 4 or 5 different foods at a sitting because he gets bored of them pretty quickly. This means I spend most of his mealtimes running back and forth to the kitchen trying to prepare his next thing (and figure out what it should be). He is also eating lots of foods that are probably not great for him because I am at a loss for what to give him and they are so convenient. Case in point: when he wakes up from his nap he and I are probably going to have chicken nuggets and french fries for lunch for the third day in a row. I figure the frozen ones baked at home aren't nearly as bad as McDonald's, although at least the ones at McDonald's looked like real meat when I bit into them instead of grayish brown mush. I am never buying Tyson's nuggets again. Lesson learned.

I know there were other things I had been planning to post about, but I can't think of them right now, so I'm going to end this here and use the rest of his nap to get some work done. I am playing catchup in getting my courses set up for next year. For example, the book orders for fall classes was due months ago (i.e. months before I had the job), so I need to finish the syllabi so I can order books.