Pictures from today

I uploaded the pictures from today to send a video to some friends and when I looked at the assortment I realized there was really no way to tie the pictures together into a coherent post, so here is snapshots of our day . . . literally.

Everytime we go out to eat they hand Nicholas a menu/placemat and crayon. We generally just ignore these. Last weekend Nicholas saw the crayon and wanted it. He then proceeded to carefully hold it in his right hand (and really focus on how he was holding it) and try to draw on the menu. Our only guess is that they've been coloring at daycare. So this morning when I had half an hour to kill before even the library opened (which I was going to use to kill an hour before the zoo opened), I set him up with a piece of paper and some crayons.

From 2010 July

I didn't get a good shot of him actually coloring because by the time I got the camera out he was done, but he mostly likes to make dots, but sometimes will do lines. And the paper really has to be taped down because his motions are so forceful that otherwise the paper ends up on the floor or in a crumpled mess. But it is good to know that he is now old enough for coloring.

Today is our last regularly-scheduled non-daycare weekday (i.e. Nicholas starts fulltime daycare on Monday, but I am sure that there will be days he can't go for whatever reason) and the weather was gorgeous, so I took him to the zoo. We never got past the kids' zoo since they open so late and he still really wants a morning nap, but we had fun.

He was really interested in the goats in the petting zoo this time. He pet them some and used the brush to brush one, but mostly he just wanted to walk around from one to the other, getting very excited with each new one he saw. And if they took off walking and he could consider it a chase, he was thrilled. When we first got there he was calling them dogs (or the word that seems to be doggie, although it isn't very clear), but after I corrected him only 5 or 6 times he had switched to "a go." That kid and his indefinite articles. I'm sure it must be my fault. I must name things that way. I was probably saying, "No, that isn't a doggie, that is a goat" or something like that without paying attention. Unfortunately there are no pictures of the petting zoo because I couldn't safely leave his side to get an angle.

Anyway, on to things I do have pictures of. They finally opened the new train at the zoo. It was a pretty long ride (like 10 minutes) and Nicholas seemed to enjoy it. He did have some trouble with the idea that he had to sit still even though there was no seatbelt, but shockingly did better with staying seated while sitting on his own than he did in my lap. So he spent most of the train ride sitting by himself like a big boy:

From 2010 July

From 2010 July

Speaking of a big boy, Nicholas has learned to climb in and out of his chair. Because he used this chair the most when he was an infant, seeing him in it now really brings home to me how big he has gotten. It is so hard to believe that just a year ago he would nap in this chair for hours and we were so proud of him when he figured out how to kick to make the toys on the toy bar move. Now he climbs in and out, rocks the whole chair with ease, and is just massive!

From 2010 July

For some perspective, here is a picture of him in this chair last July:

From

The below video is somewhat staged, but it was my effort to recreate what had happened spontaneously earlier in the day because I wanted to show it to Katie and Wes. (And while I'm posting random stuff from the day, I figured I'd show you all too.) Well, I guess it isn't staged so much as intentionally prompted. This morning I was telling Joe a story and in it I mentioned the name "Alice." As you all know by now I'm sure, Alice is the name of our friends' daughter who is Nicholas' age. A couple days ago when I told Nicholas we were going to see Alice he smiled and it sounded like he said "Allie," but then when we were at their house he didn't say it at all, so I figured I had imagined it. But this morning as soon as I said "Alice," he broke out into a huge grin and took off for the door saying "Allie, Allie, Allie."

From 2010 July

It was so cute and I wanted to send it to her parents, so later in the day when I had the camera I asked Nicholas if he had a friend named Alice. And, sure enough, his reaction was the same. His pronunciation wasn't as clear, but he was obviously trying to say her name. And he is just so excited! Apparently they are getting more out of their playdates than we realized because he really wanted to go see Alice. I felt pretty mean and will have to be careful not to mention her name when we aren't going. (Random aside: why is it that this child still won't say mommy or daddy, but says other names? Grandpa, Elmo, and now Alice.)