Happy Halloween: The Little Chef

From 2010 October

At the last minute I decided to change Nicholas' Halloween costume. We were at my parents' house celebrating my Mom's birthday and I was commenting on how I felt like such a failure as a mom because Nicholas was just going to wear pjs he already owned . . . again. Not that wearing pjs was bad in and of itself, but that I hadn't put any thought or time into a costume. And I mentioned some of the costumes my mom made us when we were little.

And Mom went looking for the adorable package costume I wore at Nicholas' age (I was about 2 weeks younger than he is now that Halloween). Here is a picture of that:

From 2010 October

She couldn't find it but in the process found an apron she had made for us when we were little and kept it out for Nicholas since he loves helping in the kitchen so much these days. And there you have the inspiration for Nicholas' costume.

I made the chef's hat in probably about half an hour using scraps of fabric Mom had and her sewing machine and safety pinning it to his baseball cap since that both fits and is something he is comfortable with. (Hence, the baseball cap visible in these pictures--I didn't get it lined up quite right in the rush job.)

Nicholas was intrigued by trick or treating. Not giddy or excited or anything, but interested and more than happy to take candy and put it in his bag.

From 2010 October

And since we were already down South we went to visit family friends to say hello. Honestly, Nicholas' favorite part was the doggies. After we spent some time at one friend's house (who has a large black lab) Nicholas just wanted doggies the rest of the night. People offered him candy and he just looked past them and asked for doggies.

Lots of fun all around! And Nicholas didn't seem to mind his costume, since he left it on the entire night (after an initial complaint about putting it on). And I managed to assuage my mommy guilt.

Happy Halloween.

One Very Happy Little Boy

There are a bunch of new pictures in the Gallery, including Nicholas' Halloween party at daycare, his first ride on a carousel (or a "neigh" in Nicholas-ese), and lots of playing in the leaves. And I might write a real post later. But for now I have just one question for you. Do you think this little boy is enjoying having his aunt and uncles in town for the weekend?

From 2010 October

From 2010 October

He has been giggling practically nonstop. And not entirely because he is exhausted. :)

Leaves, Airplanes, and Trains

Traffic wasn't bad this afternoon so I picked Nicholas up early. Since it was glorious outside I decided to let him play in the leaves before dinner. And I played with the camera, even though the late afternoon light was not my friend. Nicholas enjoyed the leaves for awhile, but he enjoyed watching airplanes overhead even more. And then after he heard the lightrail whistle he insisted that we go watch for trains. And so we did.
Leaves:

From 2010 October

Airplane:

From 2010 October

Train:

From 2010 October

Wordless Wednesday: Pumpkin Gutting

From 2010 October

From 2010 October

From 2010 October

From 2010 October

From 2010 October

From 2010 October

The Science Behind Goodnight Moon

Nicholas, as we may have mentioned, has been on a book kick the last few weeks ("book!" is his new favorite word).  And his favorite, especially at bedtime, has been the children's classic Goodnight Moon.  Having read it almost every night for the past three weeks, I sometimes find my mind wandering a bit, until eventually I noticed that the clocks in the room where the little bunny has to say goodnight to everything—including "nobody"—have reasonable times on them through the book, from 7:00 p.m. to about 8:10 p.m.  That seemed an awful long time to say goodnight, even if you do enumerate the comb and the brush.

Anyway, the point is that I then found through Andrew Sullivan's blog a scientific analysis of the passage of time in Goodnight Moon.  Based on the size of the moon in each of the images above and its movement, Chad Orzel calculates that about six minutes elapse during the time of the book.  Which doesn't exactly match the clocks.  I'll let Orzel tell you the rest:

These two methods clearly do not agree with one another, which means one of two things: either I'm terribly over-analyzing the content of the illustrations of a beloved children's book, or the bunny's bedroom is moving at extremely high velocity relative to the earth, so that relativistic time dilation makes the six-minute rise of the moon appear to take an hour and ten minutes. Calculating the necessary velocity is left as an exercise for the interested reader.

Best Zoo Trip Ever

We went to the zoo this morning and it was the best zoo trip so far, mostly because we went with Alice, Katie, and Wes. Nicholas got the zoo AND Alice--the boy was in heaven. And I got good company and extra sets of parental hands. So much fun.

Here are the highlights of our trip in pictures.

The kids are now old enough to sit on the lion alone. They didn't really understand why we wanted them to sit on a metal lion, but the sat there.

From 2010 October

They were fascinated by the bear. And as Wes pointed out, if you frame the picture properly it looks like they are actually in the cage with the bear.

From 2010 October

The little tractors are so much fun! Neither of them can reach the pedals yet, but they liked being pushed around, and especially when they got to crash.

From 2010 October

Both kids like the goat petting zoo, but Nicholas this time got really into it. He was a machine. He went to each goat and petted it, then moved on to the next one. Then he went and got brushes and brushed them all. We must have been in that area for at least 20 minutes and Nicholas was loving it.

From 2010 October

Most of my pictures are of the kids together, but I got a couple of them individually. Here is my favorite of Alice (and her daddy):

From 2010 October

And here is my little boy hard at work:

From 2010 October

There are a few more in the Gallery.

Great day!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Bubbles with My Daddy

From 2010 October

From 2010 October

Cleancut

Before his haircut:

From 2010 October

And after:

From 2010 October

This Phase S***s

I take it all back. Apparently I didn't knock on wood enough last week when I wrote the post about how wonderful Nicholas is right now and how much fun this phase is. He has been up in the middle of the night 5 nights out of the last 8. Our theories are either that the fluctuating temperatures are waking him or that he is having bad dreams based on the fact that he gets much more freaked out about noises these days. (He is petrified of the chopping noises the downstairs neighbors make. Granted, it really does sound like there is a monster trying to get out of our kitchen cabinets, so I can't blame him.)

Whatever the cause, he is no longer reliably sleeping through the night. Some nights he has only needed me to go in and reassure him, rock him for 3 minutes, and then he was fine to go back to sleep. Last Saturday night he was up 3 different times before he finally stayed down. On Tuesday it was so bad that he eventually ended up sleeping in bed with me and Joe slept on the couch. That night he screamed bloody murder and clung to us for dear life if we walked near his crib and insisted on touching me while he fell asleep, reaching his fingers and toes out to find me if I edged away thinking he was asleep.

So far tonight he has already cried twice, although he got himself back to sleep both times. We are all tired.

**I don't actually take it all back. Nicholas is still wonderful and daytime hours are delightful (well, most of the time). This proclamation is intended only to ward off whatever crazy karma I courted last week.**

Yes, this phase is awful. Hear that, whoever it is who listens to wood knocking, looks for salt being thrown, and checks for crossed fingers?????

Marathon and Pumpkin Patch

We had a very full day of fun. This morning we went into the city to cheer for cousin Mary Katherine and some friends of ours who were running the marathon and half marathon.

From 2010 October

After going home for lunch and a nap for all three of us, Allison came with us to a local farm. We had a coupon for one of the farms that does the whole fall thing, so we picked a pumpkin, did a corn maze, went for a hayride, and saw lots of farm animals.

Nicholas knew as soon as he walked into the pumpkin patch that he was supposed to find a pumpkin to pick up. Don't ask me how. The first one he tried was green, however. When he finally found a good orange one, he couldn't get it up and had to ask for help.

From 2010 October

Even more fun than trying to pick up pumpkins? Playing with the dirt on them.

From 2010 October

Nicholas loved this and kept going back. It was apparently hilarious to have a hole that was the size of his head.

From 2010 October

Do you think I can pick this up? About 3 seconds later he asked for help. So we all "helped" until we convinced him we weren't strong enough either.

From 2010 October

But by far Nicholas' favorite part was watching the farm animals. He was interested in them all, but the pigs and goats were his favorites. He just couldn't get enough of them. I think he spent close to 45 minutes watching them, running back and forth between them, trying to talk to them, etc. Sometimes he studied seriously, sometimes he laughed at them, but he never wanted to leave.

From 2010 October

New Videos

The quality isn't great in these videos because there isn't enough light in our apartment in the evening, but if you listen closely you can hear Nicholas' names for shapes and animal sounds.

Here is Nicholas playing with his shape blocks, at least in between being distracted by the truck outside. He couldn't stand it anymore when he got down to one block and we went to look at the truck.

From 2010 October

And here is Nicholas making his animal sounds. His monkey sound is the funniest, although a little hard to hear.

From 2010 October

Tonight I wished I had the camera on while we were working on laundry. Nicholas did his normal excited filling of hampers while shouting "laundry" with pure glee. And then as soon as he had all the clothes loaded, he started running and yelling, "laundry go go go" while swinging his arm as though trying to get up more speed. Apparently we hadn't picked up quickly enough that it was time to take the laundry downstairs and he needed to round us up. "Laundry, go go go!"

Shapes

Nicholas just correctly identified the triangle, star, and circle of his shape blocks, and did it entirely on his own initiative. I never would have thought to ask him the shapes because we haven't worked on them. I love his school!

Isn't It Ironic?

Quick post because there is much to do.  But, there's now scientific research that demonstrates that my speaking to Nicholas in ironic tones, using sarcasm or hyperbole, is not going to confuse him, and that he may understand it sooner than we think.  I would add that teaching him that I sometimes speak this way will mean two things: (a) he'll be better at understanding irony when he encounters it; and (b) he'll be better at understanding what I'm saying, since the ironic is often my mood of choice.

Anyway, the headline and link you're looking for: "Too Young for School, but Ready for Irony"

Some bragging

Nicholas is in a really fun phase. When he was about 13 months old I remember thinking (and saying to a few people) that the glory period was behind us. 4-12 months had been fun and relatively easy and then things got rough and I was bracing for the beginning of toddler struggles. And, yes, we do have some struggles and he isn't perfect, but man is he good. I can't pinpoint how long that frustrating phase lasted, but for at least the past month he has been a delight. And so I will brag a bit about how wonderful he is right now and all the stuff he is doing.

• He is talking up a storm. His pronunciation isn't very good, but he has words for most of the things he interacts with or wants on a regular basis. And he is getting pretty good at mimicking words he has only heard a few times. Tonight he was helping get green beans ready for dinner and by the end was saying "green bean." I also swear he repeated "goofball" when Andrew said it.
• And he is starting to pick up on the idea of modifying words. Not sentences or anything, but things like "shoes. ommy." to mean my shoes. Or the other day we had a conversation where Nicholas said and signed "all done" and then took another bite of cracker. "Silly boy, you're not all done, you're still eating." Nicholas, more deliberately, "All done. Ommy." And he looked at my plate. And guess what--I had just taken my last bite of dinner. "Oh, Mommy is all done. Yes, good job." And this afternoon he picked up my flip-flops by the door and said "laundry shoe ommy," which confused us at first, but then we realized that he is right, those are the shoes I wear to go to the basement to do laundry.
• He has names for lots of people and he gets so excited about them all. He will flip through his little photo album and name his grandparents ("mama" and "pop-pop" is roughly how he has translated "Grandma" and "Grandpa" for now), Uncle Andrew (although "Andrew" sounds more like "yellow" because whenever there is a word he is having a lot of trouble with he uses a lot of tongue), Stacy, and us. We need to put pictures of the rest of the aunts and uncles into his album. The other day when I picked him up from daycare he called out "Allie?" "No, sweetie, we aren't seeing Alice today." "Allie?" "No, Nicholas, but I'll call Alice's mommy and maybe we can see her soon." "Tacy!!!!" The last was shouted with pure glee. I'm not sure if he thought that Stacy is Alice's mommy or if he had just moved on to try a different person he wanted to see.
• He loves to clean up and be helpful. If he is doing something you don't want him to do, the most effective way to get him to stop is to ask him to help with something. Especially if it is helping to move something or put something away. It isn't 100%, but in general he is really great at it. And he asks to do laundry almost every time we pass the basement stairs. He has a sixth sense about open cabinet doors and drawers, but unlike most toddlers he doesn't capitalize on them to wreak havoc but instead rushes over to close them.
• Nicholas loves books right now. The first thing he says when you get him in the morning is "book" and he is distraught if you won't sit down and read a book (or two or three) with him. This can be frustrating since our morning schedule is really tight, but I can't complain.
• He knows the sounds lots of animals make. Some animals he can name both the animal and the sound or just gives the animal's name, but most he identifies by their sounds. He does often use "moo" for horses as well as cows, so he isn't perfect, but his monkey sound is hilarious.
• He has gotten pretty good at naming body parts. He can do head, hair, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, belly, arms, fingers, legs, knees, feet, and toes. And he differentiates between his and other people's, so if you ask him where his knees are or where Daddy's ears are, he will correctly identify each.
• He knows the difference between football and baseball. He can look at the tv and correctly identify which one is on. This one baffles me.
• He has recently learned Ring Around the Rosie and wants to play it all the time. But we get pretty dizzy quickly. Luckily tonight he started doing it by himself. And he can spin for a long time before getting dizzy. I know I used to be able to do that too as a kid. I wonder when I outgrew it.
• He loves puzzles, but really hasn't figured them out. He does a pretty good job of figuring out which spot the piece goes in, but has real trouble lining the piece up properly and gets frustrated and gives up pretty quickly. He often just tries to push harder when it doesn't work. I think in a couple months, though, they will be one of his favorites.
• His comprehension astounds me. This doesn't mean he always listens or follows directions. Goodness knows he does things he has been told 300 times not to. But if you explain something complex slowly, he focuses really hard on what you're saying and then takes the appropriate action. I can't think of an example off the top of my head, but usually it is sequential things. So when he is whining about wanting to do something and we explain the three things we need to do before we can do the thing he wants and when we stop talking he'll go and do the first thing we mentioned. Then again, he sometimes asks to get his shoes on 4 times after we've pointed out that he is still in his pajamas.
• He is getting pretty good at saying please, thank you, and you're welcome. For a while he was mixing up (or combining) thank you and you're welcome, but he is starting to figure it out. The only problem is he doesn't usually modify "please," so he'll say "please" and you'll ask "please what?" because you have no idea what he wants and he'll just keep insisting "please" and getting frustrated because he is saying the right thing and not getting what he wants. He does the same with "more." And since "more" means either more of something or doing something again, it can be really confusing.

As much as I adore him, however, Nicholas is not perfect. And there are some things we need to work on.

• He doesn't know how to drink from a cup. Or use silverware, for the most part. It's our fault because we never feel like dealing with the mess, but he needs to learn at some point.
• His insistence on closing all doors immediately and with force can get annoying and painful. Today I yelled at him pretty harshly after the 4th time in a row he pushed the fridge door on my head or arm with all his might while I was trying to put groceries away.
• He shakes his head no when strangers wave at him or say hello. I don't necessarily mind this when it is at the store or other random places, but I think it hurts the people at church and the like.
• He does not sit still and quietly, especially when he is somewhere he wants to explore. This makes it difficult to take him to lots of public places. Church is really hard. He often isn't even well enough behaved for the cryroom. I am torn between trying the nursery again and thinking he needs to learn how to behave properly for the place.

Weekend Recap

We stayed relatively close to home this weekend and Nicholas was somewhat crankier than usual because he was really tired and did not sleep well last night, but despite all that, we had a good time and Nicholas got some fun exploring adventures in.

Yesterday morning my mom joined us on a hike at the park we like just a few miles from our house. Despite his protests, Nicholas spent most of the hike in the backpack. He did not like this, although he protested less when I was carrying him, so I got the 25-pound weight for a lot of the time.

He did better at tolerating being in the backpack when we gave him things to hold and feel. So we passed up acorns and other seed pods, as well as leaves of different colors. And at a few points we let him get down and walk, which he loved. It was challenging terrain for him, but he did a pretty good job as long as he was holding Grandma's hand. For a while he was holding my hand too, which gave him better stability, but then he discovered that he could stop supporting himself and not fall because we were holding him up. And that was too cool, so he kept doing it and so going down to his knees. And so he was down to one hand.

At one point while he was walking, Nicholas and Grandma played with the bark on a dead and fallen tree. As you can imagine, Nicholas was captivated by this.

From 2010 October

This afternoon we went down to my parents' house so Nicholas could see Grandpa and Uncle Andrew as well. He was most excited about Andrew. He helped us clean the apartment because we told him we couldn't go see Andrew until we had picked up and vacuumed. And so he'd help pick up for a few minutes and then shout for Andrew. By the time we finished cleaning and then had to pack up stuff to take down he was losing patience with us. He was then very sad when we arrived and Andrew wasn't home yet. He kept going over to the baby gate and looking down the hallway towards Andrew's room and calling for him.

From 2010 October

But he had a good time. He helped my Mom and I snap beans for dinner. Well, he desperately wanted to help so instead of dropping the beans straight in the pot, we put them in a pile and he moved them to the pot. He learned to say "green bean" during this effort and was fascinated when my mom opened one up to show him the beans that are inside. Here he is after that lesson, trying to figure it out in typical Nicholas fashion. He took each bean out of that pod and then tried to put them back in.

From 2010 October

The little boy is up and crying for the second night in a row. I think it is the temperature this time of year. It gets cold overnight so we put warm pajamas on him, but when he first goes down his room is pretty warm and stuffy. But if we put him in summer pajamas to start he wakes up freezing in the middle of the night. But it is so temperate that it seems absurd to pay for having the climate control going. Anyway, that is my cue to go.

Calm Weekend

Since the semester started we've spent most of our weekends running around, trying to pack our limited time together full of fun adventures. But this weekend we jogged instead of sprinting and mostly stayed close to home. We were all just beat. We ran errands, cleaned the apartment, and slept. Sleeping in at our house is now defined as 6:30, but we all took naps. Nicholas was so tired that he kept falling asleep in the car on the way to and from errands, in addition to taking long naps during the day. Apparently this schedule we've been keeping has taken a toll on us all.

But we had a delightful weekend at home. Some schoolwork, some housework, some napping, and a lot of playing. We can't do it often because our little boy likes to go go go, but since he spends so little time playing with his toys or us during the week, he was okay with it for one weekend. (Well, mostly. He did insist on us all putting on shoes on more than one occasion, prompting a couple trips outside to satisfy him.)

Nicholas spent some time playing with his blocks (he is really working hard on the shape sorter top on his box of blocks--he has the circle, triangle, and sometimes the square). He also enjoyed riding his car and his horse (which he can now reach the ground while on!). But what Nicholas really wanted to do all weekend was read books. I don't know how many hours Joe and I each spent reading to him, but it was a lot. Luckily Nicholas didn't fight us too hard on our insistence that we would only read the same book twice before he had to go pick a new one. And he was good about putting one back on the shelf before getting a new one out. And reading to him is really the only way we can get him to sit still on our laps. So we just enjoyed holding him and reading.

And this afternoon I finally caved to Nicholas' requests for shoes and a hat and took him outside to play with bubbles while Joe got a little quiet worktime. We had fun with the bubbles and then I took advantage of being in natural light to take some pictures. There are 12 pictures in the Gallery, but here are my favorite few:

From 2010 October

Big boy:

From 2010 October

Blurry because he is getting to be a really speedy runner:

From 2010 October

From 2010 October

And since it is time (or past time) to update the sidebar picture, the new Nicholas "peanut" picture:

From 2010 October

He is getting to be such a big boy and so much fun to spend time with!

Laundry

Nicholas loves helping with laundry. He loves it so much that when he saw me pull hampers out tonight to start sorting while he ate dinner, he shovelled a few handfuls of macaroni in as quickly as he could and then insisted he was "all done" so he could come help. He has been helping with laundry for a few weeks now, but today I finally grabbed the camera. So here is a still (of him saying "laundry") and a video of him working hard.

From 2010 October

From 2010 October