Updates and Pictures

From 2010 November

As you can see in this picture I took this afternoon at the park, Nicholas' eye is looking much better. Getting the eyedrops in is a battle royale and I doubt more than a third go in, so hopefully he won't relapse. He seems to be coming down with a cold as well. Given the cough we are hearing over the monitor, I fully expect him to be up before too long. Winter is going to be a blast.

Nicholas really loves helping in the kitchen so he now has his own stool. Whenever one of us is working in the kitchen on anything, Nicholas goes over to the space by the fridge where we store the stool and begs, "stool please." And if I even run water in the sink it is "bubbles!" and then he runs over to the fridge. "Stool please." But it is hard to do dishes with a munchkin helper. Here he is tonight "helping" me make cornbread. We still had the apron we borrowed from my parents for Halloween so I figured I'd save his shirt a little.

From 2010 November

The other thing we've left outstanding on this blog with our infrequent posting is Nicholas' sleeping problems. He has been better this week, although it is too early for me to be willing to declare victory yet. Monday he cried for half an hour, Tuesday he cried for 7 minutes, Wednesday he fought being set down but had given up and started sucking his thumb by the time I had removed my hands, and since then he hasn't fought going down at all. He also has stayed asleep all night each night, so I have been saved from sleeping on his floor. The only outstanding problem is that he hasn't been sleeping enough, napping for only an hour and a half the past three days while at home even though we know he slept 2 1/2- 3 hours each other day at school. And he's up each morning around 5, won't go back to bed, and just wants to snuggle in the chair. And while I love snuggles, 5am is too early. So, progress, but not resolved.

Nicholas talks up such a storm now. You can come close to having things resembling actual conversations, especially now that he answers questions (accurately about 70% of the time) and modifies words (so things like "more-more ice cream" or "color please" or "no night-night". His vocabulary is incredibly random, however, which sometimes leads us to just shake our heads and laugh. For example, the child correctly identifies Target, Wegmans, and the library from the parking lots. (And if you ask him what is inside each, for Target he starts doing the garbage dance because there is a garbage truck that dances on display, for Wegmans he names the "choo-choo" and "moo" that are inside, and for the library he shouts "books, more-more books!") He also can name all the vehicles in the shirt he is wearing in these pictures, because he knows the difference between a dump truck and a bus. Seriously, what 17-month-old says "Target," "dump truck," and "stool"? I guess the same one who asks for baked beans and zucchini by name. And yet, as Joe mentioned, he absolutely refuses to say his name.

Another interesting note on the language front: Nicholas has parts of some books memorized and now likes to help read them if you pause at words he knows or that are identifiable in pictures. It is a sign that we have read Piggy Pie Po too many times that he can fill in the last word on almost every page. It is really cool, though!

And, just for fun, a couple more random shots from the park this afternoon:

From 2010 November

From 2010 November