Uncle Matt and Jen

We went up to Pennsylvania for the day on Saturday and Nicholas was even okay with the 2-hour drive since he knew that we were going to see Uncle Matt and Jen. And he wasn't disappointed. He had so much fun!

We went to an awesome playground that was a little over his head, but he did enjoy the slide, swing, and this cool bouncy bridge thing. And he loved having so many adults who were happy to play with him on the playground.

From 2011 February

From 2011 February

He also got a hot dog for lunch and Jen had some large exercise balls that doubled well as drums, so this was one happy little boy.

And for the past two days he has been randomly shouting excitedly "Uncle Matt and Jen!"

Learning to Pretend

Nicholas has really started to pick up on this whole playing with dolls and stuffed animals thing. Today Elmo helped us do laundry again, completely on Nicholas' initiative. And Nicholas was very careful to hold both of Elmo's hands and have Elmo's hands do the work. (At least for the couple minutes before he got bored of that, threw Elmo on the ground, and started doing it himself.)

Elmo Picks up the Sock:

From 2011 February

Elmo Puts the Sock in the Hamper:

From 2011 February

Elmo claps for himself for doing a good job:

From 2011 February

I will admit that we have started occasionally using this new interest to our advantage. For example, when Nicholas brings us a book we are completely sick of reading, we suggest he reads it to Elmo or Johnny instead. He happily complies, sitting up on the couch with them and "reading" the book. Melts my heart.


Nicholas also often puts one or more of his dolls/stuffed animals to bed before going to bed himself (and wakes them up in the morning). Sometimes he does this on his own, although some nights we have started suggesting it as a way to transition from playtime to nighttime. Tonight all three of Nicholas' favorite stuffed friends got put to bed:

From 2011 February

They each have a special blanket and Nicholas gives them the sweetest kisses I've ever seen.

Night-night Elmo and Johnny:

From 2011 February

Watch Your Language

Nicholas is very keen on language these days.  He picks up words and phrases with ease (anyone want to teach him Mandarin?) and is willing to try to say just about anything we ask him to.

Unfortunately, it also means that he sometimes repeats things that we don't want him to know.  Case in point: the other night we were driving home and there was some traffic.  So I used a Yiddish word I learned from relatives to describe the situation as "messed up" or "screwed up."  I said it offhand to Sarah in the front seat, relatively quietly, and honestly, without thinking about it.

Next thing I know, Nicholas is repeating the word in a sing-song voice (almost all Yiddish words and phrases are inherently funny to say out loud).

Oops.  I guess I should stick to "oy vey!"

Playdate

Nicholas got a special surprise yesterday when we picked him up from daycare--Alice was coming over for dinner! This quickly made him forget that he was about to throw a temper tantrum about not being allowed to go to the "choo choo park."

And boy do those two have fun together. They have actually gotten old enough that it was a legitimate playdate. They were doing such a good job of playing together and entertaining each other that Joe actually fell sound asleep on the floor while they played.

I didn't take many pictures, but I did get one video of them playing basketball.

From 2011 February

And here is one picture from the end of the night. Nicholas was pretending to go night-night.

From 2011 February

This is another pretending game he learned from Alice. I think it is interesting that when he pretends to go to sleep he needs a stuffed animal and a blanket, while when you actually put him to bed all he wants is his mobile on and his thumb is in his mouth before his head hits the mattress.

And here is one of them on their horses. I never thought having two horses would come in so handy.

From 2011 February

There are a couple more pictures in The Gallery. They had so much fun! Babysitting Alice is such a piece of cake because the two of them entertain each other. And so far they have been really good about sharing and not fighting. I am impressed.

Boston on an Airplane

S: Nicholas, what would you think about moving to Boston?
N: Boston on an airplane! Zoom on an airplane! Boston zooooom!

When I went to Boston last month for the interview Joe told Nicholas I had gone "to Boston on an airplane," which Nicholas then repeated to me everytime I called. Apparently it stuck because a month later that is what he associates with Boston. I wonder what he pictures. Does he know Boston is a place?

And, yes, we are officially moving to Boston this summer!

Hail to the Chief

UPDATE: Okay, it's a lie to promise never to post such a video. Post updated to reflect that.

I promise I won't ever [might someday] post a video like this with Nicholas reciting facts about the Presidents. So you shouldn't look for him on the NBC Nightly News anytime soon.

I will, however, soon be taking out our Presidents' place mat (thank you, Grandma and Grandpa!).  Because I'm just a little envious of the dad who took that video.

Wordless Wednesday: Flashback--Warmer Weather, Smaller Boy

From 2010 May

Actual Conversation

When we went into Nicholas' room to read his bedtime stories:
N: Where da udder book? (Where's the other book?)
S: Which other book?
N: Meerkat book. Meet da Meerkat.
S: Oh, your meerkat book. It is in the other room. Let me go get it.

And off I went to get his book, Meet the Meerkat. And then he proceeded to fill in the last word or phrase of each sentence throughout the book. This kid's memory is absolutely astounding. He tells you that the meerkat is long and thin, that he has a pointy face, that he is scared of jackals, that he lives with his brothers and sisters, and that he digs with his feet. Each only in the context of their sentence in the book. But still. Craziness.

You've Read This Book Before

Saw this link via other means, but thought I'd share it. A blogger who writes about both motherhood and her attempts to publish her work shares a flow chart that asks, "Has Your Picture Book Idea Already Been Published?"

I have not tried to publish such a book myself (and thank goodness for that!), but reading through the flow chart was indeed a re-creation of the process of reading with Nicholas the many library books we've brought home.

PS: No, that does not mean that we've been reading Denise Richards children's books to our son.

Hodgepodge Post

Here are a few snapshots (literally) of our weekend:

At Nicholas' school last week they were "studying" fairy tales and so each of the kids had a crown that was labelled "Prince" or "Princess" and their name. When we got home on Friday I asked Nicholas what the crown was and he called it a hat, but he then put it on his head and very clearly said "Prince Nicholas." Why, okay, your royal highness.

From 2011 February

While we were visiting my parents on Saturday I was going through my boxes of keepsakes and condensing. (Really, why I saved every single spelling test from first grade this long is beyond me.) Nicholas had fun trying on some of the stuff we found in my boxes. (Okay, he enjoyed the lei. The mortar board was our doing and he was not thrilled.)

From 2011 February

Nicholas' favorite finds in my boxes of keepsakes, however, were my Xavier pep paraphernalia. Pom-poms and megaphones provide tons of entertainment! We actually brought these home and they can become Nicholas toys. He loves making us talk through the megaphones.

From 2011 February

And last night we went over to visit Katie, Wes, and Alice, and Alice showed Nicholas how to take care of a baby. He had never shown any interest in dolls and is only just starting to pick up the idea of pretending. But if Alice does it, it must be cool, and Nicholas quickly became taken with the idea of giving the babies a bottle. I particularly love his form in this picture.

From 2011 February

Today he actually discovered one of the refilling bottles like Alice has when we were at the dollar store looking for stickers and so he now has his own. He doesn't have any baby dolls with the mouths made for bottles, but he did feed his Johnny doll (the one my mom made for his birthday, whose mouth is drawn on, which leads to Nicholas basically beating Johnny's face with the bottle as he tries to get it "in" his mouth) and his Elmo doll the bottle on multiple occasions today. It also seemed to break through a barrier on imaginative play because he had me play Ring around the Rosie with him and both dolls a few times and announced that Elmo had to help us do laundry and carried Elmo into get the laundry baskets and had him help push them. It will be interesting to see how this develops over the next few months.

Weekend Miscellany

Some news and notes from the week, none of which would merit an entire post on its own:

• Pretending has become a big thing. For the last few days, Nicholas has been putting his Pillow Pet doggie "to bed," lying him down on the couch and pulling a blanket over him. Then, in a moment that could melt a glacier, he leans in, gives the Pillow Pet a kiss, and says, "night night doggie!"  Very cute.
• If Nicholas had his druthers, we would be saying "Grace" five or six times per meal.  He really enjoys getting us to hold hands, and at this point he can now (sort of) say it himself, which he also gets a kick out of.
• Believe it or not, Nicholas is actually disappointed that we're done doing eye drops for his latest bout of pink eye.  In the morning and the evening, he automatically goes to the spot where we have him lie down, lies down, and says "eye drops." The first time he did it I gave him some yogurt drops (his compensation for being good about the medicine), but it felt a little too much like we were training a puppy or a seal or something.
• In a related vein, Nicholas may be the only toddler I've ever met with whom reason is the most likely way to get him to do something.  The other day when I dropped him off at school no one was in his classroom, but he started to whine when I said it was time to go to the gym.  So I simply said, "Nicholas, there are no grown ups here, so we have to go to the gym to find Ms. Jamie." And off we went, as simple as that. Very strange, but appreciated.
• Random non-Nicholas note: If you look along the right side, you'll see that our counter is about to hit 10,000. In fact, you might be #10,000 yourself!  Of course, we've had many more visitors than that, because we started counting five months after we started the blog, but it's always fun to see the odometer turn over, right?  Especially when it doesn't involve getting a brake check or an oil change ...

Nicholas may end up a little disappointed, given the excitement of the past few weeks, but I for one am looking forward to a somewhat quieter time this weekend. Even so we'll hopefully have more stories (and, more importantly, photos) to post.

A Day at the Park

I picked Nicholas up an hour early today so we could go to the park. After all, how can you pass up a 60+ degree day in February????

The park was a little wet from the recently melted snow, but completely usable. There are still a few patches of snow lingering, though, which you can see in the background of this photo:

From 2011 February

Nicholas spent a little time on the swings and this bouncy contraption they have, but what he was really excited to do was "up stairs, up stairs, weeeeee," as he describes it. This translates to climb up the stairs and go down the slide. Over and over and over again. (And he now remembers enough about what he does that he was able to tell Daddy all about the park at dinner. He repeated "up stairs, up stairs, weeee" a few times, as well as told Daddy "Nicholas park. Mommy park" and that there were choo-choos. (The lightrail track runs right past the park.))

In the 4 months or so since we were last able to go to the park his legs have gotten long enough that he can now actually walk up the steps, which blew my mind. Much to my surprise it was also a long enough span of time that he had lost his nerve about going down the slide on his own. He would sit down at the top poised to go and excitedly say "ready set go" repeatedly but without actually going. I had to stand next to the slide and hold his hand as he went down a few times. Eventually he started doing it on his own, although still more tentatively than he did last summer.

I took lots of pictures of him on the slide and can't pick my favorite so here are a few:

From 2011 February

From 2011 February

From 2011 February

Man do I love this little boy!

And here he is once he started getting braver. Ready, set, go!!!

From 2011 February

I am so excited for spring . . . and summer . . . and fall. I just really hate winter. And Nicholas is happy about the warm weather too. Ever since they went outside at school a couple days ago he asks to go outside constantly and he was ecstatic when I told him we were going to the park. I may have to get him early again. Because even though we have these few random days that feel like April, it is actually still February and so the sun sets by 5:30.

Wordless Wednesday: Uncle Tickles, Across the . . .Months

November 2009:

From Nicholas - Month 6

July 2010:

From Cruise 2010

December 2010:

From 2010 December

February 2011:

From 2011 February

Super-Fun Weekend

Nicholas bounced back from his various ailments (yay for antibiotics) and had a great weekend. We spent Saturday morning at the B&O Museum, where Nicholas got to see all sorts of choo-choos.

From 2011 February

Nicholas was very excited to see so many trains, but mostly he just wanted to go "on a choo-choo." So we went on each and every one that you were allowed to walk on.

From 2011 February

And the train car with a large complex model train was a huge hit, mostly because the trains were running. And a small moving train is more exciting to this toddler than an old large stationary one.

From 2011 February

So many choo choos!!!!

From 2011 February

Trains were exciting, but the real highlight of the weekend was when Uncle Mike and Aunt Melinda came to visit. Nicholas went down for his nap knowing they were coming after his nap, but was so excited that he woke up after only an hour calling for "Uncle Mike and Nannena." Joe convinced him they weren't here yet and he willingly went back to bed.

After he woke up they read books, they played trains, they played basketball, and Nicholas spent a lot of time climbing on Uncle Mike (who taught him to say "yeehaw").

From 2011 February

From 2011 February

From 2011 February

And his fun wasn't over. After Mike and Melinda left Sunday afternoon my parents came up and babysat so Joe and I could work for a few hours and then celebrated Joe's birthday with us. So this lucky little boy got trains, an aunt and uncle, and grandparents.

And apple pie. Can't leave out the apple pie.

Petri Dish

Having a toddler in daycare is like having your own personal petri dish. The latest--pink eye and a double ear infection. Oh yeah. And while the ear infection doesn't particularly surprise me given that Nicholas has had a cold for the past month (which he gave to me a couple weeks ago and I haven't been able to shake either), the pediatrician is beginning to worry since this is the second time Nicholas has had the pink eye-ear infection combo in a few months.

The crazy thing is that Nicholas doesn't present with standard symptoms so it takes a long time before we take him to the doctor. With a double ear infection you should have a crazy fever. He is cool as a cucumber. (He did have that low fever earlier in the week, but it went away after a few hours.) You should be pulling on your ears and scream if anyone touches them. He pulls away a little sometimes. His eyes were gunky but not extremely so until yesterday afternoon and not pink at all. And while it is nice that he doesn't seem too uncomfortable and we don't have a too-cranky toddler on our hands, it makes me worry that we're leaving things untreated too long and possibly causing real damage.

But for now he is happy, on all sorts of antibiotics and no longer contagious, and the doctor wants to see him again in a few weeks to check out his ears.

Best. Birthday Present. Ever.

Yesterday, Sarah taught Nicholas how to say President Obama's name, and to identify him in a photograph.  So this morning I showed him a photo and asked who it was, and he said, "Obama!"

Obviously, he was paying attention in utero.

I'm now working on teaching him that "Obama" is the answer to the question, "Who is the President?"  Once he gets that down we can start on numbers 1 to 43.  How cute will it be to hear a toddler say "Millard Fillmore"?

Things I'd Never Do

In class today we were talking about Puritan childrearing and my students couldn't figure out how to reconcile some sources that showed parents demonstrating a lot of indulgence and thereby, according to Puritan logic, endangering their children's souls. And when they couldn't get themselves out of this problem and were starting to get sort of frantic about it not making sense, I ended up saying, "Maybe they just gave up or got tired. My son is only one and a half and I already do lots of things I always said I never would."

Most of them laughed a little, but the one 50+ year old woman nodded knowingly. Obviously the only other parent in the room.

I left it at that in class, but here on this blog I can share the story from yesterday that came to mind during this discussion.

Yesterday Nicholas had a bit of a fever and I had to pick him up early. I had been having a pretty crappy day myself, so when he and I got home I didn't have the energy to play with him, even though in all honesty he was basically fine--a little cranky, but with plenty of interest in playing. So what did we do?

We curled up together in the chair, watched an episode of Sesame Street, and shared a bowl of chocolate ice cream.

The teenage me is going on a rant about parenting standards. The adult me just wants another bowl of ice cream.

Not on the List

As I mentioned in the previous post, Uncle Brian came to visit Nicholas this weekend, and much fun was had by all.

Now, you need to understand that before Nicholas was born—actually, before Sarah and I were even married (or Mike and Melinda!)—"Uncle" Brian had started making a list.  One summer afternoon, you see, he had a run-in at an ice cream shop with a gaggle of seven-year-old ballerinas.  He was so disgusted that he came home and announced, "Uncle Brian is not taking the kids for ice cream!"

And thus began a long-running meme.  Uncle Brian wouldn't do this with the kids.  Uncle Brian wouldn't take the kids there.  At one point, we joked that it was clear that Uncle Brian would pretty much only do one thing: sit with the kids and tell them stories about the things he wouldn't do with them.

But now we have photographic evidence to the contrary.

Uncle Brian helps to make train loops:

From 2011 February

Uncle Brian plays in blanket forts:

From 2011 February

Uncle Brian poses for photographs:

From 2011 February

Uncle Brian also enjoys going to the library and Target with Nicholas, but taking photographs there is considered gauche.

Finally, Uncle Brian schemed with Mommy to throw me a surprise birthday party.  Which is what the rest of the photos in the February gallery depict ... or at least Nicholas' involvement thereto.

Happy Birthday, Peanut Chronicle!

It's hard to believe, but the blog is already two years old (we passed the date on Wednesday, in fact).  I suppose it's harder to believe that in just over 100 days we'll be the parents of a two-year-old, but for now we'll take our shock in smaller doses.

Peanut/Nicholas has come a long way since then, as have we.  And it all feels like the blink of an eye.

With that, I bring the weepy sentimentality to a close, for now.  We have a weekend with Uncle Brian coming up, and if we don't come away with some good anecdotes, we'll be very disappointed!

Wordless Wednesday: Daddy's Boots

From 2011 January

Warning: Attitude Adjustment in Progress

Nicholas remains a very sweet little boy.  But there are signs of a wind shift rapidly approaching (dare I say, the "terrible twos?").

Since the start of the new year, Nicholas has started to assert himself just a little bit more.  He says "no" more to requests for him to do things, like cleaning up or brushing his teeth.  He will push my hand away (or Sarah's) if we're trying to clean him up and he doesn't want to be.  He fights getting dressed in the morning, putting on his pajamas at night, and getting his diaper changed in between.  This evening he even tried to take his diaper off while I reached for his pajamas.

Now, in fairness, he was almost too agreeable before; I didn't quite believe that it was possible, and that makes his shift back to the mean seem worse than it is.  Plus, in his defense we spent a great deal of the month in motion and commotion: we were only home together on 12 of the 31 days of January.  The rest of the month at least one of the adults (and sometimes Nicholas too) was traveling.  That put a lot of strain on me, I know, and on Sarah, and so it must have on him.

But the transition is undeniable, and I get the feeling it's not just a temporary response to the tumult.  We are still lucky, though, that most of the time he's good-natured and happy to be cooperative.  In other words, not so much like his father.