Okay!

Nicholas is getting very good at having conversations, and especially at answering questions with a verbal response.  But it's created loads of hilarity around our house because he's started using "okay" and "yes" interchangeably. (Unfortunately, we can't really get him to do this on video.)  It works in most situations, but occasionally is just a little off in the precise sense based on what the question is.

But the use of "okay" to indicate the affirmative has led to exchanges like this:

Me: Is Uncle Andrew in that picture?
N: Okay!

Mommy: Nicholas, would you like some pasta for dinner?
N: Okay!

And just in time, fresh video of the phenomenon!

From 2011 March

Wordless Wednesday: Uncle Andrew!

From 2011 March

Medical Update the Umpteenth

First, the good news: Nicholas's ears are clearing up nicely this time, and we don't have to do more antibiotics right now (here's hoping that sticks).

The bad news: the rash this weekend hasn't gone away, and it's because it has nothing to do with the antibiotic he was taking.

Instead, he has something called "Fifth Disease." And by the way, I really hope this is the last time for a while I link to a page on the NIH website.  Just sayin'.  Anyway, it's a virus that causes a rash that starts on the face and then spreads to the rest of the body.  He's no longer contagious (the rash is an immune response after it's fought off the virus), so he can keep going to school.  And he may be splotchy for a while.  I also learned when I dropped him back at school this morning that other children at the center have had it, so hopefully that's where it came from.

Overall reaction: Sigh. This kid's had a long, annoying winter.  He's healthy overall, and for that we are eternally grateful, but it's been one thing after another.

By the way, for the historically curious among our readers, anecdotal internet research says that the disease is one of five classical child illnesses that caused rashes -- measles, rubella (German measles), scarlet fever, "fourth disease," and this.  So fine.  It's apparently also sometimes known colloquially as "slapped cheeks disease" because it first appears on the face, but I'm guessing that in the age of Child Protective Services and Law and Order: SVU, that name isn't used very much given its potential implication.  We'll probably just stick with "fifth disease" ourselves.

Allergic reaction

It turns out Nicholas is allergic to his antibiotic, or at least that is the doctor's over-the-phone diagnosis for the bright red cheeks and splotchy rash on his arms.

From 2011 March

The lighting was off so it is hard to see how bright red his cheeks really were. The same is true in this video, although you can get a glimpse. And it is entertaining on its own account--lots of "Itsy Bitsy Spider."

From 2011 March

He did this for about 15 minutes straight. Over and over and over again.

Anyway, back to the allergy. Nicholas woke up this morning with bright red cheeks. We assumed he was flushed and had a fever. And he was a little warm off and on during the morning, but no real fever. I put some antihistamine on his cheeks in case it was a topical reaction to something, we tried to think of anything odd he had eaten in the past 24 hours he could have been allergic too, and otherwise went about our business. For awhile mid-morning it had gone down to just a few red splotches and I had high hopes that we might be able to go for our scheduled pictures this afternoon.

Did I mention we were supposed to have pictures taken today? We have a large credit that has to be used by Thursday and were able to grab the last appointment for this weekend, at 3:10 this afternoon. I knew it would be potentially problematic, but I assumed it would be because Nicholas would decide not to nap until 2. But, no, he actually slept 12-2, perfect timing to leave at 2:30. But he woke up with even brighter cheeks. I gave him some Benadryl and we headed off, hoping that by the time we got there it would have miraculously solved the problem. No such luck.

When we got home we discovered that the rash had spread, called the doctor, and got the order to stop that antibiotic. Grand scheme of things, no big deal, but I just hope this doesn't screw up the latest effort to beat the ear infection that won't go away. And I hope they can manage to schedule his now-necessary Monday doctor's appointment for a time that doesn't require Joe or I to miss work. These appointments are getting out of control. Also, honestly, I'm annoyed that this thwarted our efforts to get a family picture. I've scheduled Nicholas for pictures on Thursday evening, literally in the last couple hours before the credit for free pictures expires, but Joe will be out of town at a conference, so it will be just the boy.

I really am grateful that Nicholas is so healthy overall, but our weeks are so carefully orchestrated that even these minor things somehow manage to gum up the works.

Travel Arithmetic

+1 apartment (probably)
+1 day care center (most likely)
-1 car seat (definitely)

JetBlue lost the car seat on the flight home.  By sheer dint of luck, we'd pulled a spare one out of Sarah's mom's car to take with us (thinking about damage to the nice one more than anything else), so we were able to make it home just fine.  And by 8pm last night, they'd called to let us know they'd found it, and that it should arrive in Baltimore sometime today.  So a little frustrating, but not catastrophic, all things considered.

More to report later.

UPDATE (2:45 pm): The car seat has arrived in Baltimore, after taking a detour to Tampa, Florida (they couldn't have put us on the wrong plane?!).  This makes sense, because our gate was changed after we went through security, and the original gate had a flight to Tampa.  Mystery solved, car seat located, and it should be at our house any minute.

Wordless Wednesday: 1, 2, 3, Jump!

From 2011 March

Update from the Road

We're in Massachusetts for a few days looking at apartments and day care centers.  It's fun and exciting, but incredibly exhausting, though I think we're making a little progress.

Nicholas likes that there's an elevator in the hotel, and now can push the buttons himself (sometimes with a little boost). And he recognizes the numerals 1 to 4 pretty decently to get us to the right floor.  He and I also came up with an "Elevator Song" today to the tune of "Frère Jacques."  The hotel also has a pool, and because we've felt bad dragging him around so much, we've gone each day (and probably will tomorrow as well).  He loves it, especially when we let him jump in the pool.

Mostly though Nicholas has found this trip exhausting.  Yesterday he napped in the car on the way out from the airport, and today he slept in the morning between two house appointments (actually, from the end of one, through the next, and all the way until we stopped to make a phone call).  This evening when we got back to the hotel from dinner, Nicholas had fallen asleep, and woke up begging to go back to sleep.  He didn't even want to take his medicine, which he usually enjoys, and only did when Sarah assured him that he could go to sleep if he did.

But do you really want to know how tired he is?  I'm typing this post in the room, about three feet from his head, and he hasn't budged, squirmed, murmured, or done pretty much anything other than breathe.

Alice and the Park

Nicholas got the best surprise ever on Friday evening--he got to go to the park with Alice!

They had a blast!

They did a good job of taking turns and were very kind to each other. Alice was much faster at the loop than Nicholas and would come over to him and tell him that it was his turn.
Here they are all lined up, taking turns on the slide:

From 2011 March

My attempts at getting a picture of the two of them by the stream:

From 2011 March

They look more stunned than anything.

I did get a lot of pictures of the back of their heads as they played together, climbed together, or looked at things together:

From 2011 March

I didn't get many good pictures of Nicholas, largely because I didn't want to be too far away from him that close to the water. But, there are a couple really good ones of Alice and Katie, which I'll post since I know some of their family reads this as well:

From 2011 March

From 2011 March

From 2011 March

I absolutely love Alice's hair right now! It is not often that I wish we had a girl, but Alice's hair is so cute.

They are both such good kids and have so much fun together.

Week of Three Doctors

This week Nicholas ended up having three separate visits to doctors. Ick. The end conclusion is that he has an ear infection that won't go away, had a related pink eye, and a virus that is a respiratory version of a cold and can develop into a breathing problem. Yeah, fun.

Monday afternoon when I picked him up from school his right eye was very gunky and I could tell just by looking at the type of gunk that by morning he would clearly have pink eye. I have lost track of how many times he has had pink eye, but it has been at least 4 times, so I can spot the difference between normal gunk and pink eye gunk. Don't ask me to describe it--there is something slightly different about both the consistency and the color.

Anyway, Tuesday morning his eye was still not really pink, but it was definitely worse and since each of the past few times he has had pink eye he has also had an ear infection that he showed no symptoms of, I decided to take him to the doctor's office instead of just wiping his eye and sending him to school (which I could have gotten away with since his eye wasn't pink).

So I made a plan with my mom: I would take him to the earliest appointment I could get, drop him off at their house on my way into work since he couldn't go to school with pinkeye (their house is 35 minutes away, but actually on my way to College Park), and get to office hours only a little late. She would then watch him for the day and bring him up when they came up for dinner that evening (already planned--we were celebrating my dad's birthday). Mom to the rescue. Okay, I can make this work. I got a 9:45 appointment for Nicholas and sent an email to my students (all 240 of them) changing my office hours from 10-1 to 12-3. Not that they come, but between weather and Nicholas illnesses I have had to cancel a bunch already this semester and that just starts to send a bad message.

I only managed to get in to go to the doctor because we were supposed to have an ear check sometime this week since his ear infection from a month ago still hadn't cleared up as of a couple weeks ago. Otherwise since he had no fever they wanted to say it was just pink eye and so to just give him the eye drops and not bring him in and risk infecting everyone else. But I was insistent--he rarely has a fever with an ear infection and doesn't pull on his ears but he almost always has an ear infection with pink eye. We've been through this before. You tell me not to bring him in. I eventually find some way to weasel him in knowing things aren't right, the doctor looks in his ears and gives an exclamation that quite literally once was "oh my God!" Just trust me, people, okay??!!

So we go to the doctor and yep, ear infection and pink eye. The working theory was that it is still a continuation of the pair from whenever this all began a month or 6 weeks ago. The pink eye clears up but because the ear infection doesn't the infected congestion ends up back in his eye and reinfects it. So they prescribe him still another antibiotic and declare that it is time to go see the Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor.

I take the prescription, get in the car, and start the drive to my parents' house. At this point I am pretty frazzled. Going to ENT is the path towards tubes, we can't get his ears to clear up, because he doesn't show symptoms it is very possible his ears have been infected for months on end with no treatment, he has been on antibiotics with few breaks for nearing months at this point. This is all enough to send my brain to bad places. And add to that, the doctor's office was super behind and so I will have to race to drop him off and get to work to make even the revised office hours time. And when in the world am I going to get his prescription filled?!

So I have Joe call to get an ENT appointment, with the goal of Th/F when I don't teach. They won't see him while he is on antibiotics so our choices were 3:45 that afternoon (they had a last minute cancellation and we hadn't yet started the antibiotics for this round) or to wait for 10 days. Despite the logistical headaches, that was an easy choice.

Joe teaches Tuesday afternoons so I had to be back in Baltimore County for a 3:45 appointment. (It is an hour and a half drive each way, keep in mind, and a little longer with the stop by my parents'.) Drop Nicholas off with my mom, race to College Park (without speeding on Rte 1--I've gotten caught by speed cameras three too many times) trying not to go batty when pothole crews had two lanes closed on I-95, have 2 hours of office hours (yet another email to 240 students changing the schedule), race back to my parents' house, throw Nicholas and his stuff in the car, book it up to the doctor's office. We made it--score! And even with 10 minutes to spare.

And then we waited. And waited. And waited. After 75 minutes they finally call us back. Then another 15 minutes and we see the doctor. Any day this long of a wait with a toddler wouldn't be easy, but we had both had a rough day already at that point (including a really bad nap on Nicholas' part) and to say I was hanging by a thread is an understatement.

The doctor was a very nice man and really good with Nicholas. He was also reassuring that there are still a few hopes before we get to tubes. Granted, his best hope was just that as the weather warms up things will clear up on their own. But he swears this often happens and so this time of year adopts something of a wait and see approach with close monitoring. He thinks that Nicholas has an infection in his nasal passages that just can't get all the way cleared out and so is backing up both his ears and eyes, causing the continued bouts of both pink eye and ear infections. So in addition to the oral antibiotic and the antibiotic eye drop he added a nasal spray to try to open up the nasal passages so that stuff can finally clear out. The image is pretty gross, I know, but it makes some sense and is non-invasive, so I'm hoping that will do it. We're going back in 2 weeks and he'll check on progress.

So Tuesday was pretty crazy. But it all worked out. We got into the ENT. My mom was able to jump in and help out so I didn't have to cancel office hours entirely, we got Nicholas' new prescription filled, and had a new plan. I was exhausted, behind for prep for Wednesday's classes, but cautiously optimistic.

And then this morning Nicholas woke up with a fever. Nothing awful, but definitely a fever. He was cranky and clingy and off all morning. 100.5 when we took his temp. So we called the doctor. I was convinced the new antibiotic wasn't working and his ear infection had gotten worse. And we're supposed to get on a plane first thing Monday morning. Much to my surprise they didn't give Joe crap about bringing Nicholas in. Of course by the time we got in his fever had gone down dramatically, but at that point I was going to have someone look in his ears if I had to break down into tears in the waiting room.

The good news is that the doctor saw progress in his ears. They weren't perfect, but the left ear was "almost cleared up" and the right ear had made some progress and for where we are in the antibiotic cycle the doctor was happy with his ears.

The bad news is that when he listened to Nicholas' breathing just as a matter of course he discovered the reason for the fever. He turned to us and said, "How long has he been breathing like this?" To which I responded, "Like what? I don't notice anything different, so possibly forever. What's wrong?" Apparently he was wheezing. It wasn't bad--as I said, I couldn't even perceive it. But between the breathing and the fever and his magic doctor skills, the doctor decided he has RSV, which is a respiratory virus like a cold but that causes wheezing. Or something like that. A virus version of bronchitis, or in that family. In infants it can be really bad (he said they've been admitting bunches of babies to the hospital for it recently because there is an "epidemic" of it going around), but it is less serious in toddlers.

He tried an asthma treatment on him to see if that would help, but it did absolutely nothing. While it was aggravating to have to fight Nicholas to hold a mask over his face for 5 minutes and have it not help at all, the good thing about this is that it means he doesn't have asthma. Since that didn't work, the doctor basically sent us home with a "If he starts gasping for breath call me and I'll send him to the ER. Otherwise just keep doing what you're doing."

Yeah, that is not what you want to hear. But he seemed totally non-plussed. And said there was no reason for Nicholas not to fly or otherwise to be restricted. That other than keeping an ear on his breathing, to treat it just like a cold.

And I am convinced strep is next since I swear every person in that doctor's office had strep. We didn't let Nicholas touch a thing, but I'm sure it is coming. Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

But, loyal readers, fear not, the little boy is feeling good. He was never warm enough for us to take his temperature after that initial peak this morning and has been full of energy. His appetite was down most of the day, but he scarfed down dinner.

And as evidence that he was feeling good this evening, I present this picture, taken right before bed:

From 2011 March

And, really, aren't those dinosaur pajamas adorable? Welcome Spring!!! And can you fix my baby's ears while you are here?

Uncle Patrick Day . . . Part 2

A couple people asked for an update on the guacamole situation and it just so happens I have some more pictures from the day, so here is a follow up post.

The guacamole was an unqualified failure. After some internet searching and some microwaving, I got the avocados scooped out but then couldn't get them to mush up well enough because they were still too hard. As the clock raced towards party time I finally gave up (although not without some intense tears of frustration), bought pre-made guacamole and mint chocolate chip ice cream at the store, and booked it over to daycare.

The kids had already started their party and had plates laden with food (including lots of sweets), so really no one other than Nicholas had much interest in the guacamole and we didn't even break out the ice cream. Pretty anti-climactic after all of that. But the kids were very excited to see me and Nicholas kept announcing my presence and showing me off. As though they don't all see me every single day when I pick him up. But I guess being there mid-day was a special occasion.

Nicholas at his St.Patrick's Day Party:

From 2011 March

With his class:

From 2011 March

It really is amazing how well-trained the kids all are. They all sat so nicely at their snack table and were very well behaved.

It also gave me a chance to get some pictures of Nicholas in his classroom, including this one:

From 2011 March

So at least the day wasn't a complete loss. It was one of those days, though, that reminded me that I am in fact not superwoman and that trying to do it all never works out well. I am not a juggler. In trying to work, be mom, and deal with the move all at once, I managed to do each poorly. I got a total of 3 papers graded, failed miserably on the party snack, and drove our realtor batty. And in the process sent myself spiraling into not one but two breakdowns. And so tomorrow I resolve to compartmentalize. 8-5 I will only work. 5-8 I will only be mom. And 8-10? Well, it is a Friday night, maybe 8-10 I'll have some me time. Or maybe I'll grade or deal with apartment hunting or . . . or . . . or . . .

Happy Uncle Patrick Day

This morning we tried to explain to Nicholas that today was St. Patrick's Day and get him to say "Happy St. Patrick's Day." However, in typical toddler fashion, Nicholas took that abstract concept and translated it into something concrete and intelligible to him.

I imagine the thought process went something like this: They said "Patrick." I have an Uncle Patrick. That must be what they meant.

And what came out was "Happy Uncle Patrick Day!" And there was no convincing him otherwise.

Here he is in the process of shouting "Uncle Patrick Day!"

From 2011 March

And a picture of him in his fun green shirt that I just happened to buy on clearance last fall and washed last weekend to fill a load. I mean, the shirt I planned 6 months in advance for him to wear for St. Patrick's Day and carefully cleaned in advance.

From 2011 March

They are having a St. Patrick's Day party at school this afternoon, which I realized this morning that we had never signed up to bring something for. (In my defense, I really didn't see the signup sheet until this morning. Whether it was there before I don't know.) And since the teachers had filled in the rest of the spots on the sheet with their own names, I asked if they needed anything and Nicholas' teacher said anything green.

So I thought and thought and thought. What could I bring that was green and not a vegetable? I mean, really, I am not going to be the parent who brings broccoli to a school party. And then I hit on it--guacamole! Nicholas loves guacamole and it would be something fun for him to share with his friends. Perfect. I am a genius. This is going to be awesome. Of course when I went to the store to get avocados they were nowhere near ripe, despite the fact that each one had a sticker on it proclaiming "RIPE NOW!" Liars.

So I currently have 3 avocados wrapped in a paper bag sitting on the front seat of my car in the sun. I figure that in an hour 1 of 3 things will happen:

1. They will ripen enough that I can make a good enough guacamole to satisfy one year olds.
2. There will be some crazy chemical reaction that makes the avocados poisonous and all the kids sick.
3. Absolutely nothing.

I think option 3 is the most likely, and all things considered that is probably a good thing.

Bending the Curve

Nicholas has no idea (yet...) just how much he has changed the dynamic of all of his relatives' lives.  Both my parents and Sarah's now answer to "Grandma" and "Grandpa," to give just one example.

What's even more touching—and this is something Nicholas will largely miss, since toddlers don't get context and nuance—is how much everyone defines himself or herself in relation to him even when whatever he or she is doing has nothing to do with the little boy.

I was reminded of that fact this morning when I went to look at the online NCAA pool that the siblings have set up (no money involved, Dick Cheney, I promise!).  Several of the pool names include "Aunt" or "Uncle" in the title.  Now, to be fair, Brian appended the title "Uncle" to his name even before any of his brothers had gotten married.  But still, it's a sign of just how much little Nicholas has affected everyone around him.

Wordless Wednesday: D.C.

From 2011 March

Washington D.C.

We spent an amazing day in D.C. yesterday! Nicholas loved the museums, the weather varied between tolerable and delightful, and some friends of mine from high school met up with us for a couple hours. And so we each had a ton of fun.

They studied dinosaurs at Nicholas' school a couple weeks ago, so we took him into the Museum of Natural History this time around. He was excited as soon as we walked in because there is a giant elephant in the lobby:

From 2011 March

It was hard to get a picture because he just wanted to turn around and point to the elephant.

I wasn't sure whether he would understand the dinosaur skeletons, but as soon as we walked in that room he shouted "dinosaurs!"

From 2011 March

And although he did not want to pose for a picture with them, he thought it was cool that they were there. He then moved on pretty quickly, soon discovering a fun marble staircase to climb. But apparently they really did make an impression because when we left he had to go say "bye-bye dinosaurs" and later in the day we walked past the museum and he recognized it from 100 yards away and started begging for "more-more dinosaurs." When we stopped in there for a pit stop an hour later on our way to the car and he begged again (even though we went in the entrance on the other side and I didn't think he would recognize where we were) we caved and took him upstairs for another quick look.

We also went back to air and space, which in typical Nicholas fashion, he loved even more the second time. We weren't sure if he remembered being there or not until he saw the escalator up to the planetarium and started asking for Elmo and Big Bird. There was a major meltdown in the hands-on section when a man started talking to him in Chinese (I think) with great animation. I think he thought he was in trouble because he isn't used to the sharper sounds of Chinese. It took chicken nuggets, french fries, and an ice cream cone to bring him back after that incident.

In addition to dinosaurs and airplanes, this lucky little boy also got to go on a carousel--on the national Mall. And it was FAST!

From 2011 March

He thinks carousels are in malls, but they are apparently on malls, too. :)

Nicholas absolutely refused to stand still to take pictures with the monuments, so I was forced to try to snap them while he was running around playing.

Nicholas checking out a nearby puddle:

From 2011 March

Nicholas running, running, running:

From 2011 March

Nicholas literally running in circles:

From 2011 March

And a few attempts at more standard pictures, with varying success:
Washington Monument:

From 2011 March

Lincoln Memorial/WWII Memorial

From 2011 March

White House Take 1:

From 2011 March

White House Take 2:

From 2011 March

And, believe it or not, there are even more pictures in the Gallery.

Teaser: Washington D.C.

We'll try to write more tomorrow, but here is a teaser from our trip to Washington D.C. today:

From 2011 March

From 2011 March

From 2011 March

People Downstairs Marching

The people downstairs chop. A lot. And by a lot I mean almost constantly. And loudly. In fact, if you watch the video of Nicholas climbing the stairs that I posted a few days ago you can hear the chopping when he gets to the second floor. and that is from halfway across the apartment and through a closed door. I really don't want to know what they are doing down there.

Anyway, at one point last fall the chopping was so loud that it was scaring Nicholas. He was in the kitchen and came running out almost hysterical. I can understand because it basically sounds like there is a monster in the kitchen cabinets trying to get out. At that point I tried to explain to him what it was, with very little success, so then I decided to drown it out and started marching in the kitchen, my rapid and loud steps on the tile masking the chopping sound. We did this a couple different days and then he forgot about it.

Sometime later they were at it yet again and Nicholas looked around thoughtfully and then pronounced, "people downstairs marching." He had apparently conflated the events so that instead of us marching to cover up the chopping, it was the people downstairs who were marching.

And it has stuck. Every once in awhile Nicholas will pick up the noise of the chopping above whatever is going on in our apartment. "People downstairs marching!" he proudly proclaims. And sometimes he marches along with them.

Painful

I told the daycare center this morning that we're taking Nicholas out as of June 1, a necessary step in our moving process. Shaming disciplinary practices aside, we really like the center, and Nicholas absolutely adores his teachers and classmates.

He's going to be very sad when he can't go back there. I predict several weeks of heartbreaking questions about when we're going to see Elliot, Peyton, Meghan, Miss Hilary, and Miss Hannah.

Update: It's Sarah. I just wanted to add that the news has apparently spread through the daycare center that Nicholas is leaving. When I picked him up everyone was coming up to tell me how sad they were. A few of the teachers (and the owner) seemed genuinely distraught. They have shown us over and over again how much they really do love our little boy, who we are now cruelly taking away. Also, Joe is right on what Nicholas' response will be. Every day Nicholas names every single person in his class. And always in the same order. "Elliot and Peyton. Meghan and Clara. Miss Hilary and Miss Su. Miss Lita. Ameeniah! Madeline. Eric." He sometimes doesn't get to the last couple, but he is just so excited to go to school and see them all. I have a serious case of Mommy guilt right now.

The Baby Punishment

From 2011 January

When I picked Nicholas up from daycare today his teacher greeted me with, "We've figured out how to get Nicholas to stop sucking his thumb! At least here." A little taken aback, but definitely curious, I asked how. "Whenever he sucks his thumb he has to go into the baby room." When I didn't react right away, she explained, "Because only babies suck their thumbs."

Apparently they started this new rule today and he got sent to the baby room once. After that, every time he started to put his thumb in his mouth he looked at them, paused, and decided not to.

I have mixed feelings about this whole thing. On the one hand, he does need to stop sucking his thumb. At the very least he definitely needs to stop sucking it as an automatic reflex whenever he isn't doing something else. On the other hand, they are much more adamant about it than we are and have labelled it as a bad behavior you get punished for, which is much further than we were comfortable going.

And so I am torn. I felt a little better when I realized that the "punishment" actually wasn't all that bad. By "baby" room they actually just meant Toddler 1, which is the 12-18 month olds, not one of the infant rooms. So he was still able to play, but he much prefers being with kids a little older than a little younger and so was probably bored. And they had some success doing something I knew needed to be done but have been avoiding.

So I decided to try it out a little bit this evening. I had already planned to take Nicholas out to dinner (Joe was at choir and Chili's had a kids eat free night), so I framed it as a big boy outing. And since he was a big boy who got to go to dinner he couldn't suck his thumb. And he didn't. He put it in his mouth a couple times, but a simple reminder that he was a big boy at a special dinner was sufficient to stop him. I didn't threaten or yell or punish. I just reminded him that we were at a big boy dinner. Hmmm, interesting. There was definitely some thumb sucking going on in the car on the way home, but all in all he did a very good job.

So I'm still not sure what I think. I do wish they had talked to us before beginning this crusade, I know that much. I'm not sure what I would have said (or what Joe would have said) if they had asked, but I think they should have consulted us. But if I get past that fact, I think I'm okay with what they are actually doing. It seems to be working and obviously didn't upset him too much, since he talked about school and going back to school all evening and school got the biggest smile in his bedtime prayer tonight.

I guess we'll see how tomorrow goes.

Nerdiness

We provide all of Nicholas's food at day care, including his milk. We usually buy a gallon each week and send him with a smaller Tupperware container that we refill.  Because we do that, we have to put a little piece of tape with his name and the expiration date of the milk on it, lest the staff unwittingly serve him sour milk.

Apparently I was feeling a little mischievous yesterday morning (but only a little, as you shall see).  As a Monday, it was time for a new Tupperware, and we were opening a new gallon of milk with an expiration date about a week from now (still with me?).  Because I'm a nerd, I was tempted to label the milk as follows:

Nicholas

Exp. π

Get it?

Didn't actually do it, though.  Alas.

A Glimpse at Daily Life

Well, Nicholas was indeed in a better mood when he woke up. And so we had a good time doing laundry, talking to Joe's parents on skype, and eating dinner. He did have one time out at the end of dinner, but it was an isolated incident.

The real reason for this post is that I took some pictures and videos of the afternoon. Nothing very exciting--we were just doing laundry afterall--but they give you an idea of what the munchkin is like these days.

Nicholas loves doing laundry, as I am sure you are all aware by now, and his favorite part is putting the quarters in the machines. In fact, today he got to put them in for one of our neighbors who was doing laundry at the same time, in addition to doing our machines. Lucky boy.

From 2011 March

Joe and I are hoping to ditch coin-operated laundry when we move, but Nicholas would be crushed.

From 2011 March

I figure that this is good work on fine motor skills, if nothing else. And he has gotten really good. When he first started I had to carefully put the quarter in his fingers exactly right and even then it would usually take a few tries as he fumbled awkwardly to get them lined up and in the slot. Now I set the stack of quarters next to him and he does it all.

Nicholas (and Elmo) then talked to Joe's parents on Skype. I was in and out during the conversation, but from what I caught he seemed to tell them all about the animals he saw yesterday at the zoo.

From 2011 March

And then here are two videos:
This is Nicholas climbing up the stairs after doing laundry. He counts the stairs every time we climb them, but if you don't prompt him to count properly you get a lot of "six eighteen fourteen" or other such sequences. And so here is counting Nicholas style:

From 2011 March

And this video really has no substance. I'm not even sure exactly what he was saying, and he was standing so close to me that the framing is horrible. But he is just so excited about doing laundry! And it is getting really hard to capture an authentic smile in still images anymore.

From 2011 March

Ups and Downs

Nicholas has had a very up and down weekend, and therefore so have I. About 2/3 of the time he has been positively delightful.

In these moments we made guacamole (Nicholas' favorite), baked brownies (and although he is a mess, it was an accident and he was being a really good help) . . .

From 2011 March

From 2011 March

we went to the zoo with my mom . . .

From 2011 March

From 2011 March

we played, we drew pictures, we read books, and we went on an adventure to the mall. And he is increasingly funny and imaginative, making playing with him very entertaining.

But unfortunately there have also been quite a few more challenging moments as well, when he spoiled our plan for a fun activity by refusing to listen. The line that has been going through my head this weekend has been, "When he was good he was very very good, but when he was bad he was horrid." Except Nicholas is never really horrid. I have seen waaaaaay worse. It just feels like it in contrast to the sweet boy we are used to.

But he is now 2 1/2 hours into a nap, so maybe he was just as exhausted as we were this weekend. I know this long nap of his made me feel better.

Rearing Its Ugly Head

It's coming.  We can sense it.

It's not far away now, and every once in a while we can see it on the horizon.

Yes, my friends, the Terrible Twos are near at hand.

Nicholas is still by and large an incredibly sweet boy (he sure didn't get that from me!).  He is helpful, obedient, kind, cheerful.  In other words, he'd be ready to join the Boy Scouts if I let him (I apparently stayed just long enough to remember a couple of adjectives from the blood oath).  He likes to do laundry, he likes to help cook. He will listen to logic and reason.  No, seriously, he will.

But sometimes.  Ohhhhhh, sometimes.

Sarah reported having a rough afternoon with him yesterday.  Cranky, tired, disobedient (this sounds more like my son, no?), she had trouble getting him to do anything she wanted.  She couldn't even get books checked out at the library because he kept running away.  Then last night, Nicholas tried to take his diaper off while I was putting his pajamas on.  Repeatedly.  Eventually I got his PJs on, and he was still wearing his diaper, so we called it a success.  Even threats of losing his bedtime books—which he had already picked out that afternoon and had been talking about non-stop—had no effect.  So when he was recalcitrant about brushing his teeth, he had crossed the line.  He got what he wanted—no teeth were brushed—but he also went straight to bed without benefit of reading.

Today he seems cheery again ... though it's about how he was yesterday morning.  We'll see how the day goes.  But each day brings us a little closer to losing our sweet "pre-toddler" and having to deal with a little boy who doesn't know that he still has to follow directions.  And I get a little closer to understand how my parents felt about another little redheaded boy, lo these many years ago.

Where's Cookies

This is a picture taken from Nicholas' perspective from the door of our room. We thought we had hidden the cookies where he wouldn't be able to find them in our absurdly messy office, but as soon as he walked in the door he paused, pointed, and started demanding cookies.

From 2011 February

Can you find the cookies? (Hint: they are in a clear round plastic container.)