Updates and Photo Dump

Sorry for the infrequency of posts. I could make the excuse that life has been super-busy--which it has--but I also have just gotten out of the headspace of thinking about posting when things happen.

So I'll put the random assortment of updates I can think of into a list:

• Nicholas has been a bit of a mess the past few days.  He has been having major meltdowns over seemingly insignificant things.  As in, crocodile tears have been a 2-3 times a day occurance.  I have no idea what is up.
• They instituted a job chart at school, where the kids rotate through the classroom jobs.  Nicholas thinks this is the most awesome thing ever.  It also means we have gotten more details than ever before about what actually goes on in the classroom, as he explains each job in minute detail.
• They studied occupations at school last week and when they asked Nicholas what he wants to be when he grows up, he said "a daddy."  Joe then questioned him on what daddies do and his responses were things like "drive cars" and other such standard adult activities.
• Nicholas is really into Berenstein Bears books right now.  They are super long.  We are trying to work him down from the 2 books that he has gotten at bedtime since infancy to 2 short books OR 1 long book.  You can guess how well that is going.
• He has learned to brush his teeth almost entirely by himself.  Apparently the crazy Mass. law about requiring them to brush their teeth in daycares is paying off.
• Potty training is going nowhere.  He was doing well for awhile a couple months ago and now wants nothing to do with it.  He has the control but is using that to guarantee that he doesn't ever go on the potty, even by accident.  Not sure what is going on there, but I'm not going to push him for now.
• Nicholas is obsessed with the idea of his birthday.  He has been counting down for months already and now that we have birthday parties for friends from school every few weeks, he is getting super-duper excited.
• Nicholas and I went for a hike a couple weeks ago with a neighbor and her 9-month-old daughter and Nicholas did an amazing job.  We hiked for 90 minutes, and he walked for all but 10 of those.  I was super-impressed!  The only problem is that he was really desperate for us to end up near water he could throw rocks in (we did that a couple times last summer) and this trail did not go near water.
• Tomorrow said neighbor is picking Nicholas up from school for us and bringing him back to her house.  Nicholas is psyched and can't stop talking about how "Leila's mommy" is picking him up.  Joe and I are thankful because she is saving us from a tight jam.  I'm interested to see how it all goes, though, because they have to then go pick Leila up at her daycare, which happens to be Nicholas' old school.  I wonder how he's going to do with that.
• Nicholas calls short-sleeved shirts shirts with "no sleeves" and can't be convinced otherwise.
• Last night Nicholas found a sleepsack in the bottom of a drawer and insisted on putting it on and wearing it to bed.  Yes, he looked as absurd as you imagine.

And here are a handful of pictures, some of which accompany the above points but many of which are completely random.

From 2012 April

From 2012 April

From 2012 April

From 2012 April

From 2012 April

From 2012 April

Ice Cream Crisis

I had an ice cream emergency tonight. Joe isn't home and I needed ice cream. (No, I'm not pregnant. I just sometimes (okay, often) need ice cream.) I was left with three choices: 1. Eat the last serving of Joe's peanut butter ice cream. This would a) make me a bad wife and b) not really satisfy me because I don't like it much. 2. Eat Nicholas' ice cream sandwich that he got at a restaraunt last week and has forgotten about. This would make me a bad mom. 3. Leave Nicholas home alone to go to the store to buy ice cream. This would make me an ACTUALLY bad mom, as in criminally bad. So clearly I chose option 2, but I'm feeling a little guilty about it. Why do I have the feeling I will be buying a package of ice cream sandwiches tomorrow to soothe my guilt, even though Nicholas has completely forgotten the thing existed?

Writing his Name

This child never ceases to amaze me. This weekend he was writing the letter "H" a bunch on his chalkboard and I suggested he try to write the letter "N" and modelled it a couple times. I wish I had gotten pictures of his attempts, but suffice it to say they looked nothing like the letter "N." I shrugged and let it go, figuring he just didn't have the spatial awareness and was not ready to start writing letters yet. Okay, no biggie.

But Nicholas thought this was just too cool of a prospect and so just kept practicing. After a little practice he had mastered a passable (although not precise) "N" and was ecstatic. In fact, after each successful attempt, he came running in to tell me and made me stop working on lunch to go to his room to see his masterpiece. And this was on top of the fact that Joe was in his room offering him all the praise and affirmation the little boy could have asked for.

Fast forward two days. Tonight Nicholas and I went out to dinner (Joe was at choir, I had a long day, and a local restaurant has free kids' meals on Tuesdays) and Nicholas started writing "N"s all over his placemat with the crayons they provide. And they were remarkably better than they were on Sunday. He was actually precisely connecting the top of one line with the bottom of the other!

Then, just for kicks, I mentioned that maybe he could learn to write an "I" next, figuring that he only knows capital letters and a capital "I" is just a straight line so he could do that. And next thing I know he proceeds to--completely on his own--write a lower case "i" next to his "N." This clearly means they have been working on it at school, but I think my jaw dropped when he dotted that "i." He then said "N. i. c." and set to work writing the letter "c." His "c" only had a curve at the top and a straight line down, but he had the basic idea. He then did "H" and "O" which he has known for awhile. And then he was stuck.

Well, at this point he had gotten over halfway through his name, so I decided to see if he could learn the others. I then taught him "L" and "A" while we were waiting to order. The "L" he got right away. The "A" took a couple tries, but then he had it. The "S" however was just not clicking.

He had used up all of the placemats on the table, so I pulled a notebook out of my briefcase for him and he proceeded to write his name on 4 different sheets. I pointed out the missing bottom curve on the "c", which he fixed, and once he ran out of space going left to right suggested where to put the last couple letters so he didn't put them smack in the middle of the other letters, but other than that, he did them all by himself.

And this is what he had gotten to before our dinner arrived:

From 2012 April

As I said, I am completely in awe.

Sugar! Tee hee!

Nicholas gets (the secular part of) Easter, to the point that by the time we got to eating the bunny cake, he was extolling the virtues of sweets in the manner you see above.

We had quite the busy day with Grandma Alice, Grandpa Richard, Uncle Brian, and Aunt Shayna all in town, so I'll try to keep things brief and illustrated.

After church this morning, we took our traditional holiday portrait:

From 2012 April

And just because, Nicholas wanted to pose with Elmo:

From 2012 April

Our apartment complex is not designed well for egg hunts (lots of open grassy space, which is great for other things, but not hiding anything), but we managed to find a spot around the corner from our building with an odd rock formation, so Nicholas was able to hunt for eggs:

From 2012 April

From 2012 April

It probably would have been more fun for him (and definitely for the adults) if there were more children running around looking for the eggs, but we persevered as he found all of them (and some of them twice, thanks to Grandpa's antics). The Easter Bunny was very nice to Nicholas: in addition to candy (yum!) he got galoshes, a Mickey Mouse shirt, and some puzzles, and Grandma brought more bubbles!

From 2012 April

Nicholas was exhausted much of the weekend because he was having so much fun, but that's okay, not least because he's back in school tomorrow so his teachers will be the ones to have to deal with it! He loves having family come visit, and told us this evening that he thought we should go visit Grandma and Grandpa, "because it will make them happy." Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

From 2012 April

Getting Ready for Easter

From 2012 April

From 2012 April

From 2012 April

Drawing

Nicholas drew this picture of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for Uncle Brian's birthday card a couple weeks ago.

From 2012 March

Pretty good, right?

Big News

A few months ago, Nicholas and I were wandering the local mall when a talent scout at one of those booths in the middle of the walkway approached and asked if we had ever thought about modeling (for Nicholas, not me). I brushed him off, but he insisted I take his card. We continued on and I thought nothing of it.

Eventually curiosity got the better of me, when I saw the card sitting there: "Sidd Finch, Talent Agent" (if the names sounds familiar, it's because he's a former major leaguer). I called him, without telling Sarah for fear of what she might say. We met at a diner in Somerville in February, and I brought Nicholas in for a test shoot that very same weekend.

And now I can announce the results of that meeting: we'll be spending the summer in Prague, where Nicholas will be appearing in his first feature-length motion picture. I can't say too much, but J.K. has generously allowed me to share that he will be playing the toddler son of Ron and Hermione in a flash-forward sequel of the Harry Potter series, tentatively entitled Muggle Babies. We'll be leaving the states on or about May 20, and if all goes well, we'll return in mid-August in time for everyone to start school again.

We're very excited, especially about the chance to see the Czech Republic. It's hard to believe from the perspective of the first of April that this is actually happening, but stay tuned as we bring you more updates (and maybe some behind-the-scenes photos!) here at Arašídy kronika.