In Which the Idea of Being Five is the Coolest Thing Ever

This afternoon on the way home from work, we were all chatting, and somehow we ended up talking briefly about something annoying that teenagers do (the details aren't important nor do I remember them that well). Reminded of what teenagers are like, I called back to Nicholas, "Could you please stay three for a while?"

"I'll be three, but only for a little while," he replied. "And on my next birthday I'll be four!"

We were suitably impressed that he'd put that together, though it's unclear whether he realizes his next birthday is eight months from now. But then he continued, "And then I'll be five!" He was ecstatic, so Sarah asked him why he wanted to be five, that is, what excited him that five-year-olds get to do. His reply?

"I want to go to elementary school! And kindergarten."

We discussed it a bit, and all of us agreed that kindergarten will be fun because it's a lot like pre-school, only better. Also, can you tell this is the son of two academics or what?

Picture Post

We haven't posted any pictures in awhile, so here are a few from recent weeks.

We went apple picking last weekend, which was a disappointment overall because the trees had already been picked pretty clean.  In fact, I ended up climbing trees to get some that were up at the top.

From 2012 September

From 2012 September

Today Nicholas and I went to the park while Joe got some work done.  The light was really tricky for pictures, so I only managed to get two that weren't washed out.

From 2012 September

From 2012 September

Ruptured Ear Infection

Not only did Nicholas not sleep in past 7, but he only made it to 1:30am.  I was then with him for all but maybe half an hour until 6, although he and I did get some interrupted sleep in that time.  The kid was clearly in pain and crying and needing snuggles.  We were up for a while, slept in his bed for awhile, slept on the floor for awhile, and so on, getting up every half hour or so.  It was pretty miserable.

But then when he woke up just before 6 he had snapped back in and was his normal self.  He was hungry (which made sense since he hadn't eaten much for dinner) but chipper and wide awake and happy.  So I tagged Joe and went to bed in my actual bed and all seemed well.

Joe then noticed when he took Nicholas in for his haircut that he had blood and fluid literally dripping out of his right ear.  We got him in to see the doctor (thank goodness for Saturday hours!) and it turns out he has a ruptured ear infection.  Which from what I can learn is an ear infection where the pressure and fluid buildup is so bad that it causes the eardrum to burst.  And there are apparently some blood vessels in there that are impacted.  But it explains the extreme pain followed by feeling intensely better seemingly on a dime.

The whole thing sort of freaks me out, but the pediatrician seemed nonplussed, giving us a prescription for antibiotics, so hopefully there are no further ramifications.  I need to call with follow up questions next week (because I never think of them while I am IN the office) to check on whether this needs to impact the swim lessons that begin next week, the status of that ear tube, and so on.

The crazinest thing is 0 fever through this whole thing.  If there hadn't been blood in the fluid we probably would have let it go a couple more days.  Yikes!

My Mouth Hurts

Nicholas seems to be sick.  We're hoping it is just a cold, but I guess we'll see how he is in the morning.  He spent 3 hours trying to go to sleep, crying a lot of the time.  When we asked him what was wrong and if anything hurt he kept talking about his mouth hurting.  We think he means his throat based on where he was pointing.  No fever and nothing visible with the flashlight, so our hope is that it is just congestion. 

But the poor kid was miserable and it took me way too long to think about Tylenol as a possible aid.  I was going through all the things I would do myself, but he can't do the spray numbing things, he won't drink anything warmer than room temperature, he has no idea how to gargle, and I'm pretty sure he would either chew on or choke on a cough drop.  But Tylenol.  Duh.  After that he was asleep in 10 minutes.

The good news is that Nicholas seems to be out of his Mommy phase.  I've been noticing for the last couple weeks that he isn't as vehement about needing me all the time and much more willing to accept Joe.  And tonight after I had spent about 2 hours with him (sitting on his floor grading, then in his bed, then snuggling him watching the Os beat the Red Sox), he asked for Daddy instead.

What do you think the chances are that staying up until almost 10 will mean he sleeps past 7?  Hey, a girl can dream.

Big Helper

I have been meaning to do an update post on behavior for a week, but well, life.  The summary is that I noticed last weekend that the awful behavior of the summer was gone and that it had happened gradually enough that I somehow hadn't noticed.  When Nicholas threw a tantrum last weekend I noted two things.  1) He hadn't done that in awhile.  2) The tantrum was what I had expected tantrums to be--he was upset with us and clearly decided to throw a fit to express this--rather than the complete loss of control of himself that was a problem at points this summer.

And today the Nicholas I remembered from last fall was back in full force.  Joe was gone all day and "Mommy and Nicholas Day" turned into a full day of errands and chores.  And not only did Nicholas not throw any fits, but he was a huge help at every point, through and including putting all of his folded laundry away in the proper places ALL BY HIMSELF.

And so, on our last errand, I bought him a toy he has been asking for for months:

From 2012 September

And then, just to show off, he sat himself down on the couch with books while I made dinner:

From 2012 September

Fired

In the car on the way home today:
M: Did you do anything interesting at school today?
N: No.
M: Okay, let me try again.  What was your favorite thing you did at school today?
N: Nothing.  We didn't do anything at school today.
[long pause]
N: Ask me what my job was today.
D: [obligingly] Nicholas, what was your job at school today?
N: No, I want my Mommy to tell me!
M: Okay, Nicholas, what was your job at school today?
N: No, you tell me!
[confused looks exchanged in the front seat]
D: Oh, do you want us to guess what your job was?
N: [exasperated] Yes!
D: Were you the caboose?
N: No!
D: Were you the line leader?
N: No!
D: Were you the snack helper?
N: No!
D: Were you the rest time helper?
N: Yes!  I was the rest time helper!
D: And did you help your friends [put their sheets and blankets on their cots]?
N: No.
D: No?  You didn't help your friends?
N: No.  I refused.
M: You refused?
N: I went back to my cot and Ms. Naomi fired me.  When you refuse to do your job you get fired.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of classes for me and Joe, so even though Nicholas has been in school continuously, we took "first day of school" pictures this morning.

From 2012 September

From 2012 September

Sky of Blue and Sea of Green

I'm ruining my child and I don't care.

With my having joined Sarah at the same university, all three of us now travel together to work each day, which means that I've tried to exert a little more control over the radio. And since CBS for some reason decided to kill Boston's oldies station, we've been listening to CDs more frequently, in particular the Beatles' "One."

The end result of this series of occurrences is that Nicholas is pretty close to memorizing all of the lyrics to "Yellow Submarine."

There's actually more of a back story, of course. A few years ago, someone (I think maybe Uncle Mike & Aunt Melinda?) got Nicholas a bath toy, a little motorized submarine that was both yellow and skippered by Elmo. So in the bath, he would play with it, and I would jokingly sing "We all live in an Elmo submarine..."

So when he heard the song on the CD, it clicked in his head and he just wants to listen over and over again. He wanders around the house singing the refrain and varied lyrics (usually several half-lines from different parts of the song mashed together). And of course we can listen to that CD all the time now because it's a Nicholas favorite.

Oh, and just so you know, the psychedelic later music in general appeals better to the kiddie set. He barely notices the "boy band" early music ("Love Me Do," "Eight Days a Week" and the like). But the later music, which tell stories of strange occurrences, is more attractive. In that vein, his other favorite song from the CD is "Hello, Goodbye," largely because of its silly coda, with the repeated chant of "Hey-la, hey-la hey lo-la" and then a vocal percussion sound that I can't quite render in writing but is hilarious and then annoying coming from a three-year-old.

In any case, I'm happy that he likes the Beatles, Grandma Alice is happy, and I've effectively ruined him for modern "music."

Put Me In, Coach

Nicholas learned how to hit this week, and all of a sudden he can't get enough of playing baseball.

He's been doing great all summer hitting off the tee, and his hitting has steadily gotten better. But a few months ago when I tried to have him hit to me pitching, it didn't work. He flailed at the ball, but had no idea really of how to hold the bat on his own or how to use the bat to hit the ball.

What a difference a few months can make. We went out earlier this week to play baseball and soccer (his request), and he ended up hitting off the tee for like half an hour, practicing his swing over and over. He seemed reasonably steady, so I offered to pitch to him. Lo and behold, it worked! He's not perfect, of course, but you can now tell that when he swings he's aiming for the ball. And so we've now played baseball basically every day since.

One evening Sarah was able to come join us for a few minutes, so we have video evidence.

From 2012 August

The Tornadoes game in August also gave him a huge jump in terminology. Mostly this is good. Sometimes it's hilarious (pretty much every hit, whether it goes forward or backward, is a "home run"). And every once in a while I want to throw a brush-back pitch as he explains for the fourteenth time exactly how I'm supposed to pitch ("Daddy, you have to throw it at the same height as my bat!").

In any case, we're very excited for next year, when we can pick up on this late summer improvement and see where he can go.