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| From 2010 September |
I'm outnumbered.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Daddy's mini-me
Nicholas has taken to picking up the remote control, pointing it at the tv while pushing buttons, and asking for baseball. Now, he doesn't push the correct buttons and "baseball" sounds more like "bay-bah" or something even further off, but baseball is definitely what he wants on the tv.
I'm outnumbered.
I'm outnumbered.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Weekend Away
It is time for our weekly update of the blog, but this week I have no photos to post.
Okay, for the 2 people still reading after that opening . . . .
Nicholas spent the weekend with his Grandma Kathleen and Uncle Andrew while Joe and I went to D.C. for our first weekend away since Nicholas was born. We have each individually been away from him for longer periods, but we had never left him with someone else overnight before.
But from all accounts things went well, he was at least mostly well behaved, and they had a good time. Nicholas definitely became more attached to my mom. When he couldn't find her after we got there, he went to where the baby gate often is, stopped, and reached out his arms yelling "Mama!" loudly and plaintively. (I am "Ommy" and Grandma is "Mama" in Nicholas-ese. It is taking some getting used to for me.) And they came up with some new activities that Nicholas was annoyed Joe and I didn't know the rules to. (Apparently when he pulls on my mom's animal quilt I am supposed to lay it on the ground for him to walk on and point to animals. Who knew? He was indignant when I spread it out on the couch for him to look at, and pulled it to the ground with a glare.)
Anyway, Joe and I had a good weekend as well. We definitely missed Nicholas and were excited to get back to him, but it was also refreshing to have some time to ourselves. No parenting, no work, no responsibilities.
I will admit that there were times earlier in Nicholas' life when I desperately wanted to run away, when I craved a trip without him, but this weekend wasn't like that. I was actually sad to not have the weekend with Nicholas. I had a wonderful time and I think we really needed the time away, but I didn't feel like I was running. I attribute this shift in my feelings to daycare. Nicholas has now been in daycare fulltime for almost 2 months and for the past month he has been there close to 50 hours a week. And so rather than feeling trapped and isolated like I sometimes did when at home with a completely dependent and mute baby, I treasure the couple hours a day and weekends with my fun, helpful, interactive little boy. But between taking care of him, working most nights until half an hour before bed, and commuting 10-12 hours a week, I was worn out.
Hopefully the weather next weekend permits fun activities. Because I am now refreshed and looking forward to the Nicholas time in a week.
On a completely unrelated note, Nicholas is apparently still terrified of bubblebath. We decided to try again since it had been a few months and he loves bubbles. Apparently he only loves bubbles in small quantities and not in his bath. He shrieked and refused to get in and ran out of the bathroom. I'm baffled.
Okay, for the 2 people still reading after that opening . . . .
Nicholas spent the weekend with his Grandma Kathleen and Uncle Andrew while Joe and I went to D.C. for our first weekend away since Nicholas was born. We have each individually been away from him for longer periods, but we had never left him with someone else overnight before.
But from all accounts things went well, he was at least mostly well behaved, and they had a good time. Nicholas definitely became more attached to my mom. When he couldn't find her after we got there, he went to where the baby gate often is, stopped, and reached out his arms yelling "Mama!" loudly and plaintively. (I am "Ommy" and Grandma is "Mama" in Nicholas-ese. It is taking some getting used to for me.) And they came up with some new activities that Nicholas was annoyed Joe and I didn't know the rules to. (Apparently when he pulls on my mom's animal quilt I am supposed to lay it on the ground for him to walk on and point to animals. Who knew? He was indignant when I spread it out on the couch for him to look at, and pulled it to the ground with a glare.)
Anyway, Joe and I had a good weekend as well. We definitely missed Nicholas and were excited to get back to him, but it was also refreshing to have some time to ourselves. No parenting, no work, no responsibilities.
I will admit that there were times earlier in Nicholas' life when I desperately wanted to run away, when I craved a trip without him, but this weekend wasn't like that. I was actually sad to not have the weekend with Nicholas. I had a wonderful time and I think we really needed the time away, but I didn't feel like I was running. I attribute this shift in my feelings to daycare. Nicholas has now been in daycare fulltime for almost 2 months and for the past month he has been there close to 50 hours a week. And so rather than feeling trapped and isolated like I sometimes did when at home with a completely dependent and mute baby, I treasure the couple hours a day and weekends with my fun, helpful, interactive little boy. But between taking care of him, working most nights until half an hour before bed, and commuting 10-12 hours a week, I was worn out.
Hopefully the weather next weekend permits fun activities. Because I am now refreshed and looking forward to the Nicholas time in a week.
On a completely unrelated note, Nicholas is apparently still terrified of bubblebath. We decided to try again since it had been a few months and he loves bubbles. Apparently he only loves bubbles in small quantities and not in his bath. He shrieked and refused to get in and ran out of the bathroom. I'm baffled.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Happy Fall!
It was cool this morning and the cryroom at church is always freezing, so we dressed Nicholas in some of his new fall clothes. How spiffy does he look?
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| From 2010 September |
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| From 2010 September |
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| From 2010 September |
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Bubbles
When I went to pick Nicholas up at school this afternoon one of the teachers was blowing bubbles for the kids to try to catch. And Nicholas was so focused that I was able to watch him for a bit before he noticed me. So I will try to paint a picture for you.
The teacher stood blowing bubbles as one kid reached for them, two stood staring in wonder, one sat on the floor whimpering, and Nicholas danced/jumped up and down gleefully yelling "bubble!" The teacher waited a minute before blowing more and Nicholas (still bouncing from foot to foot) yelled "bubble!" again. "Say please," she asked him. "Peas!" Nicholas exclaimed, so proud of himself for this word he only perfected a couple days ago, while also scratching his chest in the sign they taught him for please. Another round of bubbles. Some of the other kids began to lose interest and the teacher went to get Nicholas' lunch bag. Nicholas was not done, however, and when the teacher came back near him he looked up and asked "more-more" while dutifully doing the sign for more. "More bubbles?" "Bubble!" he exclaimed. She blew one more set of bubbles. Then she handed Nicholas his lunch bag and asked him to take it to his mommy. He looked up confused and looked towards the door, and finally saw me. "Hi, Nicholas. Are you having fun?" "Bubble!!!"
The really cool postscript is that at dinner when Joe asked Nicholas what he did at school today he replied, "Bubble!" That is the first time he has answered that question, and he actually answered it correctly.
The teacher stood blowing bubbles as one kid reached for them, two stood staring in wonder, one sat on the floor whimpering, and Nicholas danced/jumped up and down gleefully yelling "bubble!" The teacher waited a minute before blowing more and Nicholas (still bouncing from foot to foot) yelled "bubble!" again. "Say please," she asked him. "Peas!" Nicholas exclaimed, so proud of himself for this word he only perfected a couple days ago, while also scratching his chest in the sign they taught him for please. Another round of bubbles. Some of the other kids began to lose interest and the teacher went to get Nicholas' lunch bag. Nicholas was not done, however, and when the teacher came back near him he looked up and asked "more-more" while dutifully doing the sign for more. "More bubbles?" "Bubble!" he exclaimed. She blew one more set of bubbles. Then she handed Nicholas his lunch bag and asked him to take it to his mommy. He looked up confused and looked towards the door, and finally saw me. "Hi, Nicholas. Are you having fun?" "Bubble!!!"
The really cool postscript is that at dinner when Joe asked Nicholas what he did at school today he replied, "Bubble!" That is the first time he has answered that question, and he actually answered it correctly.
Tacy!!!
Stacy and her fiance, Paul, came in for a visit last weekend and we all had a great time. Nicholas is still calling for "Tacy," which is his name for Stacy (and occasionally for Paul too).
Nicholas played and played and played, but I took advantage of most of the indoor playtime to take care of household stuff, so I don't have any pictures. Based on some of the new "games" Nicholas has this week, though, I can guess some of the things they did.
What I do have pictures of is our trip to the neighborhood park. Nicholas must have made 15 or 20 circuits climbing up various sets of steps and then going down the slide.
I love this action shot because you can see him racing to get back to the stairs to go again. The little boy is becoming quite the runner. It must be the laps he is continually doing around the house.
I took tons of pictures of Nicholas gleefully going down the slide, but the lighting was really bad, which I couldn't tell until I uploaded the pictures. But even with bad lighting you can clearly see Nicholas' excitement:
And here is Nicholas with his Aunt Stacy, although he was more interested in checking out the big fishtank nearby than in posing for a picture:
Nicholas played and played and played, but I took advantage of most of the indoor playtime to take care of household stuff, so I don't have any pictures. Based on some of the new "games" Nicholas has this week, though, I can guess some of the things they did.
What I do have pictures of is our trip to the neighborhood park. Nicholas must have made 15 or 20 circuits climbing up various sets of steps and then going down the slide.
I love this action shot because you can see him racing to get back to the stairs to go again. The little boy is becoming quite the runner. It must be the laps he is continually doing around the house.
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| From 2010 September |
I took tons of pictures of Nicholas gleefully going down the slide, but the lighting was really bad, which I couldn't tell until I uploaded the pictures. But even with bad lighting you can clearly see Nicholas' excitement:
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| From 2010 September |
And here is Nicholas with his Aunt Stacy, although he was more interested in checking out the big fishtank nearby than in posing for a picture:
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| From 2010 September |
Nicholas played so hard that he fell asleep in the car on the way home from taking them to the airport Sunday evening. That is the first time he has fallen asleep since turning to face forwards because he is usually too focused on everything he can see out the front windshield. But he had played really hard all weekend and been too excited to nap much.
As always, the only bad thing about a Stacy visit is that it makes it that much harder to not have her here. And now Nicholas agrees with me. I fully expect him to ask for "Tacy" again tomorrow.
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