Quote of the Day

"I was brave enough to touch the shark!"

Apparently Nicholas and Alice went to the aquarium today. The above is the report I got, directly from Nicholas.

More from Sarah when they return tomorrow.

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.

When Daddy Gets Home

Rumor has it that a substantial and growing list of activities awaits my return to Massachusetts this evening. Sarah has apparently decided (and rightly so, in most of the cases she cited) that there's simply not enough time during the week to take care of all of the things that Nicholas wants to do, so she's started telling him that these tasks have to wait until Daddy comes home.

And if it makes me the Cool Dad, so much the better. (That myth is going to go "poof!" all too soon as it is.)

So when I get home, I have to make a CD with "Dominick the Donkey" on it ("for Mommy's car"), help put lights out on our balcony (since everyone else has them), put up the Christmas tree. Of course, that's not even counting what's on the honey-do list.

Ahem.

Oddly enough, there's precedent for this sort of interaction between me and small children. When I first left for college, Uncle Patrick was still a little tyke. He liked to ask questions. Why this? How come that? "Wait for Joe to come home," my parents and other brothers would patiently answer, both to relieve themselves of the obligation to answer and to entertain themselves with what they imagined would be the deluge. Made for an interesting Thanksgiving my freshman year.

In the meantime, if Nicholas thinks I'm a hero for burning "Dominick" onto a CD, who am I to complain?

Nicholas at the Wedding

Sarah and I realized that at least half of the people who read the Chronicle were present when these photos were taken. So this one's for the non-Uncle Brian and Aunt Shayna family and friends. Sarah may post a more complete account of the weekend (or I might, who knows), but for now, we wanted to give you a glimpse of Nicholas in his tuxedo:

Here's the whole family outside the wedding venue just before the ceremony, all of us looking dapper:

From 2011 October

And here's one of Nicholas surveying the dance floor at the reception:

From 2011 October

Think he was tired?

A great time was had by all, especially Uncle Brian and Aunt Shayna. Nicholas was exhausted by the end of the weekend, but how could you trade a few hours' sleep for the adoring attention of aunts, uncles, and cousins?

EDIT: Photo credits go to Grandpa Richard (below) and his friend Rob (above photo).

Let Us Know If You Need Us

A bit of a variation on the theme of my post from last week, in which Nicholas was learning the answers to a group of questions.

This afternoon, we picked Nicholas up early from school and headed out to western Massachusetts to visit with some friends. We'd planned it so that we'd pick him up from lunch and he'd nap on the ninety-minute ride.

As usual, he had other plans. We tried to ignore him, but he pulled out all the stops to try to get our attention and help him stay awake. He repeated "mommy ... mommy ... mommy ..." He talked about where we were going.

And then he started asking himself questions and answering them.

Put another check next to the things he doesn't need us for anymore.

Owning the Move

Though Nicholas is a very bright two-year-old, he is not anywhere near ready to grasp the full implications of moving yet.  However, he's very observant, which means he's started to notice that something is not right (and not just the obvious, such as the high and deep stack of boxes in our living room and his bedroom).

Given all of that, we're trying to do at least some preparation to get him ready for the idea of living somewhere else.  Oddly for us—and a sign of how busy and stressed out both Sarah and I are—we have not consulted any writings on the topic from child psychologists, experts in travel, etc. Basically, we've tried to do what we always do with Nicholas: we explain things so that he can exert ownership over a situation.  It's proven to be the only way that he really calms down and accepts newness.

So today Nicholas and I had a little conversation on our way to Home Depot for more boxes about our new house (NB: it's really an apartment, but saying "house" seems more natural).  That he would get to have his same toys, and the same furniture, etc.  All of them are coming with us!  It also helps that he finds Boston a very cool place, since last time we went on an airplane.  Though we have had to explain that we're driving this time.  I'm not entirely sure it's the "right" thing to do with a two-year-old to emphasize that we're leaving and that we'll be someplace new, but my gut tells me it's right for this two-year-old.

And just in case he gets a little nervous about being in a new space, Sarah and I are already scheming for a few gimmicks to make him feel more comfortable and/or to distract him until he's had time to settle in.  First, Sarah's parents are making the trip with us [ed.: THANK YOU!], which will help at least functionally so he doesn't get run over by furniture and its movers. Second, we tried to pack in accessible places some of the things he uses as safety cues, such as the wall quilt that hangs in his room, some of his favorite toys, etc. And if those fail, there's always distraction: we'll live across the street from a small airfield, where we may make a few visits early in July, and getting a library card is very high on our to-do list.

We'll see how it all works, and of course as we have time will blog about it in order to share and/or bore the living daylights out of you. [ed.: also pictures!]  Whatever happens, it will be interesting, and since Nicholas is pretty resilient, I'm confident he'll be fine.

Midwest 2011 Day 6

Today was mostly another travel day.

We spent the morning in Louisville and Nicholas and Grandpa O. had a great time as I worked to get us packed up and out the door. Whatever the game is they were playing at lunch, it was apparently hilarious.

From 2011 June

The plan was to drive as far as Dayton, spend a couple hours at the Children's Museum there, then drive the rest of the way to Ottoville. Between leaving a half hour late, lots and lots of construction and blinding rain, we didn't make it to Dayton until an hour before the museum closed. I debated even stopping at that point, but I'm glad we did. We were rushed and Nicholas would have liked more time, but it was a good hour.

After our experience in Wheeling, I walked in and immediately thought, "Now this is a children's museum." The substance of most of the sections went over Nicholas' head because it was aimed at older kids (and with a very strong environmentalist bent), but he could do probably 90% of the things, even if he got something completely different out of the activity.

The water table is a go-to favorite:

From 2011 June

He loved the slide and each time he started down he proclaimed, "Here he comes!" I must have said that some other time.

From 2011 June

But by far his favorite section (even above the meerkats) was the recycling> section which had a large truck, which he proclaimed to be a garbage truck. He kept going back to play with all the different buttons and levers.

From 2011 June

Nicholas was upset to leave, but was soon pacified by the knowledge that we were going to see Aunt Stacy. We made it the rest of the way no problem, and Nicholas quickly warmed up to anyone who was willing to play basketball with him. He did have a couple incidents (such as falling off a short brick wall and tripping down a cement step) because he was so tired, but in the end the only damage was two scrapes. And now he is sleeping peacefully, where hopefully he will stay.

Nicholas has had so much fun with everyone on this trip and spent the drive today happily proclaiming that we were going to different people's houses. He would yell out that we were going to Emily's house, then Aunt Mary's house, then Grandpa O.'s, then Grandma and Grandpa M.'s. I am glad he is having such positive experiences with everyone, but it does make me feel bad that he develops these relationships and then doesn't see them again for 6 months. He has also started asking plaintively to go home, although he is quickly distracted from this by reference to any of the people he has spent time with this week.

But for now we are pretty stationery for at least a couple days.

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.

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.

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.

Nicholas Visits Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Patrick!

Since we were away from Nicholas for a few days, we invited his helpful babysitters (Grandma Alice, Grandpa Richard, and Uncle Patrick) to write a guest post for the blog on their time with him.  Here is their report:

Joe and Sarah are off at the American Historical Association's Annual Meeting, and we had Nicholas for four days.

Joe and Sarah left for Boston on Thursday morning, Nicholas got over it pretty quickly and began the work of exploring the house and enjoying the trains, puzzles and books that we left for him.

Each day upon waking up at 6:45 am, Nicholas called out for Grandpa, Grandma and Uncle Patrick.

From 2011 January

After a hard day of playing on Friday, Nicholas was glad to see Grandma when she got home.

From 2011 January

Dinner at the Diner, then back to Grandma and Grandpa's. At bedtime, Nicholas got silly, and played a game of "No" with Grandma about going to bed.

From 2011 January

But he was just kidding. Pajamas, teeth, prayer and night-night. He went to bed beautifully, blew kisses and went right to sleep.

Once again waking up early in the morning, Nicholas began his last full day at Grandma and Grandpa's. Joe called from Boston, and we all spoke together on the speaker phone, including Nicholas, who was pleased to hear from Daddy. Nicholas knocked on Uncle Patrick's door starting around 9:00, and kept at it until Patrick got up. We went to IHOP for breakfast. Grandpa ordered pancakes and sausage, and got to eat the portion that he was quick enough to eat before Nicholas devoured it. Then Nicholas tackled some of Grandma's toast.

From 2011 January

The folks at the next table came over to admire Nicholas' red hair and complimented his mother. "Grandmother", she replied, pleased at the compliment.

We are reminded of how much work watching young person can really be - and even more so, we realized, in an adult house where child-proofing is done on the fly. The gates we purchased worked well to at least take the stairs out of our concern. But Nicholas wants to go up the stairs . . . and down the stairs . . . and up the stairs again. We count the stairs (EIGHT stairs from the living room up to the bedrooms, SIX stairs down from the living room to the family room) and Nicholas counts with us: "two, three four, six". He NEVER starts with "one", and he almost always skips "five."

Is Nicholas tiring? You be the judge.

From 2011 January

On the Choo-Choo!

Today was Nicholas's first train ride!

Nicholas is quite the mass transit aficionado, as you may know from earlier posts—trains, planes, buses, pretty much anything captures his attention, regardless of what he might have been doing just before he noticed it. And trains have been especially fun because we pass the light rail tracks several times on the way to the day care center.  In fact, Nicholas and I have been known to detour on occasion to the parking lot of the light rail stop between our apartment and daycare to watch trains for a few minutes on the way there or back.

We've also been talking with Nicholas about riding the train, so he's been a bit prepared, but we still weren't sure what to expect.  In many areas, he's apprehensive at the first attempt, or even a little frightened.  On the other hand, he never gets to like it the second time if he doesn't go the first time.

So Sarah and I made a plan: one Saturday when we needed to go to Wegman's, I would take Nicholas from our stop north to the end of the line (which is in the Wegman's parking lot) and she would meet us there and we'd run our errands.  And today was the day.

We ended up spending far more time than we meant waiting for the train because we just missed one, and the one that followed it was delayed by about 10-15 minutes.  Nicholas spent the time looking up and down the tracks scouting out trains (two came by in the other direction during our wait on the platform), each time calling out "choo choo!" excitedly.

Finally, our train arrived, we boarded, and were off!

From 2010 December

Nicholas liked it! He wasn't exuberant, but he had his eyes in "maximum information absorption" mode, and would occasionally state, as if surprised to discover it anew each time, "on the choo-choo!" He did this about every 30 seconds for ten minutes. I would have found it annoying if I wasn't so darn happy that he was enjoying it. I tried to point things out, like railroad crossings and the one time we went under a bridge, but of course a rail trip is rather underwhelming, for the simple reason that almost all buildings face away from the tracks. Oh well. Every few minutes I asked him if he was having fun, and he would smile and giggle—a clear sign of success.

Towards the end, I think he began to feel the monotony a bit.  At one stop I pointed out that people were going through the door to get off the train, and his new refrain became "off the train."  At each stop he asked again, and I recounted how much longer to go, and tried to point out the front of the train when a corner was sharp enough that you could see it (that part he didn't get so well).

So, the train experiment was a success.  Now I can't wait to find a reason to get him on Amtrak, or maybe MARC or Metro-North, so he can see what it's like to be on a "real" train.

Louisville Travels

Joe is swamped with work, so he has delegated me to write a post about the comedy of errors that was our recent trip to and from Louisville.


We had gone back and forth with my parents on whether to drive or fly to Louisville, eventually settling on flying all together on Monday evening using my dad's frequent flier miles. Reservations were made and a plan was set.


And then we tried to actually put said plan into motion.


The wheels came off the wagon as soon as we left the house. And proceeded to roll further and further away until we arrived in Louisville . . .by car . . . at noon the next day.


We almost didn't make it to the airport because a sudden storm dropped sheets of rain so fast that the road completely disappeared from sight. Then we had an incompetent person checking us in who didn't know how to deal with a lap child. Then our flight to Atlanta was delayed . . . and delayed . . . and delayed. And then we discovered (and I use that word intentionally, because the staff kept insisting there was no problem) that our flight from Atlanta to Louisville was cancelled and they wouldn't be able to get us there for a couple days. So we strong-armed the airline into retrieving our luggage (including Nicholas' carseat, thank goodness my dad flies a lot and so has earned special status), piled into the car, and started driving. We drove 4 hours, stopped at 1am to sleep for a few hours, and then got back in the car, making it to Louisville with just enough time to get changed.


Nicholas did quite well during the hours of waiting in the airport (chasing Grandma Kathleen around columns was apparently hilarious) and on the drive out (the benefit to driving late at night is that he slept). The drive back was more difficult because we drove literally all day (9am-9pm). And just to complete the trend of the trip, the place we stopped for dinner had no pasta in the restaurant (Nicholas' go-to food) and were out of turkey for Joe's turkey sandwich.


The one saving grace of the drive was that Nicholas is currently obsessed with trucks and there are plenty of those on interstates. He would see a semi in front of us reflected in his mirror, get excited, and then look out the side window for it as we passed it. (By the way, I'm totally impressed that he has figured out how the mirror works enough to know where to anticipate the truck moving.) And of course he yelled "guk guk guk" the whole time with great excitement.

In actuality the drives weren't bad. The only real construction we hit was at midnight when traffic was really light. With the exception of the initial drive to the airport the weather cooperated pretty well. There were no accidents or other long delays. We split the drive among 3 drivers. The list goes on. It was one of those trips where every piece of the plan fell apart and yet it all worked out just fine.

Let's hope this next trip goes at least as well. (Because, yes, there is another trip. Believe me, if I wasn't presenting at this conference we would seriously consider cancelling. We are so sick of driving, hotels, suitcases, etc.) The drive isn't quite as long, but Nicholas won't have his grandma to entertain him in the backseat. And the route has fewer interstates, so probably fewer opportunities to watch "guks."

A North Wind

We had a visit this weekend from my parents and brother from New York (i.e., Grandma Alice, Grandpa Richard, and Uncle Patrick), so Nicholas got a lot of quality family time.

Unfortunately, his initial reaction was ... well, less than stellar.  He has figured out now that when new people show up at our door, it often means that we're about to leave him at home and go somewhere.  Needless to say, that makes the new people rather unpopular, usually to the tune of bawling and becoming very clingy (which he's not on a day-to-day basis).  But he warmed up and had a great time with new playmates who have all sorts of different games from what he usually gets to play.

Friday we took a ride down into DC to enjoy the beautiful weather and check out the cherry blossoms.  We had quite the fun time walking around the Lincoln Memorial side of the Mall, wandering through Foggy Bottom, and just plain old enjoying the spring weather.  Nicholas, on the other hand, managed to sleep through much of it, which led to a series of photos reminiscent of Weekend at Bernie's:

From 2010 April

On the bright side (no pun intended), Nicholas finally took to wearing his new sunglasses, which should help keep him from squinting a lot:

From 2010 April

Then today, of course, we celebrated Easter with Sarah's parents and cousin.  Nicholas got his first Easter basket, we got lots of candy (thanks Mom!), and we enjoyed a fantastic meal.  This week's going to be crazy, so it was very rejuvenating to have a nice, relatively relaxed holiday.  There are, as always, more photos in the Peanut Gallery, but I'll leave you with our "Easter Family Portrait" for this year, since we all got dressed up—and got Nicholas in a springtime argyle sweater vest!

From 2010 April

Our Little Hans Brinker

This post isn't really about Nicholas, but oh well.  Many have asked what our plans will be for next year, and we keep putting you off, because we've been waiting to hear back from places for quite a long time.

Well, the waiting is over.

I am proud to announce that both Sarah and I have accepted postdoctoral fellowships at the Grasmaand Dwaas Institute for the Humanities in Amsterdam.  We're going Dutch—just like the Pilgrims!  We'll be leaving sometime in August to take up our fellowships as of 1 September 2010 (have to start writing dates in European style!); fortunately, the Institute provides housing.

Now we just need to teach Nicholas how to enjoy tulips and windmills.  Oh, and he wears a toddler size vijf (5) in his wooden shoes, and prefers oak to ash or elm, if you were interested in picking up some for him.  But you only have five months from today, April 1st, to buy them.  Because we're moving five months from the first of April, you know, today.

UPDATE (4/1, 11:00 pm): I've added a link above to the Institute's website, in case you're having trouble figuring out what it's all about.

Weekend O' Grandparents

Nicholas had a very busy weekend, in which he saw all 4 of his grandparents!

We went up to NY for a quick trip (as in a 33 hour turnaround kind of quick) to see Uncle Patrick's last high school play and check out Grandma Claire's new digs. Here is Nicholas with his grandparents:

From 2010 March

The musical was a lot of fun and Patrick did a great job. Nicholas didn't get to see it because it was after his bedtime, but Grandma Alice stayed at home with him so both Joe and I could go. Nicholas did, however, get to go with us to Grandma Claire's. He had a lot of fun, especially when Grandma Claire played "Whine, Whine Little Baby" with him:

From 2010 March

And fed him whipped cream (with a side of yogurt parfait):

From 2010 March

Then on Sunday my parents came up for lunch and took Nicholas out for a walk and to the park (yay for warm, sunny weather!) so we could clean the apartment. There are no pictures of their outing, but we hear he enjoyed riding around in the stroller but was less than thrilled with the baby swing at the park. But now our house is clean and we even began the process of de-babyfying. While Nicholas may not be a "big boy" yet, he is definitely no longer a little baby and the gear he has grown out of or no longer needs was taking over our apartment. But it is now safely stowed away in the basement and we can safely walk to the front door without tripping. Success!

Another Blizzard, Another Car to Dig Out

Snowmageddon 2010 has come to an end ... or at least part one has (another 5+ inches are now forecast potentially for Tuesday night into Wednesday).  And in the spirit of life seeming like a repetition of activities, I offer you a photo that Sarah "spontaneously" took of me this morning:

From 2010 February

The activity seemed awfully familiar to me, perhaps because I spent a bit of time during the Blizzard of 2003 (also known as the President's Day Storm) at JFK Airport trying to dig out my car:

From The Peanut Chronicle

Sarah just mentioned that it seemed like a "piddling" amount of snow.  In some ways, it was -- just 20 inches!  But at that parking lot, it was incredibly windy, and so I actually found the car in roughly that condition, and I didn't get to the car until the next day.

Anyway, point is that I'm a weather nightmare if you're around me.  My travel schedule, going back years, has been demonstrated to be predictive of calamitous weather patterns.  In other words, look out Baltimore this Thursday and Saturday, and next Monday and Wednesday.  After that, I should stay put for a while, which means winter may actually end one of these days.

So many playmates!

Nicholas had a blast on our vacation! And did remarkably well, making it possible for the rest of us to have a good time as well. He saw tons of relatives (since between Christmas and anniversary parties for both of my sets of grandparents there were quite a few family gatherings, totalling over 100 different people) and spent lots of time playing and exploring.

Given how much of a momma's boy he has been the past couple months I was worried about how he would react to all the new people, but he let a bunch of different people hold him and play with him. When he decided he was done he would then take their hands and start walking, forcing them to take him to me. But he often played for long periods (sometimes close to an hour!) with me walking in and out of the room before he decided he wanted me. That tells you how much fun he was having! I'm hoping this has cured him of his belief that he needs to be with me at all times.

After a week and a half of constantly having my parents and at least one set of my grandparents around and often some of my aunts and uncles and/or cousins as well, I think he is going to be bored at home. Just Mommy and Daddy? What fun is that?

Here he is being handed off between 2 of my cousins at my grandparents' anniversary party. And not minding a bit:

From Louisville Dec 09

And he really didn't mind when cousins (okay, first cousins once removed, or something like that) sat and played with him:

From Louisville Dec 09

And when one of my cousins let him play with her camera, he was in seventh heaven:

From Louisville Dec 09

There are a bunch more pictures in the Gallery, but needless to say, he had a very busy and fun-filled trip. We can only hope that the trip to San Diego goes as well.

Home

We have arrived home from Louisville after a 13-hour car ride through a surprisingly snowy West Virginia.  We will post more details about the end of our trip later.  For now, though, Happy New Year everyone!

Leaps and Bounds

I don't know if all the new people and places is good for him, if he was just due for some developmental steps, or if the new environment has given him the chance to display skills he already had and hadn't had an outlet for. But, whatever the cause, Nicholas has gotten much more expressive and interactive in the past couple days. He is a child who knows what he wants and is coming up with ways to express it.

It has actually been such a dramatic jump that I'm not entirely convinced that all of these things are intentional. In fact, when he answered "Yeah" when I asked if he was ready for bed tonight, I was positive it was not intentional. But when he was fussy and I set him down and told him to walk where he wanted to go and he walked straight for the high chair, I think he actually may have been trying to tell me he was hungry. He certainly was excited to eat when I then fed him.

He has also started moving our hands to get them to do what he wants. So when he couldn't figure out how to open a cabinet, he grabbed my hand and put it on the handle. And when he was sitting and playing and wanted to walk over to something on the other side of the room, he grabbed my hands to pull himself up. And when he thought I was holding him back, he pulled my hands off of him. (In this last case it was counter-productive, because if I had actually let go of him he would have fallen, but he didn't get quite that far in the thought process.)

He has also been talking up a storm in the past couple days. He has a couple sets of sounds that really sound remarkably like real words and phrases, but we really aren't sure about intentionality. He says "hi" a lot all of the sudden. Is it just his syllable of the week or is he actually saying hi? Who knows. The other two phrases of the day seem like they have to be coincidence. When Joe asked "How are you?" it really sounded like Nicholas replicated it. But that seems way beyond his capability. And he has been saying a string of syllables that sound remarkably like "I get it." He then does usually reach for something, but he is constantly reaching for something, so I'm willing to chalk that up to coincidence as well. Even the proud mother I am, I seriously doubt these are actual words. Mostly I'm just excited that he is babbling a lot more, likely from being around lots of people constantly for a week.

Another new discovery in Nicholas-land is that whoever is holding him when he is looking in the mirror is in two places. He suddenly has started looking at us in the mirror and then turning to look at us in person. And looking back again. It is as though he has suddenly realized that Mommy (or Daddy) is both holding him and in front of him and is trying to figure it out.

He has also gotten much more active at looking around the person who is holding him to see the people and things beyond. And squirming out of your lap when he wants to be somewhere different.

You can also see it in the peas incidents Joe wrote about. Nicholas figured out he couldn't cry with his mouth open, so was whimpering with his mouth closed. But when he grabbed the spoon from me and had his hand over the scoop part he started crying with his mouth open, having put together the pieces that if he had the spoon I couldn't sneak peas in while he opened his mouth. I've been outsmarted by a 7-month old.

I haven't done a very good job of articulating the change because in many ways it is hard to put my finger on. But at moments during the past couple days it has been like I could see the baby being replaced by the little boy in front of my eyes. These developmental changes seem to come in such spurts.