Nick Opening a Christmas Gift

For a change, here's a video of Nick right in the blog! This one is of him opening his first gift, Christmas 2007. (I'm taking the 'embed video' feature for a test run! Click on the play button, maybe twice.) The rest of Christmas is in the other entry.

Nick's First Christmas

It was a Christmas in Georgia for 2007 (and yet still only mid-40s and a cold rain. We brought 5+ inches of rain to the dry southeast so far this week.) Plenty of pictures. He's had a lot of fun playing with his cousin Seth and exploring new territory. Seth has been very patient with Nick as he follows him around, wants to play with the same toys, and and tackles Seth trying to get his attention. This has been good practice for Seth as he prepares for 'big-brotherhood' with Thatcher in a few months.

Memories we will take away from Christmas 2007: the Kroger Store Pre-Cooked Turkey (which was better than the Kroger boxed trimmings), poo adventures (three kids under 3 1/2 all at once will keep the house hopping), and the inflatable playground.

Pics here

Nick got some fun gifts, including a talking Spiderman, a 'Disney Cars' Helicopter, and a talking car dashboard that speaks the alphabet and numbers. Although he's had a ton of fun sitting behind the wheel of the real car climbing all over the place (when it's not moving, of course.) An awesome gift this year - Nick's Great Grandma Little hand copied an entire recipe book of her favorites, from which Nick and I will both benefit for years to come. Nick got his first sneakers this week, too! New videos posted.

- Jason

Nick's Twelfth Month

Even though he was born last January, Mama says his 'first snow' was this week. We bundled him up in his snowsuit and dumped him in the white stuff. He made a snow angel (with a little coercion) and took a few steps. The bulky snowsuit is just still too restricting.

Best video of the month: Blowing bubbles in a glass with a straw. Brandi has him drinking from a glass both with and without a straw, but last week he accidently hiccuped into his glass and blew bubbles in the water. That trick is now a favorite - the video is a must-see.
Nick is in the 'confidence outpacing coordination' phase as he bounces off of tables, appliances and even the fireplace where he split his lip open and bled like crazy. In 12 days, he went from his first steps (more than 2 1/2, which is officially "walking" in the NBA) to running the length of the house with his arms in the air. He still wobbles like a drunken sailor, but
he's not slowing down.

Another fun activity is shredding things. We let him freely pull things from the cupboards and cabinets in the name of exploration, and the other night he sat and shredded and entire package of napkins by hand. Yeah, I'm so cheap I shop for the $1.29 pack because I won't pay $2.00 for 180 napkins. But he obliterated an entire package, and it was worth the price (an hour of entertainment for all of us, and cheaper than a movie.) Also in his routine as he cases the house, he likes to spin the toilet tissue off the rolls like a cat. I'm getting to used to using the tissue from a pile on the floor. Getting it fresh from the roll has become a luxury.

Brandi and I got the majority of our Christmas shopping done. Spent a ton at the toy store - and then realized we hadn't picked out anything for our son, yet - just stuff for other people's kids. How could we forget? All educational toys for the world's smartest baby - letters and numbers... and the periodic table of elements and state capitals. Hey, gotta get him a head start now so he can fly through school. Based on the cost of tuition, I figure he'll need to get through primary school in 5 years, and have a scholarship to high school and college.

Oh, and four total teeth now!

- Jason