We're getting out more with the warm weather, to the playgrounds and parks. He's come to love the indoor playground at McDonald's, although he'd rather run the grill (I can't keep him in the playground - he wants to be in the kitchen.) We got out to a local church festival with some friends and rode the carousel and train. Nick enjoyed them both, but not as much fun as running free through the beer tent and trying walk off with the band's instruments.He also got out alot this month with the gaggle of moms and kids. The little girls in his play group have trouble pronouncing 'Nicholas' and call him "NEK-lee-us" which he's taken on as a nickname. Early life lesson accomplished: it doesn't matter what the cute blonde calls you; if she calls, you respond.
He's using sign language more to communicate. The universal signs he knows are for 'more' and 'milk'. Along side of those are some signs unique to him, like smacking the front of his trousers for a diaper change. I fear the switch at some point to less-padded diapers could be a painful transition.
We made a trip back home to Huntingdon, PA for the holiday weekend, and Nick stayed in a hotel for the first time. We hung a bedsheet from the ceiling with thumbtacks to divide the room, so he had his own playpen to sleep (which he did a little of), a sanctioned play area, and toddler videos playing around the clock. He traveled well once again, without a fuss for over 800 miles on the road, and only a short adjustment period to the new surroundings (I got at least 5 hours of sleep in a row each night, so that's not bad. Mama came with her earplugs, since the hotel sits along the railroad tracks, so she slept better than I. I have the train schedule to Huntingdon memorized if you're looking to make travel plans by rail; are those trains that arrive at 1AM, 3AM and 5AM considered 'red-eyes'?)
On the subject of trains, we have a wooden whistle that sounds like a train, when you blow into all four hole openings at once. I make choo-choo motions with my arms, and blow the whistle and he loves it. Now he can make the motions himself, and knows how to blow a whistle, but only one hole at a time. Now that he knows how to blow a whistle, how much longer until he figures out how to blow his nose?
Nick feasted on home cooking for the weekend (as we all did) from his Great Grandma Perow's kitchen, to the family restaurant. He loved his Grand-Daddy Bobby's bread, and it turns out he loves ice cream after all. He bonded with his Grand-Daddy over some fresh rhubarb stalks straight from the garden. He carried around a stalk and gnawed it for hours. He also got to splash in the small fountain with his Great Grand-Pappy.
A final stop on the trip, we broke bread with his Great Nanny and Grand-Pa-Pa for an afternoon. We couldn't tell if all the orange jello he ate stained him from the outside-in or inside-out, but he was mostly orange, and a little green from top to bottom. Meals are always good fun. As he continues to train for the olympic cheeze-it throwing contest, whether he is right or left-handed remains a mystery. He can cover equal distance across the kitchen with either arm, thereby keeping my hope alive that he'll be the first switch-throwing pitcher in the big leagues someday. In the meantime, he has mitts for both hands.
Click here for 17th Month Pictures.
- Jason
