This picture is what happens to Nick when he spends a week with his grandparents in Atlanta. He ends up in a dusty sombrero, wearing an elephant sweatshirt (in an election week!), and eating carpenter's glue. Truthfully, they are taking wonderful care of him, having toddler-proofed most of the house, from swapping out doorknobs to shifting every valuable in the house above chest height. Ironically, I spent this week in San Antonio and Houston doing cultural research, so the sombrero is a funny coincidence. I'll even make a plug for Lupe Tortilla's if you're looking for a good local flavor in Houston. Nick does miss home when he travels now, like the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling in his bedroom. And counting the chimes on the old parlor clock, even though he just smiles until the fifth chime, and then starts counting at five. Placement of valuable items in the house is even more important now that he can climb out of the crib.You can tell from videos he never stops talking. He's either pointing at something beyond the sight of old eyes yelling, "Look, look!" Or making ambulance noises like 'wee-wah, wee-wah.' Big words this month are 'helicopter' and 'kitty-cat' and he asks, "What is that?" continually. After spending so much time with older cousin Seth, Nick now loves planes as much as cars. He points them out in the sky everytime he walks outside, spotting them from distances so far I can't find them until a few minutes later. We're suspecting that he believes he can make them appear by pointing to them, not the other way around. My nephew made me a paper airplane that was pretty fancy. I considered throwing it at the airport when I got into the open air, as a proud gesture, but didn't since it has sentimental value to me, and I figured throwing anything at the airport would probably get me tackled by an unusually motivated TSA agent.
With Halloween comes punkins, and we had a good month for them. Grandpa Mantel grew him a bunch all summer on a vine in the garden; Nick would go out and test them by knocking on them all the time. Now he knocks on every pumpkin he sees - that takes forever in the four-foot-deep bin at the Meijer. He decorated his own punkin this year with a marker (you'll be able to guess from the pics which one is his when I get it posted) and we carved a couple with the Faylings. OK, so mine isn't an original idea, but I did add a little spin of my own. Great pics here. As a little extra, here's a great link to a less-messy pumpkin carving site.
His feet finally grew more, requiring new shoes. His growth has slowed a bit, falling back to the expectation that comes with two short parents. His eating habits are 'feast and famine' but there's little risk of him starving. He found a bag of animal crackers the other night, walked them out to the TV room, pulled up on the couch, opened the bag, and fed himself. It's almost like having a teenager, except for the diapers.
In my world - Carrie, Miranda, Jess & Robin - you'll be proud to know the sweater you bought me when I turned 16 found new life last week. I wore it for an 'ugliest sweater contest' at work, and qualified, but didn't win. I wasn't sure if simply being outdated was good enough to be considered ugly, but my younger coworkers assured me I was only feathered bangs and a
Members Only jacket away from 1980s hideous. I argued I should have won a special category for 'first owner' sweaters to make the judging fair, as I didn't have to run to the Salvation Army the night before for a retread pullover. So save something in your closet for 20 years from now (although I can't imagine anything from today will look as awful as fashions from the 70s and 80s look today.)Click here for 22nd month pics.
- Jason
