Nick is forming a more definitive personality, with likes and dislikes, and the need to express those preferences frequently, and in loud decibels. He picks the music he likes by requesting, 'push button' when he wants a song changed, or repeated. I've had about enough Taylor Swift for awhile.We won some new projects with John Deere at work, and appropriately, Brandi found a Deere tractor at the resale shop about the same time. It's a peddler, but he prefers to push it around. These toys are a brilliant idea - brand loyalty starts young.
Having children has taught me many life lessons. Lately I've noticed life really is constructed of more "no's" than "yes's" in general. There's very few things you CAN do that are safe and socially acceptable. But there's a ton of things you can't do that you just come to conform (or concede) as an adult: you can't stick cereal in your ears, you can't lick the TV set, you can't draw on yourself with a ballpoint pen, you can't take off your clothes on a neighborhood walk (well you could, but it doesn't always help your standing in the neighborhood. Unless you're smokin' hot, of course. Appropriate exceptions to every rule.)
Nick uses 'Jedi mind tricks' to charm others to his way of thinking. He asks the question in an awkward way, ("Are we going to the playground?") to get you to ask him what he wants, ("Do you want to go to the playground, Nick?"), then he replies with a resounding "OK!" as if to suggest it was your idea to go to the playground. Charm and psychology. He is just about conversational now, with complete sentences, and he only doesn't understand you when he chooses not to.
Nick is all about being a little helper now. He walked over to the dehumidifier when we had it apart, and voluntarily put the screen back on it, declaring, 'Tah-dah!' He knows to throw wrappers away in the garbage when he finds them. He even tries to help Grandpa mow the lawn.
We went to the zoo for an afternoon. We couldn't get him on the train at first, then couldn't get him off of it. He was pumping his fists, yelling 'choo choo!' for the entire audience. He wasn't real impressed with the carousel, and some of the animals were unimpressive. Loved the elephants, and the bears. His favorite part was birdwatching, of course. Once inside the bird house, he started naming them on site. He got small toy binoculars in a happy meal of some sort, and his first thought was 'birdwatching!' On his birdwatching TV show, they say, 'Be very still, and very quiet,' which he repeats to us frequently when he wants us to tune into his needs.
Favorite foods this month: smarties and sweetarts, Great-Grandma Little's jam and peanut butter on crackers, and Goldfish pretzels. And don't try to sneak an unauthorized soda past him; generic soda won't work, and he doesn't like Pepsi... Mountain Dew only.
Favorite book this month: 'The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat'. Actually, I love this book, too.
We got some swim time in with the warm weather this past week. He wears the same styrofoam floatie I wore as a toddler, and is content to float around on his own. He had a floating chair from last summer, which lasted about an hour, then we realized he was sinking quickly. Turns out there was a weight limit and he exceed it, ripping a hole clean through the side, not just leaking air slowly, but sinking speed like the Titanic.
A few nights ago while I was telling someone how well he's been sleeping, Brandi called to tell me that a 45 minute struggle had ensued in my absence, as he was hopping in and out of the crib furiously, with no sign of tiring. I came home, and had to lay along side the crib like a gate keeper, until he fell asleep. His room has been stripped of anything dangerous, and we put a gate outside the door in case he tries to escape. We're in that middle ground where he knows how to jump from the crib, unlock doors, find car keys, and it wouldn't surprise me if he could load the car and drive to the McD's for nuggets without us, but still doesn't know it's a dangerous world out there.
Click here for 30th month pictures.
- Jason
