Nick's Life: May 2013

It seems like all we did was run to Nick's activities during May, and the summer stuff has not yet begun. In the past two weeks, Nick had Field Day at school, a field trip to the Kensington Farm (who runs a school and organizes a trip to a zoo but won't let them have peanuts in the classroom?! Allergy discrimination, hello?), Hazel Park Raceway, another Home Depot kids activity, a lousy small-scale train ride, the movies, numerous playgrounds and playdates.  And he managed to grow almost three inches since the last time we measured him, so the lack of sleep isn't stunting his growth (lots of pancakes and ice cream [SpongeBobs], and about a jar of peanut butter per week, keep the calorie count up.)

He's making up his own words with definitions now, and exercising his learnings about the social aspects of the English language, such as stating at the dinner table, "I farted, but I'm pretending nothing happened." One evening I find his mother in her swimsuit, which apparently was his idea - he wanted her to look like a Kardashian (need to limit his late night TV, particularly those with commercials). And he suggested she dye her hair blonde as an experiment, which is where I drew the line - if he wants a blonde, he can go find his own (I feel like I need to start proofreading the letters he sends to the girl next door). We're sticking to experiments like the 'Mentos and Diet Coke' explosion in our back yard, which went over better than the experiment where he and his mother clogged the bathroom plumbing with some goo-like substance that expanded faster than our universe.

In the pictures you'll see the end of a game where he beat me at chess, growing his own strawberry plant, and time on the playground. He also built a dam in our driveway from sticks and branches; I'm clearing the property, and instead of the debris going into the trash or the woods, he's stacking it in the driveway with the hose running.

We got "man time" one Saturday night when mama went out with friends, so I took him to the racetrack for some harness racing. He lost his first wager on a horse named 'Jeremy Sharky' then hit a streak of four wins, before blowing it all on the last horse by a single length. I'd rather be the one to teach him how to gamble so he's doing it right.  By the end of the night, he could place his own bets. We also did family day out and saw an animated movie, The Croods.

He's also expanding his video game experience with an old Game Boy from a friend at work, whose son had outgrown it. Good to see him playing baseball and the sports games as he's learning more; makes a Dad proud when his son is bragging about a strikeout, even if it's electronic.

Along with photos, I got all the videos working again, and added a few more.

- Jason