Nick's Twenty-Fifth Month

I'm still running behind on Nick's Two-Year post. I've been traveling again, this time to New Orleans for a conference. My first time to the city that really makes Vegas look innocent. My first night walking about, all I wanted was an ice cream cone, but I could find only daiquiri carts, call girls, and ear-piercing music (that was not Jazz, by my definition.)

Nick had a scare this month. He loves airplanes and visits to the airport. But while I was holding him in the driveway in Atlanta, a life-flight helicopter buzzed low overhead, and he froze in fright, gripping me tight and shaking. He was weary for a couple of days of anything that flew. He went from screaming 'airplane!' in glee to questioning 'airplane?' as if to suggest he's not so certain he's happy to see them anymore.

Of course with the pass of time comes expanded verbal skills. He looked at my brother-in-law Fayling and told him, "I want to go to the slide." He can sing Twinkle Little Star, almost completely. He uses 'please' and 'thank you', although not always in the right order. He surprised GrandMoose with, 'God Bless You' when she sneezed. And then Brandi's dad slipped with the word 'crap', which Nick repeated countless times for practice. Something about the linguistics of that word are fun. So when he came home to Michigan, I rushed to pull out the puppet 'Comfort Crab' and convince him he was saying, 'crab'. I think the cover worked. And he's now counting to 20 with no trouble, and clearly understands what he's counting, not just saying the numbers. Unique to Nick, he doesn't like to think there's just one of any great thing in this world. He says everything with an 'a' in the front: Brandi is 'a mama', Moose's dog is 'a Rosie (the great dane), or 'a baseball'. (Poor Rosie runs like lighting when he comes screaming 'a Rosie, a Rosie' and he tries to climb on her like a horse.)

His favorite place in the world is the "Jumpy place" in Atlanta, an indoor playground. He'll run with his cousins until his face is 'crab red', and sweating, and refuse to take a break. He's just naturally a hot-blooded kid, with hands always warm. He had a fever for a few days and it was hard to tell - when he wakes from a nap, he's always sweaty (with all the little hairs on his head sticking every-which-way.) When waking up, he always starts rambling right away about, 'a parasail' or 'a pumpkin' or whatever comes to mind.

Nick spent his birthday in Atlanta (Brandi and Nick stayed behind a few weeks for the warm weather). Megan and Jason threw him a great party, with gifts and all the extras. Video is here. As a new parent, you wonder how your child will learn some valuable lessons: for instance, how do you teach them something is hot, without burning them intentionally? With Nick, give him a birthday cake with a candle on it, and stand back while he frys his forehead. Between the fat lip at McD's and burn marks, you also wonder, as a parent, how long this stroke of luck can run before Children's Services comes knocking on your door?

Nick stacks everything, and can entertain himself for hours. He stacks blocks, pots and pans, bottles, books, you name it. We have observed that he continues to use both hands interchangeably, and that the other kids his age are starting to favor one hand. He will switch stacking or writing from left to right randomly. So of course, his Grandpa Mantel bought him ANOTHER left-handed baseball mitt. The kid is going to have enough equipment to outfit an entire team soon.

I came home to Michigan alone for a couple weeks, to shovel snow (about a foot) and paint more trim and doors in the house. But it wasn't all gloom for me. Alice, the master chef next door, baked me homemade apple cobbler... and I lived on it for three days. I needed the energy. For those of you in lands far away, we've shoveled about 4-feet of snow so far this year in SE Michigan.

- Jason

Christmas 2008

Nick had a great Christmas, showered in gifts from all over. We spent the actual holiday at home, opening a few small gifts. We wandered about the toy store on Christmas Eve, and had the store to ourselves. While one parent shopped for a few toys for him, the other stood by Nick in the $500 motorized Jeep Wrangler - one of those 5 mph real driving toys for kids, complete with a dashboard full of noisemakers. He sat in there for an hour before we peeled him out, none too happy, and sprinted for the door.

Then we spent the weekend after with family here in town, and traveled to Atlanta for New Years. In Atlanta, Nick was able to get outside on the playgound, and rumble with the other kids. It amazes me how he knows no limits - he kept up with the 5-7 year olds like he was one of them. And of course, exploring GrandMooose's house; one of the pictures is of him playing in the cupboards.

He was buried in gifts, including a NASCAR playmat, indoor basketball hoop, small airplanes, matchbox cars, a toy harmonica, and a sweet pirate kite. Honestly, other folks (all of you) were more generous with him than his own parents. Thank you! I can't even recall all the toys and clothes he received, but we were spoiled by the generosity of others.

The video here is of Brandi and Nick opening his gifts on Christmas morning. He's counting the glow-in-the-dark stars (more of them!) for his ceiling.

I'm working on his Two-Year post, and hope to have it live in a couple of days.

Click here for a few Chrismas photos.

- Jason

Nick's Twenty-Fourth Month

Nick experienced his first brain freeze. While eating some of Grandma Sue's frozen strawberry yogurt pie, his mama warned him. About 10 bites in, he dropped his head onto the counter, brow crashing with a thud against the hard surface, and mumbled in a monotone, "Oh, no." It was rather hysterical, actually. Best laugh I've had all month. (Even better than my buddy Donny singing "Queen" at karaoke, and that was a riot.)

Nick really loves music - no question now. He still sits daily at the piano, and loves to hear Brandi play her violin. Still dances the same, too. But he needed an instrument easier to handle. So we let him play with his great-great grandpa Golembiewski's harmonica, and he never puts it down - and he's aggressive with it. I call home to talk to Brandi, and it sounds like we have a hobo on speed in the background.

He counts everything now, clearly up to 10, and learning through 15 fast. But I got most excited when Brandi drew him a baseball, and he knew it by name. A touching manly moment.
Favorite new words: dragonfly, triangle, and parasail.

We shoveled the driveway together as a male bonding experience (and practice for what will become his job shortly.) I just can't keep his hat and mittens on him, but his hands and face are always warm - I think he's just warm-blooded, and gets hot.

Nick is not a kid shy of others, or afraid to be adventurous. I lose him in the McDonald's playground, and it's only one room. He takes off with kids older than him, into the tunnels high above the ground, and I have to go in after him to get him out. We're beyond the simple climbing phase, and into advanced climbing. He pushes chairs around the kitchen to reach the counters, open the freezer, and reach the cupboards. Nothing is out of reach. We had only one McDonald's incident, which resulted in a fat lip. When we took him out shopping later, he would ride around with his lip pressed against the cold metal shopping cart frame to sooth the pain.

And then there's the prep for Christmas...
We decided to set up a tree and manger for Nick at the last minute, the week before. We did the small 2' tree, with small unbreakable ornaments, safe lights in an enclosed tube, and set it at his level, just off the ground. Had we put it up high, he would have climbed until he eventually got to it anyway. He was very helpful with the ornaments, and once the tree was up, we stepped back to watch him enjoy it... by grabbing the top branch, yanking it from the table, and dragging it across the room like a caveman until the light cord would let him go no further. He shoved the ornament balls in his mouth and spit them across the room in laughter, and pulled off all of the garland and draped it all over himself. After about 3 days, he left the tree alone. He calls it a baseball tree, because of the balls on it.

Click here for 24th month pictures.

- Jason

Nick's Twenty-Third Month

PC is on the fritz again this month, slowing me down, but here's the update!Nick is going to be easily motivated with positive reinforcement. Tell him he did something good, or heavens forbid you clap, and he'll show you he can do it ten more times, every way from Sunday, and if it's a new word, at varying decibles. He counts to three each night before being handed off to mama for bedtime (although sometimes he starts at five - don't know why.) He's picking up concepts and ideas fast now - from the differences in big and small, to pretending to pull the whistle chain and yell 'choo choo' like a train. One of my favorites is shouting, "Yar!" whenever he sees a pirate on TV.

He can jump, sort of. Both feet usually leave the ground, sometimes his buns hit the floor before the other foot if he gets too much elevation. I let him loose in the yard, and he climbed the tall swingset steps to the slide - it was a challenge, but he made it. Winter has been tough so far, with a cold Fall, he's been able to go outside less, and when he does, he's bundled up like the stay-puff marshmallow man.

Favorite food this month: Skittles (fondly known as 'good beans'), but also loves Subway and oh my, mama's pancakes. He ate a full breakfast with me one morning - I slaved over eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast, and then mama wakes up and he screams 'pancakes!' and she comes out like a hero with 3-minute hotcakes.

He has so many new words that I can't cover them all, but my favorite is 'caboose' which somehow he pronounces as 'caballs' and thinks it's correct. At this age, you can get away with alot if it's cute. But most others, he's right-on. 'Frog' comes out often sounding like something I didn't want him to learn. But we're jumping right into two, three and four-syllable words like 'balloon', 'airplane', 'caterpillar', and his favorite, 'butterfly'! And he pronouces 'pony' like 'pawney.' We have several picture books, and he picks up a few more words every day, sometimes by surprise; he picked out the pumpkin picture tonite, which was a new one.

We set up a little table and chairs for him in the TV room, where he can have his snacks, draw shapes, and color. It's another hand-me-down, as I used the same table 30 years ago.

He still dances, but he's pickier about the music (prefers Mozart) and he hikes his pants up when he dances (we can afford pants that fit - I don't know why he does that.)

Click here for 23rd month pictures.

- Jason

Nick's Twenty-Second Month

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