Nick's Thirty-Seventh Month

Nick's verbal comprehension is now comparable to an adult. We've spent the last three years talking around him like he was a stuffed animal, but no more. When I ask his mother, "Do you think Nick is hungry?" He'll yell, "No thank you," from across the room. It's still mixed in with some great Nickabulary, though. His favorite toys this month are, 'Mr. Frotatohead' and making 'Fragettis' (that's spaghetti) from Play-Doh. And like many people have a stutter of 'uh', when Nick can't think of a word, he stalls with, "poon-on-the" which is supposed to mean, "putting on the.."

Chuckle of the month: we're on a car ride, and I'm passing Skittles to Nick in the back seat as he requested the treat along the way. I heard him drop one, and from the back seat comes, "Uh, oh. Where'd that jelly bean go? Help! Help!" Now he sits in the back seat and yells, "Oh no! Red light, Daddy! Stop!" It's time to explain the world of 'exceptions to the rules' to him, such as right turns on red, but I'd prefer to delay that lesson because I know he'll start using it on me.

Hot and cold with the 'foods' this month. Like a normal child in wintertime, he loved finding icicles and licking them to cool his buds. On the hot side, he discovered a spicy salsa that had 'matured' for a few days and got super spicy. He chowed down salsa and lime chips like it was the last supper... nose running, eyes tearing, and only a shovel could have sped up the consumption. He exclaimed, "Mmm! Salsa sounds a lot like sausage." Sure, I guess I never thought about it. Chocolate circles and chocolate cupcakes are other faves (those are actually Peppermint Patties and Peanut Butter Cups.) And brown-and-serve sausages.

My, how life changes. Now we take Nick to the mall on Friday nights, so the teenagers can see him run wildly and meltdown over chicken nuggets. It's my contribution to public service - contraception for teens.

He's now decided he needs privacy in the bathroom, so of course, we take him seriously and leave him alone, always knocking before entering. When he gets too quiet, that's usually trouble. We've emptied most things from the room that could cause him harm, or be flushed, but you'll see from the pictures, Brandi left her makeup bag in the room once, and he found it.

Feature length films such as Wall-E, Cars, Up and Finding Nemo are now able to hold his attention on video. He loves, "The Pink Manther" (no, I didn't spell that wrong) and "Tom and Jerry" the best.

It's amazing how fast the brain can process when pushed into service. At 5:00 am one morning, every light in the apartment flipped on within seconds, including the one in our room. Immediately, my brain was able to conclude, "New problem - he's over the door gate and out of his room. I can cover the holes in the gate so his foot won't get through, I can stack two gates up high, I can reinforce the gate from the wall across the hall..." And about 5 other options for renewed containment. Fortunately, the gate just fell over. Apartment living has been fine, except for the neighbors who fight like it's Hockey Night in Canada all week. I don't mind the yelling, but when they fight on the front stoop, throwing wine bottles through their car windows, wielding picture frames at each other in the parking lot, and it wakes up Nick, then we have a problem. Fortunately, I think an eviction is coming.

And speaking of hockey, we found him some small hockey skates, and he loves them. If we're going to raise him in Michigan, he'd better be able to skate.

- Jason

Nick's Thirty-Sixth Month

Nick's been a little fussier at night, staying up later, probably because his schedule is out of whack with us deserting him so often to hunt for a new home. One evening, after hearing the fuss in the bedroom go for too long, I charged in to order him back to his bed. He was on the floor, in the dark, with the contents of my nightstand drawer laid out in front of him... gel in his hair and everywhere, a scapular around his neck, and a parade of condoms (sorted by color!) marching around the family Bible. Oh, if only the priests from St. Francis could have seen this picture.

Lately, we've setup a make-shift bed on the 'Moose balcony' so one of us can sleep on the porch (which is enclosed as a 'sun room') away from Nick. That's the only way to get a good seven hours straight.

New to the 'Nickabulary' this month, we cross space travel with dairy: he calls fudgecicles "chocolate rocketships", and the space rover that walks on the moon, in one of his videos, a "space cow". It was cute at first that he could recognize my entire name when it was written, but now he uses in context such as, "Once upon a time there was a princess named Jason Mantel." Actually, he's been calling us, "Big White Mama" and "Big Blue Daddy". From the color of our bathrobes. And finally, he calls Lincoln Logs, "chunks".

New foods this month: tacquitos (little oven tacos), barbeque pork ribs, and macaroni salad.

We went to the Lights Before Christmas at the Toledo Zoo on probably the best evening there was. It was a cold night, but the train was running and we managed to slip in and out around the crowds of people. We saw a lot of 'sparkleberry trees'.

Nick and mama have done a ton of activities this month to pass the time in our small apartment. Play-doh is a favorite, making pretend food items, which he sometimes licks just to be certain he can't consume them. They painted a bird house. They made Christmas tree ornaments out of dough for our tree (which weighed considerably more than the little tree.) In the apartment, we have no cable TV connection, or Internet service, as we figured this would be temporary, so Brandi has been renting videos from the library to pass the time. Nick has been exposed to 'Curious George', 'Peter Pan' and some new airplane and train videos. The 'Woody Woodpecker' video didn't turn out so well... those cartoons from the '50s aren't quite as polished for young kids, and he picked up a few things that probably wouldn't go over well when repeated in school.

Big victory this month: he can blow his own nose.

We'll post a Christmas entry once we finish the holiday rounds this week.

Pics from month 36 here.

- Jason

Nick's Thirty-Fifth Month

Nick accompanied Brandi to the doctor for one of her shots this month. Envision him scoping out the equipment around the operatory while Brandi situates on the table, and the doctor prepares for the injection. Nick picks up one of the syringes from the cart, to which the doctor confidently observes, "Don't worry, there's a cap on it. He can't hurt anything." By mid sentence, he has the cap off, and the needle inserted in the doctor's tailfeathers. I like this career projection better than his obsession with throwing things in the trash.

We pass time at the gorcery store doing the 'Redskin Run.' Nick relays small taters in the produce section from their proper basket to the scale, to see how much they weigh. This passes at least 20 minutes while Brandi can shop. Last week, a lady who found this entertaining encouraged me, "don't be afraid to teach him - show him new things." So I told her we already worked with him in every area, go ahead and try him. So after she showed him various fruits, which he properly named the strawberry, the squash, the banana and the raspberry, she got this picture that he's already as smart as she is. I'll have him armed with 'cumquats' for next week in case she tries that again. Keeping him entertained is important, as if you don't distract him properly, you'll end up checking out with a lollipop stuck in your hair.

We're into our apartment now (as I've mentioned to a few of you, it's the closest I'll ever get to camping), and he's adjusting day by day. We went to the park behind our apartment, where there is a pathway, and a small bridge over the creek (where you can look down and see seahorses and river dolphins, at no extra charge on my rent). He loves to 'go play on the sidewalk' which means taking a walk. But overall, apartment living is pretty good. I woke one night at 3 AM, rolled over, and Nick was in the bed next to me, putting his finger in my forehead as he does when he wants to make a point, rambling about something. I asked, "Where's your mother?" "In the cribby," he replied. She must have crawled in to help him sleep, and fell asleep, so he jumped into the bed.

Wondering about the picture where he's playing with something at our dining room table/card table? He found the tampon.

Favorite foods this month: barbeque chicken skin (one of those where he refused until it was shoved in his mouth, and now he loves it), Chicken-and-Stars soup and Chips-Ahoy cookies. He's now able to handle making choices, such as 'continue yelling and go home or stay and watch penguins', and juice or water. Only a few days after introducing him to the world of options, he now offers us options. "Cat in the Hat, or Mr. Rogers?" he will ask.

Brandi, Grandmama and Nick went to the zoo for the 'Elvis Treatment' (where they're the only 3 people in the zoo). They were called upon by the voice of God, who advise them that the zoo was closing, which froze Nick in his tracks. This, after being stalked by the hungry tiger (who attacked a trainer) and hunted by the wolves. And the train was broken, 'in the shop', he says. Take caution visiting the zoo alone at feeding time.

He sneaks up on people now with his blue rubber dolphin in hand, and slowly moves in, humming the theme from 'Jaws'. Too funny.

As always, here's some pictures from the 35th month.

- Jason

Nick's Halloween 2009

This was a real Halloween for Nick, trick-or-treating through our neighborhood one last time. He handed out 'gorgeous' candy (his adjective) early in the evening, then went to four houses with mama before saying, "I'm done" and they came home. He and I went back out for a good mile lap with Aunt Amber and Joseph the Bumblebee. Nick was Caesar, with branches on his head, and a toga. Now, he'd been wearing a sheet around the house all week proclaiming to be a ghost, then decided against it an hour before showtime. So mama whipped out scissors, halved the sheet, and he became a Roman Emperor instead.

He charmed them at every house, counting pumpkins, and being himself. One house he proclaimed, 'look at the Jeep!' while the other kids were lining up for candy. The owner was flattered. Then he found two teenage girls on a stoop, and swindled them for about 6 or so pieces before I peeled him away. He sniffed the flowers by their porch and pretended to sneeze, then sat down next to them and began telling them about the purple pumpkin he just saw. He was calling out the costumes of other kids as they walked by: lions, scary ghosts, and others I can't remember. At one house, he ran up to their bonfire yelling, "Fire! Oh my gosh!" He stopped short, and began blowing on it as if to extinguish it. More young girls in attendance, more bonus candy.

We concluded the evening with a massive poo about one mile from the house (he's just 'this close' to being potty trained, but the ten packs of starburst before we started must have broke him loose.) We were at a familiar neighbor, who had a diaper handy. Good thing that was this year's experience. When we're in a new neighborhood next year, borrowing diapers from strangers doesn't make the best first impression.

Pictures from Halloween with this month's pics.

- Jason

Nick's Thirty-Fourth Month

Coins now have true meaning and value to Nick. We worked with him for months on the differences between the various coins, and he only ever called them coins. Then at the store, he says, "I need quarters for jelly beans." Jelly beans are the Skittles, or anything else, the store marketers place at the exits to usurp loose change from parents via their pleading children. Fortunately, we carry cheaper candy on us in case of such an emergency. But amazingly, he now knows the value of a quarter.

There's no better place to play than the cemetery. I've been a visitor on occasion over the years to 'share a beer' with my grandfather, and I've not visited much since Nick was born. So I took him along, which he refers to as, 'have an eer' at, 'the flower garden.' It's actually pretty awesome: clean, quiet, a nice fountain, plenty of flowers for Nick to pretend to sniff and sneeze, and he collects 'Amerigo Flags' (his word for American Flags, which might even be more historically proper than what we call them) from the veteran's plots. (Yes, I put them all back right behind him!)

Sometimes he'll rattle off a paragraph like a CNN pundit, and other times the tongue twisters get the best of him. He gave up on, "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite." His shortened version is, "Goodnight bugs." And his made up words this month are: eye browns (brows), baloney (blowing) winds, and when things are ruined he calls them 'bruined' (between that and booing the Red Sox, I hope the poor kid never has to live in Boston or I will have wrecked his ability to conform to society.)

Favorite foods this month: string cheese, barbeque chips, and bagels (he eats them from the outside-in.)

The new game this month is Dominos, which he loves to stack and count and knock down. They're relatively enjoyable for the adult involved, except he loves the sound of the word, so he repeats it 500 times while he plays (like staccato DAH'-mi-nose). He also loves rolling the basketball across the fireplace step, trying not to hit any obstacles. His mother started this, and when I played the first time with him, he explained the rules to me ('Roll it; no hitting obstacles; there you go!) I'm just incredibly impressed with this language skills. He addresses me sometimes by my first and last name, which is a chuckle. He has unlimited energy, and once he starts running, can make laps through the house indefinitely.

He's been waking up in the night a little more lately. One night, when I went into his room at 3 AM, he was insistent we needed to go to the parade. I read him a short story as a compromise, then he started correcting me when I was reading it wrong in the dark (he had the words memorized.) Then the next night, he was in tears for two hours over the 'sparkleberry tree'. That's the only word I could understand through the sobbing, so I can't fix that, obviously. Turns out it's a sad story online from one of the videos he watches about two little airplanes saving a tree on some public television show. YouTube is warping him! He'll sit in front of the computer until you peel him away, clicking through videos for hours. Last night, I heard 'C is for Cookie' non-stop during two loads of laundry. I miss the old stuff, which was a little more interesting to adults. Remember the 'mystery box' with Kermit and Cookie? I always laugh when Cookie Monster says, "arrivederci, frog".

New pictures for Month 34 - click here. Picture above is from grandpa's garden, with pumpkins for Nick, and tomatoes. He decorated the punkins with marker for Halloween,

-Jason