Nick's Thirty-Third Month

Nick got a new train set from his grandpa. It's just like the train tables he loves at the bookstore, except more elaborate than any one I've ever seen. We're at least 8 hours of assembly into this setup, and there are many more pieces still requiring hardware to put together. He sleeps with 'chugga-chugga choo-choo trains', one engine in each hand. He falls asleep at night on the floor in his room, playing with trains. (Don't let his mother lift him back into bed, with appendages flopping everywhere.) One night he rolled under the bed asleep, and we thought we lost him!

We took Nick to breakfast with us one Saturday morning, and as usual, he wants to drink from whatever glass is in front of someone else. He will gravitate towards my 'Arnold Palmer' usually (unsweetened iced tea and lemonade). After taking over my glass, he spilled it when I turned my head, of course. He yelled, 'I spilled my coffee!'

Our shared joy of the summer has been 'the white car' which he requests for every ride. We take it out on the weekend evenings for a cruise, and his car seat fits in the back seat nicely. With the tops out, he loves the breeze in his face. I figured, with no food back there, he can't hurt the car, right? Well, the ceiling padding deteriorates in those old cars, and now I have the little handprint of a 3-year old over the back window in the roof. It's a nice complement to the rip in the pinstripe his mother added during our first month of dating almost 15 years ago.

And a special thanks to the Wolverines for giving Nick five opportunities to yell, 'Touchdown!' in the first week of the season. Now mama has two guys yelling at the TV on Saturdays. (And thanks to the Lions, we don't yell at the TV on Sundays, too.)

I traveled for 9 days this month, and Nick was speaking in complete sentences when I returned. He's still enamored with trains and planes, but now we've advanced to steam trains, locomotives, F-16s and Blue Angels. We need to find him some video longer than 4 minute clips online, to give his mother time for a break once in awhile. While at the computer this morning, he lifted an old plaque from my home office desk that I had at Lincoln Mercury over 10 years ago. The Mercury logo 'flying M' is on it. He pick it up and said, "Grandpa Earl's car!" Now, Grandpa Earl has a 1993 or so Grand Marquis, which Nick probably last played in a year ago (the end of that fun came when he filled the cassette deck with loose change from the ash tray), and no one ever associated the badge on that car with the logo on this plaque. Think kids don't pick up everything, and marketing doesn't work?

He got one more swim in before we closed the pool this weekend. The water was about 70 degrees (lake temperature, but too cold for us old folks) and he didn't balk for a second. He jumped right in, and we had to pull him out bordering on purple and shivering.

The other pics from this month are a trip to the zoo with Mason Poley, and finger painting. Also, the tub pic is with his cousin Thatcher when we were in Atlanta for Labor Day.

Click here for 33rd month pictures.

- Jason

Nick's Thirty-Second Month

Nick is beginning to use the computer, with simple clicks to replay the videos he loves. YouTube increased their traffic heavily this month just from Nick. He loves music videos, like 'Three Little Birds' by Bob Marley, and any videos of planes or helicopters or hot air balloons. But what tops them all is chickens. We found a video of muppet chickens, and he requests it frequently with 'more chickens!' He's understanding now when he sees himself on video, and he covers his eyes. His favorite word this month is, 'look!' I put shortcuts here for him to find the videos, so the favorites are linked here on the blog.

We're playing more basketball on his small hoop in the house, while I repair the real backboard outside that has deteriorated from 30 years of use. I love it when he blows on the ball for good luck before he shoots, and then he nails a basket and yells, 'score!' He's now learned to consistently boo the word 'Red Sox' on site, and we're working on a photo of Woody Hayes next. :) The favorite new toy this month is his little red-and-yellow dump truck, which he quickly broke in two, and now carries the pieces everywhere, including to bed. Inside, he and mama build forts from blankets and couch cushions.

Favorite foods this month: orange juice, silly straws, knockwurst and sunflower seeds (known as sunflower treats.) More made-up words this month, for you to work on your 'Nick-cabulary'. 'Cheese cot sauce' is barbeque sauce; 'Bluenocerous' is the blue rhino float toy in the pool; 'yellow-gold trumpet' appears to be a gold finch (he knows robins and cardinals on sight.)

The video of him running around in a cape yelling 'super bunny' is something from one of his television shows. Mama made him a cape from a pillow case when she saw him pretending. He also picked up 'One potato, two potato' from TV, and will do so whenever you put your fists out.

He outran me on a walk down the street last week; thank goodness for the distraction of dandelions that stopped him cold for me to catch up. Really, they're the fluffy white 'weeds' that he blows all of the seeds off. I don't let him roll in the mud outside as much as his mama, who takes him to stomp in the puddles intentionally, and chase toads in the yard. I'm more into cleaning the red dump truck.

We took him to the open house at State Line School, where I attended for several years 30-some years ago (and as you can image, they still remembered me by name when Brandi called the school). He marched into the classroom for 4-year-olds, called out every shape on the wall, every color, and finished with his rundown of 'plus, minus, times, divided-by'. So intellectually, he can run with the group twice his size. But I assured the teacher we would not be enrolling him without a few more months of seasoning, as when it came time to leave and peel him from the train set in the classroom, he melted down in red-faced tears and anger that lasted another 30-minutes after we left. Not to worry, he'll grow out of it. By the time he's 24 or so.

Click here for pictures from his 32nd month.

- Jason

Nick's 2009 Summer Swimming

Summer finally arrived in Michigan, with some hot days in August. Nick spends alot of time in the pool, swimming, sliding and floating. With his turtle lifevest to help him stay above the surface, he can now climb the slide, rocket downward, bounce up from under the water, and swim to the ladder, all on his own (the video was an early shot). It took about 2 days from his reintroduction since last summer, to claiming his independence on the low backyard seas. He navigates all corners of the pool on his own, even swimming in the deep end (but I suppose when you're only 3 feet tall, it's all deep.). He's not just floating; he's kicking and paddling. And there's no peaceful end to swim time - he never wants to come out, no matter how shriveled and blue he gets. He calls his swimsuit his 'sharksuit'. Of course, because it sounds tougher.

Nick's Thirty-First Month

Nick now knows his right from his left, although like using his fingers to count, he probably needs his feet to tell the difference. We practice right and left each time he puts on his shoes.

This month, he's been given clearance to climb to and from the crib. We removed one side, replacing it with a 8-inch high bumper, and put a step for him to get out freely. With that, we secured the entire room by removing everything from the walls that would be enticing to climb, turning face-to-the-wall the furniture that he could use for climbing, and gating off the closet and door to exit the room. Still somehow, he pulled drawers from the lower dresser one day, carried them to the door, stacked them, and climbed over the gate. I know this because his mother had gated him in with gates 6-feet high when I came home from work that night. And he's broken one gate so far. He knows to stay in his bed at night time, but jumps out at daybreak and throws open the door to his room, yelling, "Happy Day, Mama!"

One of our father-to-son bonding activities is sharing a yummy bowl of ice cream. He still calls out loud, "ice cream!" after each bite. It's the one thing I can lure him with almost every time. Favorite new foods this month: tomato soup, Mama's homemade chicken soup, and western hash browns (known as 'potato noodles'). Mama made him an angel food cake, too, which he declared as, "Best cake ever!"

With linguistic perfection still on the horizon, we've been slow to correct some of his 'close but not quite' interpretations because they're just too darn entertaining. When he says 'music', it still sounds like 'moose tits'. And he calls his vitamins, 'Spider Mans' since the two sounded similar (but coincidentally there's old Spidey on the bottle, too.) He seems to be getting louder with age. Some days, he yells so much, he's hoarse for a couple days (which can be a pleasant alternative on occasion, I admit.)

I don't think we've spent money on a 'new' toy in months. He gets some re-treads from the resale shop (like his John Deere tractor), and is content with many of my old toys recovered from the attic. An old bag of spools (yes, those little wood cylinders for thread) have entertained him for almost two weeks. In one video, you'll see he built a microphone and began introducing us like a TV talk show (perhaps from days of endless footage of Walter Cronkite on TV; thank goodness we didn't let him watch any Michael Jackson coverage). He also loves his Tinkertoys, which he calls, 'back-togethers' because whatever is torn apart, he wants put back together. He's also coloring and painting more, with water paints. He makes paintings of his own hands (with his hands), and paints his face, his ears and anything withing 5 feet of the brush (not on the paper, literally paints ON them.) On his own, he paints, 'rocket trails' and 'happy faces'.

Favorite books this month: "The Grouchy Ladybug," and Dr. Seuss' "Sneeches" (which he calls Sneechers). He insists, "Read it again!"

One morning he awoke early while I was getting ready for work; I opened the bathroom door so he could see me at the sink from down the hall (sitting at the gate in his doorway). I shaved while we talked. That evening, he wandered off, down to the half-bath, climbed up to the sink, turned on water, and was splashing his face with both hands, as if to shave. That just amazes me.

Click here for 31st month pictures.

- Jason

Nick's Thirtieth Month

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