Nicholas Maravillas’ Blog

Nicholas has been so excited about school!  We have had to tell him that it was closed the past few weeks because he’d ask about it frequently.  Well, today they were open and it was the first day of school!  To help with transition, his class has a modified schedule.  Today he went for an hour, and I stayed the whole time.  On Wednesday, he’ll go for two hours and I’ll stay but take a break in the middle and then Friday I drop him off at 9 and pick him up at 12:15 for his first regular day on his own.  We really don’t think that he’ll have a problem with separation but I know not every kid will take it so well.  He acknowledged my presence maybe twice today- once to briefly show me a toy with a “blue circle” and once he looked at me from across the room while trying to open the fish tank (perhaps he felt my eyes in the back of his head telling him “hands off”).  I shook my head “no” indicating the hands-off the fish tank, and he found something else to do.

He played with new friends and seemed to really have fun.  At the end of the hour the head teacher was trying to take questions from the moms in the room.  Well, she was having trouble talking over some very boisterous giggling… Nicholas’ giggling.  He was on the other side of a bookshelf with 1 or 2 other kids so I couldn’t really see what he was doing but whatever it was, it was hysterical.   I was trying so hard not to laugh out loud myself!

The only pictures that we have are from Matthew’s Blackberry.  Nicholas was NOT happy about taking pictures this morning.  He’d catch sight of the camera and get mad, making for very uncute pictures.  Fortunately he doesn’t know what the Blackberry is yet so Matthew was able to snap a few shots before Nicholas figured it out!  I’ll try again on Friday since that will be his first “real” day of school.

We celebrated our sweet furry girl’s 7th birthday yesterday!  We will usually just get her some new treats on her birthday, but Nicholas will take any excuse for a party.  He said she needed to “blow out candles on cupcake” but after I explained that she doesn’t eat cupcakes, he said “presents?”.  So of course, I wrapped up a couple jars of treats!  He helped her unwrap them and promptly gave her 7 treats!  We also got her a much needed new scratching post.  Maybe she’ll leave the bottom step in one piece now!

Our camera is broken so we don’t really have any new pictures to share, hence no new blog posts!

We are doing well here these days.  Matthew started his new job last week and we have all been adjusting to that transition.  Nicholas loves it when Daddy gets home every evening.  I tell him when Daddy will be home soon and he starts planning out their activities (i.e. play trains, then whoosh, then tickle, etc.).  It’s pretty cute!

As far as Nicholas, he’s doing great!  He talks all the time now and continues to impress us daily with how smart he is.  He can talk in complete sentences and demonstrates his growing comprehension all the time!  Not much gets past this kid that is for sure.

He says “thank you, Mommy (or Daddy or whoever gives him anything)” all the time now, and is also saying “excuse me” in the correct context.  It really is adorable!

He wants to “help me” all the time now and I’ll admit it takes some patience on my part to let him help since whatever the task is ends up taking almost twice as long and is messier but he loves to help and it’s easier to let him than deal with the ensuing tantrum!  Some things he enjoys are helping to stir my tea in the morning, emptying the dishwasher, taking his shoes off, carrying his plate to his table, setting the table, cleaning up (only certain toys!), putting the lids on his cups and getting his juice out of the fridge.

Potty training is going well!  He is getting much better with #2 and hasn’t had one of those accidents (even in a pull up at bedtime) in a long time.  He occasionally has a #1 accident, but he catches himself and finishes on the potty.  He hasn’t even asked for “treats” (aka MnMs) in a couple of weeks now.  Also, the novelty of the public potty has worn off- thank goodness!  We would have to visit the “store potty” 3 times in about 30 minutes.  The first time he’d actually go, but the other times, nothing.  One day a couple of weeks ago, I called his bluff.  On his 3rd request in about 40 minutes, I told him that we could go but he wasn’t getting another treat.  He looked at me as if to say “what?!” and holding back my reaction to his surprise I asked “do you still need to go?” to which he replied “nope”.  Luckily, he really was just gunning for more chocolate and didn’t leave a puddle in the cart!

He loves the pool and is getting much braver in the water.  He doesn’t even play with his trucks anymore and prefers to “swim”.  He is gaining more control with floating on his stomach and kicking (all while wearing his Puddle Jumper floaties).   The other week he decided to jump off the edge into the water.  He loves to do this when we catch him.  He has also put his face underwater a couple times and comes out okay but I am not sure he enjoys it!  I think we’ll do swim lessons next summer to get him more proficient in the water.

He starts school next week!  We enrolled him in a local Montessori school three mornings a week.  Open house is this Friday and he transitions next week and his first full day on his own will be Friday.  He is so excited and drives his big fold out bus to “Nicholas school” almost every day.  Hopefully that excitements lasts through me actually dropping him off  and leaving next week!

We gave him our old digital camera and he loves taking pictures.  I’ll have to dig out the cord for it and post them.  He loves to look through it and say “cheese!”.

Stay tuned for Nicholas’ photography work and his first day of school pictures!

We all had a fun morning at the sprayground and wading pool today!  Nicholas loved the sprayground.  There was a tower with about 5 buckets that periodically dumped water down.  He pointed to it and said “water tower, water come down!”.  Then at one point he turned both water canons out and said “open gate!”.  I guess when pointed at each other the water looked like a gate.  I got a little wet right after I took the last picture…  I love my boys!  We stopped at Chick-Fil-A on the way home and spent a surprisingly pleasant no-nap afternoon together.  It was a great day!

Well, it’s about time Nicholas helped out around the house!  He got the idea to set the table himself tonight, with no help!  He got the placemats out, took each fork very carefully to the table and laid them out with the napkins.  He also helped clear the table after we ate.  I think he did a pretty good job! I tried to get him to stand by the finished table, but he told me “camera down, mommy! get pastas on plate!”.  Kid has a one track mind when you mention raviolis (aka- pastas).

Yes, after a week of being couped up in the house we got brave and ventured out today with a very irritable, potty training little man.  For some reason he had been super duper cranky since yesterday.  I mean just crazy and not himself.   One example is that he got hysterical to the point of gagging himself when I dared tried to take his pj shirt off to get dressed this morning.  Needless to say, he went out today with his dinosaur pajama shirt and shorts on.  Tylenol didn’t even seem to help, in case it was his last molar coming in.  We thought maybe he was just really bored of being home for so long.  We are usually out at least every other day so this had been a big change in addition to the whole potty training transition.

We decided to go to Walmart of all places for cheeseburger bread and pickles- lunchtime essentials in our house.  He did well there and it didn’t take very long, so we pressed our luck with lunch at Chick-Fil-A.  Nicholas inhaled his 6 count nugget meal and had a blast playing with “friends” on the playground.  As they came in, he addressed them by the color shirt they had on.  There was an “orange friend” and a “blue friend”.  We’re encouraging him to ask friends what their names are rather than simply saying “hi friend, whatcha doing?” but is hasn’t quite sunk in yet!  He threw a few fits, one of which was in the bathroom when he insisted that I change his diaper despite the fact that he didn’t have one on, but overall I think it did him (and us) some good.  And he stayed dry!!  So proud of him for that!!

He was still a bit cranky when we got home but after a 2+ hour long nap, he woke up a new man.  Happy, playful and sweet.  Just like the little guy we all know and love.   Man, did we miss him and are thrilled he decided to come back.

He did have one tiny accident this evening because he didn’t get to the potty in time.  Which really isn’t that bad for a week into potty training!  He’s still trying to understand that he can stop playing to go potty and when he’s done, his toys will still be there waiting for him.  One notable thing today was that while playing out front in the sprinkler, he stopped to come inside to go potty!  I was so impressed!  I thought for sure he’d take advantage of being soaked and just pee in his swimsuit without Mommy noticing.  But nope, he took a potty break like a big boy!  We are just so proud of him!!!

We’ve been having a cold front here in NC and enjoying lovely 83 degree weather (as opposed to the 100+ we had last week).  So to get outside, we went to the Zoo for the day.  We talked the whole way there about the elephants, lions, monkeys and bears that we would see there.  He seemed excited.  We tried to see lemurs, giraffes, lions and zebras first but he only wanted to see the elephants.  We got to them, he saw them and then was ready to go!   Crazy kid!  We saw a few more exhibits, had a picnic lunch complete with goose parade then visited the other half of the zoo, North America, to see polar bears, sea lions and black bears.  We never made it past the polar bears because he lived next to the playground.

Nicholas’ favorite parts of the entire trip- the “train bus” (AKA Tram) and the playground!

We had a great Father’s Day weekend!   Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, Papa and Uncle Matt all came down to stay with us.  Nicholas was in grandson heaven.  He adores all of them and they of course feel the same way.  Its so awesome to watch them spend time with him.

We spent the day playing and having fun then grilled chicken and ribs for dinner.  The two Matthews went out that night to play D&D.  Then Sunday morning I made a big breakfast and the Dads opened gifts.   Nicholas made a stepping stone with his footprint for his Daddy since he did the same last year.  It will be neat to see the progression year to year.   He also made hand-painted change jars for his Grandpa and Papa.  They aren’t much but were definitely made with a lot of love!

Mommy says that I am one very lucky little boy.  I have a super fun Grandpa that teaches me fun things and plays outside with me.  I also have my Papa who always plays trains on the floor and watches race cars with me.  And last but not least, I have the best Daddy that a little boy could ever have!  I have so much fun whooshing, playing stop-go and spinning with blankets with him every day.  I love you lots and lots Grandpa, Papa and Daddy!