Nicholas Maravillas’ Blog

He needed a haircut so he got one!  Rather than risk a complete meltdown at one of those kid salons and pay $25 for 4 snips, we tried to trim his locks here at home.  With some grape pieces and daddy for distraction, it worked out okay.  Here are some before and after shots.  Look he does have ears!

I thought once he started to crawl that the game would change.  Which it did.  But I had no idea as to what would happen once he could pull himself up to stand.  I think this is worse than crawling.  At least crawling I can just follow him, but with standing I feel like I need to be within arm’s reach.  He is getting steadier with each passing day, but he has a blatant disregard for his own safety so Matthew and I always want to be near him.  We know he will tumble, and he has, but if we can cushion the blow a little we will.  Anyways, he always wants to stand.  He will try to pull up on anything and everything- stable or not.  Today he stood and talked to the dishwasher while I made cookies.  Don’t worry he didn’t actually get into it.  Then he made his way to the stairs to find junk mail and Zoë.  And finally he played with the new toy table that we got to occupy his standing highness.  Which of course he shows very little interest in compared to gnawing on the window sills, coffee table, stairs, etc.  Oh well.  He won’t even sit in the tub anymore.  That makes for interesting bath times, lemme tell ya!! And don’t even get me started on diaper changes.  Forget it, man.  He does not have time for such mundane activities anymore.

He will however lay still long enough to play with Zoë.  He has learned that when we swing her feathers, she comes after them.  So he does that and giggles up a storm when she comes running.  This is the closest to bonding that she will allow.

Check out this crazy kid’s hair!!

This is what he wanted to do instead of nap this afternoon.  He has a cold so that is why his face is all red.  Poor baby man!  I hope for both of our sakes, that he feels better soon.  He was crying in protest of the nap when he figured out he could stand up, at which point he was all smiles!!  Turkey.

Nicholas had his first taste of meat the other week- chicken.  I poached a plain old chicken breast and pureed it up.  It looked gross so I can’t blame him for the bad faces!  The only way he ate even a little was when it was all mixed up with his favorite squash or sweet potatoes. I think he’d eat dirt if it were covered in squash.

And much to my surpise, he loves zucchini!

And since he finished all of his zucchini the other night, he got dessert- a nilla wafer!  Although he wasn’t sure at first, he became a quick fan.  We gave him the whole thing to gnaw on but it sort of crumbled so I just gave him pieces.  Which is cool because he is so much better at the pincer grasp and feeding himself.  He gets cheerios and puffs for a snack daily.  He loves feeding himself!

In addition to new foods, he has a new trick… he pulls up to stand!! I haven’t found him standing in his crib yet, but he pulls up on me, Matthew, the coffee table and his ‘office’.  He is just so proud of himself!

We are going to pack up his swing, baby bathtub, tummy time playmat and bouncey seat this weekend.  It is neat but makes me sad that he isn’t a ‘baby’ anymore.  That swing and seat sure did serve us well.  He took plenty of naps in them his first few months.  But now the swing won’t even swing on the highest setting… not even with a push! Is it just me or does he not even look like the same kid?!

Lastly, here are some cute pictures from the past couple of days.  Enjoy!

We headed to Nana and Papa’s house for Labor Day weekend.  While we were there we celebrated Nicholas’ 8 month birthday by going to the state aquarium!  We all had a great time and Nicholas seemed so enthralled with the fish.  He loved to stand up, touch the glass and watch them swim right by his face.  I think his favorite part was the Harbor Seal exhibit.  He was all smiles and laughing at them.  As always, we took a ton of pictures but here are some favorites.  Enjoy!

While we were at Nana and Papa’s house, Nicholas started a new thing.  He leans over and sucks the dribbled down food off of his tray.  Nice.  This is in addition to the roaring that he does at the table now.  After a bite of food or a sip of water, he roars.  It is the funniest thing ever!  Thus, I have decided that he will be a lion for Halloween.   Stay tuned for a video of it soon.

Papa tends to wake up with the sun and sit out back with his coffee and the morning paper.  And since Nicholas decided to wake up early too, he joined him for a morning stroll in the backyard.  I love these pictures!

Uncle Awesome is cool, he lets me play with soda cans!

We all had a great time!!