We finally went this morning to get Nicholas’ mop head trimmed and he looks so handsome! This is the first haircut where we left and his hair was even around his ears and neck. Amazing. He cried the entire time but actually sat still and let the stylist work. It took maybe 10 minutes and I am so glad its done. And in case you’re wondering, he got a little Tonka tow truck and time at the playground for his trouble.
Before:
After:
We had such a great holiday weekend full of yummy food, wonderful family and lots of fun! Matthew, Nicholas and I have so much to be thankful for this holiday season but we are especially thankful for our fabulous families!
We drove up to Grandma and Grandpa’s house on Tuesday and came home on Sunday. We celebrated my birthday on Wednesday with a delicious Filipino feast that would have made Lola proud. We had chicken adobo, pork roast with sweet and sour gravy, fried rice, white rice, pancit and lumpia. Mom made an awesome chocolate cake and we all just chowed down and had fun. Thursday was Thanksgiving of course and the eating and fun continued. Friday was a quiet, relaxing day full of leftovers. Mom and I went shopping as usual but not too early and were home by 9:30am. I got some goodies with my birthday gift cards. Then Saturday night we went to Busch Gardens’ new Christmas Town. It was so pretty! Nicholas saw penguins, watched Mommy and Uncle Matt ride a wicked roller coaster, rode a real steam engine train, pet a Clydesdale and watched “Momo” (Elmo) in a special Sesame Street Holiday show. He did so well, especially considering we were out way past his bedtime! Sunday we all met at Panera for breakfast then we packed up and headed home. There were a lot of pictures but here are some highlights. Thanks again everyone, it was an awesome time!
Nicholas helped make pizza for dinner last night. He seemed to have fun!
Mommy took me to Marbles this morning! I love, love, love it there! I just run around like a crazy person- it is so much fun! There are choo-choo trains, lots of open spaces to run, places to draw, lots of stairs to climb and even some computers for me to break. I refuse to smile for Mommy when she wants to take my picture anymore… I am just too busy to stop!
Matthew decided to practice the flute today and Nicholas was very interested! He was scared of the noise when he was younger but now he is almost entranced by it. Pretty quickly after Matthew started playing, Nicholas hopped to the piano and starting playing. Adorable!
One of Nicholas’ favorite past times these days is flying around the house. He puts his arms back behind him and takes off! This morning he wasn’t paying attention and flew smack into the kitchen island. OUCH. Here’s a picture of the lovely welt on his eyebrow. Don’t worry, he recovered quickly from his crash!
We spent some time outside in the mud this morning before the nonstop rain moved in tonight and we’d be shut in for a few days. Nicholas enjoyed throwing his ball, picking bugs out of the dirt and climbing the hill that is our neighbor’s side yard. He refused to look at me to smile for a picture.
After a good lunch and a long nap, he awoke to do his favorite thing- play with trains. This is his usual pose to do this, laying down (sometimes on his head) to get a close look at his choo choos.
He sometimes takes a break from trains to play with a car or two. Or three.
While I was making dinner, I heard some giggling so I turn around to find this.
Its never a dull moment around here during a day home with Nicholas!
Nicholas turned 22 months old on Halloween. Yet another “monthday” that he wasn’t feeling well. But I am happy to report that he is feeling much better now and we are enjoying having our happy little guy back! I haven’t really posted much of an update as far as his milestones, current likes and dislikes, etc. lately so here we go…
- Nicholas loves “choo choos”. As soon as I go in to get him up in the morning, he first says “Mama!” quickly followed by “choo choos!”. So we go downstairs and put on an episode of Thomas and Friends. His Brio train set is permanently spread out on the living room floor. Its really the only thing that he plays with anymore. Sometimes he pulls out his buses and trucks, but usually it is his trains. He lays down flat on the floor to get a closer look then talks and sings while pushing them all around the track.
- He now gives directions in the car. When we come to an intersection, we’ll ask him “which way should we go?”. And he replies with either “this way” or “thata way” while pointing in either direction. Then he gets mad if we don’t actually go the way he directed! Unfortunately he doesn’t always pick the right way. He knows that we are heading “home” when we turn into the subdivision and he knows the way to the “dozers” parked on a back road that we usually visit.
- His favorite foods lately include chick-fil-a nuggets, cheese quesadillas, turkey and cheese sandwiches, cheese pizza, grape tomatoes, MnM’s, ice cream and grapes. He still won’t eat any sort of cake, cupcakes, or most cookies. He is the talk of most neighborhood birthday parties because he is the one kid off playing while the others are gobbling up cupcakes!
- He is quickly learning what sounds things and animals make. He can wail like a fire truck, meow like a cat, moo like a cow and woof like a dog.
- He is adding more and more words to his vocabulary every day. We can’t always figure out what he is saying though. He will sometimes skip the first syllable of words so unless he is pointing to something, it can be a game to figure him out. For instance when he says “woof” he really just says “fff”. I think he’s figured out that we don’t always understand because now he will take your hand and pull you to what he wants.
- He loves stickers. Just this morning he found a sheet of penny stamps and put them all over himself. I could probably have mailed him to his grandparents with all the stamps he took! Then he proceeded to put them all on the couch. He loves to stick and restick stickers over and over again.
- He wears size 3T shirts and pajamas but only 18 month or 24 month size pants. His feet are size 7.5. I guess he is at least 27 pounds and when he stands up, his head is at my hips so I would guess he is about 3 feet tall.
- He knows stop signs! Whenever he sees one, he says “stop!” then “go!”.
- He loves to jump. Jump on the floor, jump with daddy, jump around the living room, jump on the bed, jump off of the couch. Anything to do with jumping!
- He knows how to open doors and turn on faucets. He wastes a lot of water! After we wash hands, he says “buh bye” to the water down the drain. Its so funny! He can open most door knobs and even knows how to lock and unlock them. The MOPPET workers always have to keep a close eye on him while I am at MOPS meetings because he opens the door and visits the other rooms.
I say it every time, but he really he the light of our lives and makes us so happy. We are amazed at how much he has grown and learned in just 22 short months. We just love our Bubba! 
