Funny Moments and Cute Pictures

The other night we were having a snack in the living room and I put Nikolai’s cup on the coffee table. He promptly picked it up and placed it on a coaster!

This past weekend we met some old friends at the American Indian museum. As I’m sure I have mentioned, Nikolai is obsessed with drums. One of the exhibits had a large drum encased in a column of glass. Nikolai went around and around (and around and around) the exhibit looking for the entrance. He would stop occasionally and try to drum, and then start going around again. Eventually we had to just pick him up and go to a different area.

When I was baking lasagna, I stopped Nikolai from touching the oven and told him it was “hot”. He squatted down in front of the oven and gently blew on it like he does when his food is hot. So cute!

I gave Nikolai ham for dinner. He took a few bites and then insistently asked for cheese. Somehow he has already figured out that ham and cheese go together. His Dada (who is obsessed with ham and cheese sandwiches) was very proud.

Nikolai will not ride his bike until he puts his toy keys in the hole in the handle bar. We did not show him this – he just decided that is how it works.

Singing and Playing Piano

Nikolai's Favorite Activity

Chilling after a day in the pool

Language

Ok, so I am going to brag a little – Nikolai seems so smart! His language skills are really taking off. Of course, he is only one-and-a-half (almost), so we are not talking full sentences or anything, but he is adding words seemingly daily and can repeat anything we say. He regularly uses about 30 words (including animal sounds and expressions). He will also sign more and please. He does not really put words together, except to say “hi doggie” “here doggie” “bye bye mama” “more banana”, etc. Last night I was trying to get him to point to pictures in the picture book when I said the word, which is something he would not do at all last time I tried a few weeks ago. This time he actually pointed to the dog, sheep, fish, ball and guinea pig (we have a guinea pig). After doing this for a while with various things, out of nowhere I turned to a page and in quick succession he pointed and said “fish, banana, ball, doggie, airplane, blue” and then closed the book as if to say “there, all done”. Not all of his labels were completely correct, but pretty close; the “ball” was actually a pumpkin and the “banana” was actually a lemon. We had seen an airplane earlier and had just been talking about that picture, so that was not as surprising as it sounds. The “blue” was a blue triangle. Daycare has been saying that Nik knows yellow and blue, but I was not sure if he really knew the colors or just the words – apparently he knows the colors!

Nikolai's Words:
Mama
Dada
Nana
PopPop
Heh oh (hello - when playing with the phone)
Hi
Bye bye
Ear (while pulling on his ear – hopefully he is not trying to tell me it hurts!?)
Eye
Apple
Ish (fish)
Banana
Tea (eat)
Ah done (all done)
Yay!
Wow
Uh oh
Wawa (water) daycare says he says “agua” but we have not heard this yet
Book (he really stresses the “k” now – maybe they have been working on it at school?)
Ba (bath)
P (up)
Ball
Bubbles!
Blue
Yellow
Car
Tuck (truck)
Doggie
Calk (chalk)
Dirdie (birdie)
Dinie (guinea pig)
Boon (balloon)
Ow si (outside)

Ooh ooh (dog)
Ee ee (monkey)
Ga ga gak (chicken)
Meeaa (cat)
Baa (sheep)

Happy 4th of July!

The weather was amazing this weekend – well below the 99 degrees that is typical here in July. Friday we went to Nana and Pop’s (my parents’) to swim and to Frying Pan Park. The park is great; it has farm animals, a restored historic farmhouse, a playground, wooded hiking trails, and a hay ride.

On the fourth we took the shuttle from our church to the parade in town. When we arrived at church Nana and Pop were already there and picked up Nikolai. He kept pointing at the church, nodding and signing “more”. Good baby, asking for more church! He could not understand why we parked at church and walked away from it towards the bus. He looked a little worried on the bus, but enjoyed a few rounds of “wheels on the bus”. I think he had fun at the parade, especially watching the dancers and marching bands, as well as the people walking by with dogs. Nik chased down two dogs – followed the people all the way to their blankets in order to pet the dogs. One of his favorite parts of the parade was the Bolivian dancers – the boys wore bells on their legs and danced and stomped to the music. Nikolai has been stomping his feet and “dancing” ever since.

After the parade we ate at a restaurant on the parade route, which understandably was busy and slow. There was a guy there singing and playing a guitar, which was (almost) enough to keep Nik happy even though he was tired and hungry. The guy let Nikolai play the guitar as he kept singing, and gave Nik a guitar pick to use when he gets older. It was really sweet, albeit a bit embarrassing since there were several other kids watching the guitarist too.

Saturday afternoon we went to our friends’ house for a welcome home party for a friend who has been in New Zealand for a year. There were lots of kids there, including one girl who is Nikolai’s age. Nik did not really care what the 1-year-old did too much, but tried to imitate the older kids and generally acted silly. It was great to catch up with everyone.

Nikolai woke up Sunday morning in a REALLY good mood, singing and talking. He is so funny – everything is either a telephone or a microphone, and many things switch back and forth. He will walk up to anything at his level that vaguely resembles a microphone and start singing. He always sings the same song – a slow one with long drawn out “oh” sounds. He makes the cutest expressions to go with the song. After church we went to dinner at IHop with my parents. Nikolai nearly ate his entire huge pancake with strawberries, bananas, yogurt, and whipped cream – all of which formed a face on the pancake. We left the restaurant after Nik’s bedtime, but he did not fall asleep on the drive home! He was very giggly and probably on a sugar high. Mondays are always a little rough at daycare for him (he often gets a “content” report rather than “cheerful”); I guess we have too much fun on weekends.