La La La La...La La La La... Nicholas and Zachary's World!!!: January 2011

Catching up to 2011!!

Christmas fun with Red

So much has happened recently and I selfishly wish I was a better blogger so that someday I could remember ALL of the amazing little things Nicholas & Zachary do. But, alas! All my “free time” is spent entertaining the boys and preventing massive destruction!

Here’s what I can remember about the first half of 2011!! I will put up monthly blog memories as quickly as possible in the hopes of catching up sometime soon... So, here we go!

Blue joins in the holiday spirit, too

January!!
Nicholas - 3 years, Zachary - 18 months

Sweet brothers reading together

Between 16 and 18 months old, Zachary began his vocabulary leap! He also learned his ABCs and numbers! He was very proud about counting to ten like his big brother!! (That rascally number 2 was a challenge to remember for awhile!) Zachary's very first counting occurred at a local kids’ indoor playscape. Nicholas was walking on a wiggly, little tight-rope and counting each delicate step. Zachary naturally wanted to be just like his brother, so he climbed up on the tight-rope (no worries...it was about a foot off of the ground!) and proceeded to count each step up to ten! Unfortunately, the ABCs were tainted by a crazy day on the swings at the park. Nicholas was teaching Zachary his ABCs and Zachary was singing along as best he could, when Nicholas let out a huge belch!!! My horrified expression only encouraged him to do it again! A B C D E F….burp!!! Apparently Zachary also enjoyed my horrified reaction and Nicholas’s uncontrollable laughter, so he decided to join in, too. “A B C D…burp!!” Now that lovely phrase can be heard every time Zachary gets in a swing, as well as any time he sits in his high chair or hears anyone laughing!!

Berries!! Ripe for Z pickin'!

Zachary is the Color Master. He is amazing with his color recognition. He knows blue, red, green, yellow, purple, orange, brown, black, white, pink, and blue-green (thank you, strange colored fruit snacks for that last one!) He started naming most of his colors correctly around 15 months of age, but now at 18-months old he's rarely wrong!! Nice work, Color Master!

Zachary also happens to be the Mess Master!

Here are a few of Zachary's sentences or silly words at 18-months:

God Bless Texas!

No! Zachary do it!

Zachary’s turn!

Daddy! Hold you! (Translation: Daddy, hold me!)

Hop up, jump in!

Butt!! Want butt!! (Translation: Pirate’s Booty*! I want Pirate's Booty!) *It's a kind of chip

Away, Mommy! Go away! *points* That way. Out.

AAHHH!!! Scare you! (Translation: AAHHH!!! You scared me!!)

This is berry fun!!

Nicholas has been working hard, too. I realized that while he knows and recognizes all his uppercase letters, I’d neglected to teach him lowercase letters. He’s picked those up pretty quickly even though they bore him. Nicholas was also well on his way to reading, but while he’s very excited about the thought of learning how to read…he’s soooo wiggly when we sit down to learn! Part of the problem is that our only free time together is at about 2pm when Zachary is asleep and Nicholas is super tired and ready for a nap or a relaxing TV show. Nicholas is a champ at phonics, writing his name, doing very simple math, and drawing little stick people! But, his true passion is music!! I know that most kids love music, but Nicholas LOVES music! He loves singing and playing any musical instrument of object that makes noise!! He's also a song-writer! Here are some of his more famous song titles:

“Kick One Kick”

“Take on the Yogurt”

“You got tangled hair”

“Cowboy Undercover”

Nicholas enjoyed his very small Sports class at the Little Gym

Both boys are so smart and sweet!! And we love 'em to bits!! Now this seems as good a place as any to post some fun stories. Enjoy!

Nicholas: “Mommy!! It’s time to wake up!! I need my breakfast!!”

Mommy: “What? Oh…Mommy wants to sleep longer, Nicholas.”

Nicholas: “No!! I NEED my BREAKFAST.”

Mommy: “Please let me sleep just a little bit longer!”

Nicholas: “NO!! If you don’t get up, I’m just going to have to make my breakfast myself! AND I’m going to make a MESS!!!”

Nicholas teaches his brother how to scribble

Nicholas & Zachary are singing Row Your Boat while swinging in the glider in the backyard. They started off singing together with Mommy until Zachary started screaming at Mommy & Nicholas to stop singing!

Zachary: “NO!!! Zachary do it!!”

Nicholas: “Row, Row, Row Your Boat!”

Zachary: “NOOOOOOOO!!!!”

Nicholas: *Laughs*

Zachary: *Sings with amazing determination* “Row! Row! BOAT! …STREAM!! Mare-lee, Mare-lee, Mare-lee!!! Row! Row! BOAT! …STREAM!! Mare-lee, Mare-lee, Mare-lee!!!”

Nicholas: *Laughs so hard that he gets the hiccups and has to get off the swing*