What NOT to yell in the car!

I've mentioned before that Nicholas loves to yell, "GO! GO!" whenever the car is stopped for longer than he'd like! We explained to him that we have to stop at red lights and then we can go when the light turns green. So recently, Nicholas has thankfully given up frightening his Mommy with sudden bursts of "GO! GO!" while she waits patiently at a stoplight. Instead he shouts, "GO!! Red?! Stopping. GREEN!!! GO!!!"

BUT...apparently Daddy has been teaching Nicholas traffic skills while they go on walks to the mailbox that Mommy was not aware of!! She didn't realize that Nicholas knew certain key phrases. So when he screamed, "A CAR COMING!!! WATCH OUT!! HIT YOU!!!" Mommy's poor little heart jumped up in her chest as she looked around to see who was going to hit her!! (No comments on driving records! We weren't in a parking lot, at least!) Silly Nicholas was merely telling Mommy to be careful since a car was coming and we didn't want to get hit!!! :o)
What a helper!! :o)

A happy little guy!!

We've known for awhile that Nicholas loves his music!!! The cute, little, shake-your-bootie dance and head bobbing is still so cute, but now he's finally starting to really sing along to the music!! (Or at least prompt someone else to sing for him!!!) He's actually quite fond of quick little jingles from those crazy noise-making toys. His two favorite jingles are from toys we don't even own (our neighbor's Little People Fire Truck that is no longer being made with the same fun song and the Sesame Street baby crib mirror). Then, there's his new fascination with Nick, Jr.'s Wonder Pets, which is awfully cute!! I finally figured out why he loves Barney so much...it's the singing!! Nicholas will only give the TV his attention if there is singing involved!! And guess what?! 95% of Wonder Pets involves singing!!! After watching the show today, Nicholas ran around singing, "Teamwork!!!"

But, of course, my favorite is listening to him request songs from his various CDs!! "Hello Everybody!!!", "Who's that...knocking, knocking!!!", "La La La La...CHA CHA!!", "OoooOOooo... Walk! Walk!", "No, No, No...Yes, Yes, Yes...Maybe!!!", "Jimmy! Crack Corn!", "GTO! WAA, WAA!", "NINE!!! 7...8...NINE!" ...to name a few!! Woe to the person who cannot sing the requested song...for Nicholas's protests can be heard throughout the land!! But, if you can sing for him...that gorgeous smile is worth a million bucks!!! :o)

Side note...We haven't made much progress on singing our ABCs, but the association with diaper changing is still there...so I suppose I can understand how the song may not be his favorite!!

AMEN!!!!

Nick & I are very proud of all Nicholas's accomplishments, especially his amazing vocabulary skills. Many people compliment him on his ability to pick up so many words! But, that's certainly not the case at church...

"CROSS!!! JESUS!!! SEE HIM!! AMEN!! Ready! Fruit Strip!! Eat it!! YUMMY!!! LIGHTS!!! CANDLES!! Blow it!! BLOW IT!!! Ready!! WHO'S THAT?! SPEAKERS!! LOUD!!! Outside!! BABY!! PLAY!! Ready!!"

These lovely exclamations draw many an eye. And although many people turn and smile, many others turn and glare.

We've been staying away from the nursery since quite a few parents believe that if they or their children are sick, the best place for them to be is in the church nursery. Lovely.

So our plan for the week will be to master whispering!! :o)

Costco

Nicholas and I were loading ourselves into the minivan today after a morning full of fun activities when I asked Nicholas if he was ready for lunch. Nicholas exclaimed, "Daddy!!! Lunch!!! COSTCO!!!" Sadly, I had to tell Nicholas that Daddy would not be joining us for lunch today and we wouldn't be visiting Costco. Nicholas then moved on to exploring the van as he does, oh...all the time!!! He grabbed the car keys and started trying to unlock the glove compartment. Then he starts trying to tell me something, but I have no idea what he's saying!!!! After giving up on Mommy understanding, he enlisted my help in opening the glove compartment. "Tom Tom!!!" Nicholas wanted to play with the Tom Tom!! So, I plugged it in for him and he proceeded to push a bunch of buttons. Eventually, Mommy tired of the car scene and packed Nicholas away in his car seat reminding him that we needed to head home for lunch. After he was all settled in his seat, I looked at the Tom Tom to power it down. On the Tom Tom screen were the directions to get to a certain destination...Costco!!! :-O Amazing!!! Mommy still hasn't figured out how to work the thing!! The boy is persistent!!!

We didn't end up at Costco today, but I suppose I'll have to make arrangements for a lunch date with Daddy there very soon!! :o)

My First Haircut!

What a big day for Nicholas!! We've been planning for weeks to get Nicholas his first haircut, and today we finally found the time to do it!! We called around to several places to get prices, hours, and availability, and we were quite surprised to find that most kid haircuts run from $14-$17!!! How hard is it to do a little snip, snip on a tiny head?! We had no idea what we were in store for.

We settled on a regular haircut place, Premier Cuts, that has given me great service in the past. Plus, it came equipped with a cute little red airplane seat that had a spinning wheel and propeller in its own secluded room!!

We arrived and were immediately whisked away into the airplane room. (No wait on a Saturday, Yay!) Nicholas was very excited about the airplane until the barber (the hairdresser will be referred to as a barber because it just sounds better that way) draped a sheet around him. He froze and stared into the mirror in front of him. The barber must have been very familiar with this scenario as she immediately started trying to show him the airplane wheel and propeller again. Nicholas finally calmed down and began to "Drive! Drive! Drive!" the airplane, so the barber pulled out the clippers to show to Nicholas. Freeze! She demonstrated the tickling sensation of the clippers on his hand and his Mommy's hand. No deal. Countdown to meltdown... 5...4...3...2...1... SCREAM!!!! Nicholas ripped off his sheet, stood up in the airplane, and started screaming, "Mommy! Daddy! Up!! UP!!!"

Again, the barber was on top of things and suggested that we move into a regular seat where Nicholas could sit on Mommy's lap. This is indeed how Nicholas received his first haircut. The barber did a great job with the clippers considering the subject was flailing and screaming in his Mommy's lap. At least 4 other barbers and/or receptionists ran to the back to help distract poor Nicholas. He was offered a crinkly toy, a lolipop, a kaleidoscope, and eventually bubbles!! Poor Daddy was also running around with Cheerios and a useless camera trying to help Nicholas settle down. Once the clippers were put away and the scissors brought out, Nicholas finally started to calm down a little bit. He still wasn't a very happy camper, though. At this point, he wanted his lolipop back, but it was covered in hair...ewwww!! His haircut was finally complete...a regular boy haircut with a #4 blade on the back and sides, with some #2 blade action for the edges, and scissors on the top. His haircut looked unbelievably good considering all the motion the barber had to deal with. Two thumbs up!! She should participate in speed haircutting competitions!!

As we try to de-hair and walk out amidst many staring customers, Nicholas is handed a blue balloon and a very cute certificate with a lock of his hair on it that says...
"This is a real official piece of paper saying that I, Nicholas, was real brave and didn't scream or fuss too much when they took me to this place, covered me up with a sheet thing and cut my hair! As of today, Feb. 28, 2009, I am a BIG KID and I am really cool!"

Nicholas recovered well in the car as we changed his clothes (we never did get that "sheet thing" back on him!) and let him play with his balloon. Nicholas also had a new story to tell!!! "Haircut!! Bzzzz!!! Scary!!" And Mommy & Daddy learned why kid haircuts were priced so high!! :o) We will definitely return to this place if we can...they turned what could have been a super crazy, traumatic experience into one that has a positive twist!!

Nicholas can't wait for his next haircut!!! HA! :o)

Preschool!!

We did it!! We finally signed Nicholas up for preschool!! (It's actually just a 2-morning per week Mother's Day Out program that doesn't start up until September, but it's a big step for us!!!) Nicholas enjoyed visiting the little school and was longingly staring at all the little 2 year-olds on the playground while he screamed "PLAY!! PLAY!!" It's a church preschool, so we also visited the 3 year-olds while they were in the chapel. They were singing the ending of a cute little song when we walked in, so of course, Nicholas loudly questions, "Happened?!", when the singing stops. Then, once I tell him that the kids are finished singing and are learning about ashes now, he starts loudly chanting "Ashes! Ashes!" (I was holding him, thankfully, so he didn't get his grand Fall Down finale to Ring Around the Roses.) Luckily, his loud, echoing antics did not appear to disturb the other kids, but we did get the teachers to turn around. So, all in all, I think Nicholas will have a pretty good time in preschool!! :o) At least I hope so...

On a different note, Nicholas did an amazing thing today!! He was playing with sticks next to a little girl who was also playing with sticks. One of Nicholas's sticks was magically flung into the air and the little girl retrieved it. Her mommy told her to give it back to Nicholas, which she did very nicely. Nicholas took the stick back, smiled, and said, "Thank You!" I was in the middle of speaking a sentence when my jaw hit the ground!!! I still have no idea what I was saying...I couldn't believe that Nicholas said "thank you" without prompting!!!! :o) What a sweet little boy!!! :o)

Rodeo!!

Well, things are finally settling down after Nicholas's extended weekend trip!! His Daddy and I went on a Valentine's date to the rodeo, so his lucky grandparents had the honor of entertaining him while we were gone. Nicholas had a great time visiting everyone and returned home with very interesting stories about his tunnel, Grandma's big car, his adventures with Grandpa at the park, LaLa's yummy cake, GG PaPa's doorbell (ding dong!), his playdate with Claire, and his not-so-accidental breaking of Mommy's snowglobe from Italy... just to name a few. Mommy and Daddy certainly enjoyed some much needed extra sleep and are ready to chase Nicholas around the house again at full speed!!

Nicholas also learned a new game today!! His daddy taught him how to play "Duck, Duck, Goose!!" The game is a little difficult when only he and Mommy are at home, but we talked "Pat, the Bunny" into playing and had quite a fun time chasing each other around the house!!

And, while we're at it...Nicholas has finally perfected saying "Love You"!!! :o) You just can't beat that.