Thanksgiving

On Friday Nico's stuffy nose turned into a slight fever. It didn't go much further than that and he seemed all better by Saturday morning. On Saturday we had a fun FaceTime with the Grandparents Russell. While we were talking to them on the iPad, Nico took the iPad and put it into the cooler. They then had a fun game of peekaboo. He would close the lid on them and then open it. And then close it. And open it. Whenever they would talk when the lid was closed, Nico would look at us very excited and then open the lid. Finger puppets were also a great hit!

We picked up our turkey on Saturday night (in that same cooler). 

On Monday Nico and I went up to the cabin and Nico got to see his cousins Bruce, Rory, and Lexie. They had so much fun! I also got to see some of MY cousins - we did a Christmas craft, making Christmas trees with fabric-wrapped cotton balls, pinned to Styrofoam cones. 

We had our little-family Thanksgiving on Wednesday, and then Thursday (today!) we went up to the cabin for the real deal. Guy got only 3-4 hours of sleep but was quite the trooper. Great food, and Nico got to see a lot of his cousins. Lily and Lexie and Nico had their own little table set up with a samsuta on each of their plates and a little name tag on each of their napkins. The big table had name tags too, my Mom really did a great job of planning and putting this all together. After dinner and before Guy had to head to work, we did the "Lego Challenge". Each of the younger couples (Me and Guy, Jonny and Alanna, Jeremy and Bambi) put together a lego at the same time and whoever finishes first, wins. The couples work together. Guy and I split it so that I am putting the lego together and he finds all the pieces for me. There were 3 challenges and the first 2 were based on time. Guy and I won both of those! The last challenge was a curve ball - we had to use the pieces from the first two challenges to make a turkey, without directions, just being creative. Guy took the reigns on this one and did a bang up job. I wish I had a picture of the turkey he did! Not sure where it is at the moment (still at the cabin here). Jeremy and Bambi won this one, they turned their scorpion from the 2nd challenge into a turkey and it turned out reeeally good!

Guy and I with our BEAVER

Then we sang some Christmas carols, drew some names for some prizes, and did an ornament exchange. Nico and I are staying the night at the cabin tonight. And wouldn't you know it, the one thing we forgot to bring - his binky. This will be the first night in his life that he will sleep without his binky. But I'm thinking that this might be opening the door to remove it from his life permanently. I told him that he was a big boy and would be able to sleep just fine without it. He didn't put up much of a fuss. Because he didn't have a nap today, he went to sleep quickly and is doing just that downstairs on a cot and inside a snuggly sleeping bag. I will go downstairs here soon and join him.

Alanna brought some photo props to do a kind of Christmas photo booth for all of us. What fun that was! We got a lot of good pictures that I will be sure to post as soon as we get them. So excited for those.

After everyone but Aunt Ellen left, and after Nico was in bed, me and my Mom and Aunt Ellen all had a snack and then went upstairs to relax. I have really enjoyed this day and am feeling very thankful.

One last picture from earlier this week - Nico squeezed in behind our printer, playing with cars. He likes to turn around while he's back there and stare at and touch the puzzle.

Block Blast

On Saturday we picked up the 110 pounds of nuts that we bought through a local "group buy". We got free shipping because over 1000 pounds were ordered. They should last us a whole year until next year's group buy. We got 60 pounds of almonds and 50 pounds of cashews. Nico helped me put them into freezer bags so we can store most of them in the freezer. 

Nico checking with me before he eats a cashew. Don't muzzle the ox!

I mad our first batch of homemade almond butter, and almond milk. Success!! Nico couldn't get enough of the almond milk, and he eats the almond butter with breakfast every morning.

On Sunday we went up to the cabin in the afternoon for dinner and fun! My Mom had invited all of us plus Jeff and Allicia and crew. We caravanned. The mountain road was covered in snow and we didn't make it up all the way. Jeff and Allicia made it up just fine, though! We had to stop and put chains on before we could continue, as we got stuck on the side of the road after pulling over to try to turn around. Nico got very upset when we pulled over, he thought we were turning around permanently and kept saying "Papa!" and pointing up the road.

We had a great time. Thank you to Pa and Ma for hosting, wonderful food and lots of fun!

Evie and Nico really enjoyed playing with all the wind up toys.

On Monday Nico had a stuffy nose and I decided to cancel our trip to G.G.'s because of it. I really didn't want to spread any sickness to her, so we rescheduled for 2 weeks out.

Stuffy nose seemed to stay as a stuffy/runny nose the past few days. He's been going to school, and hasn't had a fever.

On Wednesday his school had "Block Blast" and the parents were invited. So I showed up for it, and got to play with Nico as he went from station to station to play with different kinds of blocks in the gym. There were hollow blocks, big foam blocks, cars and a car mat, and pattern blocks. He got a kick out of the car and car mat, as well as the pattern blocks. He built a turtle following a pattern. Miss Candace (his teacher) and I talked about how Nico is meticulous and the pattern blocks seemed to suit him really well (I thought this might make a good Christmas present for him! Good thing I haven't chosen yet what to get him, I keep changing my mind.) We had a lot of fun. Miss Candace gave me a handout with suggestions on how to play with blocks with Nico to encourage learning of different concepts.

Today, I volunteered at the school but went in early so I could observe his speech therapy. The audiologist was there testing hearing, so that actually took up the speech therapy time. Though I did get to watch him get his hearing tested. She taught him how to hold a block up to his ear while he was wearing headphones, and when he hears the beep he is supposed to put the block in a bucket. He did one or two but then he defaulted to looking up at her when he heard the beep, in order to get an "OK" to put the block in the bucket. Apparently, visually asking for confirmation like that is common for 3 year olds. They tend to want to check with you first before putting the block down. But, that was confirmation enough that he was hearing just fine.

I will volunteer one more time, in two weeks, and I will go in early again to try to sit in on his speech therapy. 

This past week I started asking Nico to help set the table, which he is thoroughly enjoying. I have him fold paper towels into napkins and then put a fork on each one. He says "Mommy, Daddy, Nico" when he puts the napkin or the fork down on each of our places.

Setting the table.

Blowing bubbles while waiting for the bus. Rainy day, Nico was sure to remind me that we needed to use the umbrella while walking to the bus.

Snuggling inside Daddy's coat this morning right after waking up.

We got Nico's school picture back!

Flying Pie

I was wrong last week when I said there was only one more week before Thanksgiving break, there are two weeks!

Nico went back to school on Tuesday after almost 2 weeks at home. When I told Nico on Monday that he got to go back to school the next day, he got really excited and said "Teacher! Circle Time!"

But let's back track. On Friday Guy came home from work early because he had caught Nico's cold. But that didn't stop us from going to Flying Pie on Saturday for "Guy" day. Every day they celebrate a different name. If they choose your name, you get to go in at certain times and make your very own 10" pizza for free. Guy had to wear a funny hat and we had to wait until the dinner rush died down, but it was fun. We sat in a room with a  TV and Nico was enthralled by the football game. He kept talking about all the crashing that took place. When it would replay the crashes, he would say "more more".

At Flying Pie

I think that was our only big adventure this past week. Except we did go to Best Buy to buy Guy's Christmas present.

We pulled out Nico's Easter basket full of eggs and he had a great time this past week putting his tiny cars into the easter eggs and then taking them back out.

Easter eggs full of cars.

Using his snow plow to plow cars.

This week is food week at school. They made pizzas with english muffins (I sent in custom made english muffins plus almond butter to spread on it instead of tomato sauce and cheese). Then today they had to bring in a bag of their favorite cereal. For Nico this was a bag full of chopped almonds, one of his favorite treats, a substitute for cereal. I think he got to share it with his friends.

Tomorrow is picture retake day! His outfit is set out and waiting.

And now a video..

Croup

No school since I last wrote, Nico caught a pretty bad chest cold that turned into several days of croup. It started with a raspy voice and a slightly raised temperature. I thought it was just another mild cold, so when his temp dipped to normal on Sunday morning, we ended up going to church. He seemed fine the first few days of it. But Monday night it hit him, he woke up with that barking sound that he's only had one other time. No phlegm to speak of and it sounded like the coughing hurt. Guy took him into the bathroom for some steam treatment several times, and I put essential oils on his chest to help him breathe (Eucalyptus!) Waking up in the mornings has been the hardest part of the days.

The BEST part of the days is the snuggling. OOOooo the snuggling! I love sitting on the couch with Nico, covered in a blanket, and watching Curious George. Yesterday he took an early nap and then fell asleep again at 3:30 and he was out for the night. We got him up this morning at 7:15 to see if he wanted to eat breakfast with us as usual since he hadn't eaten since breakfast the day before. He did eat a little bit. Then this afternoon after a nap, he ate some rice and ground beef and he has felt MUCH better. He perked up a bit and we actually got off the couch for a while.

Back to last week - we went to Fred Meyer on Friday morning to get another fuzzy poster to do over the weekend and Guy and I also agreed that we should get him another car. I told him that our trip to Fred Meyer was a "Yes Car" and a "Yes Poster" day. And Nico repeated. He's been saying "picky car" quite often since then, which is him telling me that he wants to go pick out another car. 

At Freddy's he chose a hummer pickup, after changing his mind twice mid-store. I think he just needed to test them out before committing. He chose the ambulance first, a few minutes of walking around and then he wanted the tow truck, a few minutes of walking around, and then the hummer. We got home and he put the head lamp on and played with his hummer pickup at the table. You can tell he was serious because he still has his coat on from going to Freddy's. No time to stop to take it off.

Guy teaching Nico how to play Pokemon.

Another funny tidbit - Papa brings him a little hot wheels car every time he comes over. Nico has started saying "Papa" whenever he sees something that he wants. We've been getting a lot of toy magazines in the mail, and when he looks through them he sees toys he wants and says "Papa" and points outside.

Not sure yet if Nico will be going to school tomorrow. He had an early nap today and another early night (6:30). I'm thinking it's likely he'll stay home one more day. Then we have a week of school and then a week off for Thanksgiving! Can't believe Thanksgiving is almost here!