Spring Break!

Nico had a bit of a cold last weekend, with a fever on Saturday. We were planning a trip to see Allicia's Roller Derby game on Saturday night but I stayed home with Nico and Guy went to the game. He had never seen a game before so we figured that would be the best arrangement! We actually had a pretty fun night ourselves, we ate dinner and watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Saturday and Sunday I went over to the Grandparents Salisbury new house to help unpack. All their stuff was moved on Friday.

Grandma and Aunt Ellen laughing.

SPRING BREAK is happening this week, and Guy also has the whole week off. We've had plans to go do some fun things but haven't realized those plans yet. It has been rainy and we've been working hard to get stuff organized for our garage sale and clearing the clutter out of here. We purchased a wardrobe and switched around Nico's bed so that he is now sleeping on top of the bed. When we pulled his mattress from the floor underneath the bed we discovered mold on the bottom, so we tossed it outside and ran and bought a new mattress.

Monday - went through all our storage in the cellar, pulling stuff for the garage sale and repacking the storage boxes.

Tuesday - sorted through Nico's toys. Met Grandma Salisbury, Bruce, and Rory at Red Robin for lunch, then they took Nico for a sleepover at the Grandparents Salisbury new house. Tuesday evening I had a henna photoshoot at Quarry View Park. The photographer took pictures of the kids (Evelyn, Nico, Sammy, Aadam) with henna and also Allicia with henna. I took a few shots of Allicia myself after we came home, just to capture the moment, since I won't get the professional photos for a few more weeks :)

Wednesday - went to Pojo's with Bruce and Rory and Grandma Salisbury. He got 383 tickets and had quite a bit of fun playing games and riding bumper cars. We went to Big-Os to get the oil changed, here are Rory and Nico sitting down at Big-O Tires.

Thursday - This morning Nico opened a package from the Grandparents Russell that had some fun activities in it, we colored some bird coloring pages and we picked out where he would hang up the bird migration poster. This was also a Lego sorting day. Nico sat down with Guy and I at the table and worked on a miniature Lego panda while Guy and I sorted Legos. Rain rain and more rain, so much rain, snow too. But mostly rain, hard rain.

Here's a picture of Nico tucked into bed ready to sleep tonight. First night he has ever slept with a TOP SHEET in his own bed. I figured it was about time. We are using a quilt now that Grandma Russell made (can't remember if I helped or not?) It is beautiful, though, and so soft. And you can see the wardrobe we purchased. It has a mirror in the middle panel and Nico has been enjoying that. We find him practicing his ninja skills in front of the mirror sometimes.

It has been quite a cozy Spring Break so far.

Halloween and Parent Teacher Conferences

This year was the first year Nico went Trick-or-Treating. I wanted to take Nico down Warm Springs to experience the crowds and the costumes and the kids and the excitement, I knew he would enjoy it. The candy wasn't something he'd be able to eat but we planned to trade the candy for treats he could eat. Jeff and Allicia were going to be taking their kids to Harrison Blvd in North Boise which is apparently a VERY hoppin' place to go in Boise on Halloween, but they decided last minute to stay in their own neighborhood, so we ran into them on our way out. We joined forces and stormed Warm Springs. I am so glad Nico got to trick-or-treat with Evie!! I took him up to his first few houses to teach him when to say trick-or-treat and to only take one piece of candy and then to say "thank you".

We turned off of Warm Springs and back into their neighborhood and ended up back home two hours later. This was much more time and excitement than I was expecting but it was a great thing. I don't remember the last time I had so much fun. Watching Nico experience something new like that and seeing him enjoying it and enjoying it with his best friend, no less, was awesome.

Check out the Halloween video at the end of this update!

We had Nico's Parent-Teacher Conference on Monday. Guy wasn't able to make it (what, he needs to sleep?) I really like his teacher! She says that she pulls the kids aside individually to work on their IEP goals. For Nico she is working on recognizing emotions, happy, sad, angry, frustrated, and using a mirror to make them himself. As far as I know none of his previous teachers ever did one-on-one time with each of the kids. She doesn't do all of them every day, but one or two a day.

The speech therapist wasn't able to make it to the meeting, unfortunately, but Miss Erica (his teacher) answered all my speech therapy questions really well. I asked if she thought Nico would be ready for kindergarten next year in regards to his speech and she said yes. He will continue speech therapy in kindergarten. He will also get a resource teacher coming into his kindergarten class every day for about 15-20 minutes to make sure he is doing okay and helping him if he needs it. If there's a particular part of the day that is hard for him, they'll come in at that time. That makes me feel so much better. Miss Erica said that sometimes it's hard for kids transitioning from such class (8 kids, 3 teachers) to a large class (22 kids, 1 teacher), so having the resource teacher there for part of the day will help.

I asked her about elementary schools, too. Because our living situation is somewhat up in the air when it comes to next Fall, I feel like we have the ability to choose which kindergarten to send him to and then when we do end up moving from here we can move close to the school. He is currently going to White Pine Elementary for preschool, and Miss Erica said that the Speech Therapist for kindergarten at White Pine is excellent, and so are the teachers. Then there's Adams Elementary which is a stone's throw from here, and a bunch of other ones. I am even considering public charter schools, though they do a lottery to determine who gets to go to those. A lot to think about.

Pictures from school:

Halloween Party!

Volcanoes

Snack time. With his teacher Miss Erica

On Sunday we went up to the cabin for a memorial dinner for my Grandma Salisbury (Nico's Great Grandma Salisbury) who passed away a few years ago. My Dad and Aunt Ellen made us Grandma's famous enchiladas and jello, and then we got to hear some stories from their childhood. They had so many adventures. One in particular that cracked me up was the story about how my dad and his brothers went hiking and found a bunch of salamanders, at least 100 of them, ("we probably should have left some there" Papa says) and they brought them back to their house in a bucket and put them in their pond. The salamanders started popping up in the neighbors' yards and squished on the roads. They got calls from the neighbors about them (how did the neighbors know it was them? hehe!) Salamanders were everywhere for a while.

Papa and Aunt Ellen telling stories

My brothers Jeremy and David

The boys chatting in the living room

Evie and Avery and Nico playing in the Clubhouse.

 Video time!

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.

Strider Cam

Last Saturday Guy and I went to a Christian Homeschoolers convention in Nampa, though the two classes we both wanted to go to had nothing to do with homeschooling. I went to a disaster preparedness class and Guy went to a class about reducing your grocery budget. They both occurred at the same time so we both took notes and shared them afterward. We then went to the closing ceremony, where the speaker talked about "Choosing the hard things". Parenting is hard, but it's good. People tell you all the time that your children grow up fast and you will soon be missing their littleness, and when you're in the midst of it, comments like that don't seem to mean much. But he said "believe me..", your children will grow up and you will miss them, so hold on to the hard things, because they're the best things. After the convention, we had a little time to spare so we went to Red Robin and then to get coffee. It was a great little "date". Grandma Salisbury watched Nico while we were in Nampa, and she took him to Rory's 4th birthday party. 

On Sunday after Church and nap, we all went up the cabin. We got to see the Grandparents Salisbury and Aunt Ellen. We hung out and played with essential oils. 

Pouring oils into vials

Watching Shaun the Sheep with Grandpa

Grandpa Salisbury took Nico outside and was helping him use an ax to chop some pine needles and small pieces of wood. Nico really enjoyed chopping pine needles in half with an ax!

Over the next few days, Guy gave me my birthday presents. The first one was a replacement calendar for the wall in our kitchen, since we were halfway through with 2013 and I wanted some of 2014 on the wall to look at. The second present was a bunch of GIFs of pictures taken throughout the past few years. Loved this!! Here are a few of them:

The third present was a bunch of bookmarks for my myriad of books that I am in the middle of reading. He printed pictures into strips and cut them out into bookmarks. Loved loved loved all my presents!

Today we got a box from the Grandparents Russell with a toy in it for Nico! A wooden nuts and bolts kit. Nico loves it (and so does Guy). Perhaps next week I'll post the video of him and Guy playing with it. I could post it today, but I have run out of time, because I spent most of it putting together the Strider Cam video! For now, here is a picture:

And now here it is, the official Nico Strider Cam Video.

G.G., Cabin, and Dentist

We had quite a full week!

On Friday, Nico and I drove to Nampa to see G.G.

She had all her toy cars out and ready for him when we walked in. She also gave him a stuffed dalmation dog that he loves and we have tentatively named Spot. (Thanks G.G.!) We had a great time and will be back again next month!

For our drive home, I had prepared a snack for Nico of (no kidding) cut up piece of beef liver along with cut up pieces of cheese. He (no kidding) loved this. The way that I've been cooking the liver has been very tasty, and it is even better COLD. So he munched on his liver and cheese while I just munched on a big slab of cold liver. He has been eating liver and cheese for a snack after nap time this whole week. It appears to be one of his favorite snacks.

After Nico's nap on Friday, we drove up to the cabin to see Papa and Grandma and stay the night! We took the opportunity to spend some time up there while Guy was out of town. We had a lot of fun. Good food and good company! Nico slept on a cot in a sleeping bag for the first time, and seemed to enjoy it. He slept pretty well!

Grandma caught this rare video of Papa and Nico dancing to a song on the iPad:

We left Saturday morning and all of us came back to our place. I went and did some shopping while the Grandparents played with Nico. It was a fun day, Nico got to eat Jimmy John's TWICE (and then again on Sunday!)

On Sunday, about halfway through the church service, someone came to tell me that Nico looked very troubled and looked about to cry in the nursery/toddler room, so I went in there. He RAN to me and hugged me really big. I took him into the service with me after that. I'm not sure why he's starting to have trouble in the nursery again, but I think next week I will stay in there with him like I used to do.

Monday morning we picked up Guy from the airport. It was great to see him again after 4 days away, we missed him! He had a great time in Portland. The comedy show was great, and he got to spend time with his brother Tom and Tom's girlfriend Emily.

Tuesday morning was Nico's very first dentist appointment. It was a "Happy Visit" and they didn't do much more than have him sit on the chair, recline, and poke around his teeth for a few minutes. They attempted to polish one of his teeth briefly, too. Nico didn't like that, but over all he did very well. 

The hygienist made things fun for him and let him hold and touch and play with everything. He enjoyed holding the mirror in his mouth. He also kissed the suction tool when she asked him to, and enjoyed watching it suck up an entire cup of water.

We'll go back in 6 months to get reacquainted and maybe try a bit more of the tooth polishing. His teeth looked good, though, no signs of cavities anywhere, just a normal amount of plaque. The hygienist said she could tell that he uses a binky, but that his front teeth will come back down pretty quickly after he stops using the binky and that it's nothing to worry about right now. Her son apparently used a binky for quite a long while and his teeth had no trouble returning to their normal position.

Family trip to the library on Tuesday evening.

Wednesday we had a play date with Tricia and her 15 month old daughter Brynnlynn. When we were leaving he asked to give Brynnlynn a hug. First time ever asking for a hug from one of his friends! It was too cute.

Then there was the random walk and park visits this week, as it's getting warmer I find that being outside is a great way to spend time! :)

Xylophone

This morning we hung out with Sarah. She brought Nico a birthday present from her and her mom, my Aunt Ellen. A xylophone! Nico loved it.

Cabin

We went up to the cabin this afternoon. We got to see Sarah and Aunt Ellen as well as the Grandparents Salisbury. Nico ate so much at dinner! He had such fun time eating all sorts of things. There is always lots to eat at the cabin.

Sarah was nice enough to take some pictures of us. Here is one of them!