Spring Break

Late night tonight! Spring break is keeping us busy.

 We saw G.G. on Monday. She gave Nico an old blue car that belonged to her brother. Nico loves it. He also has been asking to go back to "G.G. house" all week. 

 On Tuesday, Allicia and Jeff came over with their kid crew and Guy made everyone pad thai for dinner. It was amaaaazing. It was the first time I had had a full meal of Guy's pad thai. I am so glad there were leftovers for me. We sent home some leftovers with Jeff and Allicia, too. Guy made 3 batches of it! Jeff and Allicia also brought over a flourless cake for dessert, which I hear was excellent. 

Wednesday we made it up to the cabin where we are staying for two nights. Soon after getting here, Nico and Papa went outside and spent some time chopping things. Nico is really enjoying himself, there are a lot of perks to hanging out with grandparents! I let the rules get a little stretchy in these situations. Watching the iPad while he eats and passing on the broccoli for dinner is A-OK. That's what spring break is for, right?

 Then tonight we had an essential oils class at the cabin. Papa and Nico hung out while we were all upstairs. It was a lot of fun. Maybe short and sweet today, also because I left our camera at home and there are no other pictures to share but this one my Mom took of me and Nico this morning.

I'll post the rest of the pictures from this past week in next week's blog. I'm sure we did other fun things, because I remember taking pictures. Just not sure what the pictures are of.

Spring has Sprung!

The Mini Joys came to Nico's school on Friday. Miniature horses! Nico didn't say much about them after school but did agree that he got to see them that day. Grandma Salisbury was here on Friday and got to help get Nico from the bus. Nico was very excited! Grandma got us some sushi (Nico got some skewered chicken) and we ate lunch together.

This past week both Nico and I caught a cold, sore throat and such. We fought it off and have been successful at keeping it under the radar. We did have to miss out on Lexie's birthday party on Saturday because of it, and we skipped church on Sunday. But I did teach Nico how to play Slap-Jack and we played on his drum quite a bit, went through a lot of songs. He knows how to ask for which Tom T. Hall song for me to sing by calling out the song number. "Singa numba one, mommy!" He must practice drumming at school because he beats on the drum pretty well while we sing the ABCs.

Nico had a dentist appointment on Monday. He let them get further than ever before and actually let them polish two of his teeth. A few weeks ago in school they were talking about dentists and I wonder if that had something to do with how comfortable he seemed. He was even quite interested in touching and handling the tools that the dental assistant used. She always asks him if he wants to hold it and touch it and play with it before she uses it on him. He squirted much water onto the carpet and even let her squirt water into his mouth and suck it up with the sucker at the same time! His teeth look fine and she told me to start flossing between his back molars since they're touching.

Tuesday was another essential oils class. Allicia and Avery came to this one, it was a lot of fun. Guy and Nico went out again and had a blast. Guy called right before the class started to tell me that Nico sprained his ankle going down the twisty slide at Old Park. I was telling this to Allicia and she agreed that that particular slide is like a blender, and I think that's what we'll call it from now on. After they went to the park they went to the Co-op and then to the bookstore again to play with the train. I'm so glad they're getting some time together like this, Nico loves it!!

They came home that night and Nico was limping. He is still limping a bit, and we are going to the chiropractor on Monday to make sure everything is straightened out.

This week I forgot to take pictures until today. So all the pictures are from today, but you will see all the different kinds of fun we have in one day. So many exciting little things happen all the time.

Strider ride. Got up the hill and Nico wanted to turn around and go back home so he could "fix" his Strider bike. We got the pump out and the Leatherman, and he pumped up the tires and used the pliers to "turn" the knobs on the wheels. After he was done we went back out to finish our ride.

Spilled water required a change of pants. I come into the living room after telling him to go pick out some new pants, and he is crouching over a glittery shamrock he had decorated at school, with my hat on. He stood up and showed me his hands that were covered in green glitter.

A tasty food that we rediscovered today: olives. I put one on his finger and showed him how to bite it off. He asked for 10 olives in a bowl and he put one on each finger.

Showing Daddy his olives.

Today was also class picture day at his school. We endeavored to let him pick out his own shirt. We said: "Today is picture day at school, what shirt would you like to wear?" He just happened to be playing with dinosaurs, so he instantly chose to wear his yellow dinosaur shirt. Ok! And he woke up this morning with his entire head as a fluff ball of hair. I had never seen it that ratty before. I combed through it with lots of water and it calmed down a bit.

And tonight Nico had hot chocolate for the first time. I made it with coconut milk, cocoa powder, maple syrup, and water. It was very good!

Well, until we meet again!

Daddy Dinner Date, and Snippets

Saturday Nico and I went to the tire shop to get our tire looked at, it had been leaking air. While they were looking at it, we went for a walk around the block (we were downtown). Stopped into a bike shop and Nico counted all the bikes. One of the clerks said to him "Be sure to tell us how many there are!"

It turns out our tire had a nail in it, but they fixed it (for $15! cheap!) and said it was good as new. Well, ALMOST good as new.

Saw Allicia and Co. on Monday, briefly.

On Tuesday evening I taught another essential oils class. I sent the boys out an hour before it started. They had a GREAT time! Guy took Nico to Red Robin and they ate dinner there. Nico had a hamburger patty with a tomato on it, some broccoli and a few fries. Then they went to Pick-a Park and then off to the bookstore to play with the train-set there. All of those things are Nico's favorite things to do, so he had a lot of fun.

Of course, Strider rides and walks and park visits happened quite a few times this past week. Today we went to TWO parks! One right after the other.

Nico came home from school on Wednesday and without me even asking him what he did in school that day, he started telling me. Rory, Connor, Bailey, Miss Marybeth, T, Timothy the Tiger, t t t t (with hand motions), fix a house, hammer a nail (swings his arm up and down like he's hitting a nail). That seemed to be a pretty fun day for him! They are talking about construction workers and builders this week. His homework is a Bob the Builder activity page.

No pictures this week, so I figured I better put together another snippet video. Thankfully I have a few snippets :) And some pretty good ones, I think. Nico imitates a Clifford episode while watching it, calls Evie and Papa on his play phone, and vacuums his room. There might be another one in there I don't remember.

Papa, Spending Money, and Strider Games

On Friday morning, Nico woke up asking to go to Papa's house. I told him I would see if we could go visit them on Saturday. When he climbed onto the bus that morning, he told the bus driver "a Papa!" The attendant turned to me and asked, "Papa?" And I told her that we might be going to see Papa and that Nico was really excited about it.

So on Saturday morning we took a trip up to the cabin to see Gma and Papa. We had a great time! Nico kept asking to fly an airplane when he found out that Papa was going to be flying an airplane that day. We told him that in 3 years he can go up in the plane with Papa. He kept saying "fly in a airplane a 3 years!"

On Sunday Nico pulled out his piggy bank and wanted to go buy legos with the money. So we told him that on Tuesday we could take him to Fred Meyer to buy some legos. We counted up all his money and he had $36! Guy took him on Tuesday night, and they came home with a toy motorcycle and a "car wash" toy with a car that changes colors when you put it in cold water. Nico had changed his mind! He didn't seem interested in legos when confronted with all the other toy possibilities.

Nico playing with his color-changing car while Guy assembles the "car wash".

On Monday we went to visit Allicia, Evie, and Avery. We always have fun over there!

And warm weather means more Strider rides! I got quite a jog in with this last one. He had just been playing with his new toy motorcycle, so while riding the Strider he all of a sudden said "motorcycle!" and zoomed off fast. He sustained the speed for quite some time.

We've been practicing "STOP!" while on the Strider. I say "STOP!" and he stops immediately. It's a game, so it's fun :) We practice that a lot. Then I also have been showing him where to stop when he gets up to a crosswalk ahead of me and I'm not there yet. Still working on that one. He is precise like me, so he puts his front wheel right on the VERY EDGE where the sidewalk stops and the road starts. I'm trying to teach him to stop a little further back.

He climbed up onto the chair while wearing Guy's shoes.

A common occurrence after lunch: iPad and cashew butter/molasses ("cah-oo appa buttah")

Dinosaurs, G.G., Washing Hands, and Snippets Video

Nico brought home a dinosaur egg on Friday with instructions to put it in a warm place overnight. Saturday morning we opened it up and there was a toy dinosaur! The overnight stay in the cupboard was just part of the adventure. I thought it may have been necessary to its survival, if it was a growing dinosaur that you soaked in water before putting in the egg or something of that nature, but it was just a normal dinosaur toy. But it did get a nice rest in the cupboard, and then in the morning we pulled out the large green egg and opened it up. THEN we ate green eggs for breakfast! And Guy read "Green Eggs and Ham" to us. (See video below for the highlights!)

On Monday we went to see Grandma G.G. Nico wanted to bring his car garage that G.G. sewed for him, so we brought that with us. Have I ever shown you what the inside of this garage looks like?

Monday afternoon we met Allicia, Evie and Avery at Old Park. We also ran into another friend of ours while we were there. The day was beautiful and sunny and a perfect afternoon for park time.

This week in school they are learning about hygiene, taking care of their teeth and washing their hands.  Before dinner today Nico was almost to the table when he said "Uh oh! Wash a hands!" and ran to the bathroom. 

Nico has started watching a new cartoon on Netflix - Clifford!

He found Daddy's glasses

 Playing games with Daddy.

Reading "I Broke My Trunk"

This entry is a little shorter today because I spent some time putting together a snippet video. Nico is in a memorizing mode, he recites cartoons while watching them, recites books while we read them, sings songs while they play, you'll get to see a bit of that in the video.

Until next week!

Lexie, Parks, Signs, Stooges

Friday was Valentine's Day and Nico came home with a bunch of Valentines from his friends. It was very fun to open them all. Friday morning I had asked Nico if he wanted to give the bus drivers a Valentine and he said Yes. So we put two of them together. One for Dan, the morning bus driver, and one for Miss Donna, the morning bus attendant. Nico signed his name on both of them! He carried both out to the bus, gave them to Miss Donna as she helped him up the steps, and then stopped when he got to the top so he could take one and give it to Dan. He wanted to communicate something, I could tell, he kind of mumbled and stood there for a bit. They were both so happy and said thank you and Dan shook his hand. Dan and Miss Donna are so friendly and I am so happy Nico has them in the morning! Nico often stops when he gets to the top of the steps so that he can shake Dan's hand.

Then Friday night, we hung out with Lexie while Jonny and Alanna went on a date. Nico had a blast watching Curious George with her late into the night.

Lexie even introduced him to a different cartoon on Netflix about pirates! There is always fun and excitement whenever Lexie is around. 

We had some SUN and warmth this past week! We took full advantage of it and went to the Goose Park two days in a row. I woke up with sore arms after the first day, from pushing Nico on the swing! 

There were also several walks around the block this week. One of note was on Tuesday night. Nico emptied his lego bucket, the one with wheels, put a screwdriver in the bucket, and kept asking to go outside, and kept saying what sounded like "sun". Did he want to go outside into the sun? Guy took him for a walk, and Nico pulled the lego bucket behind him. When they got home Guy told me what the purpose of the walk was. Nico wanted to take his wagon around the neighborhood, not because of the SUN, but to collect SIGNS. An instance of Curious George mimicking! There is an episode of Curious George where he takes his wagon around the town and uses his screwdriver to take down a bunch of signs and put them in his wagon to take them home. Then he goes back out and returns them all. Nico got a good dose of pretend play, they pretended to unscrew signs and put them in his bucket, then pretended to screw them back on.

Other things that Nico wants to do because of Curious George: plant a garden, build a car wash, fly a kite, build a sand castle. I've started making a list of things to do this summer, I mentioned two of them already in a previous entry, but the list is growing, and here it is:

1. Fly a kite

2. Shoot off a rocket

3. Go swimming

4. Go to an apple orchard and pick apples

5. Plant a garden

6. Paddle Boats

7. Feed the ducks

8. Discovery Center

9. Apple Pie

10. Build a sand castle (if possible!)

And a few long term goals (ideas gathered from reading books)

1. Build a car from a kit

2. Fly a plane. Or at least, fly IN a plane.

There is also a ritual that has recently started. It doesn't happen every morning, but perhaps 50% of the time. After breakfast, Nico will get up onto our bed with Guy and watch an episode of Three Stooges before Guy goes to bed. Nico laughs and laughs and laughs and reenacts. We've had to talk to him a few times about not hitting, and Guy is being careful in what episodes they watch (he is, after all, in a mimicking mood these days), but it has been a lot of fun for both of them.

Guy's elimination diet has revealed a sensitivity to lemons and to peanuts! Lemons gave him a migraine and made his trigger finger swell. Peanuts gave him a migraine. We are slowly reintroducing foods, tomorrow we trial grapefruit. And an unexpected outcome: Guy has lost a lot of weight in just the 4 weeks we've been doing this.

This week in school Nico is learning about Dinosaurs. For homework, we had to ask Nico how to cook a dinosaur, with some leading questions, and then write down what he said. Nico agreed that the dinosaur had to have a bath first, and that he had to be boiled. I asked him if he needed to be cooked with vegetables and Nico said broccoli. When I asked him again later how to cook a dinosaur, he pointed to the oven and said "Rrraaaaarrrr!!" I wrote all that down on the paper and sent it back to school with him today.

This morning I taught another essential oils class for pregnancy/birth/babies. It was so much fun! I love teaching that class. I have one more planned for March.

Guy got up to go to the bathroom and when he came back, Nico had grabbed his computer. Multitasking with the iPad!

Watching Curious George on the BIG BIG computer while playing with cars.

 He fell asleep at 6 PM tonight while I was reading him a book about cars. Zonk.

Valentines and a Muddy Park

Nico had his very first snow day on Friday! We were still struggling with illness at the time, so weren't able to take advantage of it by going outside much, though we did take a trip to the Co-op. We needed to buy some walnuts because we just got a nutcracker and we needed to try it out. We cracked some walnuts and talked about squirrels.

On Saturday we had a special dinner. I had asked on Facebook if anyone had the Cars movie that we could borrow, and someone told me she had two copies and that we could have one. Yay! So on Saturday we picked up the movie, and then for dinner I made buffalo burgers (hamburgers made from ground buffalo) and we watched Cars while eating. For dessert we had freshly made cashew butter with molasses (Nico's current favorite treat). I know, molasses, right? It actually tastes pretty darn good, though :)

Saturday is also when Nico's fever started coming back and I started getting sick again too. We hadn't quite gotten over the last cold before this new one hit us. Guy caught it just yesterday, so he's going through it right now. We stayed home from church on Sunday because Nico still had his fever. But we had fun building parking lots with memory game cards.

Monday it was so sunny! Almost 50 degrees outside. We still had the sniffles, but we ventured out to go to the Co-op, and once that fresh air hit me I KNEW we had to stay outside much longer than the few minutes we were planning. So we went to the Fish Park after the Co-op. Snowy and muddy there still, but fun. We also crossed the big stretch of grass to get over to Municipal Park for a brief stint on the playground. The grass was covered in goose poop and mud holes, and we did NOT make it out unscathed. Nico had a bath when we got home and the shoes stayed outside.

This week in school he is learning about Valentine's Day and the post office. They are having a Valentine's party tomorrow, decorating cookies and handing out Valentines. We got Nico some Cars valentines that we put together on Wednesday. The school provided us with a list of names that we cut out (Nico is so good at cutting straight lines, wow!!) and then glued on.

Nico asked me to take a picture of him with this white clippy thing on his nose. He brought me the camera and said "take-a picka Mommy". 

He's been experimenting with saying "Mom" instead of "Mommy", and still says "Guy" sometimes because he knows we think it's funny. He enjoys telling us what he learns in school, and has started singing along to the songs in the car. My favorite one is the Tom T Hall song where he says "and I love you too".  Hearing Nico say that out loud along with the song is just so sweet. He also quotes long sections of Curious George cartoons, in action and in sound effects and in speech. He has a lot of them memorized. One of his favorite things to do is eat his bowl of cashew butter and molasses while lying on the floor watching Curious George and lining up his cars along the edge of the iPad.

Teddy Bear

Nico and I are still holding onto our illnesses. We've got stuffy noses and coughs over here.

We've had the opportunity to snuggle on the couch and take naps in the afternoon, though, which has been so nice!

On Monday we went to see Allicia, Evie and Avery in the morning. They were just starting to get colds over there, and I'm hoping it doesn't last very long for them! They had a teepee set up that Evie and Nico played in.

On Monday night we drove to Nampa to a going-away party for our friend Josh. He left to go back to Korea yesterday, to resume working as an English teacher. We will miss him!

This week for school, Nico had to bring in a teddy bear. He had 3 to choose from, and he chose Bud, his black bear. They took a picture of him with his bear and sent it home so that we could write a note about the bear on the page, and send it back. The teacher said to try to write down in the child's own words what they have to say about the bear. When I asked Nico about his bear and showed him the picture of him and his bear, the only thing he relayed to me was "Picture of Nico!".  When I asked him to tell me more about his bear, all he said was his traditional "a dah". Tomorrow we return the picture with the note, and also the bear, so that he can show his whole class his bear and what he had to say about it. I added some stuff in my own words. The picture will go into his "About Me" book.

Also this past week we've been working on words that the speech therapist sent him home with to work on. After filling out the sheet, we return it and then he gets a prize. So this morning after breakfast, we finished up the last day of word practice and marked it on his sheet. He did such a great job, that I figured I would record him saying all his words. So, here's the video!

If you notice at the end, he wanted me to take a picture of him. He has just recently started asking for pictures to be taken of him. And this time I got some good ones, but only because he POSED FOR EVERY ONE OF THEM! Each and every one of these pictures was planned by him. I kept pushing the capture button, but he knew when the picture would be taken because it counts down for us.

And then I snuck a hug in there.

And I'll leave you with one more picture - Nico covering his micro machines in play-dough. He spent almost an hour doing this after dinner last night.

"Hey Guy!"

Nico and I got re-sick this past week. Over the weekend my sore throat came back worse, with chills, fever, aches. Nico never had a fever, but his congestion got worse. We are still dealing with very stuffy noses and an occasional cough. And I have lost most of my voice.

We were still able to visit G.G. on Monday, though! After finding out that we had lost one of the pull-back cars that goes with the fabric garage that she made him for Christmas, she gave him 3 more! Nico also warmed up to Scamper a bit and actually petted him. 

On Tuesday Guy and I had conflicting appointments, so Grandma Salisbury came by to watch Nico for a few hours. She brought him a jack-in-the-box toy. It was actually a frog-in-the-box with a Sandra Boynton theme. Nico loves it! It looks like they had fun while we were gone, too :)

Tuesday night we went to Fred Meyer as a family and got some shopping done. New shoes and earplugs! 

Nico hit the sack early last night. He ate his supplements at the dinner table and then excused himself because he wanted to "take-a a nap-a". So we let him get into his bed, I tucked him in, and ZONK. He didn't wake up until 2 AM the next morning, when he crawled into bed with me and fell back asleep until 5:30. 12+ hours of sleep is the most he's had in a single night in a VERY long time. And today was a great day for him, only one time-out and was in a great mood most of the day! So Guy and I were trying to brainstorm how to get him to sleep more.

One more food added to Nico's repertoire. Sour cream! He did great with it today, so we will increase slowly. No visible rash on either end, and NO behavior changes after eating it! I was so surprised and so delighted, especially since he loved it and wanted more more more of it. I kept it to a modest spoonful, though, because I didn't want to overwhelm his system. The doc told us to buy Nancy's cultured sour cream, and also to try Nancy's cultured cottage cheese. When she told me to buy the cottage cheese that Nancy makes, I asked her who Nancy was, thinking she was their receptionist, before I realized that it's actually a brand name! :) So we bought Nancy's sour cream at the Co-op.

And here's a glimpse into our mornings. Nico took a picture of himself and you can see me in the background looking out the window, thinking I heard the bus.

One day last week, Nico realized that he could say "Guy" and get Guy's attention. After Guy went to bed in the morning, Nico walked into the living room and called "Hey Guy! Hey Guy!" And of course Guy tumbled out of bed and ran into the living room to see Nico, because it was just too darn cute not to. We both had a good chuckle. It reminded me of a story my Mom tells about my older brother Jeremy as a youngster, barely learned to talk, called out to them both: "Heeeey Dick! Heeeey Dot!"

Not much else to report this week!

Elimination Diet, and the Sickies

On Friday Guy took a half-day at work so that he could watch Nico while I went to a women's conference called "Dare to Be". Charlotte Gambil spoke, and Natalie Grant sang songs. It was a great time!

On Saturday, a comedy couple called Barnes and Miner came to our church and had a comedy show. Childcare was provided, so all of us went. Jonny and Alanna and Wanda (and Lexie) were also there. We all laughed! Guy said it was better than he thought it was going to be. I caught him laughing out loud a few times :)

Guy officially started his elimination diet last Thursday. He ran out of coffee last Tuesday, though, so he has been without coffee now for more than a week. He had some withdrawal - headaches, body aches, fatigue, and then we all caught a cold or a mild flu. Because our doctor had told me to keep track of mine and Nico's pH (with little pH strips that you buy at the health store), I was well aware that we were all getting sick a few days before it started. The doc told us that if our pH goes way up for a few days then you know that you are about to get sick. We were able to take preventive measures, and it did seem to lessen the blow for all of us. Nico only missed one day of school, and no one had any fevers. I think Guy got the worst of it, unfortunately. He was able to leave work early last night to come home and get some more rest. He had also worked overtime on Sunday and Monday.

On Tuesday I taught another essential oils class while Nico was in preschool. I sure do love talking about essential oils! It was a lot of fun.

Then on Tuesday night after bedtime, Jeff and Allicia came over to hang out again. Guy made them all some coconut ice cream, which was very well received. Coconut milk, honey, and vanilla flavoring, turned into a frozen treat via the Donvier.

The one picture I took this week was taken today right before Guy went to work. It's so cute that I'm sure it makes up for the lack of other pictures :)

Foods

On Monday we went over to see Allicia and Evie and Avery. We hung out in their garage (heated!) Nico got to ride on Evie's tricycle and there was also a sand box to play in.

Evie loading up the tricycle so Nico can ride it.

Monday was also mine and Guy's anniversary. It was actually Facebook that reminded me of it! And even after that, I forgot to mention it to Guy, who also forgot. I didn't wish him a Happy Anniversary until the next morning. Whoops! :) No biggie, though, we are buddies and we understand that life is busy. It has been 8 years!! 

Tuesday, while Nico was at school, I went with Allicia and Evie and Avery to a "Mothering Connections" meeting. A group of moms gets together and talks about all the things related to mothering. To offer support and to receive support if needed. It was very cool.

We had some warmer days this past week. Enough to go for a looong Strider ride, a trip to the Fish Park, and then a walk around the block. Not all on the same day:) Nico has been talking a lot about playing outside. "Play outside. Go Strider ride." We've already come up with a list of things to do this summer. Well, a two item list: Fly a kite (we have one sitting in our closet that we've never used) and shoot off a rocket. We'll expand the list as we think of things. We do have a long term list of things we want to do but not necessarily this summer: go for a train ride, go to the beach and build a sand castle, fly in a plane.

Building a tower with Daddy before breakfast.

Playing outside. Digging a HOLE!

Yesterday (Wednesday), we hit a milestone in that I experienced my very first call from the school to come pick Nico up because of illness. Apparently he was lying down on the floor in the classroom and when they took his temperature it was 101.4. I came and picked him up, and as soon as we got home he crawled onto the couch and fell asleep. He woke up for about an hour and told me he felt sick. I rubbed some essential oils on his tummy, he fell back asleep for another hour and when he woke up in his bed he popped up and started asking for food. He burned off his fever last night and woke up fine this morning. I kept him home from school, but he will go back tomorrow. I'm pretty sure this episode was food related (well, supplement related). We have been introducing many new foods into his diet recently, per doctor's orders "Expand his diet!" she said :) He has enjoyed oatmeal, quinoa, cream of buckwheat, eggs, chicken, tomatoes, potatoes, brown rice, carrots, onions, and tonight: salmon! He ate more than I did at dinner. Unfortunately we are still dealing with bad flares of his rash and his emotions, but we are pushing through. But back to this fever thing. He was perfectly fine Wednesday morning until after he ate his supplements. It was almost like he was a robot that had just been turned off. You can imagine the power down sound, as he slumps his shoulders in his high chair and says "no eat", crawls onto the couch, and asks for a nap. This had been happening on several mornings, so I didn't think it was any different. But I think he reached his threshold for one of the supplements that hadn't been agreeing with him. I will be talking to the doc tomorrow to see what she wants us to do.

This week in preschool they are reading "Snowmen At Night" by Caralyn Buehner, "Snowballs" by Lois Ehlert and "That Hat" by Jan Brett. They are learning about winter clothing and animals. And tomorrow is the end of the quarter, so they have an early release!

Back to School!

Gma Salisbury and Nico had a blast hanging out on Friday morning while I was at my doctor's appointment. They apparently played this particular game for quite some time. You can see them play it in the video I posted below.

Nico's cousins, Kai and Lily, came over that morning, too, and they all had a blast listening to animal sounds on Gma's iPhone. Nico was getting a kick out of it, and was imitating whatever Gma would say and do. 

Nico's Aunt Bambi and other cousin Karli came over soon after, and I made everyone a Full English Breakfast. 

Fried eggs, sausage, bacon, fried mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, fried bread, baked beans, and english breakfast tea with milk. Traditionally it also has black pudding (blood sausage) but I wasn't able to find any. I made the same thing for Guy the next day. Guy asked specifically for this meal, as we are soon embarking on a food elimination diet for him (once we run out of all the old food), and he put in a couple requests for meals he wanted before the diet begins. French toast, Monte Cristo, lots of sandwiches with various cheeses and meats (sausages mostly), and a Full English Breakfast. 

Evie's birthday party was on Saturday at "Just Kiddin' Around", a play place for kids. I had never been there before but I think that Nico and Guy both have. Nico spent most of the time at the train table, which was really cool! The place has a bunch of comfy couches for parents to lounge on while watching their kids. We sang Happy Birthday, ate some raisins, and came home with a cool butterfly mask as a party favor.

Nico went back to school on Tuesday after 2 weeks off. He was very very excited. This week they are learning about winter clothing and snowmen. And the letter "K".

On Wednesday morning I drove Nico to school instead of him taking the bus. There was so much snow on the ground that his bus got stuck somewhere (which they told me later). I called up and told them I would just take him in.

He is getting to be such a talker. He has been trying to talk along with the cartoons that he has memorized. And a new cartoon he has found - Pinky Dinky Doo. It's a girl who makes up stories for her little brother, the animation style is different and it's a lot of fun. Guy said he's really impressed with it.

Now for a VIDEO! This is a snippet video for Fall/Winter but it does NOT include Christmas. I will do a separate video of Gpa and Gma Russell's Christmas visit. As of right now there are 10 more minutes of processing before the video is available, so if it says the video is unavailable, that is why!

Whoops, where are the pictures?

This must be the lost week, because I forgot to take pictures! I did think to take a quick one today while we were at the doctor's office, so here is Nico playing with his Christmas gift from G.G. at the doctor's office this morning.

We saw Allicia and Avery and Evie twice this past week. They came over once and we went over there once. Tuesday was Evie's 3rd birthday, so we brought her a present and had a play date. Her birthday party is on Saturday, so we'll be celebrating with her then, too.

Monday we went up to the cabin to spend time with the Grandparents Salisbury. We ate lunch there and had a great time chatting and playing. 

Today both Nico and I had doctor's appointments to get ourselves checked out and get some advice and direction for dealing with food sensitivities and digestion issues. I am certain that very soon we will both be able to expand our diets!

Tonight Nico and I are staying with the Grandparents Salisbury. We sure do love hanging out here!! Tomorrow morning, we will go into town and Grandma Salisbury will watch Nico while I go to my other doctor's appointment. Getting all our health stuff taken care of!

Wow, what a short episode! Next week I hope to post a snippet video. In all truth I was hoping to do that for today, but didn't get around to it. Next week Nico starts back to school and I will try to remember to take more pictures :)

Until then...

Christmas

The Grandparents Russell came into town on Saturday (Forthwith they will be referred to as Gpa and Gma.) Woohoo! Dinner, playing, "watching the baby". It was a great night. Guy and Gma played Pandemic, and Nico fell asleep on Gpa while snuggling on the couch after dinner. Early bedtime, but oh so sweet to see.

Nico was up the next morning at 3:30 AM, wowza! We all headed to church, which was a blast. G.G. also joined us. Nico got to see his Grandparents Salisbury at Church, he was so happy! Lots of other family was there, too.  We then we headed home for lunch after a quick stop at the Co-op to pick up sandwiches. And a balloon hat for Nico that one of the clerks made for him.

After lunch it was time for presents!

G.G. gave Nico an amazing hand-made car play set that folds up and has a handle for easy transport. When you unfold it, it has a garage where the 4 mini cars are stored. You can pull the cars out and drive them along the road, under a bridge and under a tree. Nico played with this for a very long time. So excited to have this to bring with us to church/doctors offices/anywhere.

Then there were puzzles, digger, construction, books, an amazing "Brown Bear Brown Bear" quilt that Gma made for Nico. He is now sleeping with it on his bed. He's been wandering around the house this whole week reciting the book over and over again. When he sees the quilt it reminds him to start up again. He has got it pretty much memorized I think.

Didn't get a shot of the whole quilt, but here's me snuggled up with it.

On Monday we went to the Outlet Malls for a brief excursion, and more presents were scattered throughout the day. Nico was in heaven and so enjoyed having everyone around to entertain.

Sticker book time. 

They headed back to Washington on Tuesday, but not without a tentative next-arrival-date of April-ish. Woohoo!

Tuesday evening, Jeff, Allicia, Evie and Avery came over and we started a new tradition. We ate a quick and easy meal (rice and ground beef and broccoli), then we stuck a birthday candle in a satsuma and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Then we opened the satsuma and shared the slices. It was so much fun and I hope we can do it again next year. 

Nico had a serious blast with Evie. They got each other so riled up, running around, throwing blankets on each other and having tickle wars with Guy. Evie was enthralled by G.G.'s handmade car garage and spent a good amount of time playing with that. 

Guy worked overtime that night, but didn't have to be there until 9:30 PM, and he got to come home around 5 AM instead of 6:30. Presents were opened on Christmas morning, we ate breakfast, and then spent the whole day playing playing playing playing. The living room has been in a state of Happy Christmas Mess ever since. Just the way it should be.

It has been a blessed week and I am so grateful for all the time we had to spend with family.

One last thing - Nico climbed into a paper sack today and I made sure to take a picture. Like mother like son!