Returning to School

Guy and I were without Nico last Friday, we had a quiet day at home sorting through some stuff. Nico came home on Saturday from the Grandparents Salisbury's house. He had so much fun while there. He has been asking ever since when he will be going back.

On Sunday our church dedicated the new construction starting on Monday, to add on to the children's wing. All the kids wore construction hats and were given a shovel to be a part of the groundbreaking. We helped Nico push his shovel through the grass, it was difficult. He dug a big hole and would have kept digging if we hadn't stopped him. It's not often you can dig a hole in the middle of thick grass in a big yard. The rest of Sunday was a lazy day at home! Miss Erin, the children's pastor, asked Nico if he wanted to read a verse in front of the congregation during our Christmas Eve service. He said Yes! He will be reading Luke 2:10-12.

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Nico went back to school on Monday after having the week off for Thanksgiving. The book fair has been happening this whole week and we always let him pick out a book to buy. This year he chose a diary with a lock and key on it! He picked it up today and has been working on it all afternoon and is now even working on it while he's in bed (he gets to read for 30-45 minutes before lights out. Most of the time he chooses to do a workbook, or something similar like filling out his diary). It's a diary that asks questions "What do you and your friends like to do for fun?" Or, "Whats pets do you own or want to own?" I don't know most of what he's writing because whenever I look at him he says "DON'T LOOK AT MY JOURNAL!" Heehee. But I have caught snippets of it because he has to ask me how to spell things sometimes. Currently he's filling out a free-write section where he has to write all about his life up until this point. He started with talking about how he was a baby in my belly and all of a sudden at the hospital he popped out. I hope I get to read the rest of it someday!

A few of his other before-bed reading choices this week:
An advent calendar that belongs to Evelyn but Allicia is letting Nico read it until before December 1st comes (we returned it tonight). It tells the story of Christmas in 24 little tiny books. Nico loves to know if something he is reading or watching is real, and he asks us all the time, "Is this real?" He asked me while reading this story if the places were real - Bethlehem, Jerusalem, etc. I said yes and he was very excited and said he wanted to visit Jerusalem someday. Then he got down to the details and asked When. Can I miss school for it? How long will we be gone? :)

Filling out his project journal with bird facts. He chooses a card from his bird deck and first draws a picture of the bird and colors it in, then flips the page and writes down all the facts about the bird as listed on the card. The journal even has a little flap/envelope in the back where he stores the card he is working on. He did 2 1/2 birds over a few days and then it kind of petered out.

Yesterday morning Nico told me it felt like he had an eyelash in his eye. Yesterday evening I noticed a blood bruise on his eye in the corner. When I saw it I freaked out (quietly) and did a quick internet search. That helped quite a bit, and it supposedly just looks worse than it is, especially since it wasn't hurting him or affecting his vision. I figured it happened because he was rubbing his eye too much when he had something in it. But the next morning (this morning) it had grown much larger, so we decided to take him into the doc just to be safe. His finger in this picture is covering up the exact spot on his eye that the red blotch is. This is him in the doc's office signing the word "No". Which means, Mom, stop taking my picture.

Doc said it was nothing to worry about, even though it had grown. Because there is no pain and no restriction of movement in his eye, it is fine. It's like a bruise under the skin but since it's on the eye it's red and it looks so dark because the eyes are white. She explained that his eye was bleeding between two of the layers and Nico asked in shock "SO MY EYE IS BLEEDING?".

After the appointment Nico said it didn't turn out as bad as he thought it was going to. If he was nervous or scared at all he didn't show it one bit. He ate a huge lunch right beforehand (I mention this because when I'm nervous I can't eat!) and was his normal happy self while waiting for the doctor.

 I asked him if I could take a picture of his eye for the blog and he said NO.

Tomorrow is Dec 1st! We have our advent tree out ready and waiting, and we received our Jacquie Lawson advent calendar from Grandma Russell, we are looking forward to starting both of them tomorrow!

Thanksgiving Pictures, and Dentist

As promised last week... Thanksgiving pictures!

Papa and Nico playing games

This was Guy's set up for most of the morning until the rest of the crew came. MST3K Turkey Day marathon on his iPad while playing on his computer.

Preparing to chop onions

Nico and Lexie stuffed themselves with olives shortly before turkey was served. 

Nico and Lexie playing a game

Other pictures from last week...

Playing in the snow

Well deserved hot cocoa after coming back inside (cacao powder, maple syrup, water)

Now on to THIS week!

We were planning to go to Winter Garden Aglow on Saturday, but the temp that day only got up to 22, and it was super super cold. Not to mention Guy and Nico were getting over colds (well, Guy was just starting to get one...) So we stayed inside! It was a nice 4 day weekend. 

On Monday Nico had a dentist appointment, and they took X-rays for the first time and he had *ahem* 8 cavities. None of his front teeth are touching, but the molars in the back are all touching, and right at the spot where each of them touch the other, that is where the cavities are. So 4 on each side, two on the top and two on the bottom. That will likely tell you how much we FLOSS his teeth. They also said he had a lot of plaque, and recommended buying him a spinning toothbrush. 

He is getting two of his cavities filled on Dec 16th. The other 6 we are letting sit. The dentist agreed to allow me try some stuff to see if we could get them looking better (always an experimenter...) if we come back in 3 months for additional X-rays to see his progress. The two we are getting fixed on the 16th are two that the dentist didn't feel comfortable waiting on. Fine with me, that gives me 6 others to play with :) I'm trying some essential oils and other things... more bone broth too which I'm conveniently making more of this very night. More flossing of course, and a spinny brush that has Mario on it. I went to WinCo Wednesday morning and texted back a picture of the spin brushes they had there so that Guy could show Nico (they were both at home), and Nico chose Mario. We started his new brushing routine last night with some tooth oil and flossing. And I taught him how to spit. Swish swish spit. 

Nico requested pancakes in the shape of letters. We just finished H the other day, but here is the E one. 

This morning he told me to do a number instead, so I did 100. Oh our routines, they are fun, and Nico reminds me if I forget. I'm trying to get him to not tell me I forgot something in a whiny voice. "Mommmmmyyyyyyyyy, you forgot my waaaater!!! Mommmmyyyyyy where's my fish oil??!?! WE FORGOT TO PRAY!!!"

OH, you may not remember, but Nico used to say six as "sickie". He was randomly counting the other day and absentmindedly said sickie instead of six. It was funny, I mentioned it to him and he laughed. It was strange to hear it again, makes me remember that at one point all he knew was signs and couldn't say many words at all! Here's a flashback for you..

On Tuesday I volunteered in Nico's class. For some of the time I was pulling kids out of the class to practice letters. They have a list of letters and they have to say them as fast as they can. They are tested formally on this specific thing every quarter I think. So they practice a lot. And also so they can get used to the test format. They have one minute and I used a timer.

We received an advent wreath with candles for Christmas from the Grandparents Salisbury, so we have been lighting the candle every night since Sunday (except Monday when Guy wasn't here and I forgot). Nico can light the match himself and then the candle. He likes "accidentally" blowing the candle out. (He's been playing with the idea of "accidentally" doing all sorts of things this week!  As his hand is scraping across my keyboard "Oh look, I accidentally typed some letters. It was an accident!" So we've had to talk about calling things accidents when they were actually done on purpose.) 

We've also started our Christmas Tree advent calendar, and the computer one that Grandma Russell buys us every year! We put it on his iPad this year, and left to himself for a while on it he says "Mommy, 3 isn't working"... that's because it's not the 3rd yet. It's a good thing it prevents you from going ahead, or else he'd be all done with it already! It's fun to have something new to do every day on it. Here's one of the snowflakes he made.