Speech, Strider, and Spills

Not many pictures this week! I couldn't locate the camera for most of the days. It happened to be right where I always put it, just hiding a bit.

On Saturday we went to visit Nico's cousin Lexie and Uncle Jonny and Aunt Alanna. We gave Lexie her birthday present (she turned 4!) and then hung out for a bit. Nico really enjoyed playing with Lexie's remote control car that she got for her birthday. He preferred moving it around the floor himself instead of using the remote control. Lexie showed him how to play their "Don't Break the Ice" game. We both had fun, it was great to see all of them!

Monday morning Nico had an evaluation with Idaho's Infant/Toddler Program, to determine if he qualifies for free speech therapy. A speech therapist and a developmental specialist both came over on Monday morning and played lots of games with him (aka "testing"). Nico had so much fun! It turns out that he does qualify for speech therapy. The speech therapist we met on Monday, Marcia, will be the one working with him. He will be getting 15 sessions, 45 minutes each. She comes to the house to do the sessions, which is awesome! We are just waiting to hear when they will start. Once Nico turns three (a little more that FOUR MONTHS away!!), he will transition out of the program since it is only for those who are 0-3 years.

One awesome speech development in the last few weeks is Nico's ability to say "Mama". And he correctly uses it to refer to ME! This just completely melts my heart. He has also just started to say "Daddy" and a few weeks back he correctly started saying "Papa" to refer to Papa Salisbury. They may seem like such small steps, but to me these things are HUGE, especially when he inserts a "Mama" into his crying at night. WOW, what a way to get straight to my heart.

On Monday Nico had two falls. He face-planted off of the step stool in the kitchen, and then later that night face-planted off our really tall bed. OUCH. He busted his lip when he fell off the bed, and had a fat lip that night. I iced it for him and tucked him into bed a little late because we needed to snuggle and watch Curious George for a while to calm us down. He also had a bruise on his head. The next morning he woke up with the sniffles, and since then we have been fighting off ear infections (my mom got us an ear scope so I can look in Nico's ears when I suspect infections!) He also has a low grade fever (hovers around 99.0-99.5). I am using melaluca and garlic oil in his ears and it seems to be keeping the infections at bay. I'm hoping we can come out of this without a doctor's visit. At least this time I know that if his temp goes up and he starts doing the inconsolable thing, that his ear is probably in trouble. We've been doing extra snuggles to help out :)

On Tuesday, Guy had his follow up doctor's appointment (remember when I stole his last follow up appointment so that I could get my ear looked at??). She talked to him about diet since his cholesterol is pretty high. We switched his breakfast to oatmeal for now and will address the rest of his food in the coming weeks.

Nico and I have been going to parks, going for walks, and spending time under the carport cleaning up from the fall. Leaves leaves everywhere! I adjusted the seat on his Strider so he could ride it. He helped me a bit there.

We went for a short walk and when he was done, he carried his Strider back to the house and wheeled it into place next to my bike in the shed.

Until next week!

Fishy fishy

Went to the Fish Park this evening. In one of the viewing windows there was a large dead fish on the bottom of the tank, with crawdads crawling all over it!

Later tonight Nico spiked a fever and got sick once :( Poor buddy

p.s. the scrape on his cheek is from a tumble in the church nursery on Sunday

VBS and Trike

No picture today, forgot! (Edited and added a picture later)

This week is VBS at the church, and I went to help chop vegetables. I had Nico as a tagalong. He was super hyped up with all the loud noise and people, so I left a bit early.

Then tonight we went for a walk with the tricycle. He rode it for most of the way, but then got off when I wouldn't let him cross the street with it. He got down on his stomach on the pavement and whined a bit, so I climbed onto the trike myself and asked him to push me. He was very excited about this and pushed me really hard for quite a long way. He was a good, strong pusher! Then he tripped and fell, dragging his feet while still holding onto the trike. He thought this was funny so he did this about 5 more times. Then we wrapped things up and went inside.

I noticed that with all the dirt on his knees he also had a little scrape.

If I can get my hands on one of the pictures taken of Nico tonight at VBS, then I will post it here! He was running everywhere, not in one place for too long, interrupting classes and trying to grab all the balls that he could find :)

Editing this entry to add a picture: Me chasing Nico. He kept escaping my grasp and running through all the VBS classrooms. I didn't get many vegetables chopped, but Nico sure had a blast! :)

Cousins and 2nd Cousins and More

Today Nico got to see a lot of family. This morning I took him up to the cabin to see some of my cousins and Aunts and Uncles. He also saw Leia (3rd cousin?) for the 2nd time in his life!

This evening we all went to Chicago Connection Pizza for the first get together of the French Reunion Weekend. A LOT of family to see. Nico fell while climbing one of the railings, and gave himself a gash just outside his left eye. He cried really hard for a while. It is certainly the worst he's ever been hurt, but he recovered fairly quickly and he seemed to enjoy being around all the other little ones running around.