Birthday Week!

Sunday was Guy's birthday. Him and I got to celebrate the night before while Papa and Grandma Salisbury watched Nico (thank you!). We went to the game store downtown and bought the board game Pandemic. Guy has been playing this game with his friends on Monday nights and it was about time we owned it! It is a cooperative game, so Guy and I had to work together in order to save the world from being overcome by disease. It was a lot of fun. We took the game to a coffee shop and played it 3 times. Then we wandered over to Freddies to do some preliminary Christmas browsing for Nico, and Guy spent some of his birthday money on a 2DS. Then we got Guy a vanilla milkshake and on homeward.  He worked overtime over the weekend, going in at 10 PM and staying all night. There is an end in sight, though. After work this Saturday, he has an entire week off! He is looking forward to that!

Getting ready to go out

Nico with Papa

On Sunday, Nico and I went to watch Avery's baptism. It was a nice ceremony. Nico got to spend some time with new friends in the church nursery during the rest of the service, after the baptism. That night we went to Goose Park (Nico says "Gee Pahkuh") and a boy there played with Nico and Nico had so much fun. It was a hoot watching him run around and play and laugh. He didn't want to leave, and then asked to go back to the Goose Park on Monday. We took him back there, but what he really was looking for was the boy he had played with. When we got there, Nico looked around and shrugged his shoulders with an "NNn duh!" Guy took the place of the lost boy and played really hard with Nico.

At Goose Park the 2nd night. (Guy is in the tube behind him).

This morning, Nico woke up with a bit of a sniffle. We sent him off to school anyway. He was fine today, but I think he may need to stay home from school tomorrow. This is unfortunate since tomorrow is picture day! We will see how he feels in the morning. I have his humidifier in his room and a bunch of essential oils on his chest and feet to help him breathe and sleep and fight infection. If you read this on Thursday, then please pray for a miraculous recovery by tomorrow morning! There is a picture retake day next month, though, so I suppose it wouldn't be the end of the world.

This morning, waiting for the bus.

Now it's off to bed. I had a brief hiatus from typing when Nico came out of his room and needed to be re-tucked. I climbed into bed with him and had an accidental 5 minute snooze. I am left feeling quite drowsy. But the snuggle was good :)

Hair Cut!

Milestone among children: The First Haircut. Nico has had his first hair cut! On Tuesday Guy got out the hair scissors and we set him up in the dining room.

Before

During

After

Guy was concerned that he didn't do a good job, but I think he did a fantastic job, especially considering that Nico was a wiggle baby! I kept a lock of his hair and will be printing some pictures to put in his baby album. 

On Wednesday we went to the zoo for the first time this year. We were there for 45 minutes but didn't get much further than a few 100 feet and only saw goats and a red panda. There was the giraffe slide we had to play on, and oh my, the sandbox! And the lion/seal/elephant statues we had to climb on, and the prairie dog tunnel we had to go through. I let him do whatever his little heart desired and those are the things he chose. I was so pleased that he was having such a good time! We also went to the gift shop and I got him a small toy helicopter and a few small rubbery animal figurines to add to our collection. We will be going back soon to see the rest of the zoo. He asked to go back later that day, and we were actually on our way back there when he decided he'd rather go to the "Goose" Park. He says "Gheee!" when he wants to go to that park. 

Another milestone: successfully climbing up a slide for the first time! (this actually happened at Memorial Park earlier this week, not at the park in the picture)

This morning at the Co-op I was marveling how he recited every letter in the name "Boise Co-op" which was printed on the cart (and upside down, at that!) When he got to the dash he said "dubaduh". He has also started telling us stories, which is awesome to see. In the past the only time he has communicated something solid was when he wanted something (water, potty, chicken, banana). But now, for example, holding up one of his trucks he will say "Pah" (for potty). He's telling us that he got that truck as a reward for going potty. This is a new step in communication! And on Monday morning when we went over to see Allicia and Evie, Nico said "Noooo" while signing Old Park, and then he signed "Evie".  He did this over and over again, he was telling me that we are NOT going to Old Park, we are going to see Evie! Evie lives right near Old Park, so I think he was clarifying. How cool to see him start to communicate like this. I'm excited to see it progress!

Nico's first speech therapy appointment is next Wednesday at 2:15. She'll be coming over every Wednesday after that, at 2:15, for 15 weeks. Also coming up in the next few weeks is Nico's transition appointment with the public school district, to see if he qualifies for transferring to a free preschool this fall that will offer him speech therapy. The program is there to help kids transition into kindergarten from the Infant/Toddler Program. So excited for the possibilities!

From tonight's walk. Nico dragging his tricycle home.