Strider Video!

BBQ on Sunday up at the cabin! I stayed home because of a sinus infection, fever, etc. But the boys had lots of fun! There was a game my mom put together that started with a clue, so the kids could find a hidden butterfly. Guy was the one who found it. At the end of the game everyone split up the prize which was a bunch of coins they got to take turns choosing, so Nico came home with a bag full of quarters to add to his piggy bank. He also came home with a tractor hat that my Mom got for him while they were in Ohio!

Nico was very proud of it and he has been wearing it a lot (whenever we remember!) Thank you Ma & Pa!

On Monday morning I was feeling so much better so I took Nico to the Strider Park with the camera mounted on his bike. I didn't check to make sure there weren't any smudges on the lens before starting, and I also didn't check to make sure I had it on the highest HD setting, but one of these days I will remember both of those things! The video still turned out incredible though, and I am very happy with it. (See video at bottom of entry) We went on the trail twice, and Nico had so so so soooo much fun, going so very fast over the ups and downs, he kept saying that he was going as fast as a race car. It really seemed like it at times. I had to run to keep up with him. It was great exercise for both of us. Then we "relaxed" by playing on the playground.

We had enough time on Wednesday afternoon to take another trip to the park to do another circuit.

So, my Mom also got me something from Ohio - pure maple syrup! She came over last night and we split a banana pancake (1 egg + 1/2 banana, a little salt) with butter and maple syrup on it, just to try it out. Incredible syrup! Guy and I and Nico all had it this morning on our pancakes. (Did you know that we eat pancakes almost every morning?) 

Today we had pizza for dinner. This was the first time Nico has ever had pizza. He made his own:

After he put all the cheese and toppings into one big pile in the middle of the pizza, I helped him spread them around a bit. He said that he really liked the pizza, but he barely ate any of it. Maybe it was the big sandwich he had for lunch. 2 big pieces of bread, turkey, cheese, mayo, mustard. He really liked that.

So here's the Strider video. Be sure to switch the HD on because it looks much better that way. (After the video starts playing, click the gear symbol on the bottom right of the video and choose the highest setting)

Adventure!

Saturday we went to the Saturday Market where we discovered the Sprouts Kids Club. Every week they have an activity for the kids. This week the activity was coloring a plate with whatever foods the child wanted. They also give every kid 2 tokens each week. Each token is worth $1 at the market and they can go buy any fresh food item (fruit, veggie, meat, cheese) at the market. They just can't buy from the food trucks. And if they want something that's more than $2, they can save up! So we decided on 2 roma tomatoes and ended up spending just one of his tokens, so we are keeping his 2nd one for next week. Nico drew his two tomatoes onto his plate. We also ran into his teacher at the market, whose daughter was also participating in the Sprouts Club. We often see her there, so much so that Nico mentions her every time we go to the market, even if we don't see her.

On Sunday, all of us went over to some friends' house for a potluck and game night. We ate hamburgers and played Munchkin while the kids entertained themselves with the Wii. It was a lot of fun.

Monday we went to visit G.G. I was talking about maybe taking Nico for a go-cart ride for his birthday, but that he had to be 40 inches tall in order to be a passenger. So G.G. pulled out the yard stick and we measured him. He looked to be right at 40 or maybe even taller (a yardstick ends at 36 inches so we weren't 100% sure). When I got home I verified it. Looks like we'll be doing the go-carts! He was about 40.5 inches. I plan to take him for a Mommy-Son birthday date where we'll also play miniature golf and then go out for lunch afterward. This summer will be a hoot!

On Tuesday I taught another class and the boys hung out at home. Wednesday I woke up with a bad runny and stuffy nose which I am still fighting.

Today, oh today! We went on an adventure. It happened like this:
After lunch was over and the dishes were done, I came into the living room and said "Hey Nico! Do you want to go on an ADVENTURE?!? I hear there is a Strider Bike Park near by, do you want to go try to find it??" He was excitedly up for it, so we packed ourselves into the car and took off.

I had heard about this park from someone who was in one of the classes I taught. He told me it was downtown, turning on a specific street and going up close to the foothills. I knew the street he was talking about so we went down there and turned onto the road, followed it up and up and up. We couldn't find the park. We took several detours on connecting roads, but just had no luck. So I told Nico that we would go home and I would do some quick internet research and if I found anything that then we could head back out. He was all for that, so we did. After about 5 minutes of internet searching, I found it!

Off we went! It was on the one street that we didn't venture down! We found it easily now that we had directions.

This trail was apparently just built last November. It is for kids age 12 and under, for Strider bikes and any other kind of bike. It makes a .6 mile circuit, with ups and downs and curves. There was no shade and starting to get hot, so we only went a short distance before turning around. We will come back some early morning after summer vacation starts so we can beat the heat and make the full circuit.

Right next to it was a playground with a spongy floor and lots of neat new toys. It has a small climbing wall and twisty turny poles and bars and climby parts. It was a lot of fun. It had no shade, either, so we will need to come back soon to play longer.

Nico's last day of school is June 4th. They invited all the parents on May 30th to watch the kids as they have their music class. Cookies afterward and certificates. I am looking forward to seeing what they've been doing in music class.

That's all the news this week!

Botanical Garden Again!

Last Friday was National Public Gardens Day, so we got into the Botanical Garden for free! It was a mixture of sun and rain, but it was fun. We took shelter in a cave.

Having fun in the Children's Garden

Oh no the rain!

Saturday we took a trip to Trader Joe's. They have Nico-sized carts, which he loves to push around, so we go there often. We buy their gluten free oatmeal and sometimes some veggies or hot dogs. I use the oatmeal to make Oatmeal Spice Muffins. They are a favorite in this house! We had them for breakfast this morning and there will be none left by the end of tonight.

Sunday we were able to FaceTime with the Grandparents Russell. Nico has been asking about them lately, wanting them to come to "Nico's house". We tell him that they will be here for his birthday in a few months.

Monday we saw Allicia and crew. Tuesday I taught another class. Guy and Nico went to Municipal Park and met Allicia, Evie, and Avery there. And also two of Guy's other friends. They had a lot of fun and stopped by Pizza Hut afterwards.

I have a scratchy throat today and am fighting off sickness! Very tired and wasn't able to do much today except run to the store twice because I forgot something the first time. But everyone is fed and happy, thanks to hot dogs, muffins, and monster teeth :) We sent Guy off to work with a heave-ho and a basket full of noodles.

And speaking of muffins, that is what I am going to eat right now while watching Psych episodes on Netflix. More next week!

Scratches, Old Friends, New Friends

On Friday I got a call from Nico's teacher telling me that he had been in a little fight at school. I would prefer to call it a "skirmish". Nico wouldn't let one of the other boys have his puzzle piece, so the boy climbed on top of him and started clawing at Nico's eyes. He came home with 4 deep scratches on his cheeks. We snuggled STAT after he got home, and fell asleep on the couch even before eating lunch.

When I asked him what happened he said "NO no no no no" and pushed me away. I asked him about it again yesterday and he still said "No no no no no". So I'm glad I was able to talk to his teacher. She said that this boy has had aggression issues for a little while that they are addressing.

Saturday Nico and I went to the Botanical Garden to meet my old college roommate, Tawny, and her husband and 4 year old son, Aiden. They came over afterward and Nico showed Aiden all of his toys and they played so well together, better than I've seen Nico play with anyone! We were worn out when the day was done. Lots of sun, lots of playing.

Sunday afternoon, Guy's boss came over with his family so that we could do a Zyto scan on his son who has been having some serious health issues. A Zyto scan is to help you determine which essential oils your body will respond well to. All 4 of them ended up getting scanned. They were impressed with how accurate it was. Their two children, and Nico and Guy spent most of the time in Nico's bedroom playing, and the daughter (9 years old maybe?) plays Minecraft so her and Guy were having so much fun talking about it. We sent them away with some essential oils, and are hoping they help.

We saw Papa briefly that evening as he dropped off eggs and a whole GALLON of milk! Thank you Papa!

On Monday, Nico came with me to meet a friend at a coffee shop. She is a violist in the Boise Philharmonic and teaches lessons. Even to 3 year olds! If Nico ever wants to learn the violin or the viola, we know where to go.

Monday afternoon, Guy had an interview for an engineering position at his work. We are crossing our fingers and praying. The interview went well, we will find out soon when the 2nd interview will take place. He is being interviewed along with a few other people.

Tuesday Nico stayed home from school, he threw up once in the morning but was fine a few hours later. This is the 2nd incident with a short-lived upset tummy. I'm glad he felt better so quickly. Tuesday night I taught another community ed class about making over your medicine cabinet with essential oils. One of the women in the class ended up being the intake coordinator for the Infant/Toddler program and remembered me and Nico when we had our appointment a year ago.

Bought some new foods to try out this past week, as we are continuing to expand our diet to eventually include everything that a supermarket could sell :) Deli ham slices and a new brand of gluten free bread.  Nico requested a peanut butter banana sandwich for lunch yesterday: DONE! He requested toast for dinner tonight: DONE! I even made him little cream cheese rollups with the ham slices, one of my favorite things to eat when I was younger. He is doing so well with new foods, and his rash has not come back since it went away a few months ago. SO SO SO very happy about that!

This week is Teacher Appreciation week. I forgot to take a picture of the cute tea tumblers I put together for his teachers, but I followed the instructions here, so you can click to see a picture of what they are: Iced Tea Cup.

I made one for each of his 3 teachers, then also included a chocolate bar for the teacher assistant. Nico helped me stuff the tumblers with the wrinkled paper, and I used African Honeybush tea. I have never had it before but I picked something that sounded tasty from the Co-op.

A few other snippets from this week:

• Nico told me that if I played with his spinning top that I would need to go to time out
• He told me exactly how to make his peanut butter banana sandwich. Bread, with peanut butter, then slice the bananas and put them on top.
• Fish park, Old park, strider rides, tricycle rides, co-op runs (where Nico gets to pick out a fruit leather), eating watermelon

Watch-a a [th]is!

Nico has started asking us to watch him when he does stuff. He doesn't say the "th" in "this" so it sounds like "Hey Mommy Hey Mommy, watch-a a is Mommy!" You'll see an example of this in the video. He has also picked up on the prayer before eating. I asked him to pray twice and he did, saying exactly what I do before every meal.

Saturday Market on Saturday, got some cinnamon bread but Nico wasn't too fond of it this time. We went for a lot of strider rides this week, too. Once he even rode his scooter around the block for the first time ever! He prefers the Strider, though.

Tuesday was my first ever Community Ed class, teaching about cleaning your home with essential oils. It was a lot of fun. Jeff and Evie came over that evening while I was gone and then all of them went back to Jeff & Allicia's house via walking/strider/biking/roller blades. Then I picked my boys up over there after my class.

That's really all that happened this week, so, enjoy the video!
p.s. one of the titles on the video didn't go through, you'll see it. Whoops!

Easter

I went to Nico's school on Friday for their Easter egg hunt. The Easter bunny also came for a visit and Nico got a picture taken with him. Nico had fun and after that was over he got to come home with me instead of riding the bus.

Saturday we went to the Boise Farmer's Market for the very first time this year! We found a new vendor that sells gluten and corn free bread and baked goods. Nico tried their cinnamon bread. We will be going back this Saturday to BUY some! I thought the cinnamon bread would make some good toast for breakfasts. Went to Old Park that afternoon and Nico discovered swinging on his tummy.

Him and a girl named Lily hit it off at the park and they were both swinging on their tummies.

Sunday was church and then Easter at the cabin. We saw family we hadn't seen in a while, an Aunt and  Uncle of mine that had never met Nico before! And cousins I hadn't seen in a while. It was a lot of fun. Easter egg hunt reminded me of the ones we used to have at my Great Grandma French's farm. The adults would hide the eggs and then the kids would be let loose (the younger ones first). So Nico got to search for eggs one minute before the next batch of kids were released. He was allowed to get 22 eggs. Since he couldn't have the candy in them, the other kids were kind enough to trade eggs with him so that he just ended up with toys. Lots of stamps, lots of finger puppets, light up rings, colorful rubber bands. My brother Jonny climbed up the side of the cabin and planted one of the easter eggs in a bird's nest perched on the highest beam on the side of the cabin. When the kids were let loose to find the eggs, one of my cousins climbed up there to retrieve it.

A snap shot from a video of Rocky climbing up the side of the house

Alanna took pictures of the event and I'll post them when I get copies!

Monday we went to see Allicia and kids in the morning. Then in the afternoon we met Grandma Salisbury at the mall for an adventure! I got a pair of pants and shirt and some See's candy (Thanks Mom!) Haven't had See's candy in about 3 years at least! Rocky Road used to be my favorite.

Tuesday I had another essential oils class for pregnancy and babies. Nico and Guy got the tire fixed, went to the library, and then to the bookstore to play with the train. It was a fun night for all. 

Please pray that Guy will be favored when he interviews for the engineering position in the next few weeks. We are ready for him to move to days!

Today Nico was watching a muppet show on Netflix called The Mighty Jungle. Kids tell parts of the story and the muppets act them out. One part had this meerkat holding his baby sister. So Nico started talking about his baby sister and went to get his doll. I tucked her in next to Nico and he gladly stayed there with his arm around her until he was done watching his show.

That's all for this week! Stay tuned for Easter pictures in the coming weeks!

Airplanes and IEP

I went to download the pictures off my camera from this past week and I had ZERO on there. Really? I forgot to take pictures again? Thank goodness my Mom took some over the weekend when Nico stayed with them. Oh but I must show off his new haircut, so I will take a picture tonight of that.

On Friday I put Nico on the bus to school and then drove up to Cascade for an essential oils retreat with a bunch of other women (and a few men) at a nice, large cabin. I do have a picture of this! This was about 1/3 of the people. I made a few friends and had a good time!

Guy woke up early on Friday to get Nico off the bus at 12:30, and then my Mom came to pick him up at 4. They picked up Papa at the airport where he had been flying his plane, and Nico got to sit in the cockpit and play with all the controls. I can just imagine he must have been in heaven!

He stayed that night at the cabin with my parents, and had an incredible walk adventure with Papa the next day. Nico was trying to go in the direction of home, so they walked around and down to the main road, then for their return trip they made a shortcut up the mountain through the ravine next to the cabin. After lunch they both sacked out on the chair in the living room while reading a book.

I came and picked him up that afternoon and brought him back home. Thank you to the Grandparents Salisbury for watching Nico for us overnight!

Sunday was church and then in the evening we took a trip to see our friends Cassi and Cory. Nico got to play with their kids and had a lot of fun playing with toys and running around the back yard. He even played a bit of tetherball.

Monday we went to visit G.G. and had a blast there, too. Nico is intrigued with her TV so he watches a bit while we're there. G.G. brought out some new cars and Nico enjoyed playing with those.

Tuesday was Nico's IEP meeting, which went really well! Next year he will continue going to school 4 days a week, but in the afternoon class this time. We agreed it was a good idea because his peers will also be moving to the afternoon class and we wanted Nico to stay with them. We came up with goals for next year, you can see how detailed they are:

During classroom activities with peers, Nico will stay in his designated seat and participate appropriately (look, listen, and respond as directed) during adult-directed group activities in 8 out of 10 observable opportunities with 3 verbal prompts from adults by April of 2015.

Pretty specific, huh? That's how all the goals read.

There are a few related to social/emotional, and a few related to speech. Here's a speech one:

Nico will speak using correct grammar forms (pronouns, present progressive "is" + "-ing" verbs, plurals, possessives) with 75% accuracy in conversational activities during a 5 minute speech sample, over 3 consecutive sessions by 4/2015.

Nico didn't need any goals related to academic performance or fine motor skills.

We will find out in May if he will have his same teacher (crossing my fingers that he will!)

I also asked who the child was that Nico likes to play computer games with and they told me it was Bailey. Whenever he sits at the computer he always looks around for her to see if she wants to come play with him.

Nico's haircut

Apparently there were 3 blond haired boys that came into school on Tuesday with haircuts, Nico being one of them. It was a hair cuttin' weekend!

Family Visit

The Grandparents Russell came into town on Saturday morning. Nico was so excited to see them that he spent the first hour or so pulling out the stuff from the top drawer of our desk in the living room, because he wanted to show them everything. We took a trip to Camel's Back park that afternoon.

Saturday evening Guy made everyone Pad Thai, which was excellent! Grandparents brought Nico some new books and a new sticker book, too! And a really cool Curious George activity book.

Sunday to church. G.G. joined us on this day, and surprised Nico with a new watch for an early Easter gift. Nico loves it! It is color coded to help in learning how to tell time.  For dessert on Sunday, Guy made strawberry ice cream made with coconut milk. Nico's first time trying ice cream, and he really liked it. He also really liked going on adventures with Grandma Russell outside. Using his magnifying glass to look at moss on rocks, exploring tiny rock caves, and throwing rocks into a "river" (puddle).

Relaxing after dinner.

G.G. and Nico playing.

The wind up...

The grab!

Monday was a short trip to Allicia's house so the Grandparents could meet Allicia and crew. In the afternoon we went to the Fish Park. It was a beautiful day! We walked over to Municipal Park afterward.

We will see them again soon!

Other things this week:

Nico's class picture. He can name all of his teachers, and most of the kids! (sorry for picture quality!)

Fun with Youtube. Pirate Nico!

On Tuesday his school was celebrating " The Week of the Young Child", emphasis on healthy living. They invited parents to participate in a little event in the gym, so I went to Nico's school that morning. There were stations set up, each one with a different theme. Teeth brushing, reading, exercise (yoga), gardening, art, building. Then outside was an obstacle course. I got to go to all of these stations with Nico. It is always great to be there at the school with him because Miss Candace his teacher always tells me little tidbits about what/how Nico is doing at school. I love those little tidbits. She asked if Guy was an engineer, because Nico is very precise, loves to build and work on things and has excellent fine motor skills. She said she is having a hard time coming up with academic goals for him for next year because he is doing so well! Most of the goals for Nico next year will likely be social and speech related. But academically he appears to be doing great. We will find out more about all of this at the IEP meeting next Tuesday.

Back at It

Before I start in on this week, here is a picture from last week that I didn't post.

I took Nico to Fred Meyer so he could spend his last two dollars, and I gave him the wallet that G.G. made for Guy when he was little. We bought 2 Hot Wheels with the money.

Now on to the update!

Nico was looking forward very much to going back to school. He asked about school at least a few times a day as we were nearing the end of spring break. We counted down the days.

Saturday was Nico's cousin Lily's birthday party. And I just remembered that I took pictures with my Mom's iPhone. I just called her to have her send the pictures to me. Thanks Mom!! The party was up at the cabin and it was so much fun! Lily chose first to have an owl sound contest, so everyone made owl sounds. Nico said "Who who whoo" when it was his turn. Then we played hide and seek. Me and Nico were on the same team. We hid behind the bed, in a closet, and under a blanket. Then when it was his turn to count, we counted to thirty together and then went and found his hiding cousins. We ate cupcakes after this! Lily is trialing a gluten free diet, so we had gluten free cupcakes that Nico was able to eat, and he ate TWO of them. And by two I mean that he ate just the tops. The frosting is the most exciting part, you see.

Then there was a piñata! It was one where you pull the strings from it and one of them opens the piñata. Unfortunately NONE of the strings opened the piñata, so Papa came to the rescue and opened it for us. It was filled with small toys, stamps, some cars, and a bit of candy. Any candy that Nico got we traded with his cousins for more toys. Nico was so happy to have his own little gift basket full of squishy owls and bendy bunnies and owl stamps and cars. After he filled up his bag with the goodies, he turned to walk down the stairs, looked back at me and said "Go-a home, Mommy!" heehee! That made us all laugh.

Sunday we went to church. I just happened to have my camera with me without even planning for it (when does that ever happen?) and got a very cute picture of Nico with Papa. Papa takes Nico to the Sunday School room and always picks him up, too.

Nico went back to school on Tuesday. He came home with the 3rd quarter progress report. They send home a progress report every quarter to update us on how he's doing as far as reaching his IEP goals is concerned. As time passes I'm becoming more familiar with this whole IEP deal (Individualized Education Program). We are having our IEP meeting for the 2014 school year in a few weeks. At that time we will write out the goals for next year. He has come so incredibly far since starting preschool last fall, but I know we still have a ways to go before he is prepared for kindergarten.

But, progress report, he has met two of his five goals already! Woohoo!!

One of my favorite notes on the report says:

"Nico's attention span is increasing which is making it possible for him to engage in more cooperative play with his peers. He has really enjoyed the building, computer and dollhouse centers this quarter. He still needs adult help to take turns and share toys. He has played really nice with a particular peer on the computer taking turns using the mouse and laughing and singing together."

I love to hear stuff like that! Seeing him interact and laugh with other kids just makes me so happy. 

Regarding speech:

"Nico has made such good progress on saying the final consonants of words. We have worked on saying the last sound in two syllable words and in two word phrases. He continues to need reminders to not add a vowel after the final "t" or "k" sounds. He is also doing well with saying the "t" in the middle of words (ex: water - he used to say wa-er). It's great to hear him correctly pronounce his name!"

On Tuesday Nico and Guy hung out at home while I went out with my friend Jennifer to a dōTERRA event called Healthy From the Inside Out. It was so much fun, great information, then we went to Solid Bar & Grill afterward. It was great to see her and get caught up.

Today we went to Camel's Back Park. It had been rainy for a few days, so being in the sun was so nice!

Family adventure on Monday.

Nico: Pick-a take-a Mommy

Me: You want me to take a picture of you?

Nico: Um Yes

Me: Okay, here we go. 1, 2, 3!

Nico: See, Mommy!

Me: You want to see the picture?

Nico: Yes.

Grandpa and Grandma Russell are coming for a visit on Saturday!! Nico grabbed a picture of Grandpa off the fridge and said "Grandma and Grandpa come to Nico's house!" Nico has been waiting for this day since the day they left to go back home at Christmas.

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")