Nicholas at 27 months

Weight: 33 lbs

Favorite Activities:

• Looking for bugs (We watched A Bugs Life and we have a bug catcher and net that he loves to carry around at the park.)
• Throwing rocks in piddles (aka puddles)
• Running "super" fast
• Drawing circles
• Coloring
• Playing in a bubble bath
• Playing hide and seek
• Playing with the ipad

Favorite Books:

• Frosty the Snowman
• Santa's Stuck
• The Hungry Caterpiller

Nicholas Makes Me Laugh:

The other day he was drawing a picture and he proudly told me, "It's lookin' good like Mr. Incredible." I asked him, "Is Mr. Incredible really good looking?" Nicholas enthusiastically replied, "OH YEAH, Mom!!!"

We have been trying to teach Nicholas to be careful and not to break other people's things because it hurts their feelings and sometimes we can't fix everything we break. We were at the park examining a huge ant hill and going over how ants bite when Nicholas reached down and picked a little plant in the middle of the ant hill and a stream of ants started coming out of the hill. I told him, "Ants are so sad when you break their house. Look they are all coming out of their house. Careful they are so sad they might bite you." He looked down closely at the ants and said, "Yeah, Mom. Sometimes I break our house and Mamma so sad that she cries."

Nicholas has been doing really well sleeping in his big boy bed. Some nights he will come out a couple of times. The first time he gets out of bed, we ask him, "Did you forget it is bedtime? Do you need some help going back to sleep?" Usually, we let him pick one of his toys to take back to bed with him. If he comes out a second time, we make him go to time out. A couple of nights ago when he popped out of his room for the second time, he said, "I don't want to go to time out. I want to be happy." He was spared the time out chair because I was laughing so hard.

Nicholas' favorite delay tactic for going to sleep is he will tell me he needs certain toys before he goes to bed. For example, he might need his turkey baster, flute, or a certain remote. The other night he ran out of ideas of what else he could request. He started saying, "I need, I need, I need, I need..." I leaned in closer to hear what it was he needed. He took that opportunity to grab my nose and laugh hysterically.

Nicholas likes to talk on his cell phone. This was a conversation he had the other day, "I'm calling Mama. Mama what are you doing? You are having so much fun with me. Yeah. Okay. Love you. See you later." After he hung up he decided to call Grandma and Grandpa, "Grandma and Grandpa, what are you doing? You want to play games with me. Okay. Love you. See you later. Come and visit me. Happy New Year."

The other day we were at the park with one of his friends. She is about a year and a half and she loved to mother and touch Nicholas. Nicholas found this very upsetting. He would tell her, "Stop pushing me." He also had to keep reminding himself that he was a "nice boy" and that he shouldn't push her back. Finally he resorted to running from her. It was hilarious to watch him run from this little girl that was half his size. He was so upset as he ran away that he tripped and I couldn't help laughing.

Looking at ants.

Nicholas with Bark.