Bathtime Fun

Nicholas LOVES his bath. If it were up to him he would have three or four baths a day... or just never get out!

Look at that bruise! Much more visible on a wet head, for some reason.

Tonight I decided to do a little experiment and see what he made of having his washing-up bowl in the bath (the one I bought especially for Nicholas to use when he 'helps' me in the kitchen). I filled the bowl with water and added bubbles. He was quite careful about containing them to the bowl, right up until he realised that the water in the bowl was deeper and made even BIGGER splashes. He was also enthralled by the fact he could easily move the bowl in the water...

If you couldn't make it out, he's saying 'round and round and round...' which is one of his favourite phrases at the moment.

After all that splashing, at least he makes an effort to clean up after himself...

Getting him out of the bath is another thing entirely!

Big Bruise Day

Today has not been a good day for Nicholas. We should probably have spent it in a padded room! First off, he somersaulted over the back of my armchair and landed head first on the floor. This is the bruise he has to show for it!

Sorry the picture isn't very clear - his head kept reflecting the light and shining rather than showing off the massive red mark.

Within ten minutes of this incident, he went on to fall back and bang his head on the floor twice (from sitting, because he was being silly and not thinking about what he was doing). He then trapped his finger in the washing machine door.

Poor baby!

Walking

Nicholas is STILL not walking! He has been wanting to be standing more and more, but refuses point blank to let go. He won't even stand without support (even if that support is simply touching his fingertips to something). He is soooo lazy!

I am not overly worried - he is solid standing and walks with his walker or holding my fingers with no problem. Because of his prematurity, he has follow-up checks with a physio every few months to make sure he has no serious developmental delays, and so far his physio has not been worried - she assures me it is laziness.

He was about 18months before he would pull himself up to standing, and only crawled on hands and knees for the first time a month ago. He has a wacky crossed-ankle stomach crawl that he is using less and less, that he developed at around 10 months.

He is now at that very frustrating stage where he wants to be walking and is capable but will not let go. He can spend an hour bombing from one end of the flat to the other with his walker - the only problem is that he hits a wall or a corner every ten seconds or so, so I am forced to chase him and turn the walker for him.

One of our many corner stops. That is his laminated photo of Uncle Harry that he's taking for a ride.

We have our next physio appointment in two weeks - maybe he'll decide to impress her and be walking by then!

More Painting

We did painting again today. Not for any reason, just because I felt like it. It was too hot to go outdoors (for me at least!) and this is a great two-fold activity for Nicholas - paint and bath!

This time I let him paint at his table. Unfortunately he couldn't really tell where the paper ended and the table began... This is what it looked like at the end of the activity!

Nicholas stacked the paint pots himself to let me know he'd had enough of the activity! And yes, that is the table top covered in handprints...

Yesterday we went over to my Mum's for the afternoon to play in the garden. I spent most of the time cowering away from the sun indoors, but the boys had fun outside for a while. I took Nikki's tent for them to play in but it got ignored in favour of the trampoline. Nicholas LOVES bouncing on the trampoline!

He also loves 'helping' Mummy (and Grandma) with their ice-creams!

Second First Painting Experience

Today was Nikki's Second First Painting Experience! His First Ever Painting Experience was at around two months old, 'signing' his thank you for cards for all the presents he was given when he was born, a week or two out of hospital.

I have wanted to do painting with him for a while, but the more mobile he gets, the more intimidated I became at the prospect. Last night, when I realised that Nikki didn't have a father's day card for his granddad, I finally had the excuse I needed to get the paints out.

Nikki LOVED it! He painted two cards and was still eager for more, so I went and got some paper and he made another four works of art. I'm so glad I waited until he was old enough to understand what he was doing - the smile on his face when he saw the colour go from his hands onto the paper (and floor!) was incredible.

The bath afterwards was fun, too! Though the water went completely blue!

And here's the finished artwork!

Of Antibiotics and Acrobatics

Nicholas has an ear infection. Fortunately it doesn't seem to be bothering him that much - he is just grumpy and very short tempered. The last three times we went to the shops he has thrown massive tantrums about having to sit in the pushchair. They are the only three times he's thrown tantrums in the shops!

Yesterday Nikki took ten years off my life when he fell down the stairs. From the top. Luckily he mostly slid - by the time he tumbled head-over-heels I had caught him enough to control it. There appears to be no lasting damage - he seemed to be shocked more than anything and was cured completely by a Milkybar button. My heart was still racing twenty minutes later. I'm not going to be so easygoing about him climbing the stairs alone for a while!

Cars go beep beep

Despite my best efforts, Nicholas has become car-obsessed. I am against the idea that the only things boys can be interested are modes of transport (look at all boys clothes/bedding/room design ideas etc. etc.) and have purposely avoided buying things with a transport theme, with exception of the traditional train set and a clicking car track.

This hasn't stopped Nicholas. About 95% of his 'conversations' (unless guided by me) include the words 'car' and 'beep beep' in close succession. A lot of them also include 'Halu' or Uncle Harry.

I don't really understand how, but he has developed a love of all things transport. He spots planes and helicopters, going so far as being unerringly accurate in telling them apart from sound alone. He points out all cars he sees and hears (as well as telling me that they go beep beep) and has started taking note of motorcycles.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with this.  I am against brainwashing boys into the belief that they *should* like cars etc. and am thus glad that he came to the 'boyish' interest in all loud, fast-moving objects entirely on his own. I just hope he doesn't expect me to play 'banging cars together' with him...

Mummy's Little Helper

Nicholas loves helping me. Unfortunately it is not always in a manner that I consider helpful.

For example, yesterday I went to load the tumble dryer to find that Nicholas had pre-loaded it... with half a dozen potatoes, several toys and a plastic cup. Obviously my comments that the washing machine was not to be filled with building blocks somehow led him to believe that the tumble dryer was... More helpfully, he does turn on the washing machine for me - once I have loaded it and he has shut the door (which he also does several times during loading, too) his 'job' is to press the 'on' and 'start' buttons. But only when I say so!

He 'helps' with the washing up, too. Usually by passing me the just-cleaned items to wash. Although sometimes he has his own washing-up bowl and cleans his own (ie. plastic and unbreakable) things. But only when I was planning on washing the floor anyway...

Today he decided to 'help' me with my maths coursework...

While I appreciate his insight (and was very glad that it was a rough draft and not my final write-up that he 'enhanced') I do long for a time when he understands the difference between 'good' help and 'making more work for Mummy' help...

Here's another 'helping' photo - washing the potatoes for me! This allowed me to prepare the rest of the meal in peace!

War Wounds

Nicholas has attained his first major injuries in the Battle for Mobility! On Saturday he was crawling on tarmac down a slight slope and landed nose-first on the ground.

He's scraped the end of his nose and gained a large bruise on his forehead. Poor baby.

Russian

I have been feeling very guilty about Nicholas' Russian skills. My dream was to raise him completely bilingual, but at the moment he only understands a dozen words/phrases and says only a couple of words. This is way below his English understanding. And it is entirely down to me.

I should really be speaking Russian as much as I possibly can with him, English is always going to be easy for him to pick up, as it is the language he is constantly exposed to. Russian is something he hears occasionally from his father (they speak once a week and he visits for a few days every couple of months) and me. And I have been very lazy in speaking to him, for a long time doing little more than reading the occasional poem and putting on a Russian language CD.

My new resolution is to speak Russian all the time when it is just the two of us. So far I have managed two afternoons this week... The hardest part is simply remembering to speak Russian! I no longer care if my grammar is perfect - exposure is key at the moment. We'll fix the grammar when we do Russian lessons in a couple of years.


On a completely random note: I can't believe the amount this child can eat! He has just completely demolished two 1-egg omelets (with peas and mushrooms) and some mini-cheddars in the time it has taken me to type this post. Infact, I had to search the area around his chair because I couldn't believe the speed he ate his egg!

Chinese!

My boy speaks Chinese!!!

I am amazed, really. Nicholas has very little Chinese exposure - in a week he has 5 minutes of his WINK dvd 4-5 times and 20mins of Little Pim once or twice. If that.

But a couple of days ago he was watching Pim and they showed a dog and he said 'gou' (dog) before Pim! I am amazed and incredibly proud. He has since said it several times when looking at picture books with dogs.

I'm raising a little linguist!

Photos!

I had some professional photos taken of Nicholas recently and got them back this week. They are sooo cute! I admit, I spent way too much on a framed panoramic set of 5 pictures, but I don't regret it. They turned out adorable and it is nice to have some 'proper' pictures to put up.

This is by far the best picture of the ones we ordered:

I also *finally* got around to ordering photo prints. It took me an entire evening and then some to sort through and cut down - I ended up with 300 prints out of several thousand. This is only the second set of photos I've actually printed; the first I did when he was still in hospital and they were shockingly poor quality. So I can finally start filling the photo albums he was given when he was born!

Nikki has finally learned to say 'bye' and wave. Before this he would blow kisses to say goodbye. He hasn't quite caught on, though - usually when I put him to bed, I blow a kiss as I leave the room. Now he pre-empts me by waving and saying 'bye' instead of blowing a kiss back at me. I much preferred the kisses!