I went a little crazy the past couple of weeks, taking lots of close-ups of Nico. So I figured I’d post the February photos we’ve got so far before another backlog starts. (Yes, I know I still need to do November and December’s photos! They’re coming…I promise!)
Here’s your glimpse of Nico almost in real-time — the most recent photos were just taken on Monday of this week!
In terms of new developments, he started doing sign language last month, which has really opened a lot of doors in terms of communication. His first 4 signs were nurse (as in milk), water, siren, and helicopter . Guess that’s what happens when a boy grows up in the city! Other signs he does include: banana, yogurt, cat, daddy, more, bye bye, eat, shoe, bird, and, perhaps my favorite is the sign he made up for music. We hadn’t taught him one for music, but it’s so important to him that he made his own up! (He bends his elbows so his fists go up and down as if he’s dancing or drumming.)
His first word is officially “hot.” He says it consistently for the fireplace and our space heaters. We don’t know why that particular word was so salient for him — we don’t warn him about hot things (he’s cautious enough on his own) and his babysitter’s go-to word is “careful.” But he says “hot” any time he is near the fireplace or the space heater. Even more puzzling is that he has decided he is the household “hot” police, so if we stand too close to the fireplace or the space heater (particularly the fireplace), he pulls our pant leg and drags us until we walk far enough away for his comfort. While this is adorable, it means I can no longer hang out in front of the fireplace to warm up.
He can also say “daddy” and “bye bye,” but he’s somewhat less consistent with these than he is with “hot.” And he says “moo,” “hee haw,” and “oof” (for “woof”) when he sees, or we talk about, cows, donkeys, or dogs.
He likes looking at the family pictures hanging in our stairwell and having us identify family members as he points to them.
He still loves the vacuum cleaner. He requests that we vacuum periodically and while we vacuum he pushes around his vuvuzela, “vacuuming” with us. It’s very cute.
He’s got good stamina. His babysitter regularly takes him out for walks and he’ll walk 8 blocks or more at a time. I had him at the zoo yesterday and despite the fact that it was well past naptime, he walked from the farm at the bottom all the way up to the reptile house — straight uphill for probably at least 1/4 of a mile (1/3 of a mile if you trust google pedometer). People at the zoo are constantly commenting on him and we have determined that it’s because you actually see very few little kids walking around there. Most kids under 3 or 4 are in strollers — some little ones might be in slings instead. But most aren’t walking freely. Nico just toddles along, keeping pace with the grown-ups and thinking nothing of it. He must really stand out because so many people have a comment to make about him.
He’s finally eating now. Still not a ton compared to other kids his age, but he can put away more than 1/2 cup of yogurt or oatmeal in a sitting (when he feels like it), so that’s a good start. He seems to prefer beige foods — oatmeal, yogurt, banana, pear, bread, sometimes cheese. He won’t touch peas or most green or orange foods. But he likes pizza and soup (no matter the color) and, of course, chocolate.
And, finally, he’s loving the music class we enrolled him in. After the first class he started drumming along with beats. After the second one he started clapping along. Now he not only requests that we play music, but he actually requests a particular song sometimes by doing the motions associated with it (rocking forward and backward like a horse or wiggling his pointer finger, for example). Jenny may be right — his future may have music in it! He certainly loves it right now.
In other news, our bulbs are emerging from the soil so I expect we’ll have spring photos up before we know it. We are all eager for spring around here!
