a year later: Nicholas edition

I told him to "look cute" for the camera.

Nicholas will be two in less than a month. 
A year ago this was him.

Now, he talks, he learns, he goes to nursery, he makes up songs, he plays with friends.  He's a real little person. 
There's so much I could say about him-I'm going to have to break it up into smaller peices.

I'll start with the talking.  He says everything now.  It still surprises me sometimes when I hear him jabbering and then realize that he's actually saying real words in a real sentence.  I just can't believe that my little guy can talk like that already.
But these past few weeks have been so much fun.
I feel like I have a little buddy around all day long, and I love it!

He's creative, curious, and silly.  He plays really well by himself, but he loves it when I play with him too.  And really, I love to play with my little talking guy.
His sentences are so awesome. 
Some examples:
"I hug a mommy" means "pick me up and carry me where I want to go."
"I watch a counter lunch" means "let me sit on the counter and watch you make my lunch."
"I coming a mommy!" means "I'm coming to where you are"

I love that he uses the word "a" in all the wrong places.

Playing Angry Birds on the "Game Crap"

He loves to sing-he makes up songs, and they always have the same lyrics:  "no my no.  No my no.  No my no." 
He also likes to sing If You're Happy and You Know It, but from him,
the word "clap" comes out as "crap."
And it's very enthusiastic.
"No my no. Crap! Crap!  No my no. Crap!"
And if I'm not singing:  "Sing a mommy!  Crap! Sing!"
It's seriously hilarious, but I have to try to hide it because I don't exactly want him to know that this word can be so funny.
There's a video of this song on an app on Kent's Xoom.  So Nicholas calls the Xoom "Game Crap."

He loves to count "2, 4, 6!"  and he loves to label colors "yewow green!"  He will usually correctly name the colors orange and black, but everything else is yellow green. 
When we correct him, he gives this little chuckle and says "oh yeah, sorry!  Blue."  or "oh yeah, sorry!  Red." 



My little buddy with me at the store.

 

He says "sorry" all the time.  The other day we were at La Cantera (an outdoor mall) shopping for some baby clothes.  He was stopped in the middle of the path, dancing his little heart out.  I called him and told him it was time to walk this way, and he comes running with his shoulders shrugged and his hands up, saying "Sorry! Music. Dance.  Sorry!"  like "so sorry--there was music and I just couldn't resist dancing." 

And then he stopped, turned back to the path where he'd been dancing and shouted "bye!"  It was super awesome.

It's so nice that he's old enough for us to reason with him a little bit-we can usually avert a tantrum simply by telling him what is going on and explaining that he can do that after we do this, etc.  He'll sniffle a bit, say "okay," and then he's ready to enjoy whatever activity we are about to do.

He answers every question we ask him with a simple  "Yep!"  or a nonchalant "Yeah."

He thinks of things on his own, and tells us all about them. 
The other day he just kept telling me about some "baby elephant" and then he'd laugh like it was the funniest joke he's ever thought up.
He likes to remember people he knows.  Sometimes I'll hear him in the back seat while we're driving simply reciting people's names. "Mommy. Daddy. Nikas.  Gramma.  Jonah.  Mason. Sarah.  Papa. Grammer.  Jayden.  Pax.  Allison."  and of course, "Baby Aubrey!"

You see, Baby Aubrey (our friends' little girl) is Nicholas's favorite person.  He talks about her all.the.time. 
He seriously mentions her name at least 10 times a day.

In fact, a few nights ago, Kent was playing "get you!" (chase and tickle) with Nicholas, and they stopped for a minute.  Kent said "Nicholas, I love you."
Nicholas looked at him, furrowed his brow, and shouted "No!  I love Baby Aubrey!"

So if he can only love one person at a time, Baby Aubrey's going to win out.
Let's just hope he loves little baby sister just as much.