Undies on the outside

Nicholas WAS pottytrained until August of last year. We went on vacation, he decided he wanted to wear diapers like his cousin McKinzy and he reverted back to not going on the potty anymore (I blame this all on my sister because she's McKinzy's Mommy)

So we've had to try to start all over and his stoubborn streak says he's not going on the potty unless he wants to. I've tried to bribe him with big boy undies which he loves but I tell him he can only wear them if he goes on the potty and doesn't wear diapers anymore.

So he goes upstairs and comes down like this

Apparently this kid is smarter than me. He will still wear his diaper, still wear his undies, and still not go on the potty.
Score: Nicholas = 1 Mommy = 0

Leave me alone, I'm not coming home, Don't cry Mommy

Turning 2 has aged Nicholas. He's gotten really big in his britches.

This weekend he was playing behind the window blinds. I told him to come out from there. He said to me "Leave me alone!" Now I know this is the first and probably the tamest of some nasty things that will be said over the years, especially about 10 - 15 years from now but I don't think I was ready for that.

We've been having a rough time with drop-off and pick-up at Grandma's for daycare. I think being on vacation for over a week, being out of his routine, having a bunch of new people around, and not seeing his Grandma has been hard on my little guy. I think he's afraid if he leaves Grandma's house at the end of the day he won't be back to see her anytime soon.

Friday I go to pick him up in the evening, and he's fighting. He doesn't want to leave Kicking, screaming, crying. When I try to take him from Grandma to put him in the car, he clings to her for dear life.

She says he can stay, he says he wants to stay, I say whaaaaaat?

I'm proud that he's big enough to think he can stay away from Mommy for the night but hurt he doesn't want to come home with me. Being the grown and mature person I am (on the outside, on the inside I'm bawling) I explain to him that he can stay but it means Mommy is not going to be there and I'll come back and get him tomorrow morning. All he says is "Bye Mommy." Waving, skipping back inside Grandma's house. I keep trying to explain the situation and before Ii finish my sentences he says, "Bye Mommy." So I drive away.

I get no further than 2 minutes down the road and the phone rings. When he saw my truck pull away, he lost it. So I go back and get him.



Saturday evening I get Nicholas out of the tub, wrap him in his towel, and we stand in front of the mirror to make our faces for a few minutes like we always do.



We do the cheesy smile face:



We do the pouty lip face:



And a few other favorites.

Then I ask him for a kiss. He shoots me down. Knife to the heart I start to fake cry. I push out my bottom lip and make sobbing noises.

He looks at me and says, "Don't cry Mommy" and gives me a big wet one.

I've never fake cried with him before, I didn't know it would hurt him so much.



I think he's not to old to still love his Mommy after all.

2nd birthday and vacation

Nicholas turned 2 last week! He's gotten so big and is getting "older" and more of a character by the day.

He didn't have a great time at the party, I think he was overwhelmed by the prior week of vacation spent back and forth between Pennsylvania and home, having people staying in "his" house playing with "his" toys, meeting all kinds of new people, being out of his routine. The party was just too much. I spend the entire day holding him and trying to get him to be happy. The pic above is the result of trying to get a group shot of all 5 cousins. Big FAIL.

My Mom did an awesome job with the Nemo cake! This was her first attempt at using fondant and it turned out great!


(I made the waves)

The finished Nemo!


Nicholas and McKinzy got to spend a lot of time together this past week. It was a good thing and a bad thing. Apparently neither of them really like to share their toys or their space or their Mommies or much of anything else for that matter. There were some really cute moments between the two of them though and there were some torrential meltdowns. I think we're all in agreement, next year our time togeher should be shorter.

Lots of happenings

Been lazy and falling behind on updates. Nicholas is still his hard headed full of personality self. It seems like the past month or so he's gotten more and more stubborn with everything. His favorite word is "NO" although he'll throw in a "yes please" when he really wants something. LOL!
He shocked me this past week when we sat down to eat lunch. He was already in his high chair starting in on his meal when I sat down with my plate. He said, "Mama hand" and I thought how sweet he wants to hold my hand, awwwww. Then he kept looking at me kind of like, well....I'm waiting.....suddenly it dawned on me, he wants to say prayer. Rich & Kenya & I have always held hands and said prayer before meals and here he was asking to say prayer. We said our prayer and Nicholas said, "maymen" and now we pray with him before each meal, often quite a few times and we've started our bedtime prayer as well.

Last Friday Rich gave Nicholas his 2nd haircut. That's his 2nd haircut in his life and his 2nd haircut in the past 2 months. His hair is growing incredibly fast!
Getting ready for Halloween, we're going to a pumpkin patch this weekend, and the weather is changing. Getting colder everyday.

He sings and he's so sweet he gets eaten

He sings his ABCs and his favoritest song ever, Wheels On The Bus! The ABCs just came about yesterday. As I sing he sings along with me, you can kind of make out some of the letters and when the song is over, he's so proud of himself he claps and gives the biggest loudest Yaaaaay you've ever heard!
Wheels On The Bus is his all time favorite though. He's got the hand motions and words down pat for the horn goes beep beep beep, baby goes wah wah wah, and the mommy goes shh shh shh. Then he sings All thru the TOWN!
I'm going to try to get this on tape over the weekend but his normal MO is to stop performing as soon as he sees the camera


One of the worst things ever, my little boy is so sweet he's been getting eaten alive by some elusive invisible insect. I assume it's a mosquito or a gang of mosquitos. Last Saturday his ankle got all swollen and red, he had a welt on his cheek and only after doses of Benadryl did I realize he had been bitten about 7 times on one ankle! Yesterday morning he woke up with a huge I mean HUGE knot on his forehead right in between his eyebrows. He looked like cyclops. Another bite! What kind of crazy stinking bug bites a baby right in between the eyes? It's on if I see that bugger, I'm ready to take him down

Apparently I need to lose weight

At least Nicholas thinks so. This weekend he lifted up my shirt, smacked my belly, said moo moo cow, the fluffed my tummy and used it for a pillow. Whoa, that's a blow to the ego when your 1 year old calls you fat without knowing that he just called you fat. I guess I need to start some crunches.

Haircut

I almost forgot! Nicholas got his first haircut right before we left for Texas. I doubted getting it done at first, II almost forgot! Nicholas got his first haircut right before we left for Texas. I doubted getting it done at first, I couldn't imagine cutting off my baby's curls. Rich asked the stylist to take half off. We got thru it with a bit of crying, lots of wiggling, two lollipops, some Sponge Bob cartoons and Mommy holding Nicholas on her lap. I couldn't believe how much older he looked after it was all done. He looks like such a big boy! I'm so glad we got it done though it's much easier to manage, it's cooler, and he looks so good. I can't believe I let him run around with all that crazy hair and didn't get it clipped sooner.
Here's a few photos

The before:

The during:

The After: