80 Days!

As of tomorrow, July 12, 2009, Lisa and I will have had Nicholas home with us for 80 days or 11 weeks and 3 days.....He has totally changed our lives and truly makes everyday an adventure.

His English seems to improve a little each day. His pronunciation on some of his earlier words is improving and he is slowly using some words and phrases in context. For example he sees one light and says, "light." He turns his head and sees another light and says, "light, two," while simultaneously pointing at both lights. He does this for 'doors,' 'cars,' 'dogs' and a few other words.

We decided to give up on afternoon naps since he would fight them so much. We really believe he has trouble going to sleep in his bed during the daytime. It's like he doesn't want to miss anything by going to sleep during the day...The first couple of weeks he was very 'cranky' in the late afternoon, but we think is body is slowly adjusting to being awake all day. He also will not go to sleep at night if there is still a shred of daylight. Lately it does not get dark here until close to 9:15pm, so we have had to adjust his bedtime. Sometimes when we are out running errands during the day he will fall asleep in his car seat, but since we have triple digit heat indexes, we cannot go and park somewhere while he sleeps...we have to keep driving around with the air conditioning cranked or go home and try to get him inside without waking him up, which is nearly impossible.

A few weeks ago we decided to take a major step. Although he cannot fluently speak English, his comprehension is good enough for us to slowly ease into the wonderful world of potty training.

*****warning---graphic language ahead*****

Since we began we have been telling him that every time he pooped or peed in the potty, he would get a treat. In the beginning he would say potty, but would have already gone in his diaper. We then began sitting him on the potty the first thing in the morning and after meals. Each time he went we got very excited for him by jumping up and down, yelling and screaming, shooting off air horns, etc, etc....and he would get a Hersey's Kiss.....Nicholas soon figured out that chocolate was "yummy." We are now at the point were he will tell us, "potty," and we take him and sit him down, in addition to the first thing in the morning and after meals.

So, for the past few weeks he kept hearing us say, "if you poop or pee in the potty you get a treat..." This somehow became the phrase...."Peeps." This is the word Nicholas uses to describe all activity from "that area." (poop, pee and the passing of noxious gases)

Which brings us to the word, "Peeps." As I write this in the year 2009, this word has at least four distinct definitions.

1. Peep...the sound a baby chick makes as in "peep-peep-peep."

2. Peep...keeping quiet as in, "you won't hear another peep out of me."

3. Peeps...sugary marshmellow candy that is not for Easter anymore since they are now made in all different colors for most major holidays.

4. Peeps...a term to describe your friends and/or peer group as in, "I'd like to send a shout out to my Peeps."

So I thought it would be cute/funny if we could get him to slightly tap his chest with one of his fists and say, "Yo yo, my Peeps," while he was on the potty...this took a few days, but he now is able to kind of say, "Yo my peeps." We need to capture this proud moment on video...

Television....

Only very recently has Nicholas been paying more attention to television. We keep the channel on Noggin when he is awake. If you are not familiar with this network you should check it out...if you don't have young kids, you probably will not last more than 5 minutes....this is a commericial free network that tries to be "pre-school on TV." They show a bunch of different cartoons and play a lot of music. Nicholas loves the music and is slowly showing interest in some of the shows like Wow Wow Wubbzy, Max and Ruby, Yo Yo Gabba and Dora the Explorer. He does not sit for more than a minute or two but when he passes by the television he will say what he sees outloud like, Bunny or Water or Car or Music or Amatuerish Stop Motion Animation With Mind Numbing Dialogue, etc, etc.


Lisa and I are very blessed to have Nicholas in our lives. He is a very active, smart, cute and sweet little boy and we are excited about what the future holds!

It is now 12:06am so we have officially begun day number 80....good night everyone...