On Sunday, August 30
th Nicholas got to meet his Uncle Tom for the very first time! Due to scheduling conflicts his drive up from Houston was long overdue.
The moment we "got" Nicholas on April 13, 2009.....(His "Gotcha Day")...he immediately had, One Great Grandmother, One Grandmother, Two Grand Fathers, Five Uncles, Three Aunts and Eight First Cousins..
After meeting Tom on Sunday, Nicholas has now met Three of his Five Uncles.
Tom arrived in a giant Ford F 350 Truck that Nicholas immediately wanted to check out. He was even able to take his first giant truck ride as Tom slowly took us for a spin around the block....nothing like the smell of Diesel and the roar of engine powerful enough to tow a small church....
ala "The Jerk," with Steve Martin.....
Once we finished our spin around the mean streets of
Lantana, we spotted the local Ice Cream Truck.
Although Nicholas has had ice cream since coming home, he has never had ice cream purchased from the sidewalk of his own home from a giant van
blaring the same song over and over and over and.....
So after treating us to a ride in his monster truck, Uncle Tom then became the first person to buy Nicholas an ice cream (
actually a
Popsicle...his first ever!) from the ice cream man/woman/person....
After the ice cream it was time for dinner.....ANOTHER MILESTONE...The first time we have allowed Nicholas to have ice cream BEFORE dinner...this was unheard of in my day....my parents always made sure we cleaned our plates before allowing us to have one graham cracker with some cool whip on it and then we had to do our homework, our chores and then off to bed at 7:00...
Tom and Nicholas really hit it off... He let Nicholas play with his i-phone (another first!) and sat and read some books with him. Nicholas loves all things Truck and Machine related and Tom explained how many of the machines and trucks worked out in the real world....Tom also brought Nicholas a toy truck...a remote controlled replica of his Ford F 350.....we all agreed he was not ready for the remote control aspect....but that didn't stop him from playing with it the whole time Tom was here and he continues to keep it in the "top toy rotation." Thanks again for the cool gift!!! We look forward to Tom's next visit so he can help us with some projects and give Nicholas another truck ride!
In other Nicholas related news......
I think I mentioned before that he was able to recognize the letter "W" and calls it...."
Duhwel you you you".....very cute....well on our walk a few days ago he saw the letter "T" and said...get ready for this...."TEE" Although Lisa works on the whole alphabet and spelling certain words with him everyday....he can seemingly only recognize T and W..... Totally Weird huh??
Lisa recently taught him to say hello in Spanish...he can now say, "
HOLA."
He is also saying....."I see you...." and uses "OH MAN" in context...
He can recognize and say some shapes...Circle, Square, Triangle, Heart, Star....we are working on
Octagon, Parallelogram, Rhombus, Scalene Triangle and Trapezoid....
He can say all of the basic colors and is most consistent identifying items that are RED...like Stop signs, Fire Trucks and when the Dow has a bad day.
And now some pictures!
In the back seat of the GIANT truck...
Getting his very first Popsicle, purchased by one of his Uncles, from an Ice Cream Truck!
In the driver's seat!
He is totally ready for
Autopia at Disneyland!
In back seat with Grandpa talking him through the "buckle up" process.
Unbuckled and on the move.......again......
Uncle Tom explaining, "One of the most important things to keep in mind when going from split-shot injectors to single-shot units is tuning. To be specific, it's in the timing. Split-shot engines typically use 1 degree of timing advance at idle, while single-shot engines require 11 degrees. After our install was complete, we pulled the F5 chip attached to the
power train control module (
PCM) and had John Wood Automotive
reburn it with DP Tuner's programming, which allowed the new, single-shot injectors to work problem-free both at idle, and on the throttle."
Nicholas updating his
FB Status to...."Just had some Mac and Cheese; now sitting on Uncle Tom's lap"
Reading with Uncle Tom is F-U-N!!!
His very own Ford F 350 Diesel!!
Tom showing how to install snow tires....just in case....
A true professional always makes sure their equipment is working order.
Is this small boy actually moving this tremendously heavy wheelbarrow or is it your imagination?
What's gonna work?? Teamwork!! (Wonder Pets reference)
Helping Daddy find the right spot to dig!
Under the supervision of Nicholas I am attempting to dig 18 inches wide and 6 inches deep in order to extend our patio..
Somebody please put some more dirt in here!!
