Happy 16-Month Birthday, Nicholas!

Dear Nicholas,

You are now 16 months, and a total little boy! This is such a fun age!! 

In early October, you finally got your helmet off!! Your head shape/symmetry improved to within “normal” range, so you never have to wear the helmet again. I have to say, you tolerated it so well and you really looked so adorable in it. We also miss it a little bit because it really was a lifesaver as you learned to walk, and you still trip every now and then, and it’s sad to see the bumps and bruises on your head.   But you have the most beautiful head in the world!

Playing with bubbles on one of your last days in the helmet

You are doing so well in school and love it so much that you no longer cry when Daddy drops you off in the mornings. You guys have your routine down pat: you go into the classroom, take off your coat, walk with Daddy to the sink to wash your hands, and then you usually take off to one of the bouncies, or you head to the tables to eat with your friends. Your teachers tell us that you’re very good at following directions, you love to sing, and you’re doing an awesome job eating all the food that they serve you (still wish you would eat that well at home, but we’ll take it!). You’re an awesome kiddo!

You are talking SO MUCH these days; it’s unbelievable!! You have a vocabulary of about 60 words, and it seems like you add to it every day. You mimic everything we say and do. Last month, your favorite word was “no,” and you would use it all the time, even when you didn’t mean it. You’ve started to learn it’s meaning, and don’t use it as frequently now. And now your favorite word – and food – is “kacker” (cracker). You have learned to say “cheeeeeeeeeeeeeese” whenever you see me pull out my camera or my iPhone, and it’s adorable! It’s also amazing how much you understand these days – it’s like we can actually communicate with you now ;-)

One of your other favorite things to do these days is to point out your body parts, with your nose being your favorite one.  But you also love to point out everyone else's nose.  So after you point to yours, you say "nose, nose, Daddy, Wiya" and you won't stop until you get to point to Daddy's nose and Wingnut's nose.  You also know your eyes, mouth, and head, and say the words as you point to them. 

Another favorite activity of yours is to sing and dance along with songs.  You can clap, stomp your feet, and pat your tummy when we sing "If you're happy and you know it."  You fill in the "E-I-E-I" in "Old McDonald" (and we gladly fill in the "O").  And you do the spider-climbing-hand-motions for the "Itsy Bitsy Spider."  It is so cute!  When you dance, you like to stick your hands up in the air and move them like you're conducting an orchestra, and recently you started shaking your head from side to side and stomping your feet when you dance.  Adorable!!

You still love reading, and you now make requests. Your favorite book is “Moo Baa La La La” by Sandra Boynton, and you usually call it either “Moo Baa” or “La La La.” And you read the book with me and insert all of the animal sounds yourself. It is so cute!! Your other favorite book is one we bought in Argentina about ducks, and you refer to it as the “kack kack” (quack quack) book.

Speaking of Argentina, you took your first international trip in October to Buenos Aires. You did pretty well on the flights and slept almost the whole way…it was the frequent puking before and after the trip to Buenos Aires that was a bit of a problem (more for me given that I didn’t pack enough clean clothes in my carry-on). We spent a lot of time with your second cousins and you had a ton of fun with Tommy, in particular.

Riding in the wagon with your cousin Tommy, with your cousin Juan at the wheel

Your favorite thing was probably walking out to the balcony in the apartment, and then walking back into the apartment, and back out, and back in again. And the apartment overlooked the Belgrano R train station, so every time a train went by, you’d walk out onto the balcony and say “too too” (choo choo). I think your favorite part might have been all of the choripan (chorizo and bread) that you ate. You LOVED it and devoured it whenever you had a chance. We had a wonderful time with you!

Gobbling up a choripan at Valeria's house

At your 15-month doctor’s appointment, you weighed about as much as you did for your 12-month appointment (21 lbs. 6 oz., 10^th percentile), but had grown 2 inches (32 inches tall, 76^th percentile).  But you’ve been eating a lot better and a lot more recently, and it seems to be working because you seem to be fattening up a teeny bit. 

You celebrated your second Halloween, and were the cutest Yoda ever!  And you celebrated your second Thanksgiving with my side of the family, and ate your first Thanksgiving turkey (and actually liked it)!

You now have 7 ¼ teeth (the top 4, the bottom 2, your left molar, and now your right one is coming in).  You’ve learned to spin around (you and your cousin Alex had a blast doing this over Thanksgiving) and to run.  You love to comb your hair at night after your bath, and you love brushing it in the morning while I get ready for work.  You’re now on your 6^th haircut. 

You can now call the dog to come – you bend over and pat your knees and say [your version of] his name, “Wiya.”  I think that’s by far the cutest thing you’re doing these days.  You like to “ride the bull,” whether it’s on Wingnut, Daddy, or me.  I.e., when we are laying down on the floor, you like to come over and sit on us and bounce up and down…you now request it by saying “bull” as you walk up to us.

You are seriously the coolest kid in the world, and we are loving this age.  It’s amazing watching you turn into this little boy right in front of our eyes.  You are the most loved boy in the world!!

A super happy kiddo after your 5th haircut

Our little family in Puerto Madero (Buenos Aires)

PaT (or "Ah-T" as you call him) with his grandsons at the zoo in Buenos Aires

Me and you on your 15-month birthday

Giggling with Daddy on your 15-month birthday

Walking up the driveway and making funny faces while wearing your Argentina shirt - so cute!

Looking adorable in a train conductor hat!

The life of a 14-month old

Wow, time flies! Nicholas is 14 months old as of yesterday, and these past two months have zipped by. We have been so busy that I skipped his 13-month blog post altogether ( started drafting it, but never had time to finish and post it), and am now trying to figure out how to sum up the past two months of his life, which seems like an insurmountable task given how much he has changed since then. Here is my best attempt:

Dear Nicholas,

You turned 14 months old yesterday, and spent the morning getting tubes in your ears. What a way to spend the day! But you did great, recovered within an hour of the surgery, and were toddling around the mall in your PJs as happy as a clam soon after that.

On your first birthday, you weren’t walking yet. You had taken a few steps one week prior, but that was it. Now, you are walking everywhere! You walked for the first time exactly one week after your first birthday. Parents always said that everything changes when kids start walking, and I didn’t quite understand how that was possible. When you were crawling, you could get almost anywhere, and then pull up on things. Now that you’re walking, it’s not that you get into things more than you used to, it’s that you are always on the move. You are always on the move, and get so excited when you see us or the dog and you start flapping your arms as you walk towards us. Here is a video of your first steps:



The best is when you come up to us and hug us. You love giving hugs, which entail you turning your head, resting it on us, and wrapping your arms around us. The best part is that when you started hugging, I would say “Awww, nice hug.” You heard me say it so much that now when you give hugs, you say “awww” as you do it! You also blow kisses now and it’s the cutest thing ever. You bring both hands up to your mouth and say “muah” as you throw your hands out to the side.

You are definitely expressing yourself more. You say “no” now when you don’t want something, and you’re not shy about telling us. When you’re thirsty, you ask for “agua,” when you’re hungry, you walk up to your high chair and pat your hands on it and we know it’s time to eat. When you’re done eating, you wave both hands to sign that you’re all done. You are also very curious, and love pointing to things and saying “Wuh dat?” (“what’s that?”). You’re signing really well now, too, and we’re loving that you use your manners in sign language by signing for please and thank you.

On your first birthday, you were barely eating solid foods, and were still spitting everything out when you would drink from a cup of any kind (sippy, straw, regular cup, didn’t matter). Then, all of a sudden, you did a complete 180 and started drinking from cups. Within a week you were off the bottle, and the transition was much easier than we expected. And you are eating so well these days. You love hummus, and will stick your hand in it and bring handfuls up to your mouth and lick it off of all of your fingers. You definitely do better with real adult food instead of simple foods, and you polished off some tandoori chicken and couscous the other night. We are so proud of you!

And you are talking more than ever. My favorite thing is to watch you pick up a book, sit down, and read it to yourself. You sit there babbling and flipping pages and it’s so amazing and adorable to watch. You have discovered bubbles, and love saying it every time we pull out the bubbles. The cutest part is that you accentuate the second syllable, and it comes out as “buh-BOOLS.” Your Abu taught you how to say “Abu,” and you’ll repeat it over and over for minutes on end. You know several animal sounds now (dog says “arf arf,” cat says “meow,” monkey says “ooh ooh aah aah,” and lion says “raaarrr”).

My favorite thing ever is that you sing now. In the car on the way home one day, I started singing “la la la,” and asked you to sing. And all of a sudden you piped up with “la la la.” At first you just said it, but then you started singing notes, and then you actually mimicked the notes that I sang – in tune no less! Today I was singing “Doe a Deer” to you as I was changing you, and you started saying “doe, doe, doe” and then started babbling along as I was singing. It was so cute!

I’ve been looking at old pictures of you lately, and can’t believe how much you’ve grown and changed over the past 14 months. The one thing that hasn’t changed is your ability to amaze us with everything that you do, and the fact that our love for you grows with every passing day. We love you, Nicholas!!

Here is a video of you when you were 13 months old. It captures 5 minutes in your life, and shows how busy life is when you’re chasing after a 13-month old…busy and wonderful!


Here is a compilation video of you from this past month. My favorite part is at the end…after reading you “Snuggle Puppy” for a few nights, you caught on to the fact that I give you kisses after the end of the chorus when I sing “Oooh, I love you” (please pardon my singing). So you started to insert the “muah” all on your own. You are precious, and you’re my little snuggle puppy:



Here are a few of my favorite pictures of you from the past two months:


Here you are as Daddy's boy - loving everything Jeep!!


You LOVE brushing your teeth


Best. Family. Ever.

This was your first time at the beach and you loved it!

You and your brother chilling in the backyard

My sweet, precious little man the weekend you were sick...you were dazed, but still as wonderfully adorable as ever

Here you are eating your favorite food - hummus!

Here you are in your adorable gown at the surgery center right before you got your tubes

Here you are chilling at the mall in your PJs after you got tubes in your ears

Here are some pictures of you eating happily (with a self-created yogurt-stylized mohawk)

Happy 1st Birthday Nicholas!

Dear Nicholas,

Happy 1st Birthday baby! I cannot believe that one year has already passed, but it has been the best year of our lives. It’s hard to believe that a year ago, you were this teeny, little baby in our arms, and now you’re this amazing little man, crawling around, taking your first steps, and talking!

This month was full of special moments. You got your top two teeth, you added new words to your vocabulary, you stood up all on your own, and you took your first steps!! You are on your way to walking, little man! You now tell us what a cat says (your “meows” sound very realistic!), and what a dog says (“a-ruff, a-ruff”).

You have so many adorable, precious little personality traits and things that you do, so I want to dedicate this letter to telling you what some of the things are that I love about you. It would be impossible to list all of the things I love about you – there are too many to count!

- I love your happy, easy-going personality. You have made this past year so happy for us, and we couldn’t ask for a better son.
- I love that when you laugh really heartily, you snort…just like I do.
- I love listening to you laugh when your Daddy tickles you. The bond between you two is amazing to witness, and I smile every time I think about how lucky I am to have both of you in my life.
- I love that when we put you to bed at night, you roll onto your tummy, stick your butt up in the air, and tuck your hands under your tummy…it’s precious!
- I love that you love dogs. You exclaim “dog” every time you see one (whether it’s a live dog, or just a picture), and you get so excited to see them. But I especially love how much you love Wingnut. Over the past few days you’ve started crawling up to him and giving him big hugs. I hope you two will be best friends.
- I love watching how excited you get when you see people or things that you like, and you start flapping your hands up and down and bouncing up and down with excitement.
- I love that when you want me to hold you, you crawl to my feet, point at me, and then outstretch both of your arms up to me.
- I love that you have just started hugging people this month, and you’ve been super snuggly and huggy the past few days, and it’s so incredibly sweet.
- I love our routines, especially our night-time routine. We start out with a bath, Daddy takes you to your room and starts getting you dressed for bed, I come in a few minutes later with your bottle, and recite “Pajama Time!” while you listen and laugh. When I’m done with the story, you always clap at the end. Then Daddy picks you up, and jiggles you and makes engine sounds, and plops you in my lap in the glider. I feed you while Daddy reads to us, and then you get sleepy in my arms, and I sing to you (“You Are My Sunshine” and “Arrorro Mi Nino”)
- I love how even though you’re not a great eater, you LOVE your veggie puffs, and get so excited when you see them.
- I love going to Music Class with you every Sunday, and seeing how much you love the music, love playing instruments, and love when we dance to the songs.
- I love how much you’ve changed over this past year, but when I look at your baby pictures, I still see you! And when I think back to what a happy baby you were, I still see that happy baby in you.

But most of all Nicholas, I love you. I love everything you are and everything you do. As one of our favorite bedtime books says, “I love you any way you are, I love you because you’re you.”

We love you, Nicholas, and can’t wait to embark upon this next year in your life!

Here are your month-by-month pictures, starting with the day you were born.

First Steps!

Nicholas started walking today!! When I dropped him off at daycare, I put him down standing up and squatted behind him. He stayed standing up all by himself, as he has been for the past few days, and all of a sudden took a step forward, before he got down to crawl.

Tonight he practiced some more and was showing off his new moves:




We are SO proud of you, Nicholas!!

Happy 11-Month Birthday Nicholas!

Dear Nicholas,

It is hard to believe that you’re almost a year old…less than one month away as I write this letter. This month you proved what a little boy you have become. You are mimicking, learning, talking, and moving around just like a little boy!

Your first big accomplishment this month was pulling up all by yourself. You were a little hesitant and unstable at first, but now you pull up on just about everything and can even walk along objects after you have pulled up. Then you combined this skill with crawling, and can now successfully make your way all the way upstairs by yourself (with one of us immediately behind you just in case, of course)!
Here you are the very first time you pulled up by yourself



Your second big accomplishment this month, which has completely changed the way you communicate with us, was learning to point at things. It is so much fun seeing you point to things you want, point to things you’re interested in, and point to things and identify them verbally at the same time. Yes, you’re talking more and more this month too, but more on that later. Earlier this month, I asked you to point to the monkey on your wall in your room…and you did!



When you want us to pick you up, you now crawl over to us, sit at our feet, and point up to us. When you see the dog, you point to him and say “dog.” It is so much fun being able to communicate with you on this basic, but oh-so-important level.

You’re also talking so much this month. You now have a repertoire of about 10 words: dada, mama, hi, buh-bye, baba (for bottle), dog, ball, uh oh, go and agua (water in Spanish). You’re also big on the exclamations, like: whoa, wow (and often a combination of the two – wow-whoa), hey, heya, and hiya (like the karate-chop sound). On top of these words, you babble constantly and it’s so much fun to listen to.

Your favorite ‘toys’ are books, and the best part is, you seem to know that they are filled with words. While sometimes you just like to sit and flip the pages, a lot of times you sit down and babble to yourself, as though you’re actually reading.

You also love the dog’s toys, and seem to find them much more interesting than your own. We’ve learned with you that the best toys are the books, dog’s toys, shoe boxes, laundry baskets, empty water bottles, and so on – nothing that you’d find at Toys ‘R Us.


You mimic everything now, and it’s so cute. You copy us when we talk and often try to repeat the words that we’re saying. You especially like to mimic us when we’re singing, and love to dance and sing along with us. At Music Class, the teacher even noticed that you were mouthing “la la la” along with one of the songs that we sing. But the cutest thing you do is mimic us when we laugh. Your laughter is the sweetest sound in the world, and I wish I could hear it all the time. The funniest part about it is that you snort when you’re laughing really hard…one of the few things that you get from me.

We’re also making slow, but steady strides to eating like a big boy. You started eating veggie puffs this month and you love them. You want to eat them more than anything now (which makes getting more nutritious food into you a bit of a challenge, but at this point, we’ll take anything we can get). You also mastered the sippy cup this month (the kind with the straw, and without). Although you often just suck the water out of the cup and then like to spit it out all over you. You’re still not big on eating many other solid foods, so we’ll be going to food therapy this month to see if we can help you with that, but we are so proud of the accomplishments that you’ve already made. Here’s a funny picture of you making a sour face while eating your apricots.


Some of your other big moments this month included getting your THIRD haircut! I think your grandfathers are a little jealous of all the hair you have. You also learned how to blow bubbles in the pool, which shocked me because I didn’t know babies your age could do that. We taught you at swim lessons and then one day at our neighborhood pool, you stuck your face in and out came a bunch of bubbles. You practice in the bathtub at night too and love it. We introduced you to the baby pool this month and you love it as much as the big pool. You have so much fun splashing and crawling around, that even Wingnut joins you on occasion.





We ended the month on a sad note, though, with the passing of your great grandmother, Mamaw. But we’re so thankful that you got to meet her a few times, and she always remembered you as St. Nick. Here is a picture of you two together when you first met.



Here are some other sweet moments from this month:

Riding in Daddy's Jeep
Looking so handsome on Father's Day
Pensive in the pool
So happy to be standing up

Beautiful blue eyes!