So, I saw these Cars sheets in Target I just had to get for Nicholas’s bed. Chock full of toxic chemicals, I’m sure, but hey, every once in a while, he needs something fun too. (PS – wash anything like this in Arm & Hammer laundry detergent to get the flame retardants out of them – it takes about 5-6 washes, but it pulls alot out.)

Anyway, they have advertisements for Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater all over them with their names written around them. Today, Nicholas was pointing at each letter and saying the letter and then making the sound of the letter. Then, he dropped saying the letter and was just sounding out one letter at a time. All while we (mommy and Wes) were watching him with our mouths wide open. He was just short of reading the words. Wow.

This has been a great day. Every day, Nicholas is more engaging, more chatty – just more here.

So, earlier Monday, Nicholas started grabbing the box of band-aids and saying boo-boo and pointing to his foot. At first we thought it was him kidding around, but it continued for quite some time. Then he started not putting his foot down and putting weight on it. We tried to keep ice on it, but of course that did not work. So after Nicholas got out of the chamber, we got him dressed and I took him to the Emergency Room – just to make sure his ankle wasn’t broken. He fell earlier Monday, but it was HOURS before he started the band-aids/boo-boo/limping, so I’m not entirely sure if that’s what happened or what.
So, we get to the emergency room – and got through triage with relatively no issues. There was a huge fish tank in the waiting room and nicholas was having the time of his life pointing at all of the fishies. He was counting them, giggling, poking at the glass, having a grand old time. He noticed there was a baseball game on the tv there and told me all about it. He walked over to the payphone and pretended to call Daddy and tell him that he was watching fishies swim and baseball on tv. Then he said bye daddy and hung up.
We got settled into a room and I put on Nicholas’s bear DVD. He was quite good and made himself comfortable on the chairs there. The nurse came in and Nicholas told him right away that he was watching bear. Then the dr came in and examined his feet/ankles. Nicholas did very well through it all. A little while later, two really nice technicians came to get us to take some x-rays. I couldn’t believe this, but Nicholas was such a trooper! He laid on the table, really still so they could take the x-rays. On our way back, I grabbed a blanket so Nicholas could settle into the bed, which he happily did with his juice, bear and blanket. The doctor came back in to let us know that everything looked fine and it was probably just bruised. So we were discharged and had to stop by and say goodbye to the fishies. While we were waiting intially, Nicholas was doing his fake sneeze, ha-choo thing. The security guard tried to get him to do it again because she had been watching him earlier. Ha=choo mommy… tissue please?? Nicholas was so alert tonight, so focused, so attentive and talkative – was just after him doing 1 1/2 hours hbot.
Two and a half hours later we’ve got one tired (and proud) mommy and one little trooper asleep on the couch!

Trying to figure out what the deal is with Nicholas and the car. He wants to get in the car and drive, but we can’t get a destination out of him if we stood on our head and turned blue. He did it to me over the weekend, “drive mommy” “where nicholas?” “drive” “want to go to the park/grandma’s house/etc?” “drive mommy” Sometimes it really drives me insane!

So, Saturday was a fantastic day. Nicholas and Mommy dropped Daddy off at the airport for his flight to Wisconsin for work. Then, we headed to the park. Nicholas was making friends and trying desperately to get new words out to the other kids at the park. We were over by the swings and he was swinging for a while and after getting off, as I bent down to grab my keys, he got right in the line of the girl swinging next to him and she flattened him to the ground. It wasn’t her fault. He cried for a good 5 minutes, then he was fine. It seemed like she really knocked the hell out of him, but when I took him to Grandma and Grandpa’s to go swimming afterward, I rubbed suntan lotion all over him and he didn’t flinch or give me any signs he was hurting. He had a few red marks on him – nothing too bad considering.

We spent the afternoon in the pool at Grandma & Grandpa’s house. It took us a while to get Nicholas in – he kept climbing into his play sink outside, but finally, he did get in. Then he clung to the ladder for a long time. He used to sit on the ladder in our pool last year and play – and he just never seemed to want to move past it last year. I don’t really believe it’s a comfort thing, I think it’s just what HE wants to do and when he gets an idea in his head – forget it.

So, today was another story, entirely. And since we started the IP6 on Friday (which by the way, a friend of ours came over and asked what I changed because he was so different) – I don’t know if he’s acting this way today because of the IP6 or because of the chlorine. Crap.

So, Nicholas and I get dressed and Nicholas says he wants Pizza. So Mommy decides to take Nicholas out for pizza. (what the heck was I thinking?) We go, park the car and get out, walk down to the restaurant. On the sidewalk on the way to the pizzeria, a store was having a sidewalk sale, so it was a bit of a pain getting through. We went in, got a table and I ordered the pizza. Nicholas decides he wants to go back outside and here we go. I was able to get him by one of their outdoor tables long enough to call inside and let them know we were outside. Pizza finally came out and he sat and ate like an angel. When we were done, getting him into the car wasn’t too much trouble.

So, we took a ride to a park, a different park from yesterday – he also likes the one at the school, so we went there. He had a fantastic time and then decided he was done. So we got in the car, drove home and Nicholas’s new thing is telling us to drive. He didn’t want to get out of the car. So, Mommy said, let’s go for ice cream. So, off we went.

Pulled into DQ, and luckily, there was no line. I got some ice cream and tried to get Nicholas to come into the front seat to share it with me. He squealed when I undid his seat belt. So I had to hand him spoons of ice cream from the front seat. No biggie. As I am backing out to drive, Nicholas decides to unfasten his seat belt and jump in the front seat. Here’s where the fun begins. I pull back into DQ and spend the next 45 minutes trying to get him back into his seat. Brutal. Did I mention it was like 102 degrees out? I figured giving him a bottle of iced tea would get him calm enough to put back into his seat, so I wait for the line to disappear and run over to get some. Nicholas decides to open the car door and get out, so I have to run and get him, then go back and get the drink. Fiasco. I finally get him in his seat, with a new drink, so we pull out of DQ and are at the stop light. Nicholas again decides to unbuckle his seat belt. (I look next to me and there’s a state trooper – don’t look this way buddy, last thing I need is a ticket!) At the next light, which was a few feet away, I was able to get him rebuckled and I reversed the release button on the latch, so he would have a tough time if he tried again.

So, I figured we’d head towards the airport praying that Daddy’s flight will arrive soon. If not, I would just head to the terminal where we can park and watch the planes come in. Daddy called before we got there, so we picked him up and headed home.

Nicholas continued to be a handful for the rest of the night. Everything was difficult. He clearly could not understand what we were saying to him. He seemed like he was in a cloudy haze.

At 10, I went to put him in bed and he wanted to go in his spaceship instead. So, Mommy got him in there and we stayed in for 2 hours. (figured he would fall asleep sometime, but he didn’t) – when we got out, he got right back in and wanted to stay in there. We had to let him fall asleep in there twice and then pick him up to carry him upstairs. He would crawl up in a ball at the top end of the chamber, so we couldn’t grab him from where we were. By the time we got him in bed it was after 1am (and we didn’t even get him in bed, he’s sleeping on the couch!) Just glad today is over and I hope when he wakes up in the morning, he’s back to being my child.