April 29, 2010: Wha?
Nikola doesn't like to eat. I'm afraid he got that from me. When I was little of course. Not now. I love to eat now. I'm thinking there is still hope for him. The list of things he will put in his mouth willingly is very short. On top of that list is tomato sauce with pasta and yogurt. Nikola loves yogurt and since I like to make my life easier I serve him yogurt once a day either for lunch or dinner. He's pretty good at eating by himself given that he loves to mess with things. Here's a little clip from about a month ago, but could've been any day of our life in the past year or so:
Nikola eating yogurt from Dinka Souzek on Vimeo.
(At about 2.02 he is testing his own movements on the screen...)
Posted by mama at 08:36 PM
January 21, 2010: Where the wild thing is
I've put off writing about Nikola... not on purpose, but it sort of happened. This is the thing, he is not like the other two. He is the type of toddler that checks off all the behaviors on the charts. Behaviors like "curious" and "active" and "constantly exploring". It is truly what he is doing, but it translates into constant running, pushing buttons, climbing, and screaming! Lots of screaming! Mostly when he can't do all the running, pushing and climbing. I am that mother in the restaurant, at the library, at the doctor's, in the store, at randompublicplace, with the screaming child, writhing and kicking and yes, screaming. Wherever we go, Nikola has to be... managed. He doesn't really go with anything. If I can, I use a carrier and put him on my back. It is the only really good way of being somewhere with him because I get to do whatever I am there for and he gets to stay in one piece. That doesn't mean he won't start wailing at some point because he is so restrained. But probably 9 out of 10 times I'll take the screaming over the running away. I don't know how the rest of the people feel about it and I wish I had a sign taped to myself that explains the situation... something like "I know he is screaming but he would only stop if I let him do what he wants, which is run around this place and touch everything and then you couldn't do your job and neither could I do what I came here for, so this little bit of screaming is not so bad, it'll be over soon and you'll forget about it. If it's ok with you, you can look away so that I don't feel so terribly selfconscious. This is standard toddler behavior, by the way, you can look it up. Totally normal. Has nothing to do with me. I have two other kids who were pretty tame at this stage compared to him, so I know it's not my fault. You can stop staring now." Yeah, something like that. It would be a pretty long sign. Just long enough for me to finish up and run.
He is 20 months old. He likes running the best. It's his favorite. He calls it "woking" and asks for it every time we leave the car. He likes it so much that if I set him down in the garage, he will circle the car in giddy excitement over and over again while I fake-leave at least 5 times (that means I announce I'm going upstairs, I close the door and wait for him to figure it out and come crying) and he is not bothered by it in the least. I eventually open the door and find him still running in circles... "quick! quick!" or "wook! woking! wook!" It's adorable, I can't lie. He is just so into it. But eventually I have to pick him up and he will start screaming and turning his body into one straight line. Every time. And I will drag him up the stairs, by his body, then his elbows, and by the time we are on the top of the stairs I will barely hold on to his one wrist and then deposit him on the carpet like a teenager shoves his backpack, only more gentle. Because I love him. There he will continue writhing and kicking for a while and when he's bored with it, will move on to something else. In the meantime, I've lost 500 calories. Forget about lifting weights. Calm, rigid, inert pounds... anyone can do THAT.
But ANYWAY, Nikola is actually the perfectly adorable child. He says hi to everyone he sees. It's a lot of fun to be along for that. People smile at you, their faces relax... it's nice. He is a barrel of laughs. He fake-cries and fake-smiles.. .depending on what's needed. One of his favorite role plays is to come over with his Lego Thomas The Train apart and make a scrunched crying face and say: "boken.. uh uh uh". And when he's screamed just a tiny bit too much again and I give him a look he gives me this hammy smile, showing his perfect little teeth. This is what I picture him when he's 16: Daredevil, fast, smart, chick magnet, irresistible and - sweaty. What he's not going to be: indecisive, slow, bored or clean.
After having used "ja" for the longest time, he's now picked up "yep" from Noni. It's yep to everything. Except when it's NOOOO, which is most of the time. He can also be strangely cooperative at times. I'd try to put him in the high chair and he'd wiggle and scream but if I explain that he will get cocoa/cookie/whateverhelikestoeat he will look at the chair and say "OK" and let me put him in without a fight. This is rare. Which is why I had to write it down.
He has really started to repeat a lot of stuff so that occasionally we can have short conversations like this:
Nikola brings the Toy Story DVD: "Tory! Tory"
Me: I know! It's Woody and Buzz!
Nikola: Aaaaah... anayooooon! (= "To infinity and beyooond!")
He has also started to replace "tanks" (Thanks) with "weh-come" which also creates funny situations. Today I was walking up the stairs at preschool with him, while several parents were waiting on top (we were too wide for them to pass us by). Once on top I said to everyone "Thank you!" and Nikola answered loudly "WEHCOME!" Everyone chuckled. See, lots of smiling faces all around.
It's hard not to be infected by his exuberant energy. Except when he's screaming and hitting me. Then it's pretty easy. I know the frustrating parts of him have a positive source. I like that he is who he his. I'm not worried about him finding his way in life at all. It's like he's always known where he's going even if he's confused. He is so self-assured and adamant. I love it. Also, i hate it. There, that's Nikola in a nutshell.
Posted by mama at 09:18 PM
December 20, 2009: Out the Window
Nikola's naptime and bedtime routine for the past few months has consisted of a book and a warm sippy cup of milk but lately he's added a new step. After the book is read, the lights are out, and the milk is gone, he will pull back the curtains and blinds of his window and just stare out the window in complete silence for as long as you let him. It is the most peaceful that he is all day long. I am so curious to know what he's thinking. Is there some primal urge calling him into the wilderness? Does he just want to make a trip to the Sunoco station across the street? Time will tell.
Posted by papa at 03:00 PM
October 21, 2009: Bedtime Reading
We've been reading books before bedtime with Nikola for a little while but he's really getting into it now. When he's all ready for bed, we go in his room and tell him to pick out a book. At the moment, his hands-down favorite is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. He smiles and laughs at the parts he recognizes and likes pointing at and counting the fruits that the caterpillar eats each day of the week. After it's over, he says "Bye!", we go to turn the lights out ("Push!") and then it's time for his cherished warm bottle of milk.
As for going to sleep, Nikola continues to be a champ. He abandoned his nightly crying-to-sleep routine months ago and now goes to sleep willingly, even voluntarily, once he's gotten through his routine. When I'm holding and burping him after his bottle, he loves to play with the stubble on my neck—not a great feeling but he's mesmerized by it. He also loves to have his back and hair stroked before sleeping. When he was little, that was my only weapon against him—when he would throw a fit in my arms, I would gently tickle his back, which would first make him squirm and then eventually calm him down. These days, he just snuggles up and enjoys it. One time he even recognized what was about to happen and turned his head away from me, a subtle request. It's all worth it though because at the end of the routine, he reaches for his bed, curls up with a blanket and lets me leave without a peep. Good sleepers are a blessing.
Posted by papa at 09:18 PM
October 16, 2009: Seventeen Months
Nikola is becoming a man of many hats. He has grown into the following titles in the last few months:
- Communicator: Nikola has finally begun talking in earnest (instead of using his patented shriek for everything) and uses the words he knows very enthusiastically and often. Here's a list of his words, in approximate order from most to least used:
- Wooooow/Whooooaa
- Thank you ("Dadu")
- Hi!
- Bye! (he can also say Bye, Teetee! to his babysitter)
- Sit down ("Di-down"—probably his first words, in retrospect)
- Push! (when he wants to push a button, flip a light switch, etc.)
- Kakao
- Mama, Papa, Noni
- Cookie
- Gohlke (sounded a lot like "cookie" but I counted it)
- Dancer: Nikola joins his older brother and sister in their love of dance. He dances spasmodically, bouncing and bobbing his head kind of like a rooster while slowly rotating, to all the songs and TV shows he knows (Pippi Langstrumpf theme song, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song) and even things he doesn't know that have a good beat. When Mama picked him up from the YMCA babysitters a couple of weeks ago, they told her that he had danced for the entire hour.
- Joker: Nikola loves to laugh and when he does something that he notices makes us laugh, he'll repeat it until he can't wring another laugh from us. He initiates games of peek-a-boo and also likes games that include chasing and hiding. He can hide pretty well occasionally but even when he's clearly found, he will gaze intently at the floor under the assumption that if he doesn't look at us, we can't see him.
- Engineer: Nikola's persistent exploring has always been a source of frustration for us but Mama made an important point the other day—he never purposefully destroys anything, he just like to explore and find out how things react when he does things to them (flipping the light switch, taunting the dog, pushing buttons on the microwave, etc.). This has helped me understand his actions and be encouraged by his curiosity but not to feel any better about his future conducting experiments on everything in his path. His Deda was another notorious tinkerer as a child and constantly in trouble, although I suppose there are worse people for him to take after.
- Lover: Nikola continues to be an affectionate young man. Every night when I come home, I get a big "Hi!" and a leg hug from him at the door. That's what I work all day for.
Posted by papa at 10:50 PM