Nicholas - May 2003

Nicholas, May 2003 – He really wants to learn how to do the “Mont Ee Bars” at the playground but has a smidgen of fear left. I’m not sure his arms are quite long enough to do them at all, but he likes to try it out with someone holding his legs.

He’s also become our designated snack getter for the playground. We have these little yogurt drinks here called Yakult that we bring every day. The kids like them, I’m not even going to try one, but the ads say they’re full of beneficial lactobacilli for a healthy intestinal tract. Who can argue with that? And for P29/5 you can’t beat the price. I pick up 8 or 10 packs when we go to PriceSmart. We also usually bring several water bottles and a bag of chips or pretzels to munch on. Even though the playground is in the shade around 4 when we go, it is still over 90 degrees and muggy out. The kids stay really thirsty the whole time as they run around and get dirty. We do the opposite of the yayas though. When it gets really hot, I douse the kids with water. Local custom seems to be sticking a rag in the back of the shirt over the collar, and wiping the kids’ faces every 10 minutes.
Anyhow he’s talking up a storm. But only we can understand him still and oftentimes he stutters trying to figure out what word to use and how to say it. He still uses sounds for some words like the sucking sound for drink, though he will say soda or lemonade to be specific.
He’s back to taking naps several times a week. And the crowds cheered. The threes have hit him hard with the whining and fussing, slamming of doors and such and I really do miss my good boy some days. He’s not nearly as miserable as the girls were at this age, but it’s still hard to take since he was such a laid back accommodating toddler. This too shall pass. At least with a nap, he’s bearable around dinner time, otherwise he runs around the table and is a general nuisance. Classic signs of being overtired.
As a gift for his birthday, we ordered him a lightsaber from Amazon. It arrived late, but of course, if you arm one child, you must arm them all. So we are now the proud owners of red, purple, green and blue lightsabers. Since blue is Nicholas’s favorite color, that one is his and he carries it everywhere, usually hooked over his pants, and it’s pulled out regularly to fight off bad guys (usually his brother) and he adheres fairly well to the rule that we don’t hit people, we only hit other lightsabers. We’ve had some mishaps, but nothing too bad. Of course Star Wars (all 5) are his favorite movies, how did you know? He enjoys Harry Potter too, but Star Wars beats out all the rest.