Bundled up for cold weather; zoo

Over the past couple of weeks we've had some unusually cold weather here. Of course, that would not deter Nikolas from insisting to go outside to the park. On more than one occasion he was the only kid in the park--the cold couldn't stop Grandpa from fulfilling his grandson's wishes :)
Back at the house Grandma and Grandpa are his best friends now. Mommy is only there to feed him (besides 'hi mommy', his most common words to me are 'num-nummy'='I want to eat.')
Grandma is Nikolas's favorite book reader (Grandpa is high up there too), and Grandpa does 'ridey-ridey' best (bouncing Nikolas as he sits on Grandpa's ankle like a horse).

Spending time with his grandparents has significantly improved Nikolas's English--he now manages full sentences in English and even speaks English to me most of the time. He'll say things like, I want to sit on that chair; it's delicious :); butterflies up in the sky; daddy go to work; Nikolas go to park; see you later alligator; monkeys in the zoo, etc. Speaking of the zoo, he's been to the local one twice already and loved it both times. His favorite animals were monkeys, parrots and porcupines.

Grandma and grandpa's visit

Grandma and grandpa Moore are here to stay with us until the babies are born.
It's either the extra attention or the beginning of 'terrible twos' that give him this extra energy--he doesn't stop for a moment--constantly talking, running around, riding his tricycle, throwing balls and other toys all over the place.... I have to give him credit for cleaning up the mess too: when we ask him to put the toys back in the bin at the end of the day, he takes it quite literally :)

We enjoyed having our first Christmas tree at this house this year. Nikolas was the first to start decorating it with trains, legos, puzzle pieces, etc. And when the time came to open the presents, that was a special treat. After a few boxes, he realized what was going on: every box had a new toy for him. He'd open one, play with the new toys for a while, then move on to the next, and this lasted the whole Christmas day (while the rest of us had to be extra careful walking on the floor that was completely covered with trains and all sorts of building blocks!). Nikolas's favorite 'toys' seemed to be stickers, such as labels on new clothes, labels on packaging boxes, etc. It's nice to have a kids with low demands, haha :) Next came the battery-operated trains that he kept running all day until he finally did some magic to break them. That was sad, he had such a great time playing with the trains after the initial fear of the ones that moved on their own. Oh, and then there was Walli that sings the Red Sox cheer song. Nikolas quickly learned Walli's name and we still listen to his song over and over again!

Nikolas is now putting entire sentences together. He even gets the cases in Serbocroatian right a lot of times. Some examples:

'Mommy/daddy kuci' (mommy/daddy home, when we walk into the house)
'Bless you', when someone sneezes
'Thank you, mommy/daddy/grandma/grandpa'
'Good morning'
'Laku noc' (good night)
'Nikolas dva konja' (Nikolas is riding two horses--two foot stools that he flipped on their sides and rode their bars)
'I don't know' (when questioned where some object is)
'See you later, alligator'
'Kisa pada, trava raste, gora zelena' (correct beginning of a song)
'Sjedi zaba sama na listu lokvanja' (beginning of a poem)
'Ninaj, nanaj, cedo moje malo' (song)
'Laku noc', 'night night' (good night)
'Nova pelena' (new diaper)
'Boli rana' (wound hurts); then he kisses it and says 'Ne boli rana!'
'Novi krevet za bebe' (New bed for the babies)

He counts up to 5 in both languages, and if I keep him going he'll get some of the next 5 numbers right in Serbocroatian.