Back at home

We are back in Florida!
The house is still in one piece and there are no roaches to be seen, amazingly!

Nikolas's cold has subsided but I took him to see a pediatrician anyway. It turned out that he had a mild ear infection that probably caused by the cold, as was his chest congestion that he's had lately. Poor thing wheezes so much that I've been worrying whether he has been getting enough oxygen, especially at night. He got some medication for the ear infection as well as a nebulizer to ease the breathing passages, and this really helped within 10 days.

Jan. 20th:
I think this was the first time I let him feed himself lunch entirely on his own. I cut up some green beens, chicken and bread and placed them on the tray of the high chair. He enjoyed it very much! Sure, there was a mess to clean after he was done, but I'm sure that he felt proud for eating like an adult!
He loves bread and crackers. I have to watch him while he eats bread though, because he will continue to stuff his mouth with it until he gags, then he'll take a quick break to push some bread out of his throat, then continue eating. It will be a good idea for me to take a CPR class to be prepared to help him if he chokes for real! He is definitely not a passive eater that he was before the trip. He won't just eat anything. If it's not Cheerios or bread or crackers, he will check it out and feel it in his mouth a bit, then hopefully eat, and then he'll try to pick it from the spoon with his fingers or if he doesn't like or has had enough, he'll slap the spoon and send the food flying all over the place. And giggle afterwards, of course... Or, he'll pick the food and as he stares at me in the eyes, he will slowly move his arm so that his hand is hanging over the side of the chair and slowly let the food fall on the floor. If I ask, 'Do you want more?', he'll say 'Da-da-da' with excitement, and if he doesn't want any, he'll shift in the chair as if he wants to get out and won't say anything, but sometimes he'll shake his head as if saying no! Also, he will point to the food that he wants and shake his head to the food he doesn't want.
Snacking on peas and Cheerios:

He has definitely learned the meaning of no (Serbocroatian version, 'ne'). He'll crawl into the kitchen and toward the cabinet that I don't want him to open, and just as I start reaching for him to move him away, he'd shake his head left-right and say 'ne-ne-ne!' Or he'd start jumping on his knees while saying 'ne', I guess thrilled by his own mischief.
Speaking of jumping on his knees--this is his next step towards walking. He'll raise himself tall on the knees and either jump with both legs at the same time or drag knees forward one after the other. The other thing he started doing since we got back is to stand on one knee and one foot and then push himself up and forward, almost standing before he'd land on his hands. He's been jumping like this across the living room so much that sometimes his knees and hands felt a little swollen but he had so much fun doing it that he didn't notice the pain!


Even funnier is when he starts 'walking' on his knees:

Walking is no problem as long as there is something to hold on to. Even if he just barely holds on to one hand, he will walk steadily. He needs a bit more inspiration to let go entirely.


Here is Nikolas being very helpful in cleaning up his room:
The main attraction of his room is his window. He'll stand there and look out, play with the string for the blinds, or bang the shutters open and close.