Latest developments

We have regular reading sessions in the afternoon. Sometimes he'll point at an object and wait for me to name it first and then try to repeat it (often doesn't sound anything like what I said). If it's the animals, he will do pretty well: he'll make corresponding animal sounds, and he is pretty good with 'muu' (cow), 'vau, vau' (dog barking), 'iiiihhhi' (horse), 'mai' (which is supposed to be meow), sometimes a kind of a duck sound, etc.

He knows the meanings of 'vau, vau' (dog), 'deko', 'ptica' 'lopta' 'avion' 'pape' (slippers), 'ball' (yes, in English although I'm teaching him Serbocroatian), 'svjetlo' (light), 'fan', etc.
He often says 'nani' (which we think means 'daj mi' (give me)), etc.

He is able to tell us when he wants to go out to play. He'll bring his shoes and put his feet forward. He'll also say 'pape' (slippers) as he hands me the shoes!

One funny thing is that he started telling me when he poops: he says 'kaka' with such a matter-of-fact face that I find hilarious! I guess it's time to start potty training.

Deka tought him the word 'nos' (nose), and he will touch the nose when asked (ok, not exactly touch it, but rather stick his finger into your nose!).

He loves to give hugs, not just to me, but also to daddy, deko and Abby--he'll give a hug or to put his face against our face or arm or leg, whatever is closest. We get a lot of cuddle time every afternoon--it's become a tradition.

This loving little boy can become extremely possessive with toys when Abby visits....he hasn't learned yet to share his territory, but we are working on it. When we are at Abby's place, she gets more authoritative, but at our place, Nikolas is the one who wants to be in control over all the toys, especially the ones that Abby touches. He'll cry loudly as soon as she takes something and won't give back right away.

Physical developments have been impressive over the past couple of weeks:

• Just a week or two ago it was a project to walk past a couple of houses down the street. I had to make sure that he didn't eat acorns, trip over the curb, lose his balance as he went down a sloped driveway and planted his face onto the concrete, etc. Now he walks fast, runs in fact, chases after a ball, climbs the doorstep and curb by himself, he is independent and I barely ever have to pick him up and carry him. He'll entertain himself with birds, squirrels, dogs, wooden sticks and airplanes.
  

• Climbing is an old sport already. It takes Nikolas a second to be up on a chair or the couch.
  


• He dances and sings.


• He learned to jump lifting entire feet off the floor (not just the heels) while not holding to anything.


• Somewhere he learned to turn around a couple of times to get dizzy, and he loves the feeling! Then he usually winks at me to make sure I registered what he did.


• Still likes to play with sticks, to toss a ball back and forth, to climb and stand on his truck--now he also enjoys pouring water from one cup to another in the bathtub, and similar with sand in the park.


• He got his first shoes with solid soles.

Our little hiker in Kanapaha park:

Milk plus swing, life is goooood :)Mommy didn't get me a banana when I asked for it, so I grabbed it and ate it myself! (look at the peel at the end, he ate all the way through it!)
We are testing the entire playground in the Westside park:
Saturday morning at the Haile Farmers' Market:
Deka has taught Nikolas to walk hand-in-hand.

Mommy's little helper, pushing the stroller:We took a walk around Lake Alice on UF campus, the one that has signs all over to be ware of the alligators...we haven't seen one yet. Deka was amazed how far Nikolas walked, actually ran. Just in February when baka and deda were here, we carried him all the way.

Nikolas reached an apple and, before mommy realized it, ate quite a bit like a big boy. So far I've only been feeding him pureed apples, but apparently he's got biting and chewing with 6 teeth under control!
Here is Nikolas telling deka everything he knows about USB cable: