Bye-bye (good night) daddy!

The latest:
Robb put him in bed and Nikolas looked up at him, waved and said 'bye-bye', and turned over onto his belly to sleep. Robb stood there speechless! By now when I'm writing this (a couple of weeks later), he regularly waves bye-bye when he goes to bed.
My favorite are the kisses on my cheek or mouth. Once he accidentally hit me and I made a sad face, and Nikolas knew right away something was wrong and gave me a hug and a kiss. He understood that I was hurt.

Improvements in dexterity:

• When I put him in the car seat, he wants to be the one to close the buckle across his chest.
• He started using the toy sword to reach the balls that get stuck underneath the sofa.
• He correctly fits pieces of those 'Melissa and Doug' puzzles
• Steers the tricycle
• Uses the spoon to eat, not just to play with
  
• The other day he climbed onto the second step of a 6" ladder that was left in the dining room for some work!
• This morning he stood up on the dining room chair and then climbed on top of the table
• Of course, all the major climbing expeditions are done when the adults are not looking!

It's so interesting to watch how a child's memory develops. Since deka left I've kept his photos around where Nikolas can see them, and he clearly still remembers him. The other day we saw neighbor's cat underneath the car. Two days later, the car was parked in the same spot when I took Nikolas out for a walk, and he immediately walked up to it and bent to look under, calling 'mai' (which is for miaw, cat).
He also recognizes when we are on the way to Abby's--as soon as we get out of the car, he points in the direction of their building and their door.

Let's go outside!
We got this kiddy lawn mower so that he wouldn't push around sticks and recycling bins!
Just like his aunt Sanja when she was his age, Nikolas loves bouncing against the back of the couch. When I showed him this video, he giggled like it was the funniest thing he's ever seen! Time after time after time I kept playing it, and he kept giggling!


Show us how you eat using the spoon...