LA

We are in LA!

The first part of the flight was great with an extra seat next to me for Nikolas and people behind us entertaining him the whole time. The second half, e-hem, wow... definitely the worst so far.... Nikolas sure doesn't like overstaying his bedtime OUTSIDE of his bed. I've never seen him scream and wriggle so much pulling my glasses and scratching my face in rage....

Anyway, we made it safe and sound (with only one real scratch on my face) and as soon as we strapped Nikolas in the forward-facing carseat for the ride home, he was fully alert again and completely happy as usual. He couldn't take his eyes off of what he saw outside the windows: the cars, the lights, etc.

It took virtually no time to recognize and reconnect with baka and deda during the ride home!

Weekend at St. Pete's beach

Another beautiful weekend at St. Pete's (Treasure Island, precisely)....
Luckily we made it there early in the morning on Saturday because for most of the rest of the day it stormed. When it finally cleared in the evening we walked out to the beach with Jen, David, Abby and Lindsey the babysitter, took some pictures of an amazing sunset and let the kids play in puddles of water in the sand. Nikolas was so intent on pouring sand from one container to another, splashing water around, and doing whatever else he was doing in the water, that he didn't even notice that his regular outfit and regular diaper were soaked through and that it was getting pretty chilly.

The next day was beautiful and perfect for swimming. Both days I held Nikolas in the water amid waves, and as both our faces got splashed with water he didn't even complain, much less got scared. He kept holding on and enjoying being around mommy and daddy. The rest of the time he contentedly played in the sand.

Swimming pool, etc.

It's a full-blown summer here in Florida and we try to keep cool by the swimming pool as much as we can. I haven't been pushing Nikolas to go into water, instead I just let him play around the swimming pool as he likes, and this is a good thing because he feels comfortable around water. He'll even let me hold him in deeper water where he can't touch the floor. Several times while he played in the kiddy pool he slipped and dipped under the surface--as I pulled him up, he did not look terrified and continued to play as if nothing happened.

At home his attention is about equally split between wheels, balls and books.

Some serious read:

In a few years we'll be going mountain biking together...

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...

Vocabulary

Although most of his words I still can't decipher, some of them I now understand:
'mo'= milk/mlijeko
'baw'=ball/lopta
'pape'= slippers/pape, as well as socks
'baby' = baby
'no' = nose/nos (accompanied by index finger going up the nose)
'buh' = 'book'
'hi'
'bye-bye' (always accompanied by wave of the hand)
'tutu' = truck/kamion
'bibi' = something like the above (car or truck); I'm not sure which one refers to what to him.
And the cutest of all is 'kabuka-buka' = apple/jabuka
He just starting saying 'gotov' (done-with meal or a toy...). He says it pretty well, actually.

He also understands 'ptica' (bird), 'vjeverica' (squirrel), giraffe, 'avion' (plane), 'voda' (water), 'knjiga' (book).
If I say 'outside' (vani, napolje), he immediately knows what I'm talking about, gets very excited, runs to find his socks and starts pointing out with both hands like this:
He actually understands much more than we think which regularly surprises us. The other day Robb asked him where his milk bottle was. Nikolas went around behind some large toy that was blocking the view and found the bottle there. He pulled it up for Robb to see. Robb then asked him to bring it over to him, and Nikolas did it right away.

Here is one of his favorite toys--the diaper box. He loves being swirled around the floor in it by daddy or mommy, aim and throw balls into it, hang out and play inside by himself....or with company:
Hello, little foot! (a-hem, half way to my size...)

First kiss

Yesterday morning Nikolas gave me his first kiss :)
I came to pick him up from his crib and as I talked to him and sent him kisses, he first made a smacking sound with his lips and then came close to me and put his mouth on mine!

One more tooth (nr. 7)

Just this morning I noticed a little protruding white patch in the bottom right, Nikolas's third tooth in the bottom jaw.