Nikolas's first day of school (and Sonja pulls up on all four)

September 1st was Nikolas's first day at school!
Daddy dropped him off and he immediately went to the corner with trucks and started playing. Daddy told him he had to go and that mommy would pick him up later and he barely looked up, 'OK, daddy.' Well, that was easy, no tears, no fear!
Nikolas with his teacher, Ms. Sam:
Nikolas, Kyle and Aagneya, the three musketeers, in front of their classroom door:
By the way, we saw Sonja on all fours today for the first time. Apparently she practices in her bed after she wakes up.

'Camping' in the Cherokee reservation

We spent 5 days in the North Carolina Smokey Mountains at a Cherokee Reservation. It took us about 10 hours to get there by van and the kids were very good in the car. The camp had several cabins of which we rented a 2-br one to share with Joe, Amy and their little Julie. So really it was a kind of executive camping... but with the little ones I wouldn't have it any other way right now. Nikolas got to try his new fishing pole in the river. Of course he thought the bait was the fish that he was supposed to throw into the water and pull it back out. The babies spent some nice time on the front porch in a refreshing air for a change from Florida.
Daddy and Joe didn't even see a fish, let alone catch one, by the way. But we did go to the zoo where we saw several kinds of bears and a Siberian Tiger which, poor thing, was roaming inside a cage that was right next to the cage with goats, his favorite food!

Sonja and Michael start on solid food

We started with butternut squash, moved on to zucchini, then potatoes, avocado, green beans, peas.... I mixed the veggies with rice cereal and breastmilk and they loved it! The kids eat in their bouncy chairs for now, and I sit in front of them and alternate feeding each mouth with one spoon as quickly as possible since they both complain while the other is getting a bite!

Tandem eating:

Michael got his first taste of watermellon:

6-month checkup, Nikolas opens all doors, potty training

Six-month doctor's checkup and vaccines:

Michael
height: 25 1/4" (10-5%)
weight: 13lb (5%)

Sonja
height: 25 3/4" (50-75%)
weight: 14lb 7oz (25-50%)

Now that our nanny, teta Divna, is gone back home, and Robb is on a 2-week business trip, we are going through a major adjustment period. Nikolas still uses her phrase 'Sutra lane kada svane' which basically means 'Never' when asked 'When will you be a good boy?' He doesn't yell as he used to when she was here. I thought this was the case, he was just asking for attention when she and I talked without including him, and when he reached his limit he would screech in high pitch voice, hit, throw things, and everything else he is not supposed to do on purpose. Now that it's just me and him talking to each other, he is much more controlled. He still likes to poke Sonja and Michael though. By Murphy's Law, as soon as I was alone in the house with the kids, Nikolas learned how to turn the knob on the door and get out of his room first thing in the morning. He would then immediately go into the babies' room, stick his hand between the cribs' rods and touch their faces. He likes to go for eyes, of course, as kids usually do... Once he got the babies to fuss or cry, he would then go through the kitchen (there is no point having that child gate to the kitchen anymore!), and into our bedroom and excitedly climb on the bed and jump around. I have no idea what we did with the kid-proofing stuff to prevent him from opening the doors , so now I have to wait for 2 weeks until Robb gets back from his trip to help me find it.
Even when the babies are in their Exersaucers or on the floor Nikolas loves to run over to them and hug them first (he completely leans on them, presses them with all of his weight and sometimes steps on their hands if we are not right there to stop him), and then he'll start sticking his fingers all over their faces, particularly eyes and ears, and sometimes when they are in the Exersaucers, he'll push their heads back. I have to police him around babies all the time. Still, it's obvious he loves them, especially Sonja, and she adores him while Michael is a bit more wary.
We haven't progressed with potty training, other than that Nikolas now empties his potty into the toilet by himself and flushes. He still pees in his shorts if I don't put a diaper on him when I take him outside. We normally spend a couple of hours in front of the house while the babies nap (almost 9am-12pm) where he plays with his tricycle, car, etc. and we also walk to the pond where he still loves to throw mulch in the water. At the end of the play he'll push his transport into the garage and park it extremely neatly; he does this with his little toy cars and truck inside too--he obviously enjoys sorting and arranging things. Chances are good that he'll grow into a neat guy :)

Treasure Island beach vacation

Baka and Nikolas took off for St Pete's the day after Christening. Deko, babies and I joined them a few days later, actually the same day our nanny, teta Divna, flew back home! We'll miss her a lot!
Our condo was right on the beach so it was no problem getting the kids down. I even managed to carry the twins back and forth by myself, while baka and deko took care of the canopy that provided wonderful shade so that we could practically stay at the beach all day!
Nikolas and baka were best buddies, swimming in the ocean, playing in the sand, chasing and feeding the birds, looking at kites that some people flew nearby (Nikolas kept searching for them and talking about them, but as soon as he saw one in the air, he'd get scared of it, we never figured out why??? Same way he gets scared of helium baloons when they come close...), looking at jet-skis (as Nikolas calls them, decki ('guys' in Serbocroatian)).
Good place to learn how to eat cherries and throw the pits out without making mommy have to clean up:
Baka also took him to the swimming pool too to let him jump in the water. He figured out that if he pulls his knees to his chest, he won't sink as deep. He still doesn't mind being completely submerged.
He is such a boy: when he talks about a kite, for example, the story would be 'Nikolas vidio zmaja. Zmaj leti visoko, onda padne, kaboom, i pukne' meaning 'Nikolas saw a kite. The kite flies high, then kaboom, fall down and breaks.' This is followed with the hand motions, up and down and bang for the fall. Everything now has to fall and, kaboom, break.
He is learning the song, 'Vi, vi, vi'. His version is 'Vi, vi, vi/Vi, vi, vi/Na strazi smo mi/Ko j' bez puske/Nece lovac dodje. Hehehehe! (laughs!)
One funny event:
Nikolas slept in the same room with deko. One day when he was supposed to be taking a nap, he decided to rummage through deko's luggage. There he found an unopened bag of cookies from an airplane--he opened the bag precisely along the edge and ate all of the cookies. How he did it, none of us have any clue!
Sonja and Michael were drowsed by the ocean air, sounds and views that they slept really well during the day. Usually they'd sleep for a hour or more at the beach so that I could swim :), and then again after lunch, for 2-3 hours at a time. Sonja has been in a great mood upon awakening: she yelled her a-ha's and brrrr's and just plain screamed with happiness every time she woke up (including at 6/7am....). Michael has kept his voice lower than Sonja's but we heard his ma's and ba's a lot too. He's been more active physically, turning over so skillfully and pulling his butt up in the air that we are just waiting for a moment that we can officially call a crawl.
Sometimes he makes it almost impossible to hold him down and change his diaper.
Another thing with Michael, he's been waking up to eat 4x/day for a few days! Must be a start of a major growth spurt.

Twins' Christening and Moore family reunion in Disney World

We had a busy week: first a couple of days in Disney World in Orlando for the Moore family reunion, and then having everyone over at our place for the twins's Christening.
The twins were not big fans of the park--Sonja wanted to be carried most of the time, including pretty much during all meals as well, and back at the hotel Nikolas was bouncing off the walls from all the excitement that he wouldn't let his little brother and sister take proper naps. Well, he definitely has a blast! On top of spending time with his numerous cousins, grandma, grandpa, aunts and uncles at the swimming pool outside, he also got to visit a few places at the park: It's a Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean rides and the Hunted House. At night he saw fireworks for the first time (that he can remember, at least) and they scared him but he still keeps talking about them.
Mommy with the kids:

Daddy and Nikolas on their way out of It's a Small World ride:
The following are the pictures from one of the family dinners at the park:
Grandma with Nikolas and Brian:
Nikolas with the big boys:Mommy holding Sonja, by default:
All five of us in one picture, amazing:
Nikolas showing off his table manners (who said, pass the noodles?)
Back at the house, baka, Sanja and deko arrived:
Daddy is making cevapcici for the Christening party on Saturday. The three judges are carefully watching him work (he did an awesome job!):
Cevapcici are ready:
Aunt Cynthia with Sonja:Teta Divna's last few days at our house :(
Sanja and her godson:
The trio:

Nikolas's activities

We've been hanging out with Tuija, Beata, Jyoti and their kids a lot, either at our place or Tuija's.
Tuija and I:
The whole playgroup:
Nikolas and his girlfriend Olivia:

Movies:
On Wednesdays we've been going to kids's movies: these were Nikolas's first movies, not to mention his first visits to a movie theater. He patiently sat through them for the first hour, and then, he'd suddenly decide he had seen enough and he'd ask to go home. A couple of times we extended the movie trip by meeting daddy for coffee in the neighborhood or going out to lunch with Jyoti, Aagneya and daddy too.

Pretense play:
At home, Nikolas has been getting creative with his pretense play. The pillows on the couches are his butterflies that he flies above his head, or trucks, the bar stools are either trucks or blocks that he arranges to make trains etc., his food pieces are trucks or dogs or kites.... He takes the baby blanket that's folded to be carried like a bag and says, Nikolas ide u gym (Nikolas is going to the gym.) He also sometimes puts on Robb's baseball hat and his work shoes and says, Nikolas ide na posao (Nikolas is going to work.) What he also started doing is when he sees a picture of something edible in his books or when he pretends that a pillow is a cake, he'll lick it. He's been licking Sonja and Michael's faces too... I don't know what's up with all that licking....
Here are all three (Sonja and Michael must have gotten good licks by Nikolas as I was taking pictures):
Here is Nikolas, 'going to work':
On the days when pillows are just pillows, they are good for a pillow fight:

Language:
His sentences are getting longer and more complex and his vocabulary is expending faster than I can follow. Sometimes I wonder where he learned some word, for example, we fed carrots to some horses with Kathy and her kid, and after that he said, Nikolas jase konja (Nikolas is riding a horse.) I have no idea where he learned the word 'ride' since he's never done it and we were just feeding the horses. He said to me once, pulling a chair next to mine, Nikolas ce da sjedne pored mame da mama cita knjigu (Nikolas will sit next to mommy so that mommy will read a book), which I thought was impressively long.

Sports:
He dribbles his mini basketball like a pro! Again, no idea where he learned it (he never watches TV), but just a few months ago he was still practicing simply catching a ball that was thrown to him, and now he is bouncing it off the floor and catching it 9/10 times.

New tricks:
During naptime he calls us saying that he pooped and needed to be changed when he hasn't pooped, just to get attention. Sometimes he does poop though...
When I'm about to pick up the babies to feed them, he regularly yells, Nikolas hoce da jede, ostavi bebu (Nikolas wants to eat, leave the baby!)
At night I always carry Nikolas to the light switch to let him turn the light off, and as he brings his finger close to the switch, he always says, mama?, prompting me to reach for the switch, and when I do, he then quickly turns the light off himself, giggling. Same with the garage door switch. He loves to joke around! He does this with the food too, offers a piece and just as you are about to eat it from his hand he pulls it away and giggles.