Saturday, July 08, 2006

Nick video

Never a dull moment!



On Thursday night Mike was preparing some soup on the stove. In a matter of seconds Nick reached up, touched the hot burner and burned his index and middle fingers. He has black marks from the burner on his fingers and it has blistered slightly. We have so far avoided a trip to the hospital because it has not worsened since Thursday night. I tell you, trying to tape up his hand is a bit of a challenge since he hates to have his hands held and he will also pick any loose ends of the tape off. Once it is on however, he seems ok with it. The kicker is that he will still touch the burners on the stove. We had to stop him from doing it again yesterday. Today I think I will go out and get some safety gates for the kitchen and hopefully this will not happen again.

Nick has a new thing to spin! He has taken to spinning his peg board. He turns it upside down and spins it so fast that it will fly off the table. He does not stick his finger on the little holes it has, but spins it by using his pointer finger in the middle circle of peg holes. He has also figured out how to spin his bowls by dropping them a certain way on the table. Now he has figured out that anything can be spun really, including himself.

Now I would like to talk about Michael. I talk a lot about Nick on here and not about Michael. Michael is just a wonderful big brother. He is understanding Nick more and more. If Michael gets up before we do he will get Nick something to drink and even something to eat! He is always concerned about Nick getting hurt and has even found ways to "reach" his little brother..Michael will hold up his hand and let Nick manipulate his fingers and put his hand on his forehead. We have heard comments from total strangers on what a great big brother Nicholas has and we could not agree more! Michael and Nick may not ever have those long talks about girls or sports that I envisioned, or a "normal" sibling relationship at all. But what they DO have is a bond between them regardless. I know this is a fact. Michael can bring out amazing things in Nick. For instance, last weekend we were doing yardwork and Nick was afraid of something. He was crying and before anyone could get to him he went right to Michael and put his arms around him. After a few seconds Michael thought he was ok and went to pull away. Nick grabbed him again and held him close, and Michael just put his arms around Nick and told him "It's ok Nicholas!" Yes, Michael truly is a great big brother and has shown us he is very brave in the last year! He is inspiring. Somehow he musters up the courage to endure shots on a daily basis and tells me they dont hurt even when he winces. He has no idea that it kills me everytime I have to stick him. I have done it a thousand times, and it still pains me, yet he endures it with such dignity beyond his seven years. I am truly blessed with wonderful boys! I have learned much from them.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Back to work....Yuck!

Hope you all had a great fourth of July! This weekend was a long one for me. Saturday we did not do too much. Sunday we went to Wild Waves again with Kristine (our wonderful babysitter). The boys loved having her there. Michael went down a couple of water slides with her, and we also got her on a few of the rides. She is real good with both the boys, and is like somewhat of an "adopted" aunt. Nick is just my little fishy. He LOVED getting into the water this time and even stuck his face in it! He loved the pool at Disney too, it just has to be somewhat warm! He can be very picky LOL! Monday we all just hung around the house recouperating from the abundant sunshine. Tuesday, I got the boys all dressed in their 4th of July gear(matching shirts and shorts--they looked very cute!) just to have them dirty them up "helping" us do yard work! I had not planned on doing yard work, Mike just sprung it on us after realizing "It's not too hot!"
After we got all cleaned up again (so much for matching outfits--they were tossed in the laundry) we went to Fort Lewis to view the fireworks and check out the "freedom festival". We splurged on "elephant ears", cotton candy, and some ice-cream. Mike tried to get Nick to taste an ear, but as soon as he felt the powdered sugar on his fingers he chucked it. He is funky about some of that stuff. If it does not feel a certain way it ends up on the floor. He will even spit out food he is chewing if it does not feel right. And once it is slightly soggy forget it. Then it was time to find a place to park and watch the show. While we were waiting for the fireworks to start, we parked beside another family that had a two year old. The difference was staggering. Nick was obsessed with the lights in their van and went over there countless times just to look at them. Michael and I were kicking the soccer ball around and Nick just followed me everywhere I went. He was trying his hardest to "figure" out exactly how to play this social game--he just kept following me and I just kept on saying things like "Hello Nicholas!" and he would just glance up and smile. At around 10pm the fireworks began and we all bundled up to watch (yes, it was 52f by that time!) Nick fell asleep 10 min into it, and Michael was asleep by the time we got home. After 4 days of bliss, I had to return to work today.....YUCK!!