A Pool, a Party, and a New Puppy (Part One)

Last Saturday we went to my mom and stepdad's house for a triple party. It was to celebrate my sister's birthday, my grandmother's (Nick's great-grandmother, or GG's) birthday, and father's day (for Nick's Grandpa Ray). My sister took a ton of pictures, so I think I'm going to have to do a few posts for this one. Today I'll start with the pool. Can you tell that Nick loves being outside, nearly naked, and wet? When he saw the pool at grandma's house, he got all excited. I can imagine him thinking. . . "You mean I get to play with this water? And you won't get mad at me if I splash it? That is awesome!" Auntie Mandy spent much of the time snapping pictures of Nick, and she got some really good ones.

And splash he did! There were these little squirty balls, and Nick kept getting everyone wet with them--including himself. Everyone just sat around and watched as Nick climbed in and out of the pool, splashing the whole time. He has become our entertainment. After awhile, his diaper started blowing up with water. You'd be amazed at how much those things can hold! So we took the soggy and heavy diaper off and let him run around naked for a little bit. He loved that. I think most toddlers get a kick out of having their diapers off. I guess I'd feel the same way if I had that many thick, absorbant layers on all day, every day.

I think he must've gotten cold after awhile, and about that time Grandma Linda got a big fluffy towel and a cup of milk. The world must be very strange for Nicholas lately, since he hasn't been going to the babysitter's house and the only people he sees are adults. Poor guy.

All of these pictures were taken by my sister, Amanda Wiatr, who is an amazing photographer. Yes, she does do freelance photography work, including weddings and family photography. Mandy is especially good at taking pictues of kids and animals, and her rates are very reasonable. She can be contacted either through her Facebook Page or by email at amandawiatr@yahoo.com if you're interested in getting a quote.

Anyway, after Nick's little swim, we went inside for cake and played with my grandma's new puppy for awhile. I'll write more tomorrow, and show some more great pictures. I'm going to end with this picture, which I adore because Nicholas looks so contemplative. I wonder what kind of deep thoughts he's thinking. . . perhaps he's figuring out the secrets to world peace. Or deciding whether to pee on the patio. Or internally debating the nation's energy policy. Nah, he's probably dreaming of ice cream. If my boy is anything like his mommy, he wastes most of his deep thoughts on food.

So why does Nick need a bath every night, anyway?

I have had quite an eventful evening. Nick has been as active as a monkey on speed, and I am therefore pretty exhausted. He seems to have gone from crawling to outright jogging in just a few weeks. Plus, I just spent the last twenty minutes cleaning up baby pee from all over the bathroom.  After cleaning a dirty diaper, I set Nick down on the bathroom floor while I ran him a bath. He has no control over that thing. It's like a fire hose on the loose. He managed to spray the floor, the cabinets, the clean towels, my socks, the rug, and the toilet seat cover. In hindsight, it was pretty funny, though I wasn't laughing. Nick was definitely laughing, though. He delighted in watching me crawl around cleaning up the mess.

Nick has had a lot of baths this week. Every day, in fact. Normally I wouldn't give a child a bath each day during the dead of winter, but there was no other choice. Suffice it to say that lately, my illustrious son has taken it upon himself to smear something or other into his hair every night, necessitating a bath. Tonight it was strawberries and creamed spinach. There just isn't a simple way to get that out of a baby's hair without a bath. But Nick really loves baths, so perhaps the food smearing is just a way to get an extra one.

I shouldn't say he was energetic all evening. When we first got home, he wanted to snuggle, and I sat down on the floor to play with him. Nick kept bringing me books and sitting down in my lap. Tonight he listened to five (yes, really!) books in a row. He especially likes the board books where he can turn the pages. He has an ABC book with a mirror on the "Y" page (for you), and he gets so excited when that page is coming up. In my opinion, sitting still for five books is pretty darned good for a 1-year-old. I think he would've sat for more if I hadn't had to get him his dinner.

These pictures were from last weekend at the DuPage Children's Museum. He really liked it there, because it was all hands-on. I took these pictures with the camera function on the videocamera, so that's why the quality is so poor. My regular camera has officially been mailed to Nikon, and until then, borrowed cameras or the videocamera are my only options. The wait to see if they'll honor their warranty is on. . .