The Artistic Development of Nicholas

I find it quite intriguing that in the last few months, Nick's drawings have changed so very much. Where once I saw only scribbles, recognizable figures are emerging. He is now 38 months old.

Nick said he wanted to draw last Friday, so I bought him a brand new giant box of Crayolas. There's something about the smell of new crayons that I still love, even as an adult. I cannot resist coloring with brand new crayons. We drew together for more than an hour.

Here is the close-up of his picture, along with a description of what he drew. I asked him to tell me about his picture. It was interesting to hear what he had to say. The blue lines in the center are water, and under the water Nick drew a fish.  (The fish is the circle with eyes and a mouth.) He drew two more small fish that are blue circles. Nick drew a purple sun in the upper left hand corner, and yellow birds flying across the sky.

A Visit from Auntie Mandy

I got a call from my sister last week, saying that she hadn't seen Nick since Christmas, and that this travesty must be corrected, and soon. So we invited her over for dinner Saturday. Nick was over the moon. Finally, there was someone new to play blocks with. . . someone worthy.

Indeed, my sister is the master of playing blocks.

Aunt Mandy kept Nick focused until they had used every single block in the whole house. The final product was taller than Nick! Check out their creation.

They also played with Nick's Little People animal collection, and Aunt Mandy was surprised that Nick knew the names of practically every animal--even the rhino and the penguin. That's because when Nick and I build houses with his Mega Blox, he chooses a different animal to make a house for every time. So he's had lots of practice.

There was also lots of coloring. . .

and the reading of stories. 

I think Nick had a great time. Such a great time, in fact, that he's been asking for his Auntie Mandy ever since she left.



With a Little Glint in His Eye. . .

Isn't this glint just a little naughty? Nick makes this face right before he's going to try something clever or destructive. I'm not usually one who finds the naughty boys cute, but this one steals my heart every time I see that little glint in his eye. I believe right after this picture was taken, Nick climbed up our bookshelf to try to get to the markers. For obvious reasons, we keep the markers out of reach nowadays.

As a side note, I should point out the excellent pencil grip my little man is demonstrating. We're thinking he's going to be right-handed, because he almost always colors with his right hand. He sometimes throws a ball with his left hand, though.

Oh, and reason his hair looks sticky and gloppy? My babysitter told me that he smeared the syrup from his pancakes through his hair, intentionally. I'm not sure what would possess someone to do this. Then again, my husband puts goopy gel in his hair everyday with Nick watching. Perhaps he was trying to copy his daddy's hairstyle.

Just Another Saturday

He looks so innocent, right? Such a nice little boy, he could never do anything. . . . like this:

This is our bathroom door, which, by the way, has to be kept closed so that Nick doesn't flush valuable things down the toilet. Or eat makeup. Or pull the toilet paper off of the roll and drag it all over the house. Or take a q-tip and try to poke it into a place on our cat that the cat didn't like very much. Now we'll have to figure out a way to clean the crayon off. Not sure if they were washable crayons. I could only laugh and grab my camera. He's a toddler, after all.

Nick was driving me just a little bit crazy this morning, and I figured it'd do us both good to get out of the house for awhile. He gets bored if I don't keep him entertained. So I took him to Panera for lunch. It's the only fast food place that doesn't make me sick, and the only place where I'll order Nick a kid's meal. He got an organic roast beef and cheddar on wheat bread.

He actually ended up eating the whole thing. Do you see that empty bowl? That's what they used to give me cheese for my soup. The cheese is piled next to his sandwich. Nick also ate all the cheese that was supposed to be for my soup. Then he found another use for the bowl.

I actually like taking Nick out to eat by myself, but I usually pick sit down places because they'll get everything for you. Today was a challenge, but the food was good and Nick and I had quite a conversation. It went something like this:
"Mmm. Bread. Eat."
"Yes, that is good bread."
"Mama, cheese!" (pointing)
"Yup honey, that's good cheese on your sandwich. Oh,w ait, you want this bowl of cheese?"
"Cheese! Want cheese!"
"Okay, here you go. Oh no, don't dump it! Argh."
"Mmmm." (Eating shredded cheese by the handful)
"No throwing napkins! No!"
"No throw! Ha-ha!"

Pause for chewing.

"Tea! Tea!"
"Nope, you have to drink your milk. The tea is for mommy."
"Hat. I hat."
"Yes, that bowl does look like a hat." (Getting out my camera)
"Bowl hat! Bowl hat!"

After our lunch, we took a little trip to the library. Nick has been wanting lots of stories lately, and I figured we could use some new ones to read. Also, I wanted some new books for myself. I've been feeling really bad since the weather turned cold on Friday. I have nothing against fall, it's just that something went crazy with my sinuses and my head Friday night, and I feel like I'm in a nasty fog. I figured that a weekend of lying around reading would help me adjust to fall.

Anyhow, Nick was up to his usual tricks at the library. He ran around pointing at all the stuffed animals perched on the shelves, shouting out their names. "Tiger! Tiger up there!" then he decided to scream, "Stories!" while furiously yanking stories off of the shelves. When we wandered into adult nonfiction, Nick kept announcing, "Stories!" over and over again. "Yup, Nick, there are lots and lots of stories here."

A helpful four year old stood next to me, saying, "You know, we're not supposed to throw books." Nick went right to her and plopped in her lap, ready for a story. When she got up to leave, Nick grabbed her hand and tried to follow her. How come he'll hold a stranger's hand but not mine? Whenever I picked him up or tried to hold his hand, he screamed and then shouted, "Down! I down!"

At least we got some great books to read. Now, onto my busy weekend of lying around and waiting for my headache to go away. I think I can handle that.  :)

A Trip Up North: Part Two

Today I'll talk about our Sunday up in Gleason, Wisconsin, and our trip back to Illinois. After we woke up at the hotel, we checked out and went back to the farm. Nick sure loved being outdoors. I'm glad we brought our jeans and long sleeved shirts, because it was a little bit chilly. We walked all over the property, and Nick picked up sticks and followed his Great Uncle Bob around like a little puppy.

Nick really liked the rocks on the gravel path, and he picked up a bunch and put them into a plastic cup. He brought them inside to show his Great Grandma Marie, and then he threw them on the floor. I guess he liked the noise they made.

There's an old Estonian Church on the property, from the 1800s, and it's all boarded up. It's kind of neat, actually, and the road is named after the church. Nick looked at it for a minute, then found an interesting stick to play with. Toddlers have short attention spans. My impressions of the farm? It's lovely and peaceful and chilly. I like the stars and the quiet and the smell of the woods. But I hate the mosquitoes. I believe I got over six bites just in two days. Nasty, big mosquito welts. At least the peacefulness of the woods makes up for the hours of scratching.

We had a delicious brunch with Nick's Great Grandma Marie, Great Uncle Bob, and Great Aunt Mary. Nick ate more bacon than any boy who's not even two should be able to eat! Then he asked for his "colors," and Nick and his grandma colored pictures together.

After we left Gleason, we drove for hours and hours while Nick (thankfully) napped peacefully in the car. He started to stir right around Madison, which is where we'd decided to stop for dinner and to walk around. Can you tell from the picture that I was glad to be finally out of the car? Madison is pretty cool for a college town, and I think I would've liked going to school there.

We really liked Madison, but at some point Greg and I realized that not only were we way too old to be mistaken for college students, but also . . . The kids who are freshman at this college right now? Were in diapers when Greg started college. Freaky. They were probably just in kindergarten when I started college. Sigh. Anyhow, it was an awesome college campus. Nick was glad to be out of the car, and he especially liked pushing the stroller up and down the sidewalk.

We stopped at a Brazilian Steakhouse for dinner. It was super-expensive, but very yummy. I like the places where the costumed men keep bringing you different cuts of meat. Nick just liked playing with the meat tongs. He did eat a ton of beef, though.

After dinner, it was just a few more hours in the car to get home. Thankfully, Nick was tired and slept through most of the trip, with not too much screeching. We were so glad to be home and out of the car.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Since school started, I have so much to post about and no time to write. I love the beginning of the school year, because there's so much promise. I also actually miss my students, and it's so nice to see them again, even if it's just in passing in the hallway. But I'm already missing the lazy days of summer, now that the craziness of the school schedule has started. I swear, there are some evenings when I do not sit down until it's time for Nick's bedtime, and that's only because he sits in my lap while we read stories. My school has been very hot and humid this week, so I come home every day and take a shower. Hopefully it'll cool down some next week.

Next week, I'm going to post about our trip to Navy Pier to see the Tall Ships. I also have a cool post about the best carrot muffin in the world, and a garden update. But for today, I'm going to talk about Nick and how he was busy with his Grandma Toni.

He loves to get into the laundry basket; in fact, he likes pushing his toys around in it as well. We have tons of developmentally appropriate toys, and yet my son prefers to play with the broom, a laundry basket, and an old toothbrush. Ah, well, at least he's easily entertained. Plus, he's mostly stopped eating the crayons, which is a definite improvement in maturity. Either that or he's figured out that they don't taste very good.

Next is a picture of him coloring with Grandma Toni and I. Lately Nick wants to color for about an hour each day. He doesn't make anything recognizable yet, just scribbles. But he physically puts crayons into our hands and begs us to draw. He likes when we draw shapes so that he can name them and then scribble on them. So far he can recognize (and name) our oh-so sophisticated drawings of the following things: square, house, socks, kitty, circle, star, moon, heart, car, and door.

Nick calls his crayons "colors!" and he just about flipped out on Tuesday when I took him into the store to buy groceries and decided to get an extra box of washable crayons. Poor kid nearly dislocated his arm trying to grab them from the back of the cart. I tried to convince him that he couldn't possibly color while in the cart, but to no avail. Luckily his arms are still short, and he got to color the picture above as soon as he got home.

Nick seems to have inherited his love for a brand new box of crayons from me. I'm a little embarrassed to say that I stockpile new boxes in my classroom, and when I color with my students, I always pull out my own "special" box of sharp new crayons. Of course, I'm such a softie that when my students beg to use my special crayons, I always let them, and then I have to start over again next time with a new box.

A Budding Artist? . . . Well, Maybe

Lately, Nick has gotten the hang of drawing. For a long while there, he'd just chew on the crayons and then throw them at me. But now he'll actually scribble on the paper. Then he bites off a pieces and chucks the rest at me. But hey, at least he's progressing. This picture is from last weekend, but Nick did a lot more drawing today when we went out to dinner.

For my birthday today, Greg took me (and Nick) out to a fancy seafood place in Oakbrook. It's called McCormick and Schmick's, and the food was excellent. Nick's favorite part was the fried calamari, and I think he ate more than I did. I had a lobster tail and the "Grilled Filet Medallions with Wild Mushroom Demi." My mouth was so happy. Greg had the "Braised Wild Halibut & Salmon in a Light Saffron-Truffle Broth." For a birthday dinner, I couldn't have asked for more. I had a delicious Riesling and a chocolate mousse for dessert, and I will be begging to go back to this restaurant.

Nick was a huge flirt in the restaurant. He was playing peekaboo with a lady at the table next to us, and he kept grinning and making faces at a couple across the way. Lately he's also been into clapping for himself, and for other people. I do believe my little boy presented a lot of entertainment for the other diners. When we were having our dessert, Nick starting flirting with a different lady, and she was totally flirting back. She'd smile and cock her head to the side, and he'd do the same and giggle. Then, when she got up to leave, he waved and said "Bye-Bye!" I don't know if they saw.


While in the restaurant, Nick colored on the kid's menu. He also ate the tip of the yellow crayon. The box says they're non-toxic, though, so I'm sure he'll be okay. (Perhaps his diaper will be interesting to change tomorrow, however. . . ) 

It's funny how he's been coloring with more intent lately, as if he suddenly "gets" why crayons are cool. He looks with awe at the marks he made. I bet he gets that from his daddy. Greg loves to draw and paint; in fact, in just over five years, he's developed into a very decent painter. Check out this painting that Greg did of the Seine River in Paris, on our honeymoon. I wonder if Nick is taking after him. (Although I should hope that Greg doesn't eat his paints! Those aren't nontoxic.)

Here is Nick's masterpiece. He colored it for me this morning for his birthday and his daddy wrote the words. I think Greg must've also done the smiley faces and the little heart. But the bulk of the work was done by an 18-month-old. I was impressed by how much color he got on the page without throwing the crayons. What do you think? Do I have a budding artist on my hands? He sure doesn't get that from me!