Loyal readers will be happy to know that the pool and dishwasher issues from a few posts back look like they are solved. The dishwasher has a new motor as of Tuesday and hasn't failed us since. The pool is once again a lovely shade of blue, and has cleared up just enough that we can see the bottom. It should be swimmable just in time for us to leave for vacation. Hopefully it's still blue when we return.
Nicole is up to her wonderful tricks, although her friend Ava at daycare showed her up today when she said Nicole's name perfectly. Nicole pronounces Ava's name more like Wava. But Nicole has learned to say Costco and chocolate, two necessities in life.
She not only can say chocolate, but she's pretty good at eating it. Hoping to get her up to the 5th percentile in weight, we try to pile on the calories. Lately it's been chocolate pudding (Ding! as Nicole says). She also insists on doing the spoon herself. She's not bad (for her age) but the result is still worth sharing. Here are pudding pictures and more.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Friday, July 4, 2008
Is there something less than the lightweight division?
We all know that July 4th is our nation's birthday, but did you know that on July 3, Nicole turned 15 months? She celebrated the day by going to summer camp and playing with Ava & Sydney (Kevin and I get a kick out of Nicole & Ava saying "bye" to one another) then going to the pediatrician for her checkup. She stands at nearly 2 1/2 feet (30 3/4 inches - 50th percentile) and weighs in at a whopping 18 pounds 8 ounces (still not quite 5th percentile). Nicole won't be sitting forward in a car seat anytime soon.
Our pool saga continues, but our pool guy (yes, we caved and hired a professional) seems to think that we'll be swimming in it by August. This is fine with me since we (or at least I) will be traveling the majority of July. I hope our dishwasher repairs don't drag out as long as the pool repairs have.
Until next time.
Our pool saga continues, but our pool guy (yes, we caved and hired a professional) seems to think that we'll be swimming in it by August. This is fine with me since we (or at least I) will be traveling the majority of July. I hope our dishwasher repairs don't drag out as long as the pool repairs have.
Until next time.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Prodigy?
This morning at breakfast, Nicole was holding up one finger as she often does, pointing at my cereal. So I said, "One." Nicole immediately responded, "Two." Jessica and I just looked at each other dumbfounded. There was no way that had just happened. So I said one again and ...
Two!
I tried three, and she said something that sounded like four. We were never able to get that far again, but if you say one, she says two.
Maybe this is normal and those of you with kids older than Nicole are laughing at us, but we were quite impressed. Plus, considering she's in Jewish day care in Phoenix, she'll probably master 1 through 5 in English, Spanish and Hebrew before she's two.
Two!
I tried three, and she said something that sounded like four. We were never able to get that far again, but if you say one, she says two.
Maybe this is normal and those of you with kids older than Nicole are laughing at us, but we were quite impressed. Plus, considering she's in Jewish day care in Phoenix, she'll probably master 1 through 5 in English, Spanish and Hebrew before she's two.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
This has to be a record...
Two picture posts in the same month, and the month is barely half over. Considering that Nicole is currently sporting a nice shiner that I've yet to take pictures of, I know there will be another photo opportunity shortly. (Yes, my Father's Day highlight was Nicole tripping over my foot and going face-first into the coffee table. But she's OK and doesn't seem to be holding it against me.)
Jessica (and Nicole's teachers at school) are into doing cute things to her hair, so we have some pictures of that. Also, we had a brief moment where our pool was blue, clean and functional, so we took advantage of it one beautiful Sunday afternoon. Pictures of that also, and you'll love Nicole's outfit. Mine, not so much. Unfortunately a busted pipe this weekend (seems there's a lot of that going around here) has the pool out of commission again, but it's on the mend and we should be up and running again soon.
Here are the pictures.
Jessica (and Nicole's teachers at school) are into doing cute things to her hair, so we have some pictures of that. Also, we had a brief moment where our pool was blue, clean and functional, so we took advantage of it one beautiful Sunday afternoon. Pictures of that also, and you'll love Nicole's outfit. Mine, not so much. Unfortunately a busted pipe this weekend (seems there's a lot of that going around here) has the pool out of commission again, but it's on the mend and we should be up and running again soon.
Here are the pictures.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Budding foodie
Although she may not look like it, Nicole loves to eat. And from her choices of favorite foods these days, I think we have a new foodie on our hands. She enjoys kobe beef hamburgers and hamburgers we make from beef tenderloin "chain." She's not afraid of spice as evident for her love of guacamole, flautas, or fish tacos (wait, do fish tacos from Rubio's bring down her foodie quotient?). And, much to my surprise, she loves the Barefoot Contessa grilled salmon salad, complete with capers, dill and red onion.
As far as we can tell, there are only 2 problems to all this. First, Nicole decided that she detests Kraft macaroni & cheese right after we purchased the Costco family pack. Oh well, the boxes will survive until she changes her mind -- even if that's in college. Second, because she prefers mint chocolate chip ice cream to vanilla or fruit flavors, it means there is less for us.
As far as we can tell, there are only 2 problems to all this. First, Nicole decided that she detests Kraft macaroni & cheese right after we purchased the Costco family pack. Oh well, the boxes will survive until she changes her mind -- even if that's in college. Second, because she prefers mint chocolate chip ice cream to vanilla or fruit flavors, it means there is less for us.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Catching up
How long has it been since I last updated the blog or posted new pictures? Well, the big batch of pictures I'm putting up now include photos of two separate visits by my mom. So either I've been slacking, or someone's been spending a lot of her retirement in Arizona. (OK, it's both.)
One thing you might notice is different about Nicole in some of these pictures, especially the later ones, is that she's vertical. That's right, she's walking. She started at the beginning of May, so the correct answer in the poll that was once on the site was 13 months. If that was your choice, you get a special prize. She's constantly on the move now, and it's fun to watch.
She's still very talkative and displaying quite the vocabulary. Mostly, though, she likes to bark like a dog. She loves her doggie books and knows a dog says woof woof, so she says woof woof whenever she sees a dog. But not up close - she still panics when she sees one up close. Some of her favorite words are book, bubbles, shoes, socks, uh oh, bye bye, moo, baa, yellow, peekaboo, mama, dada, what's that, banana and plenty more I'm forgetting right now.
She's also doing much better at swim lessons (not indicated in the pictures in this post), enjoying the swings at the park and playing with her slide, chalk and bubbles out on the patio. She can't wait to come to Baltimore in July and see everyone.
That's about it for Nicole. Her daddy has started his new job in Internal Communications at APS (the big Phoenix electric utility) and everything's great so far. More updates to come on that in the future. And here's the obligatory promise to post more frequently ... this time I mean it. I hope.
Here are the pictures.
One thing you might notice is different about Nicole in some of these pictures, especially the later ones, is that she's vertical. That's right, she's walking. She started at the beginning of May, so the correct answer in the poll that was once on the site was 13 months. If that was your choice, you get a special prize. She's constantly on the move now, and it's fun to watch.
She's still very talkative and displaying quite the vocabulary. Mostly, though, she likes to bark like a dog. She loves her doggie books and knows a dog says woof woof, so she says woof woof whenever she sees a dog. But not up close - she still panics when she sees one up close. Some of her favorite words are book, bubbles, shoes, socks, uh oh, bye bye, moo, baa, yellow, peekaboo, mama, dada, what's that, banana and plenty more I'm forgetting right now.
She's also doing much better at swim lessons (not indicated in the pictures in this post), enjoying the swings at the park and playing with her slide, chalk and bubbles out on the patio. She can't wait to come to Baltimore in July and see everyone.
That's about it for Nicole. Her daddy has started his new job in Internal Communications at APS (the big Phoenix electric utility) and everything's great so far. More updates to come on that in the future. And here's the obligatory promise to post more frequently ... this time I mean it. I hope.
Here are the pictures.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
The birthday post
It's hard to believe it's been a year already. Nicole's grown so much. So has her hair. And her vocabulary's catching up. She says dada and mama (dada came first, so it's not just because I'm the one writing), banana (well, just nana), book, nose (at least the no- part), more, bye bye and hi. We swear she also says "What's that?" when she points at things, but we're not kidding ourselves.
Nicole's birthday celebration got off to a great start. Not only was the day before her birthday the end of a little stomach illness, but she welcomed her new friend Genevieve Sala into the world. Then for her birthday, Uncle Howard, Uncle Neil, Aunt Lauren and BFF Maggie were in town. You may remember what happened the last time Nicole and Maggie got together in Arizona, but this time was much more civil. By the end of the night they were having a great time playing together.
Nicole enjoyed playing with her birthday cake. It was coconut, which was delicious, but white frosting and a pale baby don't make for great pictures. We'll do chocolate frosting at her party. That'll show up much better.
Other than her words, she doesn't have too many new tricks. She still won't walk on her own. She does great when holding on to someone, and she'll stand up on her own. But then she just sits back down. She loves to climb, which keeps us on our toes. And yes, she's still crawling by dragging one leg across the floor. Keeps us from having to sweep, though. She started swimming lessons last weekend. She's had two so far and has cried for about 58 of the 60 minutes. She spent one of the other two minutes pulling out Daddy's chest hair, and the remaining minute swimming. Hopefully she'll start warming up to it soon. She has to; we live in Arizona. And she's spending most of the summer in the pool whether she likes it or not. Speaking of pools, Nicole fared much better in the NCAA tournament this year. She was 7th out of over 900 at one point after a few rounds. But her Final Four teams of Michigan State, Louisville, Xavier and Georgetown (based on her visits to East Lansing, Louisville, Cincinnati and D.C. this past year) didn't come through for her.
For those that are concerned with Nicole's parents and their residence, the repair work on the house begins tomorrow. We hope to have the first floor work (carpeting, painting and kitchen cabinets) done by the end of the month. The upstairs carpeting and painting will follow, and more pictures will follow that.
I hope that by holding off the links to the pictures until the end that you've read this update. I'll try to write more frequently so the updates won't be as long. Meanwhile, here are some pictures we took in late March that we have not yet shared. And here are the pictures from her birthday.
Nicole's birthday celebration got off to a great start. Not only was the day before her birthday the end of a little stomach illness, but she welcomed her new friend Genevieve Sala into the world. Then for her birthday, Uncle Howard, Uncle Neil, Aunt Lauren and BFF Maggie were in town. You may remember what happened the last time Nicole and Maggie got together in Arizona, but this time was much more civil. By the end of the night they were having a great time playing together.
Nicole enjoyed playing with her birthday cake. It was coconut, which was delicious, but white frosting and a pale baby don't make for great pictures. We'll do chocolate frosting at her party. That'll show up much better.
Other than her words, she doesn't have too many new tricks. She still won't walk on her own. She does great when holding on to someone, and she'll stand up on her own. But then she just sits back down. She loves to climb, which keeps us on our toes. And yes, she's still crawling by dragging one leg across the floor. Keeps us from having to sweep, though. She started swimming lessons last weekend. She's had two so far and has cried for about 58 of the 60 minutes. She spent one of the other two minutes pulling out Daddy's chest hair, and the remaining minute swimming. Hopefully she'll start warming up to it soon. She has to; we live in Arizona. And she's spending most of the summer in the pool whether she likes it or not. Speaking of pools, Nicole fared much better in the NCAA tournament this year. She was 7th out of over 900 at one point after a few rounds. But her Final Four teams of Michigan State, Louisville, Xavier and Georgetown (based on her visits to East Lansing, Louisville, Cincinnati and D.C. this past year) didn't come through for her.
For those that are concerned with Nicole's parents and their residence, the repair work on the house begins tomorrow. We hope to have the first floor work (carpeting, painting and kitchen cabinets) done by the end of the month. The upstairs carpeting and painting will follow, and more pictures will follow that.
I hope that by holding off the links to the pictures until the end that you've read this update. I'll try to write more frequently so the updates won't be as long. Meanwhile, here are some pictures we took in late March that we have not yet shared. And here are the pictures from her birthday.
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