The Sunglasses

I found kid-sized sunglasses on sale at The Children's Place, and I couldn't resist buying a pair for Nicholas to wear this summer. I was NOT expecting him to take to them so well! I thought I'd have to force him to put them on and then fight with him to keep them on long enough for me to get a picture. Boy, was I wrong! He loves them!

Here he is right when we got home from the store:

Here he is almost a week later, asking to go out. He found these in my bag and put them on all by himself.


That same day he wore them while we were driving in the car...

While he relaxed and did a little reading in his carseat...

While he took a ride on a mechanical fire-truck at Toys-R-Us...

And when we got home to be with Papí....
But then he had to relinquish them to the other kid in our house....

What a stud.
Both of them.

A little late...

Armando had a birthday in January! :) I know it's a little late to post about it, but it's so rare that I post anything other than Nicholas stories, I thought it was worth the belated-ness. We made a cake (yes, WE...Nicholas totally helped me as he stood on his little Ikea footstool. He also found four new unexplored kitchen drawers that are now in reach if he carries his little stool over), and we sang Happy Birthday to Papi in a video message. We love you, Mando! I'm so glad we're married and I get to see you every day! Thanks for being a wonderful father, husband, provider, leader. :)

N-ta in a box

Santa has gone from feared guardian of the door to friendly pet. Nicholas calls him N-ta (that being the sound "nnnnn," not the actual letter "N"). Nicholas likes to grab both of his arms while he's dancing and haul N-ta around the room. I'll often find Santa sitting on the piano bench, facing the keys as if he's about to start in on a beautiful piano concerto, or sitting in the bathroom next to the bathtub, awaiting his turn to bathe. His hat, which was glued on, has been removed and used as a sock, mitten, nose covering and toy-ball-holder. It now lays abandoned and forgotten in the bottom of Nicholas' toy bin. Don't worry though, Nicholas made sure to color the top of Santa's head with Orange highlighter (I still don't know where he found it or where he's put it) so it's not completely naked.

One day I created a little box-wagon for Nicholas. He kept climbing in and out of an old diaper box, so I tied a rope to one end and started pulling him around the apartment. I thought I was pretty clever and that he would love it, but he seemed completely ambivalent to the whole thing.
He didn't laugh or even smile, and when I stopped pulling him, he just climbed out and went on his way as if nothing had happened. Failed attempt at entertaining, mommy.


But then, the next day, I walked into his bedroom and found him pulling Santa around in the box I rigged up for him! It was so cute!

I just wanted to remember this so I could laugh later

Today at breakfast Nicholas had two fistfuls of cheese and he couldn't decide which fistful to eat first so he put both hands up to his cheeks (on either side of his mouth) attempting to fit both into his mouth, I think. But he was off on his aim, so he ended up with two fistfuls of cheese pressed against his face while opened and closed his mouth like a fish, tongue desperately waggling and searching for the cheese. But the best part was that he was distracted watching something at the time, so this lasted more than just a few seconds. It was hilarious to watch :)