Nico now

My sweet, sweet boy. He continues to amaze me at how fast he grows, yet he seems to always remain, my sweet, caring boy.

We had our teacher conference at Kids' Place this week (yes, there are teacher conferences at his daycare) and the two things that stood out from the last few months is how he's starting to transition from parallel play to actually playing and interacting with other kids and how he's beginning to branch out from his car-focus interest to playing more with animals now. Both are things that we've noticed at home too. He's beginning to have actual play dates with friends and looks forward to seeing his friends so that they can share some kind of toy. And even though his love for anything with wheels is not fading, he definitely loves his stuffed animals now and pays special attention to one or two of them at a time.

I feel like he has changed so much in so many ways too. Just talking so much more, expressing himself so much better - sometimes he blows me away with the things he says and how he seems to connect things so well. Of course I think he's a genius, but that's just me :)

Cute words that he's saying right now:
Melk -- "elk"
Durty -- "dirty"
Upsy-Daisies - "upside down"
Pack-Pack - "backpack"

He doesn't want me to take pictures of him, so he's laughing at me supposedly taking a selfie 

He is obsessed with rocks right now, and it's a struggle to keep them somewhat contained. He seems to always have at least a couple in his pockets, and even though I'm sure I check all the time, they seem to always end up going through the laundry. He likes to load them and unload them with his trucks and is constantly organizing them in his different containers.

He loves spending time with Grandma, and looks forward to Mondays when he gets to spend all day with her. They sometimes go to the park or on little adventures, but mostly they stay at home and play and, even though I have no clue what they're actually doing, they are developing that amazing bond that kids should have with their grandparents.

Makes me miss my parents even more, and wish that they could have more of that time with him and with Sofi. But for now we make an effort to Facetime often, and many times I'll just leave him with Aba and Abo, playing with cars or with owls - they each have their own stash and they "play" for long periods of time, so at least they have that.

And as much as he's constantly developing his independence and pushing boundaries and limits just to see how much he can get away with, at the end of the day, no matter what, he wants his cuddle time with mama at bedtime. And it's something that I very much look forward to every day.