May 26, 2008 - What a great weekend we had! On Friday (05/23) we drove to Weehawken,
May 06, 2008 - Driving home from work/daycare last night I told Nicky because it was such a great day out that we would go for a walk tonight. He pipes up from the backseat and says “I wan to go uptown,” really, I thought I never say uptown I always say downtown. So my curiosity was peaked and I asked “what did he want to see uptown?” He replies, “I don’t know, I don’t remember going there, but I would like to go.” I told him that maybe on the weekend we would go to the Children’s Museum and that is uptown, so he pipes up again and says “OK, then I want to walk to the library.” That would be good it’s close to home and Nicky has been to the library a few times with Mike to get some books and videos and he really enjoys going there to read (or rather get read to). So last night we went for a walk up to the library and checked out a bunch of Dr. Seuss books that we don’t have.
I love listening to Nicky tell me a story because he really does take on what we say and do. For example the other day he was telling me a story about his friend JJ in class who got hit by a car (not as bad as you think it was a toy), and I had asked him “well, why did JJ get hit by a car?” “You know why?” he asks. “No, why” I said. “You know why? You know why? Because you know why? I’ll tell you, he got hit by a car.” he continues to say but I never really find out why I only find out why he got hit by a car just that he got hit by a car.
Whenever I try to explain something to Nicky I will most of the time ask him “do you know why?” If he knows he will try to tell me and if not he’ll ask why. I always like to give him the benefit of the doubt and ask him first if he knows why or remembers why. So after listening to his story I have to wonder now how much does he listen to me or am I giving him too many words at one time that he only hears the question. Whatever the answer is he always makes me laugh and glad that he has such a colorful personality.
I found out the hard way that I no longer have the pleasant and soothing singing voice that I once had before Nicky could speak. I was singing in the car the other day and out from the backseat Nicky yells out, “STOP singing! I don’t like your singing!” I was horrified and quickly stopped singing. So the next day I was talking to my friend Jennifer about it and she told me that I did it all wrong and need to convince him that I sing beautifully, she always tells her son Terrin “mommy sings beautiful, would you like to hear?” and then he says yes and agrees with her that she does. Ok I’m pumped and ready for this one, again on the way home that night I said “Hey Nicky, Papa sings beautiful. Do you want to hear?” and he tells me very excited “yeah!” So I start to sing only to have this backfire in my face again with a “STOP singing! I don’t like your singing!, you don’t sing beautiful!” I think I was set up. I still try to sing but not as much and not so much when he’s around anyhow. Nicky is my worse critic.
I have a bad habit that I need to stop, I talk loud. This is rather humorous because for years people always asked me to speak up because I talked too soft. Whenever I run across people that either don’t speak English or are maybe elderly I have a tendency to talk louder thinking that they might understand me a bit better. I also do the same with children too, Nicky in particular. Mike is always after me to lower my voice and now Nick also will say “you’re too loud.” I guess my sister Elaine has the right idea and maybe I should learn sign language, it’s a bit quieter than Spanish.
Which is coming along at a slow pace but I did pick up on quite a few new phrases that I try out on Nicky on occasions and he somewhat understands too. I was thinking of hiring a Spanish tutor for him in the fall they could teach him better than me. The phrases I learned are very helpful around the house; “go to the bathroom” put on/take off your coat/shoes” etc…normal everyday stuff.
May 04, 2008 - Happy Cinco de Mayo tomorrow, enjoy a Corona with a lime and take it easy, me I have to work tomorrow but there’s always the after work party time.
This was a productive weekend for us we replaced six of the windows in our apartment and only have five more to go. This is only one step of the few projects we need to get done before we hire the painter. We still need to do some electrical work outside, replace the basement windows and get the gutters cleaned out, remove some shrubs and then maybe, just maybe we might be good to go.
The weather has been rather freaky lately it has gone from the mid 80’s last week, to the 40’s and 50’s this week, and then this weekend was in the 70’s yesterday and back to freezing my butt off again today.
Mike has had a really bad cold all week and is just starting to feel better. Nicky and I are waiting for our turn now, as it normally happens we pass it around in a full circle and I think we’ve had it with all the colds, sinus infections, sore throats and fevers…yuck!
May 01, 2008 - Happy Birthday Lalena, hope it’s a great day for you!!