August 14, 2007

Nick is now 21 months old and came home from Russia at 14 months old, so he has been home 7 months now.

Nick is definitely an extrovert. He loves to be with people.  Lately he has started saying, in a questioning tone "brother?, brother?", when he has lost track of where his brother went off to. As soon as I tell him where brother went, he is off to join him, always running, always in a hurry. It is really cute. Sometimes Ben will be sitting on the couch or in a chair, looking at a book and Nick will get his own book and climb up right next to Ben and sit next to him, also looking at his book. They are really cute together and they clearly enjoy each other a lot. I have also noticed that they have no sense of personal space with each other. One will move in close and start examining something the other is doing and they usually just take it in stride, unless someone tries to take the other's toy.



Nick is a clever little boy, when it comes to getting what he wants with Ben.  If he wants something Ben is playing with, Nick will bring another toy or book, hand it to Ben and promptly take the toy or book that Ben was playing with. Most of the time, Ben is interested in the new toy or book and Nick will get away with this. It is very amusing to watch. Nick knows exactly what he wants and what to do to get it. Sometimes this doesn't work and Nick is not happy when he has to find another toy to play with and leave Ben alone.

Nick is a normally a very happy-go-lucky boy, although he is probably more volatile than Ben with his emotions.  I would say he has higher highs and lower lows than Ben and tends to display more anger if things don't go his way. He is also a very compassionate child and does not like to hear Ben cry. If Ben is crying while having a diaper change or sitting on the little time-out stool, Nick will quickly go find a toy and bring it to Ben, trying to cheer him up. It is very sweet to watch and Nick is obviously pleased if the toy ends Ben's unhappiness.

Once, the boys were in their cribs and had not been awake very long. I was listening to them on the monitor, while finishing up something I was doing. I heard Ben start his whining kind of fake cry and then I heard Nick saying "boo, boo", as if he was playing peek-a-boo with Ben, trying to cheer him up. Ben stopped his whining and was laughing before I went in to get them.

Nick is a singer. He loves to sing and I will frequently hear him singing a little song as he goes about his playing or even on the baby monitor, after he has awakened in his crib. Lately he has been singing the "clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere; clean up, clean up, everybody do your share" song. He only sings the "clean up, clean up" part but he has the tune right and I can understand the words. I think sometimes he just makes up the songs. They are all sweet to my ears. I love to hear his little voice.




Nick is not enthused about "time to eat" if he is busy playing with a toy, although he does get excited about being able to pick out his own yogurt and get it from the fridge himself. Sometimes, when he gets downstairs in the mornings, he will immediately head to the kitchen and say "eat?, eat?",  so he does get excited about eating when he is hungry and not too busy playing. I normally cut his food into bigger bites, hoping to get him to eat a little more. He is right around the 25th percentile on the height to weight ratio, which is much better than he was when he left the orphanage. He is very active so he burns it off quickly. He is so fast, it is hard to catch him when he decides to run from me (we work on this so that, hopefully, this doesn't happen often and it has never happened out in public, thankfully).





Nick is very athletic and loves to do anything physical. He loves to play with balls, throwing and kicking them, and he loves to climb anything and everything. There is no doubt in my mind that, when he gets tall enough, he will be climbing out of his crib. Fortunately that is not happening yet. He plays hard and he falls asleep fast, even in his car seat.

Nick is definitely a child who loves life and embraces anything new that looks like fun. Nick loves to give kisses and hugs, although they are usually quick because he has things to do and places to go. He is one busy little boy and he has also definitely stolen my heart.