Life With Nicholas

Nicholas has a huge personality.  HUGE.  I love it, but he sure keeps me on my toes!  He will be 18 months old on Sunday (Hooray for nursery!) and is just growing so much.  Here's what he has been up to:

*He has now mastered some new words and sounds since Renae was born: eyes (the current word of the week), thank you, Renae ("nuh-nae"), as well as saying neigh (for cows, horses, and giraffes), arff (dogs), roar (dinosaurs and deer),  and Ah ah (monkeys).

*You might have been curious about the whole deer roaring thing.  Here's the deal.  The other day we took a walk over to our friends' home, and they have a deer head on their wall.  When Nicholas saw it, he was startled at first, not knowing what it was.  Then he threw up hands up in the air and said, "ROAR!"  We thought it was pretty funny!  

*On the potty front, he has developed squatting spots.  We were at my parents' home to watch Conference last weekend when we discovered that Nicholas kept going over to the fireplace hearth, squatting, and walking away from it smelling.  At home we discovered that in the morning he likes to sit in his booster seat at the table, lean over, lift his leg a little, grunt, and then get down smellier than he was a moment before.  We can now tell that he realizes when it is time to poop, so we're just trying to figure out if he's actually ready to try going on the potty.  (In a related story, he also squatted during his bath on Monday...twice.  That was gross.  Then he threw his sippy cup in the toilet.  That was also gross.)  When do you start potty training???  I have no idea if he's actually ready.  Or if I am even ready for him to be!

*He has also started putting himself in timeout.  The other day he kept pulling all of the books off the shelf, and I was getting sick of it, but I tried to just get him to help me put the books back on the shelf.  Then he ripped a page out of a book, so I put him in time out.  Then he kept poking Renae, trying to bite her, and trying to pull her out of her swing.  Another time out.  Then he started pulling cushions off the couch, and I told him no.  He immediately ran into the kitchen, and sat down in time out.  Unfortunately I don't think he really understands the concept of a timeout consequence because today I feel like I've been playing keep away with him and the books all day!