Confounded by Google, or Back in the Public Eye

(And by "public" I mean the 10 people I know.)
So, making my blog private meant that the google translator didn't work anymore, since I can't authorize google as a reader of my blog. It is more important that my French relatives be able to keep up with our lives (and by "our" lives, I mostly just mean Nicco) than keeping others away. I am going to call that random stranger just a fluke and be like Rachel...pretend the likes of him don't really exist except for in the back of my mind. Darn. I liked being in a secluded dark corner.

Huh???

Nicco just asked me if I will go to New York with him, but not New York City.

I repeat, huh?

Safety First!

Last night Nicco was climbing up onto the arm of the couch and juming off repeatedly. I told him I didn't like that, and I wanted him to stop. When he asked why, I told him that he was not being safe. So, he brought his left hand up to his right shoulder then down and across to his left hip with a "Cha-chink." Thus buckled up, he proceeded to jump off the arm of the couch again. I laughed and let him go ahead. Couldn't help it.

Quote of the Day

Nicco asked for a sippy with "chowocate" milk. I obliged. Roughly 30 seconds later, he said he wanted another one. What the what? Already? Here is the conversation that followed:

me: No, you just had one.
Nicco: No means yes!
Me: What? Since when? Where did you learn that?
Nicco: Because...I love you!

Moral of the story: when you back yourself into a proverbial corner, use "I love you" to get out of it.

Bobby Fischer

Nicco likes to play "chest." He will ask any willing participant if they "want to play a little chest?" then take their hand and give instructions: "You be the golds, I'll be the blues." "Chest" is different from chess in that winning involves being the first to line up your pieces in a proper square. Not a whole lot of strategic planning.

Taking Care of Grandpa

Grandpa is at the doctor getting his inside owie fixed. Nicco is quite concerned about this. He is not only concerned about Grandpa's surgery, he is also concerned about Grandma. He is glad she will be sleeping with us tonight, because otherwise she would be alone at her house. Right now, he is playing "Taking Care of Grandpa" with his Lightning cars. Two of his Lightning McQueen cars are Grandma and Grandpa, and his Mack truck is taking Grandpa to the doctor and bringing Grandma to our house. The Grandma Lightning gives the Grandpa Lightning a hug and kiss, tells him to get better, and that she will see him in the morning. Mack says "Let's go home now. He needs to rest so his owie can get better."

I love watching and listening to pretend play. Such an insight to what is going on in kids' heads. I am glad that Nicco is concerned about both his grandparents, and that he apparently understands that there is a reason to be a little worried, but that everything will be okay, and that we all take care of each other. Sweet.

The Butterfly Pavillion

Today is our last day of spring break. How silly is it that we have to go back to school on a Friday? Anyway, we crammed in one more fun excursion before getting back to the grind. We met our friends Kirsten and Riley at the Butterfly Pavilion. Nicco liked all the creepy crawlers and was even brave enough to hold Rosie, the icky tarantula. I have been to the Butterfly Pavilion twice and in those two trips the only people in my company who held the spider were Nicco and Grandma Madsen. MY Grandma Madsen. A sweet little old lady and a 3-year-old out braved me both times.

This picture is a little fuzzy because Nicco was bouncing with excitement pointing to the big, bright, blue butterfly that flew past his head.

Here are Nicco and Riley posing for us.

This is in the exploratorium where they got to climb in a psuedo-spiderweb.

And here they are jumping and playing in the bee hive.

Another fun day. I am not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow, but at least the weekend is coming up soon! (I know, poor me. Feel sorry for me when you get a moment.)

Wildlife Experience

I wanted to have some fun with mom and dad before my break is over. We planned to go to the Firefighters' Museum in Denver, thinking it would be fun and interesting and something new for us all. However, after reflecting a bit, we realized that the museum is just blocks away from Civic Center Park, the home of a Tax Day Tea Party. Considering that we all prefer to avoid crowds, (meaning more than 10 people, according to dad) rowdy crowds in particular, and wacky protest crowds ESPECIALLY, we decided that the Wildlife Experience on the other end of town would be preferable to the Firefighters' Museum. Also taking into consideration Nicco's fear of firetrucks, (what the what???? I do not know where that fear came from, and how he even thinks firetrucks are something to be afraid of is quite beyond me) the animal exhibit was a much better choice.

This fun place has ever-changing exhibits. The current collection is called Animal Grossology. One section was all about poop, another featured blood sucking critters like leeches, mosquitoes and tics. There was a wide variety of body functions and creepy looking creatures from air, land, and sea. Here, Nicco is pumping blood into a leech. Mmmm...

Here he is listening to an animated fly discuss fly habits, including vomiting on people picnics.
The next shots are in a different section, all about forest animals. Here he is in an eagle's nest,

Now he is crawling out of a cave, home to bears, bats, and foxes,

and here he is inspecting some insects under a magnifying glass.

We had lots of fun and enjoyed the art and sculptures and playing with the interactive exhibits. All in all, I think this was a much better day than we would have had with the tax day protesters.

The Big T.V.

When we moved things around to make room for our big t.v., we decided that it would be a good idea to paint the wall. Nicco is helping. Such a helper.
And here it is...see? Not so bad. Just like a large picture hanging on the wall.

P.S. Please ignore the clutter on the table...that is one issue that is yet to be resolved.

Quote of the Day

Nicco and I have some little traditions when we go to the store. When we go to Target, we get pizza and soda and "an airplane or somethin'" and when we go to King Soopers, we get a free pink cookie and ride the penny pony. On our way out of the store today I asked him how his cookie tasted. He said "It's cookie-tastic!"

Going Private

After receiving a comment from a random stranger, I have decided to make my blog private. I look at friends of friend's blogs, so it doesn't surprise me that others might find me through friends of friends, but still...a little creepy. I am receding into a darker corner of my little world.

Happy Easter

For about a week Nicco has been saying that we will be going up to Grandma and Grandpa's house when it is Easter time. Sunday morning when I started packing up his little travel bag, he looked at his wrist (naked of a timepiece) and said with wide eyes, big smile and slight quiver of excitement in his voice "Is it Easter time? Is it on?" I said "Oh yes, it's on."

Nicco got his silly on later in the evening, above is a silly face, below is a silly game he played over and over where he made his daddy grab him by the britches while he ran cartoon style with his little plumber's crack showing, until he collapsed in a heap of giggles only to jump up and say "Do it again, Daddy!"

Here he is making all his favorite colors.
Checking out the pictures on Grandma and Grandpa's camera, in his handsome Easter outfit.

And the egg hunt.

As always, we enjoyed the day with Grandma and Grandpa. The Easter services were lovely, dinner was delightful, and we only had to brave the raging blizzard for half of our drive home. We did actually go home, in spite of the weather and Nicco's insistence that "we can sleep here. Let's do that!"

Mommy and Nicco's Day of Fun

We got dressed, brushed teeth and hair, got in the car, and went on an adventure! First we went to the Children's Museum (which was dirty, and...let's just say we were a minority ethnic group) I was lucky that Nicco was sleeping when we pulled up, because there was a HUGE sign for a new ride at the Aquarium-a SPONGEBOB ride. I may have to check it out in more detail and venture back to that neck of the woods next week. After a short visit at the museum, we went to the Build-a-Bear Workshop so Nicco could build-a-bunny for Easter. He named it Sarah. Hmmm...a crush on Sarah at school perhaps? He likes doing the computer stuff at BABW. Then, we went to McDonald's to play. We got there just as the crew was finishing a 6-hour cleanse of the play place, and we were the only ones there! Bliss! After a while, another little girl arrived with her grandma. Nicco loves to follow bigger kids around, and was thrilled to have a companion. Here are some snippets from their conversations:

Nicco: You! You! You! We have the same! See, you? We have the same! (referring to their happy meal toys)
Me: Nicco, perhaps you should say, 'Excuse me, what is your name? My name is Nicco, and we have the same monster toys.'
Nicco: Excuse me, I'm Nicco. See, we have the same! What is your name?
Ella: I'm Ella, and I know.

Nicco: (to me) She asked me how old I am.
Me: Did you tell her?
Nicco: (Head shake no, and shoulder shrug)
Me: Say 'I'm 3. How old are you?'
Nicco: I'm 3.
Ella: I'm 5. I have a cousin who's 4, and he thinks he's so smart but when he climbs up here, he just gets stuck and calls "grandma, grandma!" He's not as smart as me, but I'm 5. So...

Ella: I'm going to go up here.
Nicco: I'm going to go up here.
Ella: I'm going down the red slide.
Nicco: I'm going down the red slide.
Ella: I'm going to look for the letters in my name. E-L-L-A
Nicco: I'm going to look for the letters in my name E-L-L
Ella: You are just repeating me.
Nicco: You are just repeating me.
Ella: Stop repeating me.
Nicco: Stop repeating me.
Ella's Grandma: Ella, he's littler than you, and just having fun.
Nicco: He's little and having fun
Ella: Now you are repeating my grandma.
Nicco: Now you are repeating my grandma.
Ella: Stop.
Nicco: Stop.
Ella: Say okay
Nicco: Say okay
Ella: Say okay
Nicco: Say okay
Ella: Say okay
Nicco: Say okay
Ella: Say OKAY!!!
Nicco: Say OKAY!!!

Nicco: Hello you.
Ella: I think you mean Ella.
Nicco: (Shoots a look at me as if to say "What in the heck is she talking about? I wasn't talking to her. I was carrying on a random conversation with one of my many invisible pals. Is she CRAZY?")

Nicco followed poor Ella up and down and around. She was a pretty pleasant girl, relatively tolerant of my little copycat/follower, if not quite as enthusiastic for his attention as his loving cousins.

Cat and Mouse

I am "working" (a.k.a. getting paid $5.50 to read and blog for an hour) and Nicco is downstairs watching Tom and Jerry, L-A-U-G-H-I-N-G his pants off. I can't see him, but based on the giggles streaming up the stairs and through the hallway, his pants are most certainly laughed-off. The other day, we raced around the table and the circle that encompasses our living/dining/family rooms and kitchen, taking turns being the mouse and the cat. I don't want my kid to be a tv junkie (well done so far. phtt.) but the giggles and games of cat and mouse once in a while are a good payoff for my fabulous parenting. I promise, when I am done "working," I am going to turn the tv off and we are GETTING DRESSED and GOING SOMEWHERE. Then I will come back and clean some more.

Kudos

So, Patrice has been at his new job for two months. Practically every day, his employers thank him profusely and compliment him on the work he does. He has been harboring hopes that this enthusiasm for his efforts will eventually translate into a bonus of some kind, preferably a bonus with the portaits of our former presidents. Green portraits of former presidents. Small green portraits of former presidents that might fit, oh, I don't know, in a wallet or something. Anyway, last night he came home with good news and bad news. The good news was that we won't have to pay as much in taxes as we anticipated. The bad news, he said, was that he would not be able to ask his employers for a raise any time soon. That being the bad news, I worried that they had an eccentric mood swing and fired him on the spot. He quickly relieved my anxiety and took me out to the garage to see his "bonus." A 47" flat screen HDTV. We will need a bigger house to accomodate it! Kidding, kidding. The T.V. is just a T.V., but the message was important. It is nice to be appreciated and to have your efforts rewarded. I am proud of him. In spite of the monstrosity that is now housed in my living room.

P.S. After actually moving furniture around to accomodate the new television, it is not the monster I imagined it to be when I first saw the box. I will even go as far as to say it looks just fine.

Late Night Paranoia

So here's how my night went:

1. Load up on Exedrine Extra Strength Migraine formula
2. Place a cool washcloth over forehead
3. Curl up in fetal position
4. Hope and wish and pray for relief before the sun comes up

My attempts at alleviating my insane headache were unsuccessful. Then sometime in the middle of the night, I heard someone (or something) knocking on our door. There were flashing lights outside. I could not hear Nicco breathing through the monitor. I heard the knocking again. I had a sudden overwhelming sense of fear that Nicco had somehow woken up and gone outside in the FREEZING cold and snow and was knocking on the door to be let back in. Then I thought someone stole him and the lights are the police and they are knocking to give my poor frozen child back to me. Then I thought it was some crazy homeless tramp who smelled all the food Patrice and his friend spent all day cooking trying to get in and was holding my baby hostage because he sneaked out because I still could not hear him breathing on the monitor. When I finally gathered my wits a little bit, I leaped out of bed, head and heart pounding, and checked on Nicco. He was in his bed, sleeping soundly, apparently not having moved an inch since I snuggled him to sleep in the first place. Then I looked out his window and saw the flashing lights on a big truck. That still didn't compute with my drugged up brain, but I felt better knowing my kid was sleeping safely in his bed. I went back to bed, wide eyed and alert in spite of the pain in my head. I heard the knocking a few more times and debated about waking Patrice to go check on who (or what) was outside. Eventually, I calmed down enough to shut my eyes again just before the heat, computer, printer, and monitor sprang back to life in a whooshing and beeping return of power.

So here's what actually happened:
The power went out. That is why I couldn't hear Nicco.
The power went out and Excel had utility trucks out all night working to restore the power, and that is why there were flashing lights and a big truck outside my window.
There were really high winds. That is why the power went out.

I still can't explain the knocking...probably just the pounding in my head.

Whimper, Sigh

Camera, broken.

Tamara, sad.

Right before spring break. And Taxes.