Nikolai is Coming; Baby Julian is Crawling!

First of all, a story so sweet that Santa couldn't possibly overlook this toddler.....
Last night Julian was on the floor playing and I was filling the washing machine. He started crying, and I heard Nikolai saying "Nikolai is coming," in the sweetest little sing-song voice. I watched from around the corner in the kitchen as Niko put a bunch of his cars on a tray and carried them over to Julian to share and play so that he would stop crying! It was enough to make a mom's heart melt.

AND, prior to this, Julian was doing a combat crawl, pushing himself across the wood floors to reach toys that had rolled out of reach (Ok, I moved the toys out of reach when I realized he had attained forward motion so that I could videotape)! This morning, he even got his belly off the ground for a bit when he crawled across the bed to me after being changed. A whole new window has opened up ... in the past week he has also started sitting up by himself for several minutes without falling over and feeding himself little babyfood puffs. He is changing every day! He also goes into bonafide giggle fits when tickled or teased.

A Baby Snowman and Room Parent Experience

As Nikolai's imagination continues to grow, we have begun to experience stranger requests and more detailed storylines while we're playing. This morning as we were feeding Julian and getting ready to leave the house, Nikolai requested a Baby Snowman. Over and over again, for 10 minutes, Niko asked for a Baby Snowman. Finally Colin made him a snowman out of legos, but it really wasn't what he wanted. I have no idea what he really wanted!

I survived (barely) my first duties as a room mother, hosting the Hanukkah party for Nikolai's class. It was a great time this morning, although at one point I has five kids on my lap, with Nikolai at the bottom of the pile saying "help, I'm stuck"! We played "Pin the Candle on the Menorah," which the kids were surprisingly good at. Of course, Niko marches to the beat of his own drummer, and, as usual, was the only kid who wouldn't play. I finally convinced him to add his candle to the Menorah, but he wouldn't put on the blindfold or cover his eyes. And yes, I did stay up late last night cutting out candles from construction paper (and glueing on paper flames) and putting glitter on the Menorah! The kids decorated cookies with icing and sprinkles, and decorated paper crowns to wear. I can't believe that there is any order at all in a room with twelve 2-3 year olds, but they did great. I did collapse on the floor when I got back to my office though, and had to lay down for a bit before my latte began to revive me!

It was fun to see the Monday morning Havdaleh and hear all the kids at the whole center sing songs and prayers together and light the candle for the 4th day of Hanukkah. Nikolai's favorite part was marching and dancing to the Hanukkah songs.

Seeing Santa

Santaland lived up to everything Ron McGee and David Sedaris ever said about it.
Oh Man, Santa is in there?????  I can't wait.

Nikolai got tired of the photo taking process.
But cheered up once he found out he was going to see the big man.  Julian was fascinated by Santa but Niko wasn't to thrilled about sitting on his lap.  He managed to tell the big man "James" though.

Thanksgiving

Rolling Stone

Julian has become a rolling baby.  At six months he can easily spin 360 degrees and then roll to where ever he wants to go from there.   As I'm writing this he's figured out how to push himself backwards across the wood floors.  I just looked up and he was smiling at me from out about two feet further away then he was when I started typing.  This is completely different than Nikolai who couldn't move at all until he was full blown crawling at nine months.