April Loretta Weinman was born

April was born at 6:06PM on December 15, 2007. Although she was a month premature, she weighed-in at 7 lbs., 5 ozs., and was 18.5 inches long. She will spend a few days in the hospital's ICU before she gets released, but things are looking good so far.

3 Years, 3 Months

Nicholas recently asked me to teach him to play chess. I expected him to lose interest once we began, but he surprised me by picking it up rather quickly. We played one game Monday and again on Tuesday. Wednesday, he played against Jennifer, who did not expect that Nicholas really knew how to play. Nicholas knows each pieces' name, how it moves, and he understands the goal of protecting his king while trying to attack his opponents' king. While I want him to get better, I hope to continue beating him for some time!

Nicholas is looking forward to the birth of his new brother or sister. He believes it is a boy - and when we refer to it as "her" he always corrects us.

Nicholas is spelling and reading now. He likes to spell words and is always asking how things are spelled. He comes home from school and does his own homework most nights, too. At night, when we read stories to him, he is able to sound-out many words and is probably going to be reading sentences soon.

Nicholas likes music and seems to really like rock & roll. If you visit the video section of our website you'll see a few recent "music videos" Nicholas wanted to make showing off his ability to "play guitar" and sing along with a couple of his favorite songs.

Nothing else new, I'll continue posting when I can.

Pete

September 2007 update 3 years 1 month

Nicholas moved upstairs at his daycare center and is now with the 4-year olds. He's now learning to write and his spelling skills have improved dramatically. Nicholas can read and spell many words and is getting good at sounding-out words that are new to him. In the "video" section of our website you will find a clip of Nicholas naming all the cars in our neighborhood one night just before Nichoals' third birthday. At this point, Nicholas can not only recognize EVERY car we spot by manufacturer, he can also read and/or recognize many model names/numbers.

Our pediatrician and his partner both told Jennifer last month that Nicholas was among the three brightest children they had ever met in their practice. But, what they said set Nicholas apart from the others was Nicholas' personality and sense of humor.

Nicholas has accumulated a large repertoire of jokes and is quite good at telling them. He fully understands the timing and delivery required to get a laugh. He's also becoming quite the magician. While he cannot quite conceal any item he palms, he understands the slight of hand and distraction required to make something appear and/or disappear.

Nicholas continues to do more things himself and insists on us not helping him with things like getting dressed/undressed, going to the bathroom, getting himself something to eat or drink, and even bathing and brushing his own teeth! He's very low-maintenance.

More as it happens or as it occurs to me...

Pete

34 months old, updates.

Nicholas, who started climbing in and out of his crib last month, now has free rein in his crib. We leave the side down so that he can climb in and out more easily and safely. At night, he even goes to the bathroom and then back to bed without any help from us.

Nicholas now likes to do a lot of things himself. While we were vacationing in Disneyland, in Florida, Nicholas started swimming by himself (with us nearby, of course). Our hotel had a big slide that Nick would come down himself, swim back to the edge of the pool, climb out, and up the stairs, and then again, slide down. Over and over. He wears either a life vest or inflatable arm bands, but requires no help from anyone.

Conversationally, talking to Nicholas is really like talking to a 6 or a 7-year old child. Not just his vocabulary, but his ability to reason and think things out.

Lately, when we go to a pool or a park, Nicholas has been playing with older children that age. He mixes right in and gets along nicely with the older kids, who don't seem to mind his company at all.


More as it happens.

Pete

33 Months, Future marathoner?

For months now, Nicholas has been asking to go running with me on the weekends, but until recently I'd always said no. A few weeks ago, we gave it a shot by running together towards the Hilton Hotel, which is about 3/4 of a mile from our home. We've done the trip several times now, with Nicholas jogging most of the way. We end the trip with a Yoo-Hoo in the hotel lobby, followed by a bus-ride home.

Yesterday, we ran in the other direction to the shopping center where Nicholas gets his hair cut. We ran about 3/4 of a mile and walked the last 1/4, and after his haircut, we walked the mile back.

Pete

Going to the bathroom alone.

Nicholas started asking to go to the bathroom alone, without help from us, this weekend. He's quite comfortable doing number "1" by himself now, and no longer requires assistance. He likes his privacy (but who doesn't?).
Pete

Nothing too new to report

I noticed it was a couple of months since my last post, so here's a quick update, although there's really nothing new happening.

Nicholas is enjoying his new school, having moved a few months ago. He had no trouble adjusting and only occasionally asks about his old school and old friends. Nicholas has Spanish classes and already he brings home assignments that we can barely help with!

The carousel where we had Nicholas' second birthday opened for the season a few weeks ago and on opening day, Nicholas' photo appeared in our local newspaper, the Staten Island Advance. If anyone wants a copy of the page, let me know and I'll email it to you (it's already scanned and ready to go).

Nicholas' vocabulary and his memory for details continues to astonish everyone with his conversations in which he asks and answers about meaningful things and in which he expresses sincere concern for what others are saying.

I cannot remember the last time Nicholas had an accident, and he now requires privacy when he's in the bathroom. For the past couple of months, he'll ask for help with his clothes, but makes us leave the bathroom and close the door until he's done.

We'll continue to post videos and photos, so keep your eyes on the site.

pete

Nichoals is now 2 1/2 years old (30 months).

Toilet training: Nicholas has only had one or two accidents since the last post, so it's safe to say he's toilet trained. He's gotten quite good at holding it in, too - especially when we're not near a toilet or when we're in the car.

New school: Nicholas started a new daycare center about a month ago, where he has more fun and more structured learning with no television. He spends part of his day with older children (4 and 5 years old) and has been doing just fine.

Talking: at this point, Nicholas can talk about just about anything. His vocabulary and his feel for the English language is astonishing us all. He forms complex, grammatically correct sentences that would rival some teenagers!

Counting/Spelling/Time: Nicholas can count and can add/subtract fairly quickly now and is able to tell you how many of something he is looking at, how many have been added or removed, and can re-total quickly. We recently added a grandfather-clock type chime to our home computer and every hour Nicholas has gotten into the habit of counting the chimes aloud and announcing the time for us. He's grasped the concepts of naptime, lunchtime, dinner time, etc. based on the actual times, and has become accustomed to keeping track of time.

Nicholas now weighs 39.5 pounds.

More as it develops...

Pete

Happy New Year!

Anyone who saw us and Nicholas this holiday season at Harriet's house or at our house knows that Nicholas is a little man who never runs out of things to talk about.

Nicholas, who fully believes, received many gifts from Santa. Nicholas is already talking about next Christmas.

Potty-Training. As of a few days ago, we started Nicholas on big-boy underwear and we're really trying to do the potty-training thing. He's pee'd on the potty literally every night for many many weeks now, but has only finally done poopy this past week. He's successfully let us know when it's time to go BEFORE he goes in his underwear several times and we think we're off to a great start. He's also waking up dry in the mornings!

Counting. Nicholas has graduated from simply being able to count to being able to count things. He can quickly decide how many there are of something and if you add or subtract a few, he's able to quickly to tell you the new total.