Nicolas at 3 1/4

Well, what can I say about the my son at 3 years old? Sometimes, 'oh my goodness you are just the cutest, cleverest little boy and I love you to pieces' and other times I want to lock him in his room just to get away from him because he's just so wilful, naughty and annoying!!

My friends had all told me that 2 is easy and 3 is awful!! I have to say that the good times far far outweigh the bad, so on balance he's still a delight to be around. The main problem is he's given up is nap so by about 5pm he's exhausted and then he fights with Jaden and Kirsten, is mean to Adison and all while I'm cooking dinner!! At the moment he is playing a game with Adison in a cupboard Kenli gave us yesterday. They play together very sweetly in the morning and I make the most of 45 mins when they will entertain themselves before we leave for whatever we are doing that day.

Nicolas goes through phases of the toys he likes. It's bricks and lego at the moment but other times all he wants to play with is geotrax. He is very good on the computer but I don't let him watch any TV because if he watches for 15 minutes then all he begs for for the next couple of days is TV. He will just zombiefy in front of the TV and is completely oblivious to what is going on around him, whereas with the computer he is focused on what to click next and will ask me questions about the games he's playing, which I feel is better than the TV. Some weeks he'll only go on the computer for an hour or so and then other weeks (when I need a break when he should have been napping) he can go on up to an hour a day.

It's interesting to me how kids get anesthetized to scary things by watching TV because Jaden and Kirsten would watch any cartoon when they were little, but Scooby Doo scares Nicolas and anything like Ben 10 and even the Incredibles scares him because of the monsters in it. Yet another reason why the kids don't get to watch TV when he's awake and it also encourages them to play with their toys and make up games together. I always tell Jaden that when he's older he won't remember the hours of TV or video games he watched, but he will remember playing 'terror baby' and all the other games he plays with his brother and sisters.
The weather has been great the last few weeks and Nicolas loves to be outside. He is bad about throwing sand at Kirsten and putting it in Adison's hair. He knows he shouldn't and that he gets in trouble, but he just can't seem to help himself. I think it's the lack of impulse control they have at this age. It's very annoying, but he does play very imaginative games with Adison in the sand or in the rocks.

He speaks very well and is very expressive. We think he gets confused with what he has dreamed and what is reality because he will tell us crazy things that he's seen (yesterday a man with a tiger's head was in his room with lego in his pockets!) or done. He does tell us some wonderful stories and he always looks so serious when he's telling you. He also sees shapes of animals everywhere, in the clouds, in spilt milk and when he draws. He can now draw a pretty good circle but can't write his letters yet. I need to practice with him and I'm sure he could make an N.

I don't really think about what I say to the kids, but I try to make life fun by making up silly words, and it's only when they repeat things I say back to me that it makes me realize how crazy I must sound to anyone else. The kids are happy though and that is what is most important to me.

Nicolas is always singing, some songs I've taught him, but mainly songs he's learned at preschool. I love hearing him sing and change the words to fit in his family or things he likes, just to be silly.

I wish I could freeze his voice now because he sounds so cute, but I know it wouldn't be cute if he spoke like this at 25! I love the way he counts "one two tree poor pive" and his favorite song is "one two buckle my shoe", except he sings 'one two three, buckle my shooooo".

He still loves his gator and now it's getting warmer I had forgotten how much he likes to run around in his underwear! When he an Emilee are older this will be the photo to embarrass him with!

My most embarrassing parenting experience happened a few weeks ago in Chik-fil-a. They have a play area with a big glass window into the restaurant. There were about 20 high school kids in there doing some kind of project and I was having breakfast with a friend while Nicolas and Adison played. Suddenly I heard one of the high schoolers say 'look at the little boy' and as I looked into the playset, everyone started to laugh as Nicolas emerged from the slide with just his socks and t-shirt on! As I ran to grab him he announced to everyone that he needed a wee! Luckily I always carry a spare pair of short in my bag, so I put those on him, left Adison with my friend and rushed him to the bathroom as everyone giggled. Then I sent him back up the slide to retrieve his trousers and underwear. I suppose I'm lucky that he didn't do a wee in the slide!

When he makes me really mad I rarely feel sorry for him if he deserved his punishment, but just recently he has started wiping his eyes with his thumb in the corner of one eye and his fingers in the corner of the other eye, which is just how Adam rubs his eyes when he's tired. Even if Nicolas deserved to be punished, as soon as he does that it breaks my heart because he looks so like Adam that I feel as if I've made Adam cry!

As he gets older he just looks like Nicolas and I see less of Adam in him facially, but he does look more and more like Jaden. There is no denying his Woodall hands and legs though! I still see nothing of me in him physically, but he does use my expressions just because he's around me the most. Now he speaks better he is definitely 'an American boy', as he tells me often - patriotism starts young in the USA!! I thought he would sound a bit more English, but he doesn't.

When Mom and Dad were here in December Nicolas slept on Jaden's bottom bunk. Since they left it has been virtually impossible to separate them. Jaden is scared of the dark and Nicolas likes to warm his feet on your legs in bed, so even if they go to bed separately, some time in the night Nicolas will get up and get in bed with Jaden. Jaden says he doesn't even wake up and likes having Nicolas sleep with him, so until they are too big to share a bed, I don't know how we can stop them. This is what I see each morning when I go to wake Jaden up.

Nicolas has to rub his 'lovey' with one hand out of the bed as he's falling asleep. If you try to cover his arm up, he gets very upset. He will fall almost asleep on his back and then as soon as he is ready to go totally to sleep he will change positions.

There are so many other things I'm sure I should remember about Nicolas. He is my little companion and there is never a dull moment, or a quiet moment when he's around. He is always running, dancing, climbing, shouting or singing or all of them at once! It feels very strange if ever I drive somewhere without him chatting away in the back of the truck. He really is the center of our family and has cemented the bond between me and Jaden and Kirsten because when they drive me crazy I try to look at them through Nicolas' eyes. They are the big brother and sister he adores and misses like crazy when they aren't here for the weekend.