Happy 18 month birthday Nicie

(Note: This post is more than a week and a half late! With the sickness we have had and Nicie not sleeping well my late night blogging has been curtailed! It is now 6 am!)

Our little Nicnie is 18 months old! 1.5 years! OMG! My boys are growing up so fast!

Nicie's language development is really making quick progress now. He now says "thanks" and "thank you." It is the cutest thing when Jac and Nic are saying, "thanks," back and forth to each other as they are trading a bottle back and forth while in their car seats!

Nic's first real two words phrases started in San Diego a few weeks ago. I think the first one was "buy it" while we were in the Borders book store in San Diego! Oh man! He followed that with a lot of other two word "it" phrases - including "have it." Oh man! This week he added, "thank you!" I am not sure if he realized that the "it" phrases were two separate words but I am more confident that he knows that "thank you" is two separate words, because he uses "thanks" and "thank you" at different time. He says "thanks" so nicely it is really sweet!

He is also calling Grandma, "Nama," which is just too sweet for words. He says "Nama" all of the time! He doesn't have "Grandfather," down just yet but I am sure that will come soon.

He loves dogs! He gets so excited when he sees one in person or on TV. We have been giving him a nightly nebulizer treatment for the last several weeks (more about that later) and we have been showing him "puppy" videos on YouTube on the TV while we do it, and they are remarkably good at distracting him so he will at least sort of sit still and leave the mask on.

Nicie has been diagnosed with Reactive Airway Disease (RAD) by Dr. P, his pediatrician. Basically, this means that when he gets an upper respiratory infection he tends to get bronchialitis, or inflammation in his bronchia, which means that he wheezes when he breathes. This may or may not mean that he will have asthma when he is older, but for the time being it means that when he gets wheezy we need to give him a bronchodilator in a nebulizer several times a day. Fun! Oh man! He was so mad the first few times we did it. He screamed and yelled. I did not believe the doctor and nurse when they said he we would get used it! He did! He actually climbs up on my lap and lets me do it now! The puppy videos help! We have to do it for five minutes at a time which he still doesn't like but the first minute or two are now pretty painless.

He is moving with a lot of confidence now. He is going up and down stairs more easily, especially down stairs. He can up a few stairs without hands and he can go down a few without hands also. He is running everywhere - and yelling "run", while he does it!

A few things in his behavior have gotten worse though. He really likes to throw, which is great, except that he throws all sorts of things, and he throws them when he is upset. Just as an example, tonight he had a metal sippy cup and he asked me to put more drink in it. I put some water in it and he got upset, he wanted to take the top off of it, but I wouldn't (because he spills open cups all over everything). When I wouldn't do it he cried and fussed and then threw the sippy cup at the bed. A lot of times he will throw the offending object at me, or someone else. Bad. He also likes to throw his food, especially when he is done eating or doesn't like something. I think we are about to have to go to a zero-tolerance policy on the throwing because more gentle approaches have not worked and it is getting dangerous as he is strong and a good thrower.

The cute thing about the throwing or other undesirable behaviors directed at me or Daddy is that after he does something that hurts you, he gives you a kiss. Augh!

He also very sweetly kisses and hugs Jac when Jac gets hurt (through Jac's own doing). Tonight, Jac hit his head hard on the couch, and I took him into the bed to soothe him. Nic followed, and gave him hugs and kisses to help!

He CAN be a true love bug. He gives great hugs! Wrap around the neck and hold on tight hugs!

He loves to nurse! He calls it "Boo Boo Eh"! He doesn't nurse nearly as much as he used to, but for naps and sleep he always nurses (through the night) and when he first wakes up.

He laughs, a lot! He has a very infectious laugh, and when he gets going we all go with him.

He has a really expressive face. You can tell what he is thinking (sort of!) from his face, it is all there.

He loves to run head long into things. He runs across the entire bedroom and "bangs" into the window on the other side. We tell him not to do it but he does it anyway! He also loves to get a running start and run smack into my legs! Fortunately I can tell when he is lining up to run and brace for it!