The days...

Dear Nicky,

These days are just wearing me out. You have a frenzy at night, you won't sleep during the day. Your eating is totally unpredictable. You have tantrums for no reason. Terrible twos indeed.

Love,
Dad

Sunday night...

Dear Nicky,

What a week! I'll you about it later.

Love,
Dad

Just drained...

Dear Nicky,

You guys slept late this morning. Later we went for a walk in the nice weather. Then Grandpop came over and watched you guys while I ran to the store. I came back to find you both crying. He meant well.

Love,
Dad

IOU 18...

Dear Nicky,

I'm sorry, pal, but it's been another of those long days, and your old man's too tired to think straight.

Love,
Dad

Nice sleeping...

Dear Nicky,

Last night and tonight you've been sleeping very peacefully. It's fantastic. Was it a cold or your teeth or the room temperature that kept waking you till now? I hope it continues!

Love,
Dad

Not yourself...

Dear Nicky,

You're right on target as far as being in the terrible two's is concerned. You say no to everything and you're not eating much. I know how frustrating it must be for you to want to feed yourself yet not be capable of it, but I'm frustrated too. And you've still got to eat.

Love,
Dad

Need to rise early...

Dear Nicky,

I need to wake up early tomorrow, but instead of going to sleep nice and early, I fooled around all night and now I can barely keep my eyes open. You didn't work great with your PT this afternoon, but you weren't as miserable as you were yesterday, so that'a something.

Love,
Dad

Long, hard day...

Dear Nicky,

You and your sister did not stop whining or crying or refusing to eat all day long. I am so tired. Today was rough, really rough.

Love,
Dad

We're all sick...

Dear Nicky,

You guys have colds, and now I have a sore throat, too. Isn't that great? But this morning you woke up in a good mood, clearly improv4ed form yesterday. Today Mom and Granny took you guys to a small petting zoo. A baby goat sucked on your hand, apprently mistaking your chubby little fingers for its mommy's teats. Funny.

Love,
Dad

Raptors...!

Dear Nicky,

This afternoon we all went to this place called the Raptor Trust. It's a place nearby, near the Great Swamp, where you can go and see interesting birds. It's like a hospital for birds. Injured birds are brought there and restored to health, and while there, are on display for people to see. We saw owl, hawks, falcons, and bald eagles, also vultures and ravens. Then we went for a walk in the Great Swamp. The trees have no leaves there yet, so it was hotter than we expected. This afternoon was kind of rough on you, because you seem to be getting your two-year molars all at once, which has made you extremely, extremely miserable, which makes Mom and me...well, you know. Hopefully tonight you'll sleep well because you need the rest.

Love,
Dad

Some standing...

Dear Nicky,

Just last week you weren't standing at all. Now you can do it for several seconds. Progress, my boy, progress!

Love,
Dad

Another pounding...

Dear Nicky,

Boy you guys tire me out. I must go to bed.

Love,
Dad

What a day...

Dear Nicky,

You kids wear me out, do you know that? Whiney in the morning ,whiney in the evening. Drives me crazy. Plus it wears me out. I'm so beat I got to go to bed.

Love,
Dad

Busy running around...

Dear Nicky,

We've been pretty busy the last couple days, eh pal? What with the flood and your incredibly uncomfortable teething on Sunday night while I was bailing out the window well in the basement. And then yesterday you go to the doc's, who told us your two-molars are coming out. Then today we listened to the audiologist at Stones, came back here for the window guy to come by, then we got some basics at Target, had a painter guy stop by late--just when I was getting ready to put you to bed. I gave you a does of bigger-kid Motrin before I put you up, and boy, is it working well so far!

Love,
Dad

The flood...

Dear Nicky,

I couldn't post last night because I was in the middle of bailing out water from the basement. We had a nor'easter come through and it dumped a ton of water on us and the window wells in our basement filled up with water. They leaked some water into the basement, but I caught it in time to prevent major troubles. Unfortunately, it took me all night, literally. I haven't slept a wink since yesterday morning around seven or so. I was in the basement for fourteen hours bailing and running the emergency pump. I saved our butts because there was so much rain the ground was saturated and it just kept rising up out of the window wells, inexorably. It finally tapered off around four or five this morning, after which I began clean duties. You had a rough night because your two-year molars are coming in, which made you extremely uncomfortable last night. Now I'm going to sleep. I hope you get some rest.

Love,
Dad

The deserted village...

Dear Nicky,

So today was a nice day and we all four went to the Watchung reservation to see an old abandoned village from the 1800's. It was kind of neat, and it was nice to get some fresh air, but the few houses that were there all sort of looked the same and were mostly run down. A few were inhabited. Apparently the government gives these houses to people for free with the only requirement being that they restore them. It was a nice walk, but I suddenly had to go to the bathroom very badly. Luckily there was a Port-a-Potty around. It was clean and had toilet paper. What a lucky day! You fell asleep in your stroller, which I laboriously pushed up a long hill. Then we drove around for a while so you could sleep, then we came home. I went and got a haircut and some more firewood. I came home to find you showing off for our neighbors from down the street who have a little kid with trisomy 21 who needed a feeding tube. We're pretty lucky when you think about it.

Love,
Dad

Friday the 13th...

Dear Nicky,

Not much going on today. I went and got the title and registration of our Subaru transferred to us from the leasing company. I was expecting a long delay and bureaucratically problems, but I was pleasantly surprised when everything went smoothly. I got a new set of plates too and had to come up with a new mnemonic to remember them. We took your sister for her nine-month checkup while Granny babysat you. Junie's doing just fine. And so are you. You're eating regular bananas now, have I mentioned?

Love,
Dad

Thanks, Pepcid...

Dear Nicky,

You've been asleep now since around seven. The past couple weeks you've been waking up crying and uncomfortable. Reflux. Now you're on Pepcid again and you're sleeping so much more peacefully now. I shudder to think how long you've had this reflux, and forgive me for not thinking of Pepcid sooner.

At Stones today you did quite well in PT and speech. Your self-feeding efforts still have a long ways to go, but we'll get there. This morning you were a little off as far as that's concerned, but you're still pretty cool.

Love,
Dad

Nice Wednesday...

Dear Nicky,

It was a fine day today. Nothing exciting happened. You ate a whole waffle and a piece of bacon in addition to your regular breakfast. Your nanny came over so I could run some more errands and do some yardwork before it rains. You're getting better and better at self-feeding, slowly but surely. Tomorrow we go to Stones where I hope you'll do as well for me as you did for Mom on Tuesday. You ham.

Love,
Dad

Just the three of us...

Dear Nicky,

Mom has to go to a sales conference for a couple nights, so we three are on our own for a while. I'm not worried. You kids are great and I'm proud to be with you. You also had your two-year checkup today. Everything looks good. You're back on the Pepcid and you got your last Hep A shot. I think that Pepcid will do wonders. Mom took you to Stones today, and she said you were incredible. You're just awesome, my little Nicky B.

Love,
Dad

Mondays are rough...

Dear Nicky,

Today was Monday. Mondays are rough. You sort of did okay with your PT this morning. You're cruising around outside corners now, too. If you napped as much as Junie does, you'd be twice your size now. I hit my head on a lamp earlier this evening. It made me so mad. You and I had some laughs this afternoon though, didn't we?

Love,
Dad

Happy Easter...

Dear Nicky,

Today was Easter. Nothing major happened; we went out to Aunt Dutchie's house for some good food. It was nice, especially since we didn't stay that long. You had a nice time with your cousins. We got plenty of leftovers, too. Nice. That's about it.

Love,
Dad

Close to standing...

Dear Nicky,

You seem close to standing up by yourself. I don't know when it'll be, but hopefully it'll come soon. Today you were pulling yourself to standing on furniture all over the house, couches, chairs, tables. I got you this play table which is like a piano that requires you to pull yourself up on it to play with it, which you do. You'll stand there for several minutes, playing music and shifting your feet, happy and comfortable. You also love to climb stairs, which is good and bad. Good because it's good exercise, bad because it's the stairs, and we don't want you tumbling down them. That would be bad.

Love,
Dad

No patch...?

Dear Nicky,

The last couple days, I've been trying to patch your eye like we've been doing now for I can't remember how long, but not only do you fight me every inch of the way, once I do get it on you, you pull it off a few minutes later. On the one hand this shows how smart and dexterous you are, which I applaud, but on the other hand, we patch you so the uncovered eye gets stronger. If the patch doesn't stay on, the other eye will become more problematic. So now Mom and I are talking about doing it seven days a week as opposed to the five days a week we've been doing till now. In other news, Granny and Grandpop came over to watch you guys for a bit while I ran some errands. I got the oil changed in the Honda and went to Target to get stuff for you guys. Not glamorous, but necessary.

Love,
Dad

Counting, etc...

Dear Nicky,

This morning during PT at Stones you counted to three in front of witnesses while we were all playing with the parachute. Then during speech you brought the spoon to your mouth a number of times and ate the yogurt off it. When we got home there was a message from the optician saying your new glasses were ready, so right after your afternoon speech session--which was fun because you kept laughing--we went to get them. But the lenses were wrong; they were way too thick, and we'd asked for super thin ones. You ate a whole banana today also. Pretty good day.

Love,
Dad

Bananas...

Dear Nicky,

Finally, today you ate some real banana, and you fed it to yourself. Till now you've always seemed to hate non-pureed bananas, but this time we finally got you to try it an you really seemed to like it. You did some good hand over hand with me this morning with your cereal, then even better when your OT worked with you and a bowl of yogurt. After that you kind of shut down a little bit since you were overdue for a nap. Around noon you took a nice long one, then woke for a late lunch and some banana. We'll have to add that to your repetoire now, since you ate it so nicely.

Love,
Dad

Staph...!

Dear Nicky,

Well, that infection was staph all right, but the antibiotics really seem to have helped. Your finger looks okay now, I think, but we'll be going to the docs again on Thursday to be safe. An added benefit to the antibiotic is that it's really cleared up your nose. I mean totally. Did you have a long-term sinus infection up there, Mom and I wonder. Now you're all clear and sleeping beautifully. You did okay at Stones and okay with your afternoon PT. I know: sometimes this stuff is so tiresome. I know also that you always do the best you can.

Love,
Dad

Early PT...

Dear Nicky,

Your therapist came to our house first thing this morning. We changed the schedule to make it more efficient. It was good because he's fresh and you're fresh, and I think it made a positive difference. You were in a good mood and very affectionate, doling out lots of smiles and hugs. At one point while you were resting, your PT stroked your head in a touchingly gentle manner. Afterward, you really had an appetite and ate your cereal nicely. Later you went down for a nap, and of course when I put you down, Junie wakes up, so no rest for daddy. After lunch I toted you guys out to the van and we went to the bank to pay the mortgage. A nice day. Your finger still looks a little red, but I'm keeping an eye on it.

Love,
Dad

April Fool's, 2007...

Dear Nicky,

Mom seems to think you're feeling better now that you've been on antibiotics for a few days now due to your finger. The medicine seems to have cleared up your nose a little, but one can never tell. But you do seem more eager to eat. Today was the day after your birthday party. You made out well with all the presents you got. Today was also junk day here in New Providence and so I took a lot of stuff out this afternoon. There was that filthy cabinet in the upstairs hall bathroom that I replaced last weekend, some planters from storage, a bunch of junked up toys that now longer work or you've outgrown, stuff like that. So actually, there was no fooling around today, we were thorough about cleaning up.

Love,
Dad