Girlfriends and kisses

Of course we expected that at some point, Nick would have a girlfriend and would be handing out kisses to deserving people. However, we hardly expected it would be before he turned two.

While at the day care in San Francisco, he had his first girlfriend, Ruby. We heard stories from his teachers about him giving her hugs & kisses, but we never saw it so thought maybe it was their imagination. Then when we moved down here, he promply left Ruby in the dust - not another thought!! Poor girl. Now he has a whole new set of ladies to work his magic on. First it was Amanda ('Manda') and then it was Maya. Now his latest affection is Cindy. And this is the first time we've heard it from his very own lips.



Sigh, he's leaving a trail of broken hearts already. But at least he's consistent with his kisses for Mommy & Daddy. All while busily re-arranging the pantry, of course. Mommy never has it up to Nick standards...

The ABC's while eating!

Nick is learning to do his ABC's. He's gotten quite good actually and can even do them while he's eating. Notice the way he "slides" through 'L-M-N-O'and puts such dramatic emphasis on 'P'. And 'W-X-Y-Z'? Who needs them - they're rarely used anyway.

You'll have to turn your volume up loud to hear his voice...



Is he talented or what?

Turkey Day in Green Bay

The Desotell Family currently flip-flops holidays between Green Bay and Spokane - this year it was Thanksgiving in Green Bay. Kevin headed out early for the yearly hunt. And, being the animal lover that I am - the deer won - yay! (Sorry, honey!!)

So I was the lucky one who got to fly out to Chicago on her own with Nick. We flew on Southwest Airlines. I've always hated Southwest, but dang it if they don't keep doing things to win me over. This time they had a DJ set-up at LAX to keep all the passengers entertained. They also had a balloon-animal-maker person (what are they called anyway???) So Nick got his Turkey balloon and was quite happy.




The timing of the flight was perfect and Nick slept for over half the flight. And after he woke up, I had enough toys, books and snacks to keep him happy for the rest of the flight. Phew!

Nick's Aunt Cindy and Uncle Mike were kind enough to let us stay with them while we were in Green Bay - it was great and SO much better than staying at a hotel! Thanks Mike & Cindy!!

In Green Bay, they have a Wildlife Sanctuary that is pretty cool. So we bundled up and headed over there to see the wildlife. The last time we were there, the family of wolves numbered at about seven. This time there were only two wolves - not sure what happened to the other five. Let's hope they're out prowling around, eating tasty venison. Here is a quick pic - doesn't do them justice; they're huge and quite amazing!


Nick hitched a ride for a good portion of the park.


But we - I should say - Kevin - got tired of being the baby carrier and down he went.


I tried to convince him to walk on the snow with me, but he would have none of it.


There were a bunch of geese and ducks by one of the lakes (don't geese fly south for the winter? Hmmm...) Nick HAD to check them out - ducks are one of his favorite animals and they're usually the only resident on Old MacDonald's Farm when Nick sings it.


Note that he quickly forgot that he didn't want to walk on the snow...


Nick decided that he would "feed" the ducks & geese leaves. Since he was wearing mittens, he figured out that he had to press them between his mittened-hands in order to pick them up.


All that walking around, quacking and feeding is pretty tiring...


How is that possibly comfortable???

In-house biking

Much to the relief of Mommy's back, Nick is figuring out the whole push-yourself-on-the-bike thing. He's loving riding it around the house, running into things, etc.


"What, you mean I can't ride my bike in the bathroom????"


And a stop for a quick drink at the wine rack...


A toddler's gotta stay hydrated, after all.

Cousins hatching a plan...

Jocelyn's brother, Brian came down to meet wife Natasha and son Alex at LAX when they arrived back in the US after a visit to Natasha's home in Russia. The layover was long enough that we could all meet for dinner. Poor Natasha & Alex were exhausted, but we were able to grab a quick bite while the cousins got to know each other (they were 7 & 3 months old the last time they were together!) I think they're perfecting their mischief planning skills...

"OK. Here comes the waiter. You grab the bowl of chips, I'll get the salsa. Try to look innocent. Yea, like that. Good."


"Dude - you got the chips. Nice. Now where is the waiter with that salsa?"


Just a glimpse of what the Thomas boys will be getting into in the coming years... we're in trouble.

Spoon-er-rific

Nick has become quite proficient at using his spoon to eat. Sure, he gets some on his bib, but he can always scoop that up later.


Hmm... maybe if I use another spoon, I can get MORE in my mouth...


Yep, that's the ticket. Two spoons it is.

It's as if he was in the desert...

We give him a lot to drink. Really. Milk, water, sometimes juice. But given his reaction, you'd think he was dying of thirst.



Nope - just loves drinking like a big boy out of his cup. Not to mention playing with the faucet and soaking himself and whomever might be near...

A Boy and his Bike

Well, it's not quite a bicycle, but it's close. It's a Radio Flyer tricycle thingy. Not a true tricycle as it has four wheels. We bought this for him figuring he'd love to push himself up & down the sidewalk. Thanks to an "interesting" design, Nick's heels hit the back wheels as he pushes himself along, which - understandably - did not make for a fun ride.

He'll putter about on it a bit or hold one of our hands which sort of pulls him along...


But by far his favorite method of propulsion is one of us pushing from behind.


Or, better yet, with our hands on the handlebars too. He'll grab your hands and put them there if you are confused on the concept.


Here he is waving at Mommy...


She is going inside because she tweaked her back after pushing Nick down the sidewalk. Not quite the entertainment we were hoping for...

The Desotell's do the Dash

The Dino Dash! We signed up to help friend, Christy and her school where she teaches. The race was a 10K-5K-2K "Dash", with the 2K reserved for families & pets. It also happened to be the first rain storm that we've experienced down here. I'm sure others will think I'm nuts, but I loved it! It's not often you get "real weather" down here.

Here is Nick on the drive down to Tustin in the OC, happlily wearing Daddy's Packers hat (the Niners were on a bye week that weekend, so Mommy allowed it for the day).


Maybe Nick had a premonition that the Packers were going to lose later in the day...


Here's our little racer - lucky boy got the easy way through the route and cruised in his stroller.


And here is part of the crew (we were separated at first) - Tom Prendergast, Sr. (TJ's Dad), Jon, Margaret, Kevin, Noah, Kyle & Nick. Not pictured are TJ, Christy, Rowan, Riley, Dave and yours truly.


Noah & Kyle ran the whole way (and so, not by her choice, did Margaret). Noah was photographed at the end of the race and was in the Orange County Register (the local OC newspaper). We hang with famous peeps!!

Tigger says Happy Halloween!!

So Nick was Tigger for Halloween this year - and a cute one at that! We decided he is still too young to take Trick-or-Treating this year, so we stayed at home to answer the door - or so we thought. It turns out that since our part of the neighborhood is sort of cut off from the main part by two main roads & a railroad track, most of the T-or-T'ers stay on the other side of Torrance Blvd. where they have access to more loot. Good that we didn't have to get up multiple times to answer the door or have Nick woken up by the doorbell, but bad that now we have a TON of candy to, um, discard of...

At Nick's Day Care they had a Halloween Parade and a little party after for the kids and parents. Nick was able to do a little Trick-or-Treating between classrooms, so - not to fear - he did get to do a little. Unfortunately since Mommy was with Nick in the parade and Daddy was scrambling through traffic to get there, we don't have any pics of the parade.

Here is the perfect example of Nick's attitude when Mommy gets out the camera.


A full-length shot of little Tigger. And, for those of you that are wondering but are too polite to ask, yes, there is padding in that tummy! He's a big boy, but not THAT big!!


Nick keeping an eye on another student dressed as Elmo. Elmo can be sneaky and you gotta keep an eye on your snacks.


Speaking of snacks, here is Nick with his. Note the LOVELY fruit salad on his plate made by one Tigger-Mommy.


Nick apparently likes to help himself to other students' fruit when they are not looking. Heck, even when they are looking. The evidence - climbing over the table attempting to steal someone else's grapes (who said only Elmo's can be sneaky?)


In an attempt to help keep fruit stealing from becoming an class-wide epidemic, Mommy tries to avert the theft by sticking a spoonful of fruit into Nick's mouth. This only worked temporarily and children were "relieved" of their fruit as the afternoon went on...


Back at the ranch, Nick checks out Mommy's pumpkin carving skills.


Not to be outdone, Nick takes on his own pumpkin artwork project using (thankfully washable) markers.


Clearly Mommy's pumpkins are not up to Nick's standards and decides to add a few of his own touches.


Nick trying to convince Daddy that, yes, he IS old enough to go Trick-or-Treating so come get me immediately as I am NOT going down those stairs!


He did 'cruise' the neighborhood in his Tigger Moblie (aka stroller) but had no interest in ringing doorbells. I mean, why ask for food when you can just steal it, right?

LAX-SFO... Germany?

You know it's a good weekend when you start in San Francisco and end at Oktoberfest. The Desotell Fam headed up to SF for the weekend to attend friend Dorothy's wedding (yay Dot!!) The trip was short, but we were able to do a few of our favorite things.

Nick & Daddy heading to the car to meet Kevin's god-daughter, Emma, and her mommy, Hope, for dinner on Friday night. Mmm - Celia's. Tasty food and even tastier margaritas...


Nick checking out the BART schedule, making sure he doesn't miss his train.


The Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building on Saturday morning - can't beat it. As per his normal Farmer's Market routine, Nick 'grazed' his way through the place.


Mommy & Nick eating lunch at Americano. Nick has mastered drinking out of a straw - although he still doesn't realize that if he's sipping from a straw, he doesn't need to tip the cup up to his mouth. Hence the bib - or we'd have one wet Munchkin.


Nick takes advantage of an open couch - those can be hard to come by during a typical Friday happy hour.


A big day out makes for one tired little boy.


That evening, good friends Kirsten & Sean agreed to watch Nick while we went to Dot & Eugene's wedding. The report was that Nick was a good boy and didn't break anything this time!

The wedding was at the Old Fed in the Financial District. It was beautiful and so was Dot!


Here's the happy bride with friends Bindu & Thushara.


And the two of us enjoying a rare evening out sans-Munchkin.


So, where does Germany come into all of this? Why Oktoberfest at Alpine Village in Torrance, of course! It's apparently the biggest Oktoberfest in all of North America. We returned home early enough on Sunday to catch the last day.


It was lots of fun - tons of kids running around, fun music - balloons for the kids...


And, of course, beer. You can't be at Oktoberfest without drinking a stein of beer, can you?

Yes, more Vegas photos...

I told you there were a lot! Just a few to update here...

I mean, really, don't you want to see that little face?


Someone said this should be our Christmas photo for this year. Hmm, given how my dress makes me look about seven months pregnant, no thanks!!


Nick's face says it all - "Who ARE these people and WHAT did they do to Mommy & Daddy?"


Kevin hates me posting the pics with his wig on, but I just can't help it.