Each Day Brings Greater Messes


March 2009

stomp, stomp, stomp

Wherein We Do Not Find Any Britta Filters.

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  • 2009-03-03: Today, Niklas and I finally completed our weeks long quest to find his beloved yellow biscuits, which have been in short supply on the island since the container ship that brings various goods to the island caught on fire. "Woo hoo!" said Niklas. "We did it!" We found what I assume are the last couple of boxes in Bermuda at the drugstore where we had gone to find Brita filters, which are also apparently on the boat. It's good that we found the biscuits today, because Niklas was going through some serious withdrawl. Before our trip to the store this morning, he wanted to see if there were any in his Christmas stocking because St. Nicholas had dropped a few biscuits off there in early December. Also, my efforts to make homemade biscuits resulted in some vaguely biscuit shaped hunks of dough that tasted like particularly sweet pizza crust and were reviewed by Niklas thusly: "Put in garbage now?"
    2009-03-05: So we rode the ferry into town today. Niklas was all distraught because we were going to the barbershop, but his mood immediately improved when he realized that I was the one getting the haircut and all he had to do was sit around with Andrya. Also, he got a lollipop. I did not, which doesn't really seem that fair seeing as how I was a paying customer. Anyway, we had lunch with Andrya which Niklas always loves to do and then we took the bus back home. Niklas has an irrational love of the bus these days. This is quite preferable to his earlier life's irrational hatred of the bus. Quieter, too. In the afternoon, we went to the playground where there was much swinging, including a stint on the big kid swings which Niklas is generally opposed to as I won't swing him nearly as high on a swing where his not-falling-offitude is dependent upon his remembering to hold on to the chains.
    2009-03-08: Niklas had a bunch o' fun this weekend. On Friday, we went to the zoo, where Niklas looked at the fish, chased the peacock around a bit and kicked me in the ear while we played the upside-down game. That last part wasn't so fun for me. Yesterday, we went out to Dockyard where Niklas had some chicken tenders and ice cream. We also went to the Maritime Museum, but I assure you, the ice cream was what Niklas was super excited about. Today, he helped Andrya bake some cookies and then they went to the playground while I did some important work around the house.

    Here are some new pictures. Niklas is a lot quicker than he used to be, so there are a bunch of pictures of his back.
    2009-03-12: So the vast majority of the time, when we put Niklas down for bed (around 8:00, these days), he stays down until it's time to get up in the morning. That makes the following exchange between Niklas and I that much odder:

    (NIKLAS's Room, 9:15 PM)
    NIKLAS: Daddy!
    JAY (enters room): What's up, buddy?
    NIKLAS: I awake.
    JAY: I see that. Are you poopy?
    NIKLAS: Not poopy. Just awake. Take Pooh blankey, ball blankey, star blankey on the couch?
    (JAY verifies that NIKLAS is not poopy)
    JAY: No. You need to go back to sleep in your crib.
    NIKLAS: Okay. Watch Elmo when you get up.
    (end scene)

    So apparently, I'll be watching some Elmo tomorrow at 7:00. Huzzah.
    In an effort to get Niklas to use his potty and thus end our years of diaper based suffering, Andrya came up with a scheme to give Niklas a sticker book that he gets to put a sticker in each time he uses his potty. Niklas loves stickers. This started out great. The first day he got three stickers, the second day, he got four. Then he heard James' big sister mention that James got an m&m each time he went to the potty. Since then, there's been a one sticker day and one day (today) where he refused to use the potty altogether. I think I'm being shaken down for chocolate.
    We've been to the playground four times in the last three days. You'd think he'd be getting kind of sick of the playground by now. At least I'd think that, based on my own experiences. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
    2009-03-15: Yesterday, Andrya made Niklas some cupcakes for his half-birthday. Niklas helped out with the baking. This quote from him pretty much sums up the experience: "I dump dishwater in bowl when mommy's back is turn." Dishwater or no, success! Today, Niklas and I picked up some beach trash in the morning (here's where we had our morning snack) and then Andrya, Niklas and I went to the beach in a non-liter removal capacity in the afternoon. A fine time was had by all. Also, Niklas had a bout of insanity from about 11:00 in the morning until his nap at one. Diaper throwing, running about yelling, more diaper throwing, all that. Anyway, here are some new pictures.
    2009-03-18: So this year, we didn't just celebrate St. Patrick's day by wearing obnoxiously green hockey jerseys and drinking Guinness. Well, I celebrated like that, but Niklas was invited to plant a Bermuda cedar tree at the local golf course. Our neighbors Steve and Kylie organized the whole deal which featured thirty or so preschoolers playing in the dirt and then loading up on some sugar. Niklas had a fabulous time playing with the other kids, shoving dirt around with his hands and, especially, eating green cupcakes. Once the tree was in the ground, Niklas announced to all that it was indeed "time for cake." Here's the tree Niklas planted and this map shows where you can find it, should you visit Port Royal Golf Course.


    Here's the story of Niklas's most recent attempts at gaining some cultural perspective. There are also a few new pictures up.
    2009-03-22: So Friday was haircut day for Niklas. Did it go well? Well, let's see. The day started off alright, as Niklas I and took the early ferry into town with Andrya. We had breakfast at the Lemon Tree Cafe where we learned that Niklas prefers cheese danish to croissants. So far, so good. Then we checked out the koi pond. Great! Climb on the statue? Marvelous! Then, Andrya went to work and I told Niklas it was time for the haircut. Things kind of fell apart here. As I carried him toward the barbershop, he started yelling "no go to barbershop, no go to barbershop". When we got there, he started yelling "hood up, hood up" and when I took his hoodie off anyway, he started wailing "ready to go, ready to go". This went on for about ten minutes, after which his hair looked good again and he got a lollipop. So, no then. It did not go very well.
    2009-03-25: So, here's what just happened. Niklas had finished his lunch and we were hanging out in the living room watching Sesame Street on tv. I noticed that Niklas was pooping himself so once the grunting stopped, I asked him "are you done pooping, buddy?" "No, still pooping," he replied. This is usually how that goes, even though he's clearly done. Anyway, I let him watch Elmo do whatever it was he was doing for a few minutes and then I told him it was time to change the poopy diaper. After we agreed that Tivo would ask Elmo to wait for us, he ran into his room so as to be de-pooped. When he got there, he threw himself on the floor as he always does for reasons I can't begin to fathom. I picked him up, put him on his changing table and took off his pants. That was when a lump of poop fell out of the pants and landed on the changing table. As I have a lot of diaper changing experience, I knew that this was not a good development. It was then that I noticed that the back of his leg was covered in poop, as well as one of his socks. Thanks, Huggies. Five or six wipes later, Niklas was cleaned off and I had a lovely assortment of poop covered clothes and garbage. Examination of the inside of his pants proved inconclusive as to whether he got the poop on his socks when I took his pants off or if some poop fell all the way down his leg and got stomped into the carpet somewhere. So that's what I'm working on right now. Also, I think the poopy diaper is still in his room, so if anybody wants to take care of that, that would be great. I've already the clothes in the laundry, so don't worry about those. I'm going to go put some shoes on until this whole poop/carpet mystery resolves itself.
    2009-03-29: We took Niklas to church today. The Bishop gave an interesting homily which, if I remember correctly, was about how he had to potty, how he wanted to get down and how it was time to go. Niklas certainly brought the ruckus, including a sequence where upon being forbidden from picking his own nose, he tried to jam his fingers into Andrya's. Pleasant. Eventually, I gave up and took him outside where he could sit on a bench screaming without disturbing others. After a bit, he calmed down and wanted to "go back inside, see Mommy." Unfortunately, when we got back inside Andrya was already in the communion line. When we sat down in the pew and Andrya wasn't there, Niklas once again brought the noise. Once it became clear that my assurances that Andrya would be right back were doing about as much good as some sort of well known thing that didn't do what it was supposed to and is universally regarded as a total failure, we fled the church before bringing biblical wrath down upon us. Later, Andrya and Niklas made some cupcakes.

    I've once again received multiple complaints (all from Andrya, actually) that there hasn't been a picture update in a while, so look for that tomorrow. I haven't taken many pictures lately, so they'll probably be a bunch of pictures of whatever we do tomorrow. If there are a bunch of pictures of Niklas running around in the living room, you'll know it was rainy.
    2009-03-30: Well, it was not a terribly exciting day. This morning, Niklas opted to watch Big Bird and Baby Bear learn the alphabet in lieu of going to the playground, then we went to the post office and the grocery store. We spent the rest of the day inside hiding out from the rain. Luckily, there were a few more pictures in the queue than I thought, so the new update isn't just a bunch of shots of me and Niklas sitting on the couch (though there are several of those). Please to enjoy.
    2009-03-31: So Niklas finally got his long overdue chicken pox vaccination today. He was supposed to get it last September, but in the grand tradition of Brita filters and yellow biscuits, Bermuda was out of vaccine. Anyway, this shot went much better than the last one (whenever that was). There wasn't any crying or anything, plus there were stickers afterwards. To sum up, then, Niklas finds being jammed with a needle preferable to getting a haircut.