Happy Six Months Birthday!

Six Months Old!!

Dear Nicky,

Today marks six months since you were born. You have enjoyed many holidays, including Fourth of July (kind of), Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! We are all "astonished" at your active little self... big, smiling, curious, sweet, determined, passionate, and imaginative... everyday we think how blessed and happy we are to have you in our lives. Your grandmas can't get enough of you, in person or via Skype. Your grandpas are equally enchanted! In just over a month, you will finally meet the rest of your Brazilian clan (at least a fraction of them...) You still adore walks, baths, clapping, pinching, petting Inca and Manny, touching and grabbing anything, playing peekaboo, giving us slimy kisses, rolling into dangerous situations, growling, laughing, giggling, babbling, trying to crawl (tummy keeps getting in the way!), drooling, drinking juice and water from our glasses, eating bananas, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, and whatever else you can get your hands on! You look longingly at our heaping plates... waiting for the day that you, too, can dig in! Since one of your side incisors seems to be coming in early, this day is not long off, I'm afraid... Time to buy a highchair!

This Christmas, you got lots of great toys, including a wooden train, a musical workbench, a huge Mickey Mouse doll, and a cool 'leather' jacket. You had so much fun opening presents and hearing the crinkle of wrapping paper. You got to spend lots of time with Grandma and Grandpa (get well soon!!), Mommy and Daddy, and of course, Inca and Manny!
Nicky, we hope you will learn that Christmas (and hopefully life in general) can be about joy and sharing, and being with family. We will take you to make a donation to SOS Children's Villages in Juiz de Fora when we visit Brazil this February, so you can help some children who do not have families to care for them. (Nicky's fans: visit SOS's website to see if you can help, too.)

Nicholas, you are the joy of our lives! Happy six months!

Love, Daddy, Mommy, Inca, Manny, and the rest of your family and friends!!






Almost six months ago.... look how little!!! And what hair!

Merry Christmas... Feliz Natal

Hello everyone! Oi gente! Merry Christmas and Feliz Natal!!!!

Unfortunately, my mother lost our camera somewhere between the mailbox and the house after Daddy's graduation ceremony! Can you believe it? She can't! She thinks it fell in a snowbank, or worse, got plowed... hopefully it will appear once the snow melts... But, my grandma lent me her camera, so there will be pictures posted tomorrow of me enjoying my first Christmas! Boy, life is great! I love you all and send you lots of hugs and kisses, and of course, many smiles!

Infelizmente, minha mãe perdeu nossa câmera em algum lugar entre a caixa de correio e a casa depois da formatura do papai! Vocês acreditam? Ela não pode... Ela acha que a câmera caiu na neve, o pior, ficou soterrada por o camionete que limpa a neve da estrada. Esperamos que possamos encontrar a câmera na primavera. Mas, minha vovó me emprestou a sua câmera, então amanhã publicaremos fotos minhas curtindo minha primeira noite de Natal. Ay, ay... que vida boa! Eu amo todos vocês e mando muitos abraços e beijos, e claro, muitos sorrisos!

Beijos and Love,
Nicky :)

Winter Wonderland

This has been a week of trains and snow. We were fortunate to escape the ice storm that has ravaged much of the northeast, and instead have around 10 inches of fluffy snow. Snow, although it causes problems, is much less dangerous and destructive than ice. It has remained too cold, though, to make a good snowman. Today we tried-- we did manage to throw Inca some snowballs which she never could find... no wonder she was going beserk and wild. Nicholas enjoyed his little foray through the snow in his stroller. He was very content and tranquil all bundled up, and promptly fell asleep.This week, Mommy made, against all odds, a gingerbread train from scratch. She is NOT "crafty", and usually such projects, even if there were time for them, end in utter despair and disaster. But this one, spread over some 4 or 5 days, turned out reasonably well, if you don't look too closely! Actually, it was very fun.

The gingerbread train preceded the arrival of the HO-scale trains by a day or two. Bruno engaged in many a bidding war and surprise last minute bids to win his starter collection from eBay. Nicky seems to enjoy watching the train go round the table, and he tried to grab it once, resulting in a derailment...

This week we are looking forward to Bruno's graduation ceremony. Although he finished his B exam in August, he doesn't get to officially graduate until Dec. 20th. Grandma and Grandpa Spofford will be coming, so Nicky is pretty excited to see them again. We still aren't sure what our plans for Christmas will be, as we would prefer not to spend most of the day in the car. We are sure, though, that we're very happy to all be together this year, for the first time! We certainly hope to enjoy the holidays with as many friends and family as we can.

All I Want For Christmas....

Saturday at the Big Red Barn was Nicky's first Christmas party -- and his first chance to meet Papai Noel. However, Nicky soon realized he could pull off this particular Santa's beard, and accordingly, he was not too impressed.

Lately Nicky, who now weighs over 22 pounds, has been perfecting his rolling technique. He "suddenly" appears 3 feet from where Bruno or I set him down, looking as innocent as can be. He's also become very vocal again, babbling lots of sounds, especially Bs and Gs. One day I heard "mama", but this was by no means intentional or repeatable! Still, it's very interesting to hear near-words coming from our little sweetie!

Nicky is watching the presents pile up under the tree. He dictates the following "wish list" to me to write to Santa (and his trusty elves):

Dear all,

This year I will be just about six months old for Christmas! What I would like most is to visit with you! I love new faces, and I love to play. If you want to bring me something, I would appreciate a toy I can grow with and that encourages me to use my imagination, like blocks or books, even if they are a little too old for me now. I am developing really fast, after all. Hand-me-downs are just fine! If you bring clothes, size 12 months is a minimum! My Daddy and I are collecting HO scale trains, so we'd love anything like that! But I have lots of things already and what I need most is lots of love and friends. So, I hope to see you, sing with you, and squeeze your nose! : )

Love and Beijos, Nicky

Jumping for joy!

A short video of Nicky in his jumperoo: