Two years ago today we ended our extended tutorial on parenting at the NICU, and began the first part of our practical take-home exam.  They were only willing to entrust us with one infant for our first exam, and decided that Nicholas bounced better, so he was the ideal candidate.  Plus, Dexter was on oxygen, and everyone was worried that our nightly arc-welding competitions might be a problem.  When we got him home we had the proverbial, “now what?” moment.  He had passed out during the drive home, and was now sleeping peacefully in his carseat, at that moment perched precariously on the kitchen table (it just didn’t feel right to put him on the floor – we got better, I promise).  (He looks like a grumpy old man, doesn’t he?)

And damn it, Katie – that was an iced TEA – STOP JUDGING ME!

It’s been two years since that day, and we are every day more and more grateful for him, for his boundless enthusiasm, his sense of humor, his compassion, and his curiosity.  Today we celebrate Nic’s homecoming!  He was born 95 days earlier, along with his brother, but this is the day that he finally came home, finally became solely our responsibility, and started to keep us up at nights.  This is Nicholas’ day.  It was another 19 days before his brother was ready to join him, so for that short two and a half weeks, we had a chance to learn who Nicky was, and watch hims grow.

We’re hoping to make it an annual tradition to celebrate their homecoming – the day they each get to themselves, the one celebration they don’t have to share.  It’s not supposed to be a gift occasion – it’s a celebration occasion.  So we tried to plan the day as Nicholas would like it.  In the coming years we’ll of course ask the boys what they want to do most, but this year we had to interpret “YELLOW!  BALL!  one more…  pleee!”   This year we celebrated by taking Nicholas to the circus!  It was the first time we’d ever done anything like it, and the boys both did GREAT!  We had tickets for the four of us, along with Malin, Grandma, and Grandpa.  It took us a long time to get out the door.  Both boys were in incredibly good moods, refusing to put shirts on, and breaking into all sorts of places they weren’t supposed to be.

They INSISTED on putting on shoes before they would put on their shoes.

And Nic made a break for it and made it into the den.

Tell me this kid doesn’t know he’s breaking a rule???

Don’t they look like such big boys, sitting in their own seats?

Dexter was incredibly excited, and was clapping along with the clowns, pointing and cheering.  Nicholas seemed to be a little bit overwhelmed.  He spent most of the time hanging out on Grandma’s lap.

This is just Nic’s style.  I think he loved it, but it was a lot, and when there’s a lot going on, Nic sits quietly and watches.  He was enthralled, though.

Dexter, on the other hand, leaves no doubt as to his mood.

After an hour and a half, both boys were getting a bit antsy, especially Dexter.  They started moving around a lot more.  Dex spent most of the first hour standing in front of his seat, but then bounced between people and laps.  Nic spent most of the time in Grandma’s lap, then standing, then Grandpa’s lap, then Malin’s, then Mommy’s (never Dad’s, though, hmm…)

We decided that sitting through another hour (which would have pushed us into dinner time) would be for our own edification, not for the boys, so we left at intermission.  We then went to the American Legion park to help them get some energy out, before going to IHOP for dinner (since Nicholas loves Pancakes so much).  On the drive to IHOP, Katie asked Dex to stop picking his nose.  He responded thus:

Boys…  Actually, both Nic and Dex were doing it, but before I reminded Katie to grab the camera, Nic had moved on to Peek-a-boo.

And after peek-a-boo, they held hands for a couple of minutes.

But then they realized what they’d done and reacted with HORROR!!!

Okay, not really, they just started in on another round of Peek-a-boo after Nicholas lost his shoe.  Anyone think we’re looking forward to that 5 hour flight next month?  Anyway, while ordering our dinners, Dexter turned to our waitress and ROARED his lion roar.  Much to his surprise and delight, she roared back (if a little bit more quietly).  Talk about working the tip, huh?

This all actually happened yesterday, the day before his homecoming, but we figure he’ll forgive us.  Today was much more low key.  We had hoped to go to a beach to let Nic pursue his most favored pass time of playing in sand and water, but it was just a bit too cold, and the boys were acting a little bit off (we think Nic’s gaining a couple of new molars, Dex is growing, and Joel’s just getting old and cranky).

We started by playing with trains in the morning (I set up their train set while they were sleeping last night, so they woke up to a new arrangement).  Dex slept in for a while, and Nicholas was just laughing his head off.  We played “catch” by rolling cars back in forth to each other in the kitchen.  A little later we headed off to Fred Meyer.  We started picking up some small toys as “door prizes” on the airplane, and most importantly, two new yellow cars.  The yellow cars are far too sought after to allow domestic tranquility.  We only have two, which is clearly inadequate, a point driven home several times a day.  So today we bought two more (NOT as presents to Nic, no, we bought them because we find it easiest to buy our children’s love and affection.  Completely different), and now there are four – one for each hand.  Of course this worked perfectly.  Now Nicholas has 4 yellow cars, and Dexter is still without and so he is getting upset and crying, but if we got any more Nic wouldn’t be able to carry them all, and he’d just start crying about that.

They crashed after we got home, but when they woke up Uncle Ryan came over, and they had a wild rumpus around the house, before a rather meandering walk around our trail (and a foot into dog poop – thanks for that, Nic).

When we got home, Nicholas loved the meatloaf and sweet potato dinner, and of course we bought him a desert with meringue.

Nic is not subtle when he’s happy, is he?

And there may be better times to play Peek-a-Boo, but I can’t think of any at the moment.

The homecoming KING!

We watched a little bit of Cars (I know, it’s still August, but it’s Homecoming, and Sunday night Movie night, and damn it we were tired), then had piggy back races around the house, king of the ottoman, hide-from-the-mommy-monster, and other general mayhem.

Now Nicholas is sleeping soundly in his bed, cuddled up to Trouble and Bernie (his stuffed animals), and sleeping on the unnamed Hippo.  He’s as precious as they come, and we’re both humbled and grateful for him every single day, even last Tuesday.

He’s our Nic.

He’s home.

 

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