Nicholas Ryan Williams

The Story So Far:

Nicholas at Pump It Up!...

30 Dec 2006

Nicholas a future pastry chef?

23 Dec 2006

Nicholas and the Christmas program!

19 Dec 2006

Nicholas and astronaut training...

17 Dec 2006

It's all in the bait you use...

10 Dec 2006

  • Building a better Nicholas trap... [Web / Reprint]

Nicholas is not at all camera-shy...

05 Dec 2006

One tired boy...

06 Oct 2006

Nicholas' word of the day: upside up!

12 Sep 2006

Nicholas' first day at pre-school!

05 Sep 2006

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Open house at Nicholas' pre-school!

31 Aug 2006

It's a tough job being silly...

19 Aug 2006

Chef Nicholas!

23 Jul 2006

  • Nicholas helping mix the cheese for Mommy's birthday lasagna... [Web / Reprint]

Cowboy up!

12 Jul 2006

  • Our l'il pardner... [Web / Reprint]
  • It's not easy being being the long arm of the law in this here town... [Web / Reprint]
  • He's ready for Cowboy Day at YMCA Day Camp! [Web / Reprint]

Jungle gym!

07 Jul 2006

The chair is not the most sturdy...

05 Jul 2006

  • Nicholas takes a hard corner in his new chair... [Web / Reprint]

Nicholas on the Fourth of July...

04 Jul 2006

Hide and seek, sort of...

28 Jun 2006

  • The best Nicholas trap ever invented... [Web / Reprint]
  • The art of hide-and-go-seek: try not to laugh and give your position away! [Web / Reprint]

YMCA Day Camp, part deux!

27 Jun 2006

  • Nicholas enjoying YMCA day camp! [Web / Reprint]

YMCA Day Camp!

19 Jun 2006

More fun at the Little Gym...

10 Jun 2006

Nicholas' Third Birthday Bash!

03 Jun 2006

Nicholas' words of the day...

22 May 2006

On our trip to Baltimore for Alexander's follow-up with Dr Bruce tomorrow, Nicholas decided that he wanted to educate us on the finer points of the language as described in the Hitchhiker's Guide to a Three Year-Old's Language.

For example, the place that we were staying overnight was called a ho-towel, In Nicholas' world, that is a noun that seems to mean the same thing as hotel.

And what did we watch several of on the drop-down TV monitor in the Sienna on the way to Baltimore? Yep...a DVDVD.

But the funniest one seems to be a nearly constant (ab)use of the perpendicular pronoun in pretty much every sentence he utters. Just substitute I for mine and you'll be fine. (Ugh, poet and don't know it...ack!!! I did it again!!!)

Seriously, the boy has actually had a remarkable command of the language from quite an early age. There was rarely doubts as to what he actually meant and his use of complete sentences for quite a while now is just marvelous. I mean, how many three year-olds do you know that can carry on a quite lucid conversation (either live or on the telephone) without necessarily getting bored after the first few sentences?

The boy is going to strike terror in the hearts of English teachers in our schools. Yep, that prediction is a freebie...the pre-school and early grades of elementary school are just not going to know what is going to hit them when he walks through the door.

A-B-C. 1-2-3.

Yeah, right! Oh, dear school teacher...your grammatical constructs are much too simplistic for me... ;)

You think I'm joking but I can totally see him rocking his teacher's world. After all, how many three year-olds do you know who prefer the word aircraft to airplane?

He's going to be a scary one in school. Scar-y, I tell you!

And I can already see where he's either going to be a teacher's dream or a teacher's worst nightmare. You know the kind of kid I'm talking about, don't you? That helpful kid that is most likely to be the A.V. monitor that threads the film projector because the teacher can't figure out the serpentine feed system on your standard Bell and Howell 16mm film projector. (I just might have given away something here...)

You think I'm joking but you can already see it in his gym class. He's just GOT to help hand out the bells or put the rubber balls away. Poor Miss Lauren never knew she was going to have such a helpful (well, most of the time) shadow.

And heaven forbid someone actually open the front door of the gym without his assistance...just can not happen in his world! When Donald Trump is doing the 25th season of The Apprentice and Nicholas is the one who is opening the door to Trump Tower, don't say we didn't warn you!

But we wouldn't trade him for the world...no matter what he ends up doing with his life.

The Terrible Twos End At Three, Don't They?!?

11 May 2006

With all of the excitement surrounding Alexander's second brain surgery and the advent of Kathryn Erin in August, it would be very easy to forget that our big boy is getting bigger and older right before our very eyes.

Whenever you have more than one child, each child usually has a unique experience growing up and it can vary dramatically depending on where in the pecking order you are. You know the usual bit...the oldest is supposed to be sooooo responsible, the youngest gets away with everything the older ones never dared, and heaven help you should you be born in the middle because you've just found the one Purgatory that is probably worse than being Vice President of the United States.

Guess what, buddy! You got the genetic equivalent of the short straw by being born first! We may not agree on much as you get older and decide to take an independent view of life and the world you find yourself in (by the way, who in the world told you this was a democracy... we are here to defend it, not to practice it!). But if we disagree on everything else, believe me when I tell you that I've had the job and there are lots of time that the job really stinks.

Let's take the biggest challenge first, shall we? Imagine this, if you will...your parents are two people whose training for the job for which they embarked upon years ago came from the latest neat-o theories from the books they read, the experiences they had when they were growing up in your grandparents' home, and the horror stories from the friends they don't see much of any more. It's almost laughable to consider that you have to get a license to get married or drive a car (implying that there is at least some basic training before said license is granted) but there isn't any required training or licenses for having a child.

Guess what that makes you (and all first born!). Let's see...four-legged cute and furry rodent with a remarkable ability at reproduction...yep, you're the guinea pig in the experiment!!! It gets a little frustrating that just when you think you know the rules, the rules change (because we're learning just as much as you are at the same time). And I can assure you that at some point in your life, you're going to think that Alexander and Kathryn are getting away with murder doing things you could never contemplate. It's a well known fact that parents get cooler as you get older...that doesn't help you when you're railing against the unfairness of seeing them get away with things that would have landed YOU in time-out or worse but hopefully it helps knowing that we do get it. :)

But then there is always the responsibility that goes along with the job that you really never asked for in the first place. You've got to be nice to your brother and sister and look out for them. You can't knock them over like a bowling pin, no fighting with your brother and sister even when they start it, etc. You're constantly getting in trouble for things they instigate or do because you're older and you know better.

Yeah, been there, done that one as well. And I can guarantee you that you'll find yourself in the penalty box at some point because little brothers and especially little sisters (who have the unfair weapon of feminine allure and lovely eyelashes they'll bat in a second to sell you down the river!) learn very quickly how to get someone to serve their penalty in the sin bin for them. All I can suggest is to try to love them anyway even whilst you're fuming about the five for fighting you got for dropping the gloves and going with them...and remember that were you in your shoes and the choice was between you taking the penalty or someone else, you'd probably stick it to the other person. Before you tell me I'm completely out to lunch on that idea...you might want to remember who was blaming his baby brother for his own gas...and that at a very early age for your last birthday, eh? ;)

All kidding aside, you've had a heck of a past year and in a way, you've had to grow up awfully quickly being the big brother that Alexander (and eventually Kathryn) needs. Just think about how far you've come in the past year...you've been talking in amazingly complete sentences for a long time, potty training was way easier with you than is normal, you've really done amazing in gymnastics...and you're still adorably cute when you set your mind to it.

Not everyone will understand how tough it's been for you to live in Alexander's shadow (because he's pretty much defied the odds of what most middle children experience) but the fact that you've done so with as much grace as you have really speaks volumes as to how true a heart you really have. Never lose that ability to lead from the heart because even though sometimes you'll be hurt by it, you'll be lifted up far more often.

That's the job in a nutshell...it is all about heart and character and we are so proud of you for being a wonderful big brother in these challenging times Never forget that! Even with the occasional temper tantrum that's perfectly de rigeur for your age, you are still the best oldest brother Alexander and Kathryn could hope to have.

Sometimes the job stinks on ice...but more often than not, it's really worth it. :)

He's out...

18 Mar 2006

Nicholas takes aim at some Cheerios!

01 Mar 2006

There comes a time in every boy's life that you get to learn how to pee standing up. The time-honored method for teaching this skill is to throw a few Cheerios in the potty and tell the kid to try to hit them.

Don't laugh! It works remarkably well (and besides, it's pretty fun and makes the kid forget they're learning something!).

Nicholas proved to be a natural at the art once he figured out what we were trying to get him to do.

Just call him Dead-eye Nicholas... :)

Nicholas attends Gabe's birthday party!

18 Feb 2006

Tonight was a special treat that found us out near the airport to attend Nicholas' friend Gabe's birthday party. If you were at Nicholas' party last May, Gabe and Nicholas (along with Grant) were playing in the water and did the follow my leader procession in the back yard. They are such good friends and love playing together.

The venue is a place called Pump It Up (insert link!) which has rooms full of inflatable slides and jumping castles...the works. Then after the kids have bounced themselves silly, it's time to head to the anteroom for the birthday cake and presents. It's a pretty neat setup and a very successful one...their rooms were definitely booked solid and you stayed on the hop (oooh, bad pun!).

Needless to say, Nicholas had a blast!

And we were thrilled when he slept well that night after having been thoroughly exhausted!

Sharing a bed...

12 Feb 2006

  • Uhh...knocking! Ever heard about that concept?!? [Web / Reprint]
  • Nicholas and Alexander... [Web / Reprint]
  • Nicholas and Alexander... [Web / Reprint]

Nicholas ascends the medal podium...

21 Jan 2006

Today was a special day at Nicholas' gym class with the semester-ending class where the Super Beasts showed off all of the gymnastics skills they had learned over the past couple of months.

Forward somersaults. Backward rolls. Monkey and donkey jumps. Flips. Balancing on the balance beam. Hanging from the uneven bars. The list goes on and on and it's amazing what these two and three year-olds have learned.

At the end of the class, it was time for Nicholas to join his class on the podium and receive his medal for gymnastics excellence. You would have thought that the boy had nailed a perfect 10 at the Olympics. And we were definitely proud of that medal, there was no doubt about it.

I think we've got just the spot for it in his room...

Nicholas at the RDU observation park!

07 Jan 2006

  • Nicholas at the RDU observation park... [Web / Reprint]
  • Good thing the park has a washroom (ooh, nice ERJ-145!)... [Web / Reprint]
  • Cleared for takeoff on 5L, fly runway heading... [Web / Reprint]