…and more. Those are just three of the money adjectives that could describe my little angel.

Brave. Why not? He’s not afraid of getting hurt just as long as he gets what he wanted. He wanted to reach for Mommy’s stuff at the top of that desk. He bumped his bottom on the floor thrice, still he stood up as if he wasn’t hurt and tried and tried again. He even posed to give me that smile. Oh no, no cowardly tears for my brave Nicholas.

Smart. Very smart. That’s my little boy. You just whistle at least three times and he’ll try to give a sound as if he’s whistling too. Just say a word and he’ll try to say the word too. Just ask him where his Mickey Mouse cuddly is or where his food are stored or where his milk and bottles are and he will show you where by going there himself or just look at it if he can’t reach it. Just tell him to put the phone on his ear and say hello to Mommy and he will gladly do so. Oh yes! My little angel’s very smart. Oh it runs in the blood, I never really doubt his intelligence. LOL!

Determined. Just like his Mommy. If he don’t get it in one try, he’s willing to try twice, or thrice, or nth time, until he gets it. Just like when he wanted to stand by himself. At first he’ll fall, then fall again, and again. But that didn’t stop him. Instead, it drove him to try some more. Until he was standing with all the big smile on his face. I just know it, my baby’s a natural winner — never a quitter. Way to go my darling!

So yes, I’m excited to find out more about my darling’s traits. I know I’m bound to see some negatives as well. But that’s why I am here to guide him and make the negatives more positive. I always wanted my son to grow up into an honest, generous, responsible, loving, respectful, courageous, fun-loving and God-fearing individual. It will be hard to mold him into one but I, together with my partner Mark (Nico’s loving Dad) will do our best to do just that.

Hmmm… Wondering what happened to it?  Here’s the culprit!

Ahhh! Monster! LOL! Yeah, my little darling’s teeth are so sharp I guess (nah, that’s not a guess, I’m sure they are sharp, my arms, my shoulders and my hands have been bitten by those for so many times already). Look what he did to his bottle nipple! What happened was that, we were having dinner (he loves rice with any viand) and were actually having a good time. Then I thought he’s got enough already so I told him “enough baby, here’s your water” (my fault, I didn’t give him his cup instead).

It turned out he didn’t like to stop eating yet so he got a little mad and bit the bottle nipple. He then shook his head (guess to say no) with a little too much emphasis (while his teeth are firmly attached to the bottle nipple). I was laughing because I thought it was cute. But then when he released the nipple I stopped laughing. I think I choked on my laughter. The bottle nipple is already cut in half and the other half is missing!

I then and there stood up, told him to open his mouth and reached inside. I was relieved that the other half of the bottle nipple was still in his mouth and he didn’t swallow it yet. When I held the other half on my hand, Nicholas and I were laughing and the nanny was laughing so hard as well. Oh boy! I had to kiss him and tell him never to do that again. It’s good I have a strong heart or I’ll have a stroke or some kind of a nervous breakdown

Oh well, one bottle nipple down. I was actually planning to replace that rubber nipple anyways since it’s the only one of those kind among his 9 bottles, the rest are made of silicone (same brand too), I just kept on forgetting about it. I guess that’s Nicholas way of reminding me huh! I have to make sure I don’t forget stuff like this again so this funny (and dangerous!) incident won’t happen again. But of course, I should never buy one of those cheap bottle nipples again.

Nicholas turned 11 months this morning. Just 30 more days and we will be celebrating his first birthday. Oh boy! I am excited but I’m also worried I may not be able to accomplish all my plans. It’s tough to be a single Mom huh!

Anyways, I am trying my best to give my little angel what he deserves — and he deserves the best. But I will post about my plans and what I’ve accomplished so far for my baby boy’s birthday on my next post. For now, I would like to discuss my angel’s milestones.

So after 11 months, Nicholas is already 28 inches (71.1 centimeters) tall, weighs 22.48 pounds (10.2 kilograms), has got 4 teeth, walking fast with one hand supported, walking 2-4 steps on his own, standing 5-10 seconds without support, saying “Mam” (mommy), “mal” (milk), “cat”, “tar” (car), “ber” (bird), “boh” (ball), “ter” (water) “baba” (Filipino for “going down”), “atyat” (akyat, Filipino for “going up”), knows (and loves!) “pasyal” (Filipino for strolling), knows and recognizes his toys by pointing at them when Mommy asks for each (there’s Mickey Mouse, Brownie, the musical toy given by Uncle Mark, and many more). He’s also remembering stuff he likes. One is the sound of the ice cream man. Well, my officemate once bought him ice cream from the ice cream man so everytime he hears the ice cream man’s music, he gets excited and points at the door with all smiles, hehehe.

Ahhh.. So much have happened in 11 months time. I never thought parenting can be both energy-consuming and energy-boosting I’m proud of my Nicholas’ milestones though other babies may have more teeth or more words or more growth, still, my little angel is one of the two best thing that ever happened to me.

My boys happily playing with each other, sgh... they look good together, a happy father and son :)

Hey! A month more and we will be celebrating his birthday! Oh boy! I’ll be busy as a bee! Oh gosh! I’m excited for my little darling!

We just moved to a new place. This is Nicholas’ 4^th home already and he never even turned one yet! Well, we were in Cagayan de Oro then before I decided to go home to Davao City and stay at my Mom’s house. Then due to some unavoidable circumstances, Nicholas and I have to find our own place. But then after five months of staying in the old place, I realized I am putting my son in great danger since the place isn’t really safe for him. And so Mark and I decided for me find another place – a safer place for me and my baby.

We rented a home near the beach. It’s a 15-minute drive to downtown (without the traffic) and situated in a peaceful and friendly community. The house isn’t really posh but it’s way way better than the old place. It’s got all the essential parts like rooms with built-in cabinets, a tiled sink with in-wall cabinets, a small yet clean toilet and bathroom, and a wooden fence… no rats thank God!

Well, I took pictures the day we moved in and Nicholas was actually confused with the sudden change in the environment so he was grumpy the whole day. The place is big enough since I don’t have appliances except for my computer, the refrigerator, the fan and the rice cooker. Yes, no couch in the living room, just three monoblock chairs surrounding a very small table for four. And yep, no television yet — I know Nicholas will be bored in the house the whole day without any music or entertainment so I will have to find a way to buy him a television. Then he could start watching those educational videos that I downloaded for him

So there. It’s not really a beautiful house like my Mom’s, it’s not full of beautiful things and appliances as well, but I will make sure this will be a temporary home sweet home for Nicholas, me and Mark (2 months from now), until we finally settle ourselves to our own home.

Ohhh! Cute little guys! They’re starting to be great buddies already

That’s Ivan with my Nicholas. Ivan is my sister’s only son and he is turning 2 on January 2010. He’s a handsome young boy, as handsome as my angel (well, it seems like beauty runs in the family, LOL!). Ivan is actually about four to six inches taller than Nicholas but my angel seem to appear taller and bigger than his cousin. Hmmm… I do have a BIG baby!

I like the fact that Nicholas is close to his cousins. Ivan for instance smothers kisses onto Nicholas’ face (even on his arms and legs!) everytime we go and visit them at my Mom’s house. Yep, Ivan loves Nicholas as my angel loves Ivan as well. It’s good to see them close like that, they’re soooo cute!

Well, Nico is a darling to all his cousins as well as his doting grandparents, aunts and grand aunts. Why not? He’s just a sweet and playful child… so adorable!