Nikos the Puppet Master (and other new tricks!)

I can officially say that this kid changes every. single. day! It's so amazing to watch him suddenly do things that he's never done before. Case in point: In the last week or two, Nikos started acting as a puppet master, of sorts. There have been many times since he was born when I've sat in front of the piano with him on my lap. He happily pounds on the keys and makes glorious music (hehe!). Same with the computer keyboard... I sometimes hold him in my lap and let him tap away at the keys, usually while on a website like kneebouncers.com. But lately, he's not content to just hit the keys himself. Instead, he'll reach down, gently grab one or two of my fingers, and make ME do it instead! It is beyond cute! And if I pull my fingers away, he'll reach down and get them again. I got a picture of it earlier in front of the computer:

But wait, that's not all! Just today, I discovered something new about our child: he knows names! I had him sitting on the kitchen island (I was holding onto him, obviously), and the parrot was making all sorts of noises. I said something to the effect of, "Oh, silly Corky..." and Nikos instantly turned to look at her. A few minutes later, I asked him "Where's Corky?" and he did it again-- turned to look right at her, with no hesitation! A while later, we were playing on the floor. I said "Where's Charlie (the cat)?" This time he looked at the cat and smiled. I asked him about Corky again, and he swiveled his head around to look at her. I couldn't believe it-- he knows who Corky and Charlie are! He knows and responds to his own name, and has for a while, but it shocked me that he knew who our pets are. He's growing up!!

On a side note, Corky now says Nikos' name CONSTANTLY. We didn't even teach her-- she just picked it up from listening to us. It's pretty cute, too, if you ask me!

And finally, just for good measure: Some really excellent pictures of Nikos for you to look at!
>> Click Here! <<
Gus' friend Min came to visit last week, and brought his Canon Rebel EOS. We got some great shots of the little guy-- much better than I get with my junky camera! I have been dreaming about buying a digital SLR camera... maybe soon! :)