Folks, another year has come and gone, and in just a few short days we’ll be celebrating Nyan’s second birthday. I know, we can hardly believe it either. To build up some anticipation for the big day, we here at Nyan Thomas World Headquarters will be taking a quick look back at the last 12 months, one month at a time. These posts will be on the brief side, and may be a bit inconsistent in their timing, as we’re in the midst of a move and have no internet access. But in any case, enjoy them as they come.

First up, his first month as a one-year-old: August 2012. (Yes, yes, technically his first month as a one-year-old started on July 26, 2012, but that’s awfully wordy. Let’s just round up, eh?)

August was quite the busy month. We moved into a new home in the leafy Wanstead neighborhood of London, complete with new appliances and a back yard to explore. Grandma L. came to visit for a couple weeks. The shipping company (finally) delivered dozens and dozens of boxes we had shipped from New York, so we could unpack and wear some different clothes from the ones we’d been wearing out for the previous two months. And perhaps most momentous of all, Nyan started nursery, a.k.a. daycare.

He was, as I recall, a bit of a loner at first; it took a couple of months before he really got friendly and interactive with the other kids. We were told that that’s pretty normal – although we’ve also noticed that that’s part of his M.O.: when he’s in a new situation (whether that’s meeting new people, or going to some place or doing some activity for the first time), he usually holds back, looking, watching, judging. We don’t force his hand, and just do what we can to make him feel safe and comfortable, and usually very soon – within half an hour or so, usually – he comes out of his shell and he’s playing, laughing, making new friends.

Nursery was like that, but writ large: he played quietly on his own, interacting only with his adult carers, for the first couple of months. It’s not that he was unhappy or upset while he was there, he was just doing his own thing. Of course, before long he started interacting with the other kids: in some cases he did a little pushing, which we did not encourage of course, but we think it was his way of saying ‘yo, don’t mess with me.’ And not long after that he was BFF with a whole slew of other kids. Miriam, James, Riyan, Alexa, Winnie, Ella… these days it’s hard to get him out of there some days as he just wants to keep playing or dancing with his friends when we pick him up around 5:30.

So that’s August in a nutshell. Busy, fun, and lots of new experiences. Not a bad way to start our time in London.