A Day in the Life of Thomas

Thomas' Quips and Quotes

2008-12-06T14:12:00.003-05:00

Thomas: ENV8ABF! What does that spell, Mommy?

Mommy: Nothing. It's not a word.

Thomas (exasperated): But I used VOWELS!!!

*****************

Thomas: Does half and a half make a whole?

Mommy: Yes, sweetie.

Thomas: YAY!!!!

*****************

Thomas (out of the blue, completely unprompted): I'm going to have a baby!

Daddy: You are?

Mommy: A what?

Thomas: I'm going to have a baby.

Mommy: When?

Thomas: Mmm...when I'm five....or six....or anytime. Maybe even when I'm as old as Mommy and Daddy.

Daddy: How old are Mommy and Daddy?

Thomas: I don't know.

Mommy: I'm almost 40.

Thomas: Gosh, I'm not even 50 yet. Mommy, you'll be 50 soon.

Mommy: Let me get through my 40's first before we start talking about being 50.

Thomas: 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, FIFTY!

Happy Birthday

2008-10-08T00:56:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday, little bear cub. There are no words for how much I love you.

Thomas' Observation on Growing Up

2008-04-23T15:05:00.002-04:00

Thomas and I were having a quiet dinner together. I was drinking a Mountain Dew, which is really rare for me, and Thomas knows he cannot have. The following exchange occured.

Thomas: Mommy, is that an adult drink?

Me: Yes it is.

Thomas: When I grow up to be an adult I can have adult drinks.

Me: Yes, when you become an adult you can have adult drinks.

Thomas (whistfully): Yeah....

Me: What kinds of adult drinks do you think you'll want.

Thomas (without skipping a beat and quite joyfully): BEER!

Oh the Things the Boy Will Say

2008-04-17T09:07:00.003-04:00

Thomas was peacefully eating some freeze dried fruit. He's obsessed with the Just Fruit brand, so much so I've known him to, on several occasions, eat a whole container at one sitting.

So he just came into the kitchen where I'm working, held out the empty container to me and said "Mommy, will give me some more of these so I can continue to crunch happily along?"

There are times that I really want to laugh my behind off at the boy, but I know doing so will just hurt his feelings. This was just such a time.

I shouldn't laugh, but...

2008-04-06T16:17:00.003-04:00

Thomas is currently playing with Daddy in the living room. I'm not sure exactly what they are playing, but I suddenly hear Thomas declare, "That's not your pillow, pussy dog." And he is now just repeating it over and over and over no matter how much Daddy is trying to curb the phrase "pussy dog."

Thomas is now declaring "If you don't stop taking my pillow I'm going to keep saying 'pussy dog.'"

Oh brother.... I'm just glad there are not visits to the grandparents in the near future.

Thomas Live

2008-03-27T20:35:00.002-04:00

You wanna see something cute? This is too freaking cute. Or maybe I'm just biased because he's my kid.

Video of Thomas and the Packing Peanuts

2008-03-18T17:17:00.003-04:00

Ignore my dorky commentary in this one.

Three Year Olds and Packing Peanuts

2008-03-17T23:27:00.004-04:00

Do not, I repeat, do NOT ever leave a 3 year old alone in a room with a bag full of packing peanuts.

From the Mouth of My Babe

2008-02-28T19:52:00.001-05:00

As I was telling him goodnight...

"Mommy, when I get big I want to be just like you....so I can have babies too."

*sniff*

Bye, bye diapers

2008-02-20T23:28:00.002-05:00

We are finally fully out of diapers, training pants and pull-ups. Thomas was fully day potty trained in late August/early September. But he still couldn't quite make it through the night without needing to go to the bathroom. And 99% he didn't wake up. I wasn't too concerned either and I'd been ensuring Thomas frequently that his body just needed time to learn to wake him up if he had to make a potty trip. He went longer and longer without having a wet pull-up in the morning. Also, if he had lemonade or juice for supper, I'd been getting him up at midnight to go pee. And let me tell you, the boy never wakes up. I carry him to the bathroom, point him in the right direction and he goes. I carry him back to bed and cover him up.

The first of February, Wade decided we should try to let Thomas go all night without a pull-up. We began with me - exclusively me - taking Thomas to the potty at midnight every night. Then last week I forgot to take him. He did have an accident around 4:00a.m. The night after that he had an accident at 6:30a.m. And since then, no accidents. The last few nights Thomas has even gotten up between 2:00 and 3:00a.m. to go. Of course he wakes me up to help him, but he still goes.

I've been very proud of him. I have let Thomas mostly choose his own course for this whole process and he's done a great job.

Brotherly Love

2008-02-07T09:10:00.000-05:00

Thomas and his best friend Mark share a few moments trying out Thomas' sleeping bag. They discovered the sleeping bag isn't big enough for two. But they were so cute giving each other a big hug and pretending to sleep.

Fashion Statement?

2008-02-07T09:05:00.000-05:00

Thomas dressed himself this morning - In his safari hat, red henley baseball jersey, last night's pajama pants, and my Christmas socks.

First, er Second, Day of School for Dino Tommy

2008-01-11T23:25:00.000-05:00

Thomas started preschool this week. My friend and fellow mommy Jennifer and I decided that it would be good to give our boys more structure in their learning, but neither of us are ready to send the boys to school. So we started jointly home schooling 2 days a week. Jennifer takes them one day and I take them another.

This week's theme was dinosaurs - one of Thomas' favorite things. Mark went along for the ride. I'm sure we'll do space soon to pique Mark's interest more.

Wednesday was my day and I totally forgot to take a few pictures of the boys. But today while sending Thomas off to Jennifer's house, I remembered.

Click on any of the pictures for a larger version.

Daddy helps Thomas with his backpack.

Leaving for school, aka Momma Jen's.

Arriving at school, aka Momma Jen's. (See Mark in the background waiting for Thomas?)

Classmates sharing some free play time with the playdoh before class begins.

Next week - manners, Dr. Seuss and snow....

Thomas and the Big Fella

2007-12-11T09:25:00.000-05:00

Clicky for a larger picture.

Thomas' First Joke

2007-11-15T22:27:00.000-05:00

We were reading a book the other day that had a joke in it. Thomas got it and found it quite funny. So now we talk about it all the time and tell it (mostly) to strangers.

Q: What kind of shoes to bears wear?
A: They don't wear shoes. They go bear-footed.

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T22:06:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately Wade had to be out of town this Halloween and couldn't enjoy the fun with Thomas and me. And really Wade is the one who loves this holiday. But Thomas and I made the best of it without him.

This morning we carved a jack-o-lantern. This was the first one I'd ever carved without help from someone. I thought it came out pretty good. Thomas also decorated some mini pumpkins with markers.

After our traditional Halloween supper of chili (don't ask), Thomas and I got his costume on and headed out. We really headed out a bit early, apparently. It was 6:00p.m., but it took us several houses before we found anyone who would answer the door. I was a bit surprised, especially since not that many people in our neighborhood have to drive long distances to work and I specifically skipped houses that didn't have a car in the driveway. However, once we got to our friends Anne and Jason's house at the end of the block, we noticed that there were several trick or treaters out on the cross street.

So after visiting with Anne and Jason a bit and admiring their pumpkin and bone lights, we headed down the cross street. My original plan was to let Thomas go down one side of our street and back up the other, but after we visited about 4 or 5 houses, he got so into our journey and adventure, he pressed on...and on...and on. I finally had to turn him around simply because we were getting so far away from the house, I feared I'd have to carry him all the way back. We ended up being out almost two hours. Thomas' bag was so full that by the time we got back around to our next door neighbor's house, we could barely fit one piece of candy in it. And I made the bag plenty big at 18x12 inches!

Once home, I let Thomas have one piece of candy before a very late bedtime. I also bought all his gum, which he is not allowed to have yet, from him for 50 cents. But he still has plenty of candy to last him a while. I think I'm going to have to buy more from him just to keep him from eating so much!

And without further ado, lots of Halloween pictures of my little zookeeper:

Halloween

What's Mommy's Middle Name

2007-10-21T10:40:00.001-04:00

This just made me seriously giggle.

Thomas and Daddy are writing names and words on Thomas' chalkboard. When they got to my name, Daddy asked if Thomas knew what my "real" name is. He answered, "Yawa." (Laura) Then Daddy asked if Thomas knew what my middle name is. Just as mater of factly, Thomas answered, "Yes. It's Mommy."

A Bundle of Joy

2007-10-18T22:13:00.000-04:00

My friend Jennifer recently passed on to Thomas a second-hand full sized dinosaur comforter that she aquired. Thomas adores his new "dinsor banket." So much so that the other evening during booktime he insisted in being bundled up in it. The temps that evening were in the mid-70's. I thought he'd get heat stroke before he agreed to come out of his big bundle.

October Boys' Zoo Party

2007-10-13T20:37:00.000-04:00

Thomas and his three friends turning 3 this month had a joint birthday party at the zoo today. They got to visit with a tarantual, lizard, and boa constrictor. They also got to see the fishing cat being fed. Birthday cake was plentiful; the weather was cool, but beautiful; the zoo choo ride(s) were enjoyable; and the birthday boys joyful.

I did a massive photo upload to my Picasa account of all the (unedited) photos I took at the party. There are 154 and lots of duplicates, which is the nice thing about having a digital camera. If you've got time or you're avoiding something you ought to be doing, feel free to have a look.

October Boys Birthday Zoo Party

No Itsy Bitsy Spider

2007-10-11T00:02:00.000-04:00

I cannot get YouTube.com videos to embed in the blog correctly. So, go here for a hysterically funny video of Thomas and Daddy playing their popular after dinner game "Spider."

Real Men Eat Ice Cream

2007-10-10T21:50:00.000-04:00

After Thomas' 3 year check up this morning, Wade and I took Thomas out for ice cream. Thomas chose Tie Dye sherbet. I don't know if the sherbet dyes ties, but it certainly dyes little boys.

Mommy Quotes Episode #2

2007-10-06T22:17:00.000-04:00

It's been about a year since I shared Mommy quotes with you. As I skim last year's version, I realize surprisingly little has changed.

1) Bear Puppet does not want to live in the refridgerator.
2) Again, please stop licking the playground equipment.
3) No, you may not cut apples with my butcher's knife.
4) No, you may not pee-pee in your water cup. Or your watering can. Or the vacuum cleaner hose. Or your dump truck.
5) Yes, you may pee-pee in the bushes in the back yard.
6) What kind of fruit do you want to eat? (pause for answer) Salamanders aren't fruit.
7) (Upon TJ being frightened by a stranger who came to Grandma and Papa's door) If someone bad is outside, then we just won't open the door. Yes, the doors are locked. No, no one scary is outside.
8) Why are you taking your shoes off in the middle of the street?!?
9) You must wear pants to Walmart. And Joann's. And church. And the grocery store. And the playground.
10) No more jellybeans!
11) What on earth is a vacuum cleaner elephant?
12) I love you too, my little monkey boy.

Quirky Things About Thomas

2007-09-30T20:28:00.001-04:00

An online friend requested some quirky notes about Thomas. Seems like a good idea. I post the funnier things he does, but not his quirks.

1) When Thomas uses the potty downstairs, he generally stands at the big toilet. When he uses it upstairs, he generally sits on the training potty. Both toilets are exactly the same.

2) All toys must be dismatled. Playing with them is passe, but destroying them is the "it" thing to do.

3) For that matter, toys are generally passe. Dirt, rocks, sticks, sand, mulch and water are much better playthings.

4) If I read a book to Thomas, he sits on my right side. If Wade reads a book to him, he sits on Wade's left side. I've only discovered this today. (And I'd prefer Thomas sit to my left, as the right arm is the one I broke in 2002 and still doesn't work very well).

5) Thomas has begun asking "why" questions, but only about direction. "Why are we going this way?" "Why are we driving on this street?" "Why did we get on the interstate?"

6) It takes Thomas a very long time to get to sleep. He's been "in bed" for 30 minutes tonight, and I can hear him upstairs still flipping through books to get himself settled. Putting him to bed earlier or later doesn't make a difference; he would still putter for 30 to 60 minutes before finally getting himself settled down enough to go to sleep. Once asleep, though, he'll sleep a good 10 to 11 hours uninterupted most nights. (Although he's currently trying to stay dry at night, so lately he does get up now to pee-pee somewhere between 3:30 and 5:30a.m. This is of his own choosing. I'm not pushing him on this).

7) Thomas can count to 12 without help, but skips 4 always. If you ask him to count out four of something he will count out "2 and 2."

The Boy is a Sponge

2007-09-30T09:29:00.000-04:00

Thomas and I went to a local fall festival yesterday. There were the standard games, crafts, a hay ride and some local talent. As we were getting off the hay wagon, Thomas noticed the Tae Kwon Do demonstration. I told him what the boys and girls were doing: "This is Tae Kwon Do, Thomas. It's a form of discipline and self-defense." He watched for a moment and then I led him away, as it was getting late and we needed to go have a nap.

Well suddenly Thomas dropped to the pavement and started taking his shoes off. "Why are taking your shoes off?" I asked. "Why you take your shoes off to do 'Tie Con Do' and I want to do it." Thomas responded as he ripped his shoes off and ran back over to the demonstration. I had to chase him over and really thought he was going to join them on stage before I caught up with him.

Mind you, I told him the words "Tae Kwon Do" once and never mentioned the boys and girls were barefoot. He picked up a lot in the brief moment we watched. Fortunately though, he's not trying to attack me (anymore than normal) or do round-house kicks. Probably only a matter of time, though.

Happy Early Birthday, Thomas

2007-09-22T10:19:00.000-04:00

Due to Wade's travel schedule, Thursday was the best day we found to celebrate Thomas' 3rd birthday with his family. Nana, Papaw, Grandma and Papa came up for the day to help Thomas celebrate. Later in October Thomas will have a party at the zoo with his friend Mark and two other boys in our playgroup who turn 3 in October.

Thomas had very specific ideas about his cake. He wanted a cake with zoo animals and red on it and the only candle that would do was the (previously used) #3 candle Grandma gave him about 2 months ago. He also wanted his cake to be red on the inside, "like Daddy's birfday cake." Daddy recently had a strawberry birthday cake - his favorite. Fortunately Mommy didn't disappoint. I managed to incorporate all Thomas' requests and he was very happy with what I managed to pull-off.

All the gift seemed to be a big hit - the scooter from Grandma and Papa, the big green recycling garbage truck from Nana and Papaw (who also got points from Thomas' hippy mommy for being a recycling truck!), and the Matchbox Car Wash from Mommy and Daddy. There were other gifts too that went over very well, but those were the biggies. I will probably post more pictures at a later day. What is below is all I can manage today.

Nana and Papaw went home on Thursday evening, but Grandma and Papa stayed until Friday afternoon. Upon their departure, they took Thomas home with them for his first overnight stay without me or Wade at their house. I will go pick him up this afternoon and I'm a little anxious to learn how he and the grandparents made out. I'm mostly worried about how easy or difficult it was to get Thomas to sleep last night.

But without furter ado, here are the pics. I love, love, love the two of Thomas and his cake.

"What Do You Want For Your Birthday?"

2007-09-15T13:23:00.000-04:00

This was the question Nana posed to Thomas yesterday. The resulting conversation went something like this:

Thomas: A thing with something like fingernails on it that picks up things.

Nana: What kinds of things?

Thomas: Things from the yard.

Nana (now a little confused): What things from the yard.

Thomas: Poop!

Nana (more than just slightly shocked): POOP?!?

Thomas: Yes, Nana. Dog poop!

Me (stepping in): A pooper scooper?

Thomas: YES! A pooper scooper!!!

Me: Thomas, do you mean to say you want a pooper scooper for your birthday?

Thomas: YES!!!!

Potty Training at Its Best(?) Worst(?)

2007-08-28T17:37:00.000-04:00

Okay, so we're on about week 4 of potty training boot camp and it's going really well. The last week and a half, we have used diapers only for sleeping times.

So today after lunch Thomas and I were downtown with our friends Jennifer and Mark. The idea was to let the boys "explore" for about 45 minutes, find a good place to let them use the potty, then take them home for naps. Well, about 30 minutes into our explorations, Thomas stops cold in the middle of the sidewalk in downtown Roanoke and announces loudly "I've got to make a pee-pee!" He then proceeds to pull down his pants and pee on the spot.

T'was hard to argue with that kind of urgency. At least he didn't wet his pants....

Leave a Drawer Open for a Minute....

2007-08-17T09:23:00.000-04:00

I was cleaning out the drawer I keep my kitchen linens in. Walked away for a minute and came back to this:

(If you click on the photo, you'll get a larger version).

Horay for Dollywood, Part Deux

2007-08-07T21:50:00.000-04:00

As August approached, another trip to Dollywood was in order. Thomas, as ususal, had a blast. It was a bit too hot for me. He again didn't ride the train, but still didn't seem to miss it. However, he did get to ride the merry-go-round a couple times and I took him on some flying elephants. Click on the pic below for the full set.

A Second Visit to Dollywood

Thomas Gets a Visit From His Cousins

2007-07-03T21:47:00.000-04:00

My parents, brother, sister-in-law, neice and nephew visited for the day. Thomas hadn't seen his cousins, aunt or uncle since Christmas, but was immediately smitten all over again with them all. He has obviously become especially fond of his 10 year old cousin Alex, who he played with quite contendedly most of the day. Click the photo for more.

Thomas and his cousins

As if the Paint Mess Weren't Enough

2007-06-17T15:21:00.000-04:00

Thomas has been uninterested in wearing clothes today. We have managed to convince him to wear underpants most of the day and he's been reasonably successful making it to the potty. However while we were outside eating a popcicle and watering the plants, Thomas had a little accident. I rinsed him off with the water in the watering can and stripped him of his Thomas the Tank Engine underpants. A few minutes later, our neighbor came out to wash her car. Thomas watched wistfully for a moment before I finally gave him permission to help her with the car wash.

Fortunately once he came inside for a nap, he did agree to putting on a Pull-Up, clean t-shirt and a pair of shorts. I'm not sure why clothes are acceptable and necessary for naps, but not so much for washing a car or watering flowers.

Jackson Pollack in Training?

2007-06-17T12:14:00.000-04:00

It started out so innocently. I gave Thomas a wooden picture frame to paint for Daddy for Father's Day. Note Thomas painted mostly the area where the picture is supposed to go.

Then Thomas decided to paint the butcher's paper I put down to protect the table from paint. Thomas also managed to paint both of his hands and one arm, but I didn't get a picture of that.

Then I suggested we go outside and paint on an old sheet with our feet and hands. It's a project I've been wanting to try for a long time, as I thought Thomas would thoroughly enjoy. He did.

He also enjoyed painting himself, the sidewalk and the steps on the front porch. Daddy was NOT pleased!

For full set of pictures, click on the one below.

Jackson Pollack in Training?

The artist's session ended with Daddy hosing him down in the back yard, followed by a nice warm bath provided by Mommy. Thomas still has paint stains down much of his left side, but I suspect it will fade over the next few days.

Hooray for Dollywood

2007-05-19T21:57:00.000-04:00

We went to Dollywood with Wade's parents on Thursday. We all had a very nice time aside from one incident. Wade and I decided to let Thomas ride with us on the "River Rampage," which is one of those water rides with the inner tube sort of boats that seats 6-8 people and goes down a "river". We thought he'd have fun with the water splashing him and this one doesn't go very fast or go plunging down hills. Well...even though we let him watch the ride first and he agreed to go on with NO coercing on our part, we unintentionally negected to tell him that there would be places the boat would tip and water would splash up on us. The first tip, he covered his eyes and wouldn't uncover them until the ride was over. The last big tip about 3/4 the way into the ride, he and another man on the boat got pretty wet and the other man yelled in fun. Thomas started crying and wouldn't stop. Wade and I felt soooooo bad about the whole thing. But Thomas and I have talked about it and he's told me he had fun on it for part of the ride. He's slowly understanding that things can be fun and scary at the same time. We also let him ride a kiddie roller coaster with Papaw and the ferris wheel with us, both of which he enjoyed immensly. And we rode the toddler rides he remembered enjoying last year. The only thing we missed that he said he wanted to ride was the merry-go-round, but he hasn't mentioned it so I haven't worried to much about him not getting to ride it. Besides we'll have opportunities to ride other merry-go-rounds at festivals this summer.

There is a real train that takes a 5 mile trip through the mountains at Dollywood. Last year Thomas got very scared on the train because we were in the first car and the whistle was too loud. He loves trains, though, so this has been a challenging year trying to help him get over the fear he developed last year at Dollywood. For the most part he's done well with other trains, but he started having nightmares about a week ago, after he learned we were going to Dollywood. I stressed to him that it would be his decision to ride the train. He waffled back and forth about riding it all day and finally decided he didn't want to. We did look at the train and talk to the engineer, which I think was all the experience he needed this visit.

Here are some pictures of our trip:

Hooray for Dollywood

Thomas and the Stretchy Bunny

2007-04-10T23:32:00.000-04:00

I can't figure out how to embed the video here and I'm hopped up (no pun intended) on cold medicine. So follow the link to watch this video of Thomas and one of his Easter gifts.

Easter at the Grandparents

2007-04-10T23:10:00.000-04:00

(Click on the pics for more)

Easter at Nana and Papaw's

Easter at Grandma and Papa's

Hello, Easter Bunny

2007-03-27T21:37:00.000-04:00

We attended the city Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday. I unfortunately, as usual, can't get Blogger to actually recognize I have a photo I'd like to include, so click through to my Picasa album to see them all.

Reflections on Nana and Papaw

2007-03-24T22:57:00.000-04:00

Out of the blue today Thomas declared "Nana is old. Papaw is brave and strong." I tried and tried to get Thomas to describe Nana as anything but old, but he insisted. "Nana is old."

I'm not sure where he got either description of his grandparents, frankly. I know certainly not from his Nana!!!

Thomas' Trip to Grandma and Papa's, Part 2

2007-03-24T22:56:00.000-04:00

After cookies, a craft session was in order.

Thomas has stuck a water soluble packing peanut to his nose.

Sticking peanuts together to make a....stick person? Duck? Totem Pole?

Book time with Grandma and Elmo!

Lisa's Airplane Trip is especially enjoyable when Grandma reads it.

Thomas' Trip to Grandma and Papa's, Part 1

2007-03-24T22:48:00.000-04:00

First, he and Grandma made cookies.....

Cutting cookie dough to put on the sheet

Ready and waiting, lest someone actually let him handle hot things

Oh so carefully manuevering cookies from sheet to rack

Testing the New Picasa Feature

2007-03-16T00:20:00.000-04:00

I am really just testing the new Picasa feature. And what better way to do so than showing off my babe. This was taken with the macro feature on my new digital camera I got for my birthday in January. (The camera is a Cannon Powershot A540, which I really like).

Water Water Everywhere

2007-03-15T23:18:00.000-04:00

Thomas got his first creek play of the season out of the way today. After story time at the library, we met Jen and Mark at Garst Mill Park, which has a big stream. The boys had absolutely no interest in playing on the playground. All they wanted to do was play with sticks near the creak. So at first it was "Boys, just put your sticks in the water." Then it was "Boys, shoes only in the water." About 15 minutes later Jen and I were taking bets as to which boy would fall in first. (Mark did.) At one point both boys looked up at their mothers and said together gleefully called "Bye!" before wading upstream where more adventure awaited. When they disappeared out of eyeshot, we had to go track them down, only to discover them both in waist high water splashing around and catching water skippers.

Both boys were SOAKED from head to toe and Thomas had mud in his ears and hair when we finally dragged them out of the creek an hour and a half later. Thomas told me a couple times while playing that he was cold. I suggested each time he come out of the water and his response each time was an adamant "NO!" I ended up taking Thomas home in just a clean diaper because I didn't have a change of clothes for him. The weather was about 75*, so we figured while the water was cold, at least the air temps were decent.

Hindsight is 20/20

2007-03-09T20:47:00.000-05:00

This evening while Thomas and I were getting him ready for bed, he was swinging around a plastic recorder (like a flute) as a baton. I leaned over to take off one of his shoes and quite by accident the recorder came in contact with my face - hard. It was one of those moments in which you just KNOW one can actually see stars floating around above your head.

As I lay on the ground writhing in pain, I commanded Thomas to put the recorder in his closet right away. I opened my eyes to see him emerge from the closet with a toy hard hat in hand. He came over to me and put it on my head.

Conversations with a 2 Year Old

2007-03-01T22:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I got out some jelly beans to give Thomas four or five as a reward for good behavior. He asked for one. I said sure.

TJ: Can I have two?
Me: Yes, you may have two.
TJ: Can I have 14?
Me: No, you may have five.
TJ: Can I have five and two?
Me: No, but you may have two and three.
TJ (with a big grin as if he'd won the negotiation): OKAY!

I'm in big trouble when he learns how to add.

**********************************************************************************

Today W, Thomas and I went to story time at the library. One the way home I asked Thomas what he wanted for lunch.

TJ: Taco Bell
Me (upon pulling into the drivethru at Taco Bell): What do you want to eat, Thomas?
TJ: Hambuger. (That's how he says it...ham-buger).
Me: Honey, Taco Bell doesn't sell hamburgers. Would you like some beans instead?
TJ: No, french fries.
Me: Taco Bell doesn't have french fries either. How about we get a hamburger and french fries at Burger King?
TJ (getting frustrated): NO! EAT AT TACO BELL!
Me: Okay, Taco Bell. What do you want to eat? Beans?
TJ (fully frustrated at this point): NO! HAMBUGER! FRENCH FRIES!
Me to W: Daddy, why don't we go to the Taco Bell across the street that sells hamburgers and french fries?

We get to Burger King, now known as Taco Bell with hamburgers, and I silently dare Thomas to say he wants beans. but instead he chants "Eat hambuger. French fries. At Taco Bell." over and over until we get home with our meal. W and I didn't know whether to laugh or throw the kid out of the car.

Deductive Reasoning

2007-01-23T15:10:00.000-05:00

It seems TJ has entered a new phase in his communications skills. He can now interpret what I say and give me further details as he sees them.

The other day W got a flat tire. He called me to come pick him up. I told TJ as I was getting him ready, "We need to go get Daddy. His truck has a flat tire." TJ looked at me with all gears in that little head of his turning as fast as they can and said, "Wheel has boo-boo. Truck not go." I was shocked he managed to come up with that based on just me saying the truck had a flat tire.

Then today he saw a (very cool) playground at a daycare center. He wanted to go to the playground and I explained to him that it was only for children who went to that school. We weren't allowed at that playground. He screwed up his face and said "We go to 'dat' playground, we get in trouble." Correct, again, little fella.

He never ceases to amaze me.

In other news, Nana introduced TJ to paints, which he now loves to do. Crafts are a big thing right now all the way around. He especially wants to cut, which I haven't been willing to let him do yet, glue and paint. He hasn't touched a crayon in weeks.

A Day of Mommy Quotes

2006-10-23T21:13:00.000-04:00

I realized I should be writing down the things I have had to say to Thomas, as well as the things he says and does. So here are somethings I've recently said as a Mommy:

"Please stop licking the playground equipment."
"Where is your boo-boo?" (pause for answer) "On your penis?!?"
"No standing in the sink."
"Did you just eat PlayDoh?" (pause for answer) "Then spit it out!" And upon seeing a green tongue, but no other evidence of PlayDoh, "Nevermind. Just don't eat any more."
"I already fed Mavis today. Besides, Mavis doesn't like to eat PlayDoh" (Mavis is a female beta who lives in a bowl on my kitchen counter.)
"I don't care if you have an oven mitt on. You may NOT take hot things out of the oven!!!"
"Once you learn to pee-pee in the potty at night, then you may go to bed 'nay-nay' (naked) if you want."
"Why did you put your paci in your pillowcase?"
"These are special french fries just for Thomas. They are orange. Isn't that cool?" (organic sweet potato french fries)
"Mommy says 'Carry you.' Thomas says 'Carry ME.'"
"Please don't eat the crayons."
"The ramp on your (Little People) garage is for cars. It's not a slide for Thomas."
"Applesauce does not make a good shampoo." (Pause) "Neither do refried beans."
"Mark, you play with Thomas; Thomas, you play with Henry. Wait....I mean...Mark, play with Thomas the Train. Thomas the boy, play with Henry the Train. Wait, uh....okay, you boys work it out so that each of you has an engine." (Pause) "Thomas, give Thomas to Mark. Wait...uh....Thomas, give Mark the blue engine....Oh, nevermind."
"I love you, too, little bear cub."

A Day of Mischief

2006-10-15T12:02:00.000-04:00

Last night I left Thomas in the bathroom standing on his little stepstool brushing his teeth so I could go into his bedroom and get one small thing. I was gone, tops, 30 seconds. When I returned to the bathroom, Thomas was standing IN the sink! Frankly, it was so funny I had a really difficult time not laughing while I told him "Get.out.of.the.sink!"

I really need to keep a camera upstairs for situations like this.

(Has it really been 6 weeks since I updated this thing? Sorry folks. I have a lot of catching up to do.)

A Day of Doctors

2006-10-10T12:06:00.000-04:00

Thomas had his two year check up today. He is one healthy boy and meeting all his milestones, according to his ped. Thomas weighed in at 31 pounds, gaining 5 pounds in 6 months(!!!), and 34 inches, gaining 4 inches in 12 months, but only 1 inch in the last 6. The ped did not have anything to say but good things. Thomas got two shots - a flu vaccine and a hep A vaccine. He did wonderfully for both of them, and only whimpered "Boo-boo." We don't have to see the ped again until he's 3 years old unless, of course, Thomas gets sick between now and then.

A Day of Sweet Little Boy Quotes

2006-08-26T08:21:00.000-04:00

TJ and I have this thing I started when he was a biter. He'd kiss me and I'd say "Awwwww...nice kiss. Mommy LOVES kisses." (I was trying to praise him for putting his mouth on me without using teeth.) Now that he's not a biter, that's been shortened to "Nice kiss." Last night TJ kissed me and I didn't say "Nice kiss." (Sue me, I was stressed and in a hurry.) He took my head in his little hand, looked me right in the face and said "Nice?" Yes, my little boy, nice. This morning he kissed me and before I could say it, he grinned and said "Nice kiss." *beaming* It was so sweet.

The other thing TJ has been doing, which is more cute than sweet, is praising himself. When he does something that I typically praise him for, like going down the steps holding onto the handrail, he says "Goo jo!" (Good job)

A Day With Papaw

2006-08-21T11:01:00.000-04:00

This was taken a few weeks ago. I finally got it off the camera and edited tonight. Why are pictures of tots and their Daddy or Papaw walking away from the camera soooooo cute?

A Day of Sentence Building

2006-08-19T23:08:00.000-04:00

After Thomas' nap this afternoon I drug him out to Hancock Fabric (where I work part-time) to pick up a few things that I didn't buy after my shift. I was talking to a co-worker about all the things Thomas has managed to put in his mouth that shouldn't be there in the last 22 months. The most recent was a rock he found and wanted to take to Nana. (Okay, so the taking the rock to Nana was just a ploy to get.him.in.the.car while trying to GET to Nana's in the first place).

My specific words were "Last week Thomas ate a rock he was taking to Nana. Didn't you eat a rock, Thomas?" Thomas looked at me and politely said "I - ate - rah." It's his first real sentence. I'm so proud (I think). *giggle* He then proceeded to repeat the sentence for the next hour and a half.

A Day for Pee-pee in the Potty - Sorta

2006-08-02T20:49:00.000-04:00

Thomas went pee-pee in the potty for the first time tonight after his bath - sorta. He kept telling me during his bath "Pee-pee," and I just assumed somewhere along the line, he pee'd in the bath. Upon getting out, he continued to tell me "Pee-pee," so I finally asked him "Do you want to go pee-pee in your potty?" He responded "No." "Okay," I said.

About a minute later he walked over to his potty, lifted the lid (I held my breath), and he promptly stood in the thing. This is rather common practice. He tends to stand in his potty a lot and rarely actually sits on it. After standing in the potty for a moment, he either decided to sit down on it or get out of it. I'm not exactly sure which. But with one foot on the floor and one foot in the potty, he pee'd. About half of it actually made it into the potty. Thomas stood there amazed at the sight while I raved about what a good try it was to pee-pee IN the potty.

He seemed so proud of himself that he chanted "Pee-pee. Po-y." for the next half hour. We tried to call Wade, who is currently in New York on business but got his voice mail.

A Note....

2006-07-26T20:48:00.000-04:00

I'm going through my backlog of photos to get some posted on here that I originally intended to. In the next few days, you may see some entries backdated several months as a result.

A Day of Rock Throwing

2006-07-26T20:35:00.000-04:00

One of Thomas favorite things to do while on our trip to Hanging Rock State Park was to throw rocks in the water. He began finding bigger and bigger rocks until I had to put an end to the rock throwing for fear he'd hurt himself or someone else.

A Day of Cousins

2006-07-25T20:48:00.000-04:00

Last Tuesday, Wade, Thomas and I went to Hanging Rock State Park in North Carolina to visit my first cousin Mary and her family who were in North Carolina on vacation. We took a mile hike down to some small waterfalls to let the kids play near the water. This was the first time Thomas got to meet his cousins, both young and young at heart. Mary's kids range in age from almost 12 to almost 7, so there was a significant age gap, but Thomas seemed to enjoy their antics as well as their interest in him. (Btw, Thomas walked most of the trail on the way down by himself. He was placed in the hiking backpack against his will on the way back up the trail.)

Thomas wonders what Haley and Todd are up to and how he can join in the fun.

Todd, top, and Marc, bottom, climb some rocks near the waterfall.

Haley balances on some rocks and does her hula girl impersonation for the benefit of the camera.

Victor, Mary's hubby, hides in the bushes keeping a close eye on his adventurous brood.

Thomas and Wade splash in the water at the bottom of the falls.

Thomas and Wade splash in the water at the top of the falls. They are actually behind the falls, although it's difficult to tell from the picture.

Thomas enjoys a free ride once he finally gets settled in.

A Night of Awwww...

2006-06-18T21:16:00.000-04:00

I've gotten into the habit of going in to check on Thomas sleeping when I go to bed. This started once the weather got warm enough to open the windows, and I began getting a little nervous that the temperature would drop too much to keep them open during the night. I didn't want Thomas to get too cold, knowing that often the Bob the Builder quilt gets kicked off. Now that it's too warm to have the windows open, and he's almost always perfectly comfortable at night, I still check on him. It's a selfish thing. I like to watch him sleeping peacefully for a few moments and forget about how fleeting his childhood really is.

So last night I went in to check on Thomas a little later than usual and must have walked in during a light sleep cycle. He immediately raised his head up to see who came in his room and upon seeing me, stood up in the crib to greet me. I tried to lay him back down, but when I did, he took his paci out of his mouth and said softly "Momma...." It was such a small little cry of "Please hold me a moment," that how could I refuse. I picked him up and before I could get to the rocking chair, he was sound asleep in my arms again. I rocked him for about 10 minutes, nonetheless, watching his little sleeping face, listening to his peaceful breaths and savoring his smallness while I can.

A Day of Budding Language Skills

2006-05-31T17:12:00.000-04:00

Thomas said his first two word sentence last night - "Bye-bye, poo-poo."

He pooped in the tub during his bath. When we fished the poo-poo out to put in the potty, I said "Bye-bye, poo-poo." Thomas repeated me several times. He even went back to the potty about 30 minutes later to say it again. LOL

A Day of Portraits

2006-05-02T14:35:00.000-04:00

I took Thomas to get his 18 month pictures taken today. Boy, this time around was difficult to get any good shots. Thomas kept running out of the room before we could get his picture taken. The photographer would set up the shot, get Thomas to smile, he'd grin, and run cackling out of the room before the photographer could snap the shot. At least he was happy, but he had more energy than I've seen in him in over a week! I didn't want to go overboard with pics this time around so I only ordered some of the third one on the second row and one of the middle one on the first row for myself. The middle one on the middle row is darling, but he's sitting on a rock in a sky full of clouds and it just seems odd to me. Needs some grass in there to make the whole scene make sense.

Clicky

A Day of Buddies

2006-04-27T21:34:00.000-04:00

Jennifer and I took Mark and Thomas to the fire station near our house and then across the street to a local private playground for some fun. It was a touch chilly but the boys had a blast.

A Day of Easter Celebrations - Part 5

2006-04-15T21:28:00.000-04:00

And last but not least, on Easter morning, Thomas hunted a few eggs at Grandma and Papa's house. He also received his Easter basket from the Easter Bunny. It was full of mostly dinosaur goodies.

A Day of Easter Celebrations - Part 4

2006-04-15T21:22:00.000-04:00

On Saturday before Easter Thomas got yet another chance to hunt Easter Eggs at Nana and Papaw's house. He also spent some time blowing bubbles with Nana.

Freebie

2006-04-13T22:57:00.000-04:00

Here's a freebie of Thomas until we get back from visiting family and I have time to post playdate pictures from today as well as Easter Sunday pictures from our trip. I think he is adorable in this pic.

A Day of Easter Celebrations - Part 3

2006-04-13T21:12:00.000-04:00

At our weekly playdate with our playgroup we organized a small informal egg hunt for the boys and some neighbors of ours.
From left to right: Carson and Corbin (across the street neighbor's grandsons), Thomas, Everett (another across the street neighbor), and Mark (Thomas' best bud).
Eggs?!?!? I'm supposed to be hunting EGGS?
Mark shares a cookie with Thomas.
Thomas, Mark and Mark's mama Jennifer share a moment and a cookie.

A Day of Easter Celebrations - Part 2 - 4/11/06 (Cont.)

2006-04-11T15:36:00.000-04:00

Blogger only likes so many photos per post, so I've split today's Spring Party photos into egg hunt photos and general party photos.

Dancing under the play parachute with Daddy.

Shake, shake, shake the play parachute.

Dancing under the play parachute with Mommy.

Spending some quality time with Mommy.

Looking at the creek from the bridge.

Looking for ducks in the creek.

Supertoddler to the rescue!

Up, up and away!

A Day of Easter Celebrations - Part 2 - 4/11/06

2006-04-11T15:21:00.000-04:00

Today Wade, Thomas and I went to a spring party sponsored by the county library. We had storytime followed by an egg hunt, snacks and games. Thomas had a blast and even better, knew immediately what to do with all those plastic eggs in the grass. What surprised me was that he picked the eggs up and started shaking them to see if there was anything inside them. Wade told me that in music class the kidlets have been given eggs with noise makers inside to shake during some of the songs the last few weeks. Ohhhhh...that explains it.

Shaking the egg.

Wonder how I can get the egg away from that kid.

It's a bunny pencil sharpener? What's that?

Putting a bunny sticker on his hand.

Not too sure about this Easter Bunny character. (The shadowy figure is Daddy).

Someone else isn't too sure about the Easter Bunny either. Meanwhile Thomas, in the foreground, ponders getting closer. (He didn't).

A Day of Easter Celebrations - Part 1 - 4/8/06

2006-04-11T15:01:00.000-04:00

On Saturday I took Thomas to an Easter Celebration in a nearby town. We missed the egg hunt, which from what I understand was a good thing. There were lots and lots of big kids who could have potentially run Thomas down. However we did get to check out a fire truck, get some free cheese, popcorn and strawberry milk, and get a sketch of Thomas done by a local art student. Thomas seemed to enjoy himself and since I didn't make a big deal out of going to an egg hunt (I just told him we were going to do something fun), he didn't feel like he missed anything.

No More Num-nums

2006-04-08T09:41:00.000-04:00

Thomas and I had our last nursing session today. It's been a long and interesting road. I just feel like I "got" nursing the last 6 months and now it's over. But it was time. We've been down to just the morning session for 5 months now and the last few weeks it's been a struggle to get Thomas to slow down enough to even nurse then. Once he's latched on, he nurses great most days, but asking him to stop moving long enough to get to that point has not been one of his favored moments of the day.

A Day of Clean

2006-04-04T15:29:00.000-04:00

In the past, Thomas has waivered from being terrified to simply annoyed of my little yellow sweeper called "Fred." However recently when I got it out to sweep up around the table and high chair, Thomas decided it was time to finally bury the hatchet and get better aquainted with the old boy. Thomas did such a good job sweeping, I'm going to make it his job from now on. LOL

A Day of Dance

2006-04-02T10:25:00.000-04:00

I am sitting here checking email and skimming blog posts while Thomas plays music on his activity table. I heard stomping so I turned around to see Thomas "dancing" to the music. His little feet suddenly spring into a jig from time to time the last week or so and we've been encouraging it, but to see him put music and dance together is new and so very very cute. I wish I could figure out how to upload video so you all could see.....

(Side note: I have some very adorable pics of Thomas helping me vaccumm the dining room. As soon as I get uninterupted 10 minutes to upload them from my camera and edit them, I'll post them.)

A Day of Green

2006-03-18T17:08:00.000-05:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

A Day of Assembly

2006-03-05T21:04:00.000-05:00

Thomas received a sand and water table from Nana and Papaw for Christmas. Since it wouldn't fit in the car with the other gifts, luggage and baby gear, they visited this weekend and brought the table with them. Wade and Papaw attempted to put the table together and Thomas found his chance to "help" them.

A Day of Messy Meals

2006-03-03T21:51:00.000-05:00

Thomas has discovered dipping his food into other food. If he has applesauce, he enjoys dipping whatever else he has for that meal into the applesauce. The other day Wade was using ranch dressing for a salad and Thomas wanted some. We let him dip his chicken nuggets into it. Yesterday at dinner I had apple slices I was spreading with almond butter. Thomas had to have almond butter, so I put a little dab on his plate. He immediately started dipping his mac and cheese into it. (Yuck!) After he ate all of his fruit and mac and cheese ala almond butter, he asked for more, so I gave him a shallow bowl with some almond butter and a few graham crackers. This is the result:

When I got Thomas out of the high chair I told him "Don't touch anything. Don't touch Mommy; don't touch the walls; don't touch the floor; don't touch the handrails. Don't touch anything until you're in the bathroom." Then I took him straight up to the bathroom and dumped him in the tub. He's lucky I didn't dump him in fully clothed. I was tempted to! LOL

A Day of Condiments

2006-03-01T09:36:00.000-05:00

I let Thomas play in the fridge while I was getting his breakfast ready. I knew I shouldn't, but I wasn't in the mood to hear him whine because I wouldn't let him. Well, of course it suddenly got too quiet. Why is that the "Mommy alarm" for things aren't right? I checked on Thomas, only to discover he had poured an entire bottle of soy sauce all over the floor and himself and was happily splashing in the puddle. I wish I had gotten a picture, but at the time all I was worried about was getting him out of his favorite dinosaur pajamas, now soaked with soy sauce and trying to minimize the damage.

Thomas, the kitchen and I all reek of soy sauce now, and I suspect probably will most of the day. In the midst of getting Thomas cleaned up he started chanting "bath, bath, bath, bath." I informed him he wasn't getting a bath just because he dumped condiments all over himself and much to his chagrin, wiped him down with a paper towel instead.

Edited to add photo of Thomas playing in the fridge two weeks ago. Note his feet.

A Day of Transportation

2006-02-25T20:57:00.000-05:00

Thomas and I went to the Virginia Museum of Transportation today with our friends Mark, Jennifer and Michael; Vedant, Sarah and Chris; Sam, Karen and Andrew. The trek was a lot of fun, but as you will see from the last photo, rather exhausting.

Trying on a police hat for size.

Mmmmm...or maybe I want to be a race car driver instead.

Being a trolley driver is no fun!

Wow...just look at the sheer size of these trains compared to a todder!

Sound asleep by the time we hit the driveway at home.

A Day of Words

2006-02-22T08:37:00.000-05:00

Thomas has four more new words and one new sign since my last post. Words: book, balloon (booooon), keys, and bath. Sign: book. He learned the word and the sign for book at the same time and often did both together yesterday. :-) We're working on the sign for thank you, but it seems to be going slowly. And I think he's made up his own sign for "Mommy:" patting his chest. I suppose that makes sense because I've been patting my chest to note that I am Mommy when he makes any type of sound that could be interpreted as such. He's learning new words at an average of 2 a week right now.

Two Snipets of Today

2006-02-18T20:31:00.000-05:00

Thomas has been exceptionally cute and funny today.

During our weekly fresh fruit run to The Fresh Market (Thomas will not eat canned fruit and eats one or two pieces of fruit a day), he needed a little snack. In fact he used his newest sign - eat - to ask for said snack. So I drug out the container of Goldfish in my purse. While we were in line to check out, Thomas asked for more, using his sign language. The cashier asked if he were signing to me and I said yes, so we got into a conversation about how helpful I find it to give Thomas the tools to communicate some very basic needs to me before he can verbally speak them. I told her he knows 10-11 signs including "touchdown." As I said "touchdown" Thomas looked at the cashier and made the sign. (He got lots of praise, of course, for using his sign). I listed off some of the other signs Thomas knows like eat, drink/milk, done, more and cheese and as I said each word, Thomas just automatically made the sign for each as if he were supposed to demonstrate his knowledge. I thought I would die laughing. He was just sooooo darn cute.

Then this evening after Thomas' bath and before we had Thomas dressed, W and I decided to weigh Thomas. We were curious to see how much he'd gained since his 15 month check up 6 weeks ago. (A pound and a half, making him 26 pounds). I got on the scale to weigh myself, then picked up Thomas to weigh us both together. He decided he wanted to play with the scale so I went into the next room to tell W the results. Suddenly W and I heard the scale crash and I ran into the hallway to see a stark naked Thomas carrying the bathroom scale through the house. A very heavy bathroom scale, I might add. He waddled into his room with it, placed it on the rug and carefully climbed up on it, whereupon he leaned over to see how much he weighed. When he was done, he picked up the scale and carried it gingerly back to the bathroom.

Do You Think One Day the Child Will Curse Us?

2006-02-18T00:06:00.000-05:00

An attempt at getting kiwi and apple sauce out of Thomas' hair resulted in the below David Bowie impersonation. Can you tell his parents are children of the 80's? How many sessions on the couch later in life do you think this photo bought him?

By George, the Boy Can Talk!

2006-02-17T09:50:00.000-05:00

At Thomas' 15 month check up on January 10, he couldn't speak a word. The pediatrician was slightly worried, but I was not. The pediatrician said if he didn't have a "bank" of at least 5 words by 18 months, we'd have to consider seeing a speach specialist. Since January 10 Thomas as been picking up more than one word a week.

Thomas' Words (in order)

bear - ber
bird - bir
that? - tha?
Elmo - E-mo (learned from a book)
Daddy - Dada
Mommy - Mom-ma
duck - du
car - ca

Words We're Working On (These are words Thomas is close to saying or has said with prompting a few times)

book
balloon (he occasionally says "booooooon")
rabbit
star
cracker (he occasionally says "cra")

Thomas' Signs (in no particular order)

drink/milk (his first sign)
done
more
bye-bye
cheese
soft
music
hot
come here
eat (his latest sign)
touchdown
"Home Alone"

Snow Day

2006-02-11T14:49:00.000-05:00

Discovering snow, eating snow, sledding and swinging. (I'm not sure why Thomas had to swing, but he did).

Snow Cream

2006-02-11T14:27:00.000-05:00

My mother used to make us a big treat on the day of a fresh snow called snow cream. It's basically a big mixing bowl full of snow mixed with milk, sugar and vanilla. Sorta tastes like a milk icee. Now we only got this treat on the day it snowed because we always had lots of dogs (don't eat the yellow snow!), plus our primary source of heat was a coal stove. Once the snow stopped falling the coal dust settled on it, giving it a grey cast. Since it snowed here today (it's actually still snowing), I made Thomas this treat for the first time. He seemed to enjoy it even more than just eating the plain snow from his mittens while outside. And he enjoyed that quite a bit once he got into it.

Gratuitous Photos of Thomas

2006-01-26T13:38:00.000-05:00

Just some photos I took of the little guy a few days ago. He was playing with two afghans I was trying to fold up.

Beverage of Choice?

2006-01-25T00:40:00.000-05:00

I caught Thomas playing with a canned coffee latte. He didn't figure out how to open it, but he sure did try hard enough.

2005 in Review - A to Z style

2006-01-07T13:05:00.000-05:00

A - Thomas rode on an airplane for the first time in February from Star City to Chicago O'Hare. He and Mommy flew to Chicago so Mommy could attend a business meeting. Thomas did remarkably well on both flights, but needed to be breastfed halfway through both to keep his ears from popping too badly.

B - At year's close Thomas is still breastfeeding once a day, surpassing Mommy's goal of 6 months. He was force weaned from several day time sessions at 9.5 months due to biting but enjoys his morning num-nums.

C - Thomas rang in the New Year (2005) with his cousins Alex and Kirsche. He also got to visit them in May and again in June. Kirsche is especially enthralled with the idea of someone to play with and acts as a little babysitter whenever she sees him, but Alex loves playing with Thomas too. Once Thomas is a little older Alex might have a little shadow!

D - A doggy says "Boff! Boff!" Grandma and Papa have two doggies Thomas loves very much.

E - Thomas enjoys reprograming all the components of the entertainment system so only he and an engineer can operate it. He has also discovered that record player needles make good snacks.

F - Thomas made two friends this year - Mark and Ryley.

G - If no trip is planned to see them, the grandparents make monthly visits to see their grandson.

H - Thomas is hell-bent on climbing on anything one can imagine, tearing everything out of every cabinet and drawer in the house. After having a few things broken, Mommy has had to change her philosophy of no drawer/cabinet/door locks.

I - Impossible tasks like trying to open the locked cabinets and trying to reach items in the top drawers of all the dressers are more fun than anything else. They also elicite the most tantrums when the task is not achieved.

J - Mommy and Thomas joined a playgroup and a music class in 2005. Both have helped them get out of the house and make new friends.

K - Mommy and Daddy love kisses so much that Thomas showers them in kisses daily. He makes sure they are as wet and slimey as possible because the parents loves those even more. But he has learned (most of the time) that kisses don't use teeth. (See T).

L - Lights held Thomas' facination from day one and they continue to do so. Ask him where the light is and he will immediately look at the ceiling and point.

M - When Thomas says "Momomomomomomom" does it mean "Mommy" or "Mmmmmm...food."? It's usually only uttered at meal time.

N - Mommy and Daddy's new favorite word has become "NO," or so Thomas must think. He hears it enough no matter how much the parental figures try not to say it.

O - Owies abound no matter how hard Mommy and Daddy try to keep Thomas from bumping his head, pinching his fingers, falling off steps and tripping over his own two feet.

P - Going to the park remains on the top of the list of places Thomas enjoys going most. He's even gotten to enjoy Grandma's tradition of taking the grandchildren to the park to feed the ducks twice. Until recently his favorite attraction was the swing but the most recent visits seem to indicate he enjoys the sandbox even more.

Q - Thomas' quest for discovering everything there possibly is to know about the house has led him to discover wonderful facinations like holes in the bathroom floor, the refridgerator, the dishwasher, a secret trap door in the fireplace, and most recently the basement.

R - A 3 month long diaper rash turned out to be a chlorine sensitivity. A switch to Seventh Generation diapers and cloth wipies solved that problem in 2 days. However even 2 hours in a diaper with chlorine (like most mainstream diapers) gives Thomas a flame red bottom.

S - Lunchtime entertainment includes watching the squirrel family that lives in our porch post. Thomas is so interested in them the high chair was moved so he could view them better.

T - Thomas ended 2005 with 13 teeth. (The better to BITE you with, my dear). Thomas' teeth and inappropriate use thereof resulted in him getting partially weaned from the breast at 10 months.

U - There is not much the little guy is undecided about. He's just as headstrong as his parents.

V - Vegetables? Blech! Thomas will only eat pureed veggies ala Gerber. Mommy is still trying to figure out what the difference is between a green bean and a mushed green bean. Sweet potatoes remain his favorite vegetable.

W - Thomas hasn't spoken a "real" word yet, but he can tell you what 7 animals and a truck say. He also has several sign language words, most noteably "milk."

X - Xmas plans were abruptly changed after Thomas came down with a case of roseola. He got a cold for his birthday and roseola for Christmas. Mommy has decided to quarentine Thomas for Easter.

Y - An explosion of understanding and development occured when Thomas turned a year old. He suddenly began "talking" more, attempting to walk, playing with toys more and becoming more demanding.

Z - If Mommy were to guess today what Thomas might be when he grows up it would be a zoologist because Thomas seems to love animals.

The Most Wonderful Day of the Year Part 2

2006-01-03T20:49:00.000-05:00

Here are a very few pics of Thomas celebrating Christmas at his Nana and Papaw's house (Wade's parents) on New Year's Eve. The battery on the camera died shortly into the celebration, unfortunately, but I did manage a few shots. Thomas received several nice gifts: a shape sorter boat, puzzles, books, a Weebles Camper, a toy piano, a sand and water table and a "first" tricycle.
Investigating the tree.
Showing Nana how to make the new shape shorter work.
And then the boat goes here.....

Playing with the DVD player for the 100th time.

The Most Wonderful Day of the Year

2005-12-27T14:17:00.000-05:00

Christmas morning pics....

(This was actually taken yesterday afternoon. Thomas loved being pulled around the house on his new sled.)

A Visit to Santa

2005-12-21T13:32:00.000-05:00

Today Daddy, Mommy, Thomas, Miss Jennifer, Mark, Miss Kara and Ryley all visited Santa Claus at the history museum. Santa sang songs, told stories, and talked to the children as a group. There was no preasure to sit on Santa's lap, ergo, no risk of the visit becoming too scary. Thomas, unfortunately, was in the early stages of roseola, unbeknownst to the parental type figures. It was obvious he was feeling poorly, but it was passed off as "just teething." Here are some pics that came out fairly well despite Thomas' health.

Daddy and Thomas check out Santa from a distance first.

Santa looks for Thomas' name on his "good" list. It was there, of course.

Thomas listens to Santa tell a story about some moose friends.

Thomas, Ryley and Mark check out Santa's sleigh.

Thomas shows Mommy some of the features of Santa's sleigh.

Thomas investigates a display of hurried elves and genteel snowmen. (Thomas promptly knocked over said display shortly after this picture was taken.)

Little Explorer

2005-11-29T12:41:00.000-05:00

Honestly I believe the child would climb into anything. This is the cabinet in Grandpa's office.

Please Feed the Animals

2005-11-29T12:29:00.000-05:00

My parents have two dogs. One is facinated by Thomas, but large, blind and too hyper for Thomas to play with. The other is mildly interested as long as she doesn't have to actually spend time with him. Thomas desperately wants to play with at least one of the dogs. He spent much of his visit with Grandma and Grandpa trying to figure out how to do so. My mother taught him how to feed the mild mannered one (Shag) treats. Thomas found it great fun, and it helped Shag warm up to Thomas a bit. Not the greatest picture of Thomas, but cute nonetheless.

All the Leaves are Falling Down

2005-11-13T23:08:00.000-05:00

Thomas and I played in the leaves in our neighbor's yard this afternoon because we have no leaves in our own yard. (Note the mark and puffiness around his left eye. Fortunately is all that remains of his black eye from yesterday.)

Just Call Him "Bruiser"

2005-11-12T21:35:00.000-05:00

To save my bad back, I try to encourage Thomas to crawl along with me whenever I can. Besides it's good for him to do so. At a year old, he shouldn't expect to be carried where he wants to go all day long.

Soooo...this afternoon I let him crawl across the front lawn to our porch. When he got to the porch for some reason he put his head down. (I think he was trying to get the sun out of his eyes.) He misjudged where the first porch step was and bopped his face into it. It didn't look like a hard hit and he didn't cry for long, but when I got him in the house and really looked him over, I noticed the skin right at the corner of his eye was broken and it was starting to swell just a touch in that area. I cleaned him up and gave him a half a dose of Motrin for the swelling. His poor eye now is purple and puffy. He won't let me even touch it, much less let me put a cool wash cloth on it. He's not even touching it himself, I noticed. I'm really worried if the swelling gets worse at night, the eye will swell shut. Before I put him to bed for the night, I gave him some Tylenol for the pain, but I didn't give him any more Motrin because it seemed to hop him up this afternoon. (While I was suffering from a HORRIBLE migraine....ugh....) I feel really badly for my poor little boy. He's still got a bruise on his chin from those several hard falls on Wednesday and now a black eye from a "slip" today. :-(

Growing Faster Than I Can Keep Up

2005-11-11T14:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I took Thomas out to get the mail (he has discovered how to open the mailbox door and wants to do so every chance he gets). Our neighbor's dogs were out on our and her front lawn, so I did the usual "Look, Thomas, doggies. Hello doggies! What does a doggie say?" At this point I usually pause for a moment before answering my own question. Yesterday Thomas looked at the dogs and said "ooFFFF!" all on his own for the first time. I was so proud. We've been working on this one for a long time. Later inside he told me again what a doggie says and told me what a cow says when I asked ("mOOOOO.")

Wednesday Thomas was standing unsupported, which he can only do for about 30 seconds at a time. Well he attempted a step. Just a small one, but he attempted it - and promptly fell on his padded behind. Last night Wade and Thomas were playing and Wade got Thomas interested in a coffee cup. He then backed up enough to see if Thomas would try to step toward him. He did. He took two very tiny steps on his own without holding on to anything!

Later we were playing with the ride on firetruck Thomas got for his birthday. It has a handle on the back he can hold onto to push it while he "walks" behind it. We haven't really encouraged him to do so yet because it moves too quickly for him and he ends up falling. But last night he got ahold of it and tried to push it so we let him with Wade's help. Thomas pushed that fire truck all over the house. He thought it was great fun!

Oh, and he finally has the edge of one molar in after 8 weeks of work. I got lazy about this one and forgot to write it down. I think it appeared on Oct. 27. So he now has 9 teeth.

Like Father, Like Son

2005-11-08T11:24:00.000-05:00

Thomas' newest favorite way to fall asleep is with his hand snuggled in my cleavage. Brother......

Slip Slidin' Away

2005-11-03T22:17:00.000-05:00

Today's field trip designed to release Mommy from staring at the same four walls another day was to the park. Thomas had a blast. It seems like suddenly he gets braver and more adventurous with each trip to the park. This time he had to check out the sandbox - an exploration I have not been looking forward to - and the slide.

The sandbox was overflowing with toys, much to Thomas' delight. He had to touch and attempt to taste everything in the box. He started out just sitting on the edge while I poured sand into and over his hand. I was starting to think that's all he was interested in and made moves to remove him from the sandbox. Suddenly he was in the sand, digging, shoveling (as well as a 12 month old can shovel anyway), bulldozing and all the other fun things children do in sandboxes. He had sand everywhere.... I was warned by another mommy to expect to find it in his diaper. (Fortunately he had on a shirt that snapped in the crotch and that seemed to help prevent diaper sand.) He does still have sand in his ear, even after a thorough bath though, due to a misguided shovel full of sand that landed squarely on the side of his face rather than beside him.

After the sandbox, the next order of business was the slide. I have attempted to pique his interest in the slide on previous visits to no avail. Today, however, after making a few futile attempts at climbing up the slide, I helped him slide down from about halfway up. After that trip elicited some giggles, we tried from even higher up until we started out at the top. Each trip down, with the exception of the one in which the rubber sole of his shoe caught the edge of the slide and forced him around (fortunately I was holding on to him), brought on a new set of giggles. I finally had to drag him away from the slide after 20 minutes simply because I was too tired to lift him and hold on to him tightly to go down one more time. (Poor Thomas does have the misfortune of being born to older parents who just don't have the energy of spry 20somethings. I am reminded of that from time to time.)

Must remember to make time for another trip before the temps start dropping for good. I think it's supposed to be nice through Monday.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

2005-11-02T16:52:00.000-05:00

Well, okay, we only saw a tiger and she was shy....

I took Thomas to the zoo this afternoon. I've been saying for a month I was going to take him before it got cool. I put him in the backpack so he'd be up higher and could see and he had a ball.

The red pandas were being fed just as we got to their cage. Thomas thought they were very interesting and kept pointing at them while kicking me in the ribs. The wolverine was bathing, which also got his attention quite a bit. The Japanese Macaques chattered at him. And he got to poke a sheep on the nose. He was trying to pat the sheep, but since he learned to point every touch is a poke.

Holy complimentary candy, Batman!

2005-10-31T21:52:00.000-05:00

Attached are some pics from Thomas' first Halloween. (Okay, technically second Halloween, but he was only 3 weeks old last year). He seemed to have a good time for the most part. There were some tentative moments. The next door neighbor's white balloons designed to be ghosts gave him pause for some reason. And he wasn't too happy sitting on the across the street neighbor's lap for a picture. He was dressed as what I can only describe as a sort of a cowboy or 1800's gold miner (not included below because it's on the film camera). For the record, Thomas', er, Batman's loot came to 7 pieces of candy, a Halloween straw (sent from Grandma), a small pot of Playdough, two sets of fake teeth, a ghost balloon and $1.00. Wade and I bought Thomas' candy from him at a quarter a piece. Not bad for a 5 house tour.

Holy sugar rush, Batman!

Checking out the Bat-loot. (I love this pic! He looks like me in it and he never looks like me.)

How many did you say I could have again?

And speaking of photo ops...

2005-10-27T23:11:00.000-04:00

These were taken the other day while Thomas was left in the trusting care of Jennifer and her tot, Mark.

Thomas is dropping apples down to Mark who is eagerly scooping them up and shoving them in his mouth.

Can you see that Thomas is making the "shhhhh" sign? I guess he doesn't want Mommy to know someone else ate his apples for him.

After lunch two buds take it easy.

Holy Photo Op, Batman!

2005-10-27T23:03:00.000-04:00

Our little play group had a Halloween party today. The tots came in costume. We had Superman, a lion, a devil, and Batman (Thomas). The mommies attempted to get all of them in one picture. (Attempted being the operative word). Here is the result:

Thomas looks as if he's holding court, but in reality he's trying to get a block back from the lion by way of pushing the devil out of his path. Basically he's causing chaos with two of the other three tots.

BLOW!

2005-10-21T11:12:00.000-04:00

Okay, why is this funny?

When I blow my hair out of my face or sigh heavily enough to stir a little breeze momentarily, Thomas giggles like crazy. My child is weird, but if it elicits a giggle I'll keep doing it.

Doggy Says Woof-Woof

2005-10-21T11:06:00.000-04:00

Since Thomas got the Fisher Price Little People Farm for his birthday, he's been imitating it when the cow moos. The routine goes something like this: Thomas opens the door to the cow's stall, the door moos, Thomas stuffs an animal in the stall (not always the cow) while simutaniously saying "mmmm ooooo."

The other day we went for a walk and met a very baby friendly doggy, who snuffed Thomas' face and let him pat her head. The owner and I asked Thomas what the doggy says. "Doggy says 'woof, woff.' 'Woof, woof' says the doggy." I said to him. Thomas looked at the doggy and said "ooFFFFF!"

He's getting it! Just as soon as I think he's a little behind on his language skills, he proves me wrong.

Watching Daddy Mow

2005-10-17T23:10:00.000-04:00

I was in the kitchen fixing supper. Thomas was in the living room playing. I heard him giggle, then whine, giggle, whine.... After about 3 rounds of this I decided I should go check on him. This is what I saw:

What you can't see is Daddy on the other side of the door mowing the grass. Thomas was giggling everytime Daddy came into view and whining when he couldn't see Daddy anymore.

Here's Thomas "telling" me about Daddy mowing:

And here's a freebie cause I think it's cute:

~Mommy

Music Class

2005-10-17T23:04:00.000-04:00

Went to music class today. We missed last week due to both Thomas and Mommy being sick. It was nice to make it again and hopefully we'll be able to make up last week's class sometime late this week or early next.

Bought a new backpack at a consignment sale after class. It's much nicer than our old one, which was really too basic for more than a short trek around the neighborhood. Hopefully we'll get some more hikes in before the weather gets too cold now that we have a better pack.