Messy Boy

I was up here posting to the blog while Thomas was playing outside with David. When I heard a knock on the door, I knew it was Thomas by the sound of the knock. And also by the "Mommy!!" being screamed on the other side. I opened the door and he started laughing hysterically and said, "Look at the mess I made on my shirt!" Then he said, "Watch me make a mess and you're going to be really happy about that!" Then he ran over and took a shoveful of dirt from underneath the tree and dumped it all over his head. He was laughing so hard at his cleverness that he had a hard time pouring the dirt but he managed to make a very nice mess. Aaahh boys. :-)

Christmas

Boy was it fun this year! He was so excited about Santa coming. When he woke up Christmas morning (early of course), he looked around the living room to see if Santa came. When he noticed the stash, he said, "Whoa! Look at all this cool stuff Santa brought!" Santa brought him the requested "skateboard" which was actually a scooter safe enough for him, and a Bertie the Bus (one of Thomas the Tank Engine's friends). Santa also brought him a few unrequested items which were big hits as well. Once he looked at his toys for a minute, he ran straight over where we left the snack for Santa the night before and started screaming that Santa had eaten it all but a tiny bite! Then we had to run outside to see if the reindeer left the carrots we left them, which they had.

Later when he was trying out his scooter outside (wearing all the safety equipment Santa brought as well), he said, "This is a pretty cool scooter Santa brought me alright!"

One of the gifts Mommy and Daddy gave him was a pop up tent. On one of the sides, it had a puppet theater with curtains so you could put on your own shows. Fortunately he'd brought one of his puppets from home with him since we spent Christmas in Lubbock with our families. After David tried to explain the concept of putting on a show with his puppet, he'd go into the tent and say, "Ready?" We'd say that we were and then he'd stick the dog puppet out of through the curtains and say, "Woof woof! That was a good show!" and crack up.

We also loved hearing him sing We Wish You a Merry Christmas. He'd sing, "We wish you a Merry Christum and a Happy Moon Year. Good tiny we bring to you and your kids..."

There were many stories I wanted to share, but I can't remember any more right now. I'll post more later if they come to me. This is what happens when you don't post to your blog in a week. Just know that we were happy and grateful to be with both of our families for Christmas this year and that we had a wonderful time.

Cats

Thomas and I ran some errands this morning. He did very well staying by his mommy so we got to go walk around Petsmart afterwards. He followed his normal path through the store. Fish first, then birds, then lizards and rats, then doggies being groomed, leaving the cats for last. He was talking to the cats through the glass cages telling them to look at him. He'd even demonstrate by saying, "Turn your head this way, like this!" and then would turn his head in the direction he wanted the cat to look. But the thing that he got most excited about was when he saw one cat grooming himself. He yelled, "Look Mommy! That cat is licking his leg!" and promptly sat down on the floor and licked his leg too just like the cat. Instead of getting a mouthful of fur, he got a mouthful of blue jeans. Another woman and her kids were looking at the cats too and she almost fell on the floor she was laughing so hard.

Friends, Dogs, and More

We've been busy this week visiting friends' houses and having the kinds of fun you have on Christmas break. Sunday night we made a gingerbread house at our friend Denise's house. She makes gingerbread houses as gifts each year and this year invited us over to help make our own. Thomas LOVED it. I think he ate about 5 pounds of candy, but that's what you're supposed to do. He ate as much candy as he put on the house. But boy do we have a beautiful gingerbread house sitting on our kitchen table. On Monday, we went to my friend D'Ann's house to make and decorate Christmas cookies with Natalie and Bethany. Thomas enjoyed rolling out the dough, and his hair, and my shirt... We were completely covered in flour and icing but had a blast. When we were decorating the cookies, I know Thomas ate at least 6 cookies. He'd put a little frosting on one and then eat it before moving onto the next one. We did make it home with one or two that he decorated that only had one bite missing.

And yesterday we went to my friend Lisa's house to play and visit. Thomas had a great time playing with Amy and James as usual but the story I wanted to tell was about Fifi their English Mastiff. He's a BIG dog (I think he weighs 180 pounds). He seems big to me and I know he must look like a giant to a two year old when the dog is as tall as you are. He's big but he might just be the sweetest dog I've ever met. Thomas and Zack (our 20 pound Cocker mix) have finally become friends and Zack even lets Thomas pet him. Woo hoo! For comparison, Fifi let James ride him when he was younger. And yesterday, he let Thomas put reindeer ears on him. Wish I'd had my camera handy for that one! Last night, Thomas was telling David about playing with Fifi and said, "Zack is a small dog." David asked if Fifi was a big dog or a small dog (even though he already knew the answer) and Thomas said, "He's a big dog alright!"

This Christmas, Thomas is old enough to really get into the whole Santa thing. He asked Santa to bring him a skateboard and a Bertie the Bus. But no matter how many times we discuss it, he's confused about exactly what Santa is going to do. He knows Santa is going to bring him the gifts he asked for but last night he told David that Santa was coming in 5 more days and was going to take all the presents under the tree. And he seemed excited about it. He doesn't understand that he gets to open those gifts AND Santa will bring him gifts too.

Songs and Parties

We had two parties to attend today at the same time. The first was Thomas' friend Natalie's third birthday party. We had fun making Dora ornaments with Natalie and would have enjoyed staying the whole time but also wanted to attend the party David's new boss had at his house. When we got to the second party, Thomas looked around and said, "Where's the birthday cake?" No cake, but they did have a mashed potato martini bar and Thomas had three glassfuls. He'd eat one and then play for a few minutes and say, "My tummy growling! I need something else to eat!" When asked what he wanted, mashed potatoes were at the top of the list each time followed by grapes, cheese, and crackers.

On the way home from our last party, Thomas wanted to sing songs. So we sang Jingle Bells, Away in the Manger, Santa Claus is Coming to Town (you should hear his version of it...so cute when he says "he knows when you are too sleepy") among others. Then Thomas asked me to sing the "Flashlight Song." I had no idea what that could be and asked him to sing it for me and then I'd sing it with him. It wasn't until I heard "hide under bushels NO!" that I knew that the "Flashlight Song" was "This Little Light Of Mine." And so we all sang that one a number of times.

Christmas Musical

Thomas' school put on their Christmas musical yesterday. I think it goes without saying that while they were all incredibly cute my child was obviously the cutest. :-) Kids from ages 2-4 were up there singing and luckily for my video camera, Thomas was front row center.

When I took him to his classroom yesterday morning, Thomas saw the other kids putting on their crowns and he said he didn't need a crown and started trying to untuck his shirt. For him to make it on stage 30 minutes later wearing a crown AND with his shirt tucked in was no small feat.

In talking about the upcoming musical, Thomas had told me he was going to sing songs and that I was going to clap and say "Yea!" So of course that's exactly what I did.

When all the kids walked in it took a few minutes before they could sing because every child needed to find their parent/s and wave to them. Thomas waved to me and Mom (David was out of town and was disappointed to have to miss it) as soon as he saw us. Once all the kids, and parents, got quiet Thomas looked at his teacher and yelled, "That's my Mommy!" A few audience chuckles later, the musical was under way. I had no idea how he would do up there with everyone watching him. He doesn't like to perform on command even at home so we were prepared for anything. To my surprise and enjoyment, he stayed up there the whole time and was one of the only kids in his class to do all the motions to the songs. He shook his jingle bell and did the motions to Away in the Manger and each time a song started or ended, he'd look at me with this happy, proud, slightly embarrassed, Look at Me Mommy! kind of look. I only got a little weepy, mostly smiled happy and proud myself.

I have a video clip of him singing Away in the Manger. I only sent it out to people who I knew had fast internet connections (or grandparents who I knew would want it no matter what) since it's about 1 MB. If you didn't get it and want to see him, email me and let me know and I'll be happy to send it to you.

More Stories

Thomas loves making up his own songs these days. One of his favorites goes like this, "Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, I don't know you!" Don't know where that came from but it makes me laugh every time I hear it, which is at least 10 times a day. He also made up the "Granny" song one day at breakfast. It basically went like this, "Granny Granny Granny Granny Granny Granny!" followed by giggles.

He also "reads" books. He actually does very well. We love hearing him read "Old Hat New Hat" because he says, "Too hancy (fancy) too hrilly (frilly) too hiney (shiny) toooo hilly (silly)." Tonight, he read me "Are You My Mother?" and remembered most of the words. Not just "Are you my mother" and "No" but "The baby bird asked the cow, 'You am my mother?' and the cow say 'I not your mother. I am a cow.' " What can I say? He must take after his mother. ;-)

Bethlehem Revisited

As I mentioned in the previous post, David's parents and sister were here this weekend. As usual, we had a great time and there were so many stories to share, I've forgotten some. I'll tell some over the next two posts.

On Saturday night, both sets of grandparents, and "Aunt Juanda" (no "s" sounds yet, remember?), went with us to Waxahachie to see Bethlehem Revisited. On the way there, Thomas was screaming in the car that, "I no go Watahatie!!" But once he got into the restaurant, he was all excited telling everyone, "I in Watahatie!" We went to eat at Catfish Plantation first, which is a neat experience if you've never been there. The food is good and the atmosphere is fun too. I've never had a ghostly experience though which is just fine with me. It was so crowded when we were there that our group had to sit at two separate tables. Thomas sat with his grandmothers and one grandpa which he wanted and we were quite willing to let them take over for the night. After about 15 minutes at his table, he looked over at our table and said, "What's going on over there?" We thought that was funny.

Bethlehem Revisited was great as usual, but very crowded. For those of you not from this area, they recreate the town of Bethlehem the night Jesus was born. You can follow Joseph and Mary as they try to find a room at the inn through the birth of Jesus and visits by the wise men and shepherds or you can visit various craftsmen and see how they did things in those days. It's a big thing and a great experience. Thomas really liked King Herod's court and the shepherds too. Once we started walking through the actual town though, he was overwhelmed by the crowds so David took him off to see the sheep while the rest of us followed Mary and Joseph. One of the women characters there told Thomas, "Little one, thy feet are on fire, be thou careful." when she saw his light up shoes. Thomas didn't get it but David was tickled by it. We caught up with Thomas later and he did see Baby Jesus when the crowds let up a little bit. Before we left, we stopped by the flute maker's tent and Thomas got a big kick out of the guy playing a flute with his nose. When asked later what his favorite part of the night was he said, "I like the King, and the camels, and the sheep, and Baby Jesus, and the donkey, and the music!"

Sweet Boy

Now that Thomas is in a big boy bed, Sandra has to sleep on an air mattress when she and David's parents come to visit. Last night, Thomas was helping get her bed set up, a side benefit is that the air mattress is really fun to jump on. He jumped for a few minutes and then wanted to help put her sheets on. He was doing everything just right. Bottom sheet first, followed by the top sheet and then the pillows which he wanted to put on himself. I'd forgotten how observant he was until I saw him put one pillow in the middle of the bed and one pillow on the floor in case she fell off...just like we do his bed. We thought that was so sweet.

Manners

Thomas has always impressed people with his manners. When he was younger, he couldn't say many things, but always remembered please and thank you. I was frequently complimented on what a well-mannered young man I had, which, of course, made me feel like I was being a good mom. However, as his vocabulary has increased, the manners have decreased. He still usually remembers "thank you" but hardly ever says "please" unprompted. Ok, there is ONE scenario when he'll say please unprompted. If he asks for M&Ms or some other treat and is told no, then he says, "Please M&Ms?" That actually worked one time because I thought it was so cute and then I caught on to his sneaky little ploy.

All of that to preface tonight's story. He wanted some milk to drink and said "I need milk Mommy." I decided it was time to have another talk about manners and asked him what nice words he could use. He said "Thank you AAANNNDD please." I said, "That's right! So how should you ask for milk in a nice way?" He looked at me with a straight face and said, "Get my milk!" followed a withering mommy look later by "please." Oh well, we'll keep working on it. :-)

Busted!

Well, if you're around Thomas and do anything at all, I'm going to find out about it. The other night, my parents kept Thomas so David and I could go to a concert (we saw Jason Mraz and at 35 felt old in the audience but that's another story). They let him decide where they were going to go eat and he picked our favorite Mexican food restaurant. The next day, he told me he got to eat M&Ms at Danielitas. I just thought maybe Mom found some in the diaper bag or maybe he'd found some M&Ms in the leftover Halloween candy at home. Today, we found out he was telling the truth. David wanted to go there tonight and Thomas said, "Oh boy, I eat M&Ms after my all done eating dinner!" After questioning him about where exactly he planned to get them, he said, "I go show you!" and ran across the restaurant to the front doors where they keep the 25 cent candy dispensers...the bane of every parent. His grandparents were busted. And come to find out, he was just looking at the candy with my parents and his GRANDPA suggested they buy M&Ms. Thanks a lot Grandpa. It's not that I mind he ate M&Ms, it's just that we go to Danielitas a LOT.

Tonight, I was practicing the piano while Thomas and David were playing in the other room. After a few minutes, Thomas came running in holding his big green ball and said, "Daddy bopped this ball and hit the TV!!!" It's a big no no in our house to hit the TV with anything and Thomas knew it. I told him to tell Daddy he was in trouble. As Thomas walked back into the living room, I heard David say, "Did you tell on me?!?" Thomas said, "YEAH!!" and cracked up. Busted again. :-)

Christum Lights

Thomas LOVES this time of year. He's into it much more this year than last and it's been a lot of fun for us. He helped David decorate our Christmas tree and I've been trying very hard to resist the temptation to rearrange the ornaments to hide the holes. He was very proud of his work. He even found some sparkly shredded tissue paper that had been used to pack an ornament and put that on the tree in one huge clump.

His absolute favorite thing so far this year has been looking at Christmas lights, or as he calls them Christum Lights. We've been to two lighted displays already and he spent the whole time screaming at the top of his lungs about one scene or another. "I see MOOORRREE Christum lights!!" "Whoa Mommy!!" "Ooo hooo hoooo!!!!" Even driving down our block is a treat for him since several of our neighbors have put up those moving deer that are lit at night. During the day, we'll drive down the street and he'll say, "Christum lights NOT on right now." I'll say, "No, they're not. Do you know why they aren't on?" He'll say, "The sun isn't down yet!" and then spends the rest of the day updating me on the sun's progress.

On a totally unrelated note, I want to explain how easy it is to make comments on the blog so if you read a story that tickles your funny bone you can easily write a few words telling us. After you read each story, there's a link that says "Comments" right beside the Posted by Kim and David at such and such time. Just click on that link and it'll bring up a new page. Type your comment in the box that says "Leave your comment" and if you aren't a registered user of the site, just click "Other" as your identity. If you do that, it'll bring up a box where you can type your name. I'd just type my first name, maybe my last initial, for security reasons but that's up to you. The only other thing you need to do is type in the word verification (which we had to add because we were getting spam comments like "nice site check out hot russian wives at blah blah blah"). Then you can either preview your comment or immediately publish it to our site. Although it might be nice to know that more people than Lisa and Mike read the site, I promise not to beg for comments again.

Mr. Staller

Like any two year old, Thomas likes to find ways of delaying the inevitable. I've started calling him Mr. Staller and it makes him laugh every time I say it. He knows that I know what he's up to when I call him that. Today, I was trying to put him down for a nap and as usual he kept trying to find "just one more thing" to do before he could go upstairs to sleep. I was trying to be patient because there really wasn't any rush for bed, but after about 10 minutes of one more thing, I was tired of waiting so I sighed. He looked up at me with this mischevious twinkle in his eye and said, "I just stallin' Mommy!" Needless to say, we both cracked up.

Thanksgiving

We flew to New York for Thanksgiving with my brother and his family. Thomas did great on the flights as usual. Someone asked him if this was his first time to fly and I said "Oh no, he's a seasoned pro." He's probably flown 10 or 12 round trips and knows exactly what's happening each part of the flight. We had a great time on our trip and wanted to share a couple stories. Hope this post won't be too long.

We flew into Newark, NJ since that's what we had to do to fly for free with David's frequent flyer miles. It was well worth it to save 900 bucks. About 2 minutes after we took off, Thomas looked at me and asked, "Almost to New Jerry?" and we were...4 hours later. We decided to stay the night with our friends Bryan and Talia before driving up to Mike and Amy's. Thomas loved Talia's cats (he had to visit them in the basement since Kim was allergic to them...thanks Talia!) and Kim did pretty well in the house after about 6 Benadryl. :-) We were eating dinner when Bryan asked Thomas if he remembered his name. Thomas looked at Bryan, thought for a minute, and then with a twinkle in his eye said, "Your name Bar-be-cue!" and then fell over laughing. He could say Bryan pretty well, but called Talia, Tally. So in our house now, they are now known as Barbecue and Tally. :-)

Once we got to Mike and Amy's, Thomas had a GREAT time playing with his cousins, Mason and Palmer. Mason was very patient letting Thomas tackle him 987 times. :-) Mason called David, Uncle David, for obvious reasons, and Thomas thought that was pretty funny. So fairly regularly on the trip, he'd stop what he was doing and yell, "Uncle David!!" at the top of his lungs.

We don't see Palmer enough to understand everything he was saying, but we sure did recognize when he started singing the "Clean Up Song." Thomas did too. He'd hear Palmer singing that and yell, "No Palmer, not time to clean up YET!"

On Friday night, Thomas got to go to his first hockey game. As soon as we walked in the doors (we weren't even into the arena yet), Thomas said "Oooo, I LIKE the hockey game!" And he did like the game pretty well, but enjoyed the entertainment between periods much better. Of the three boys, the youngest one, Palmer, paid the most attention to the game. Oh yeah, Mom and Palmer are famous now...that is if being up on the Jumbotron for 5 seconds makes you famous. :-)

It snowed several days while we were there and Thomas LOVED playing in the snow. He was out there for as long as we let him, laughing the whole time. It's a good place to visit for a few days in the winter, but we're glad we don't have to deal with the cold for months on end.

Old Zackie Boy

Zack is our dog, and our first baby. He's 14 now and slowing down a little, but he's always been a fascination for Thomas. When Thomas was a baby, he would always laugh deep belly laughs whenever Zack would play fetch with David. It was always great entertainment value...fun for Zack and Thomas and anyone else watching them.

Zack doesn't play fetch anymore but Thomas sure does want him to. He's so patient trying to show Old Zackie Boy (Thomas' nickname for Zack) the ball or toy and trying to get him excited enough to go chase it. He talks to him all the time saying things like "Go get the squeaky toy Old Zackie Boy!" or "You want to play me Old Zackie Boy?" I've tried explaining to him that Zack is deaf but Thomas still keeps trying to get Zack to hear him. That's a hard habit to break. I still talk to him too.

This morning I heard Thomas say "Check out my headphones Old Zackie Boy!" That tickled me because Zack is a DOG and couldn't care less about headphones, except maybe to eat them. Thomas was thrilled though when Zack walked over and smelled the headphones before walking away to go find a spot to nap in the sun.

What A Character

Thomas was in rare form today...and it all happened in just a few hours. First, I was trying to tape up a box to take to the post office this afternoon. Thomas was resting after school and watching a little TV. Apparently I was making too much noise with the tape because Thomas yelled, "Be quiet I trying to watch Diego!" Now the parent in me had to stay firm and discuss with him how we do and do not talk to other people, but inside I was cracking up at my two year old telling me to shut up for the first time.

As we were coming home from the post office, the sun kept getting into Thomas' eyes. He started yelling, "No sun! Don't get in my eyes! Go down sun!!" All of this sounded even funnier because he can't say his "s" sounds yet so what I heard was "No hon!" We came home for a few minutes before heading to my parents' house for dinner. He got both his hat and his sunglasses before he'd step foot in the car. He put them both on and almost as if he were issuing a challenge said, "Come on sun!"

Although none of you ever post any comments (ok, Mike did once), I do know at least a few people read this blog and I have received a special request for my trifle recipe mentioned in a previous post. I got the recipe at MOPS the other day and have already made it twice. David can't believe I like it because I don't like gingerbread or pumpkin and yet somehow I can't get enough of them in this recipe. Weird. Anyway, here you go Tina!

AUTUMN TRIFLE WITH WARM CARAMEL CREAM SAUCE

Gingerbread layer: Bake purchased gingerbread mix accoring to box instructions and cool completely. For added flavor, pour sweetened condensed milk over cake while still warm (poke holes in cake for quicker absorption). After cooling, cut into 2 inch cubes.

Pumpkin cheesecake layer: While gingerbread is baking/cooling, mix 1 1/4 cups cold milk with 1 cup canned pumpkin until smooth. Add 2 small packages of Jello Instant Cheesecake pudding, 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, and 4 oz. Cool Whip. Stir and refrigerate until set, 1-2 hours.

Streusel Layer: While pumpkin cheesecake sets, mix 1 cup chopped walnuts (we like 1 1/2 cups walnuts and adjust other ingredients accordingly), 4 Tbsp brown sugar, and 3 Tbsp butter and microwave until bubbly, approx 2 1/2 minutes. Stir once and cool.

In trifle bowl, (or other deep bowl) layer gingerbread, pumpkin cheesecake, and streusel and repeat until bowl is almost full. Cover top layer with remaining Cool Whip and top with a little streusel.

Caramel Cream Sauce: Stir together 1 jar caramel topping and 1 jar butterscotch topping. Heat until warm and spoon over each scoop immediately before serving.

For best results, make trifle one day before serving to allow flavors to meld.

Birthday Parties

This was a weekend filled with two birthday parties. On Saturday, we celebrated my mom's birthday. And if you're wondering, no, he did not tell her what her present was...because he wasn't IN the know this time. :-) We had a great time eating at Kincaid's together and then opening presents and eating birthday trifle together (a new recipe of ours with layers of gingerbread, pumpkin cheesecake, and walnut streusel). I was trying out my new camera phone and asked Thomas to smile for a picture. He looked up at me and said, "No, I already smiled last day." That's his way of saying that since he'd smiled for a picture the previous day he saw no need to smile again.

This morning we went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's for his friend Olivia from school. We'd talked about it yesterday and practiced singing Happy Birthday about 15 times at his request. When he woke up today, the first thing I heard him say over the baby monitor was "Happy Birthday Livie!" He loves Chuck E. Cheese and had a blast at her party. As one of the little prizes he won with his tickets, he got a roll of Smarties candy. He was eating it in the car on the way home and I overheard him taste one and say "Delicious!" Once he realized how much it made us laugh hearing our two year old describe candy in those terms, he said "Delicious!" about 50 more times.

The Joys of Being a Mom

This morning I went to the grocery store to get a few things before breakfast. When I walked in the door, I heard Thomas crying. I was wondering if he was hurt or mad when David walked around the corner and gave me a little look and immediately knew he was throwing a fit (something that rarely happens these days). I asked him what set him off and he said, "You're not going to believe why he's upset." So I went into the bedroom and saw Thomas on the floor mid-tantrum. He looked up at me and held his arms out so I picked him up. David came in and said, "Ok, Mommy's here now do you want to show her?" Thomas, still crying and hiccupping, said "Yeah!" So David took the diaper out of the trash can and told me that Thomas was upset because he wanted to show me his poopy diaper. Huh? But ok, so I examined the aforementioned excrement and made the appropriate admiring comments and then Thomas said "I ready to go play now." Aaahhh, motherhood.

Buddies

Thomas has two boy buddies, James and Preston. He's known James since they were both babies at Gymboree. And he met Preston at My Gym right after their first birthdays. James and Thomas were born on the same day and Preston is two days older. Over time, the way they play together and their acknowledgment of each other has changed dramatically from parallel play to now actually playing together. Wanted to share a story or two.

Thomas and Preston are in the same class at school. On Thursday as I was picking Thomas up, he yelled "Bye Preston!!" and Preston looked up and hollered back "Bye Thomas!!" It was so sweet how enthusiastic they were about each other. When I ask Thomas who he played with at school that day, Preston is always at the top of the list.

Earlier today we met James and his mom, Lisa, at a place with lots of indoor bounce houses for a play time together. Thomas and James have always gotten along well but today was the first time I saw them really watching out for each other and actually playing together for more than a few minutes at a time. They were so cute sliding down the slides together, jumping together, and acting goofy copying each other and cracking themselves up. We always laugh when we look at them because you'd never guess they were the same age by looking at them. James is small for his age and Thomas is big for his age. Thomas is 4 or 5 inches taller than James and outweighs him by 12 pounds which is a big difference when you're two.

Argument

If you're in one of those relationships where you never disagree on anything, then this post isn't for you. For the other 99% of you, read on.

David and I were having a little disagreement the other day. I can't even remember what it was about but it was important at the time. I was busy helping get Thomas dressed for bed while David was taking out the trash and we exhanged a few curt words. It wasn't anything too harsh, but it was enough that Thomas picked up on the tension. After David left the room, Thomas asked me, "Daddy mad at you Mommy?" I said that he was but it would be ok and that everyone disagrees from time to time. David came back into the room and Thomas said, "You in a little bit trouble Daddy? That cracked us up so much the mini fight was over then and there.

Weekend

David's parents and sister came to town last weekend for a visit. As usually happens with an audience, Thomas was performing mightily. Of course, he didn't have to try too hard to make them laugh. Wanted to share a few stories from the weekend.

On Friday morning, we were all trying to get ready to go to the Dallas Arboretum. I was drying my hair and Wanda offered to dress Thomas. She got his pajama shirt off just fine, but when she put his t-shirt on, he immediately took it off and said, "No, my Mommy go do it!" She waited a few more minutes and tried again. He whipped his shirt off once more and said, "No, Granny, my MOMMY go do it!" She was pretty tickled by that.

On Saturday night, we were watching the Texas Tech vs. A&M game (Go Tech!). Thomas wasn't into football very much and was just playing with his toys. David got really into one of the plays and started yelling at the player to "Get outside, get outside!!!" Thomas looked up and with a hurt expression on his face said, "No, I NOT go outside Daddy!" :-)

On Sunday morning, Thomas decided to show his grandparents how he could make flatulence sounds by blowing on his arm. David started telling them that we thought that was one of the many things he either has picked up or will pick up from school. He said, "He already got the finger in nose thing from school." And Thomas looked up and yelled, "Yeah, I pick my nose at school!!!" The whole table cracked up.

Cleaning Man

Last night, Thomas was in our bedroom and found the water bottle I keep on my nightstand. David saw him with it and told him to be careful. He realized later that was a mistake. Two year olds have no concept of what that means. You have to be specific. "Don't take the lid off and pour the water all over Mommy's side of the bed."

After the damage was done, he was told to take a towel and clean up the mess he made. David told him to keep cleaning until he told him to stop. Then David left the room but checked on him periodically over the next couple minutes. Every time he peeked into the room, Thomas was working away. David told me that he couldn't let it go on too long because seeing his two year old slaving away was too much for him. Cute and sad at the same time is a tough combination for a soft-hearted parent. :-)

Halloween

Wow, has it been a week since my last post? Time flies. We have been busy and have so many things to share that I'll try to hit the highlights of all the Halloween related things we've done over the last week or so.

Last Wednesday, we went to Boo at the Zoo with our friends D'Ann, Bethany, and Natalie. It was so much fun. Thomas stomped all over that zoo in his cowboy boots and wearing his Woody costume. I know I'm his Mommy and might be a little biased but I thought he was really cute. He was very brave and played every single game and wanted his picture taken with every single animal (people dressed up as different zoo animals). That was a definite improvement because every time we went to Six Flags this summer, he'd look at the characters and might even say hi, but no way was he going near them. He went to every candy station and as soon as he left a station, he'd say, "I want MOOOORRRREEEE candy!"

We flew to Washington, D.C. over the weekend to visit our friends Jennifer, Chris, and Evie. He did great on all the flights. We didn't take his car seat on the plane this time. He got to sit like a big boy and he knew as long as the seat belt light was on, he had to stay buckled up. As soon as the light went off, he'd say "Oh boy, I sit in you lap!" We had a great time in D.C. and Thomas and Evie played really well together. She's a year older than him and he wanted to do everything Evie did. Every time we went out to eat, he ordered the exact same thing Evie did. So he ate a LOT of pasta last weekend. :-) It was funny to us because he rarely wants pasta, but he had to be just like his friend. Is that peer pressure starting already? Hmmm.

While we were in D.C. we went to the best pumpkin patch we've ever been to. They had a great hay ride, hay slides, animals, hot apple cider, and pumpkins of course. Thomas went down every hay slide at least once, laughing the whole time. We also went into the District one evening to see the WWII memorial at night. It hadn't been built yet when we lived there and it's really beautiful. It was cold but we bundled up (with Thomas wearing one of Evie's pink hats and matching pink gloves) and got some great pics. As we were leaving, Thomas said "I really like that lake Mommy."

We flew home on Monday just in time to go trick or treating at my parents' house and go to the carnival at his school. He was tired after flying all day and wouldn't ring the doorbell or say "Trick or Treat" or "Happy Halloween" or anything. Mom wanted to take him to a couple of her neighbors but that didn't work either. We decided to make an appearance at his school carnival and then go home and put him to bed early. He didn't want to go in, but once we found his friend Preston, he played every game and we stayed until it ended an hour and a half later. It was a lot of fun and we plan to go back next year.

Well, I think that gets you mostly caught up. And if it doesn't, oh well, I'm tired of typing. :-)

Picture Day

Thomas' school had picture day a couple weeks ago. I dressed him up in cute clothes and sent him on his way hoping for good results. When I picked him up that day, I asked him if he'd smiled pretty for his pictures. He said, very emphatically I might add, "No no no no no!" Well, we got to look at the pictures today and he was right. There were 15 sheets of pictures and he's not smiling in a single picture. Even though I was disappointed, I had to laugh because he told me he wasn't going to smile that day.

Just a word about Thomas' school, it's not really school, it's a Mother's Day Out program he attends twice a week. In our house, however, it's always referred to as school. It's a good program. He has Spanish once a week and he already knows all the Spanish words I know. They do lots of neat things for the kids like having a petting zoo and tractor train come out one day and next week a fire truck is coming to school. Thomas can't wait for that. David is off this week and went with me to take him to school this morning. I think for him it only reinforced all the good things I'd been telling him about Thomas' school when he watched his son run into his classroom without looking back. He's learning AND he's having fun. Can't beat that combination!

First Night In Big Boy Bed

Last night was Thomas' first night in his big boy bed. It went VERY smoothly. He did a few backflips off the bed (we are starting with just the mattress on the floor in case he falls off...easy back flips are an unintended benefit), we read a few books, we sang him a song, and then he laid down on his pillow, covered up, and said "Good night Mommy and Daddy." When we looked in on him an hour or two later, he was still in the same position. And when I went up this morning to peek at him, he was still sleeping on the pillow all covered up. As a matter of fact, he's napping in there right now too. Although these first two times sleeping in his bed have gone great, we realize that one of these days he'll figure out that he now has the freedom to get out of the bed when he wants to. We know there will probably be rougher days ahead but for now we're celebrating. We're also a bit sentimental because our boy looked so big in his crib and yet looks so tiny sleeping on the full size mattress.

Like Mother, Like Son

One of the stories from my childhood that has been told umpteen times is the one about the first time I got to go Christmas shopping with my parents. We went over to my grandparents' house afterwards and I ran in and said "Grandma, we bought you a bedspread for Christmas!" My mom overheard and yelled "Kim-ber-ly!" I got all teary-eyed and said, "But I didn't tell her it was RED!"

Well, today we could definitely tell Thomas was my son. We went out to eat today for my dad's birthday. We picked up my parents on the way to the restaurant (Joe T. Garcia's which is an awesome place to eat...great ambiance and food). When they got into the car, Thomas said, "Happy Birthday party Grandpa!" Grandpa said thanks. Then Thomas said, "I buy you movie, Grandpa." We all started laughing and then my mom said "Well, at least you don't know what kind of movie it is." And Thomas said, "I buy you BEAR movie, Grandpa!" We'd bought him Brother Bear which might sound like a goofy movie to give a 57 year old man but it's what he wanted. :-)

We Almost Made The Evening News

Yep, that's right. My son was almost the child you see on the news who somehow managed to get his head stuck in an odd place that only a kid would try fitting into. We went to the zoo today because it's such a beautiful day here (it FINALLY feels like Fall!). We were having a great time visiting all the animals and feeding the birds (he's very brave about holding the seed stick still so a bird will land on it and essentially eat from his hand). The trouble came when we were looking at the tigers. He wanted to get a closer look and I'm not sure how he did it but he got his head stuck in the fence. He was crying and I almost was, but at the last second, I managed to get his head free. Whew! That was a close one. Thomas is supposed to be on TV in January on the Food Network show Unwrapped. That's plenty of exposure for us.

He also got me on a technicality when we got home. We were late getting home and it was already nap time. As we were driving, I told him we were going to go right in and lay down when we got home. He kept thinking of things he wanted to do for "three more minutes" first, which is his way of delaying the inevitable. Well, when I was getting him out of the car seat, he asked, "Cool outside Mommy?" I said that it was. He said "Oh boy, I play in car!" He loves to play in the front seat of the car fastening the seat belt, turning on the headlights, plugging in the cell phone charger and doing everything else you do when you're driving the car. All summer, and right up until today, it had been too hot to stay in the car more than about 3 seconds with the ignition turned off so I'd been telling him, "It's too hot sweetie, but when it cools down you can play." Soooo, even though it was nap time, I felt he deserved his "three more minutes" playing in the car. And grandparents don't worry, he was playing in a locked garage and I was right there watching him. :-)

BOOGERS

Ok, I wanted to start with that title so the faint of heart will know what this story was about. If you don't have small children (or can't remember what it was like when yours were young), skip this post. :-)

As I said in an earlier post, Thomas has a little cold this week but it's not bad enough to keep us at home. We were driving to go meet David for lunch today (this is his last week at his old job and he's been working late very night and hadn't seen Thomas all week) when Thomas said he needed a kleenex. That's a step in the right direction because a friend of his at school picks her nose and he's been trying to get away with that too so he can be like her. Anyway, as he was wiping his nose, one nostril got stuck closed (booger glue) and he was so fascinated by that that for the next 10 minutes, he'd yell, "Look Mommy!" and pinch his nose shut and wait for it to unstick itself and then yell, "Look Mommy!" and do it all over again.

BIG BOY BED

Yesterday, we had Thomas's room painted in preparation for him moving into a big boy bed. We decided to have it professionally painted to save us the stress and frustration two perfectionists would go through painting it ourselves. The pro had it done in 5 hours when it took us three weeks to paint Thomas's room when I was pregnant. Three weeks you ask? Well, it was like this: 20 minutes of David painting followed by a 2 hour rest period to calm down after getting frustrated that things weren't going the way his wife wanted, and then the cycle repeated.

Thomas is VERY excited about his new room. When he got home from school yesterday, I took him up to watch the painter at work. He looked around for a minute or two without saying anything and then said, in a reverent tone of voice, "Ooooo, cool!"

Welcome to Tales Of Thomas!

In this blog, we're going to try to keep you updated on all the little things that happen day to day with our two year old son, Thomas. I'm sure many of the stories will only be of interest to his parents and grandparents, but anyone is welcome to read. I'm sure there will be plenty of funny stories. There will probably also be sweet stories or even stories of him being a little turkey. And sometimes he can be all three...come on, he's TWO! :-)

To start you off, I'll share two stories from the last few days. This weekend, we went to Lubbock for my cousin Crystal's wedding (congrats Crystal and Kris!). On the way back to Dallas, my sister-in-law, Amy, and nephew, Mason, were riding with me and Thomas. Thomas decided to sing Mason to sleep (since it was 10:30 at night and both boys should have been sleeping already) by singing his ABCs. He started off just fine: A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-THOMAS-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z!
Sung, or rather yelled, at the top of his lungs. Amy was driving at the time and almost drove off the road she was laughing so hard.

And on Monday, we were eating at Chili's with our friends D'Ann and Natalie. Thomas wasn't feeling very well (just a little cold) so he was laying on the bench beside me. After a few minutes, he looked up at me and said "Do you love me Mommy?" I said, "Of course I do!" He jumped up and yelled across the table to D'Ann, "My Mommy LOVES me!" Then, of course, Natalie had to ask her mom if she was loved too...which she was.

Again, welcome, and we look forward to sharing stories of our sweet boy with you.