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.