Inky Face, Box Fun, and More

The other day, Thomas was drawing with a pen. He's not the type of child to do what he did, so when he came out of the bathroom with an expectant grin on this face, the first thing out of my mouth was, "Is that PEN?" He started sobbing and ran into the dining room and flung himself on the floor. I went in to talk to him about it and he hugged me and said, "But I thought you'd like it!" Luckily I know from my days as a teacher than you can easily remove ink with rubbing alcohol. Off your face, arms, and legs. He decorated his entire body. Now for the Dorito lips, we had to use something else altogether. ;-)
We went to the box store the other day to buy a box to mail something. While we were there, Thomas asked the man if he could find him a box to play in like Spongebob and Patrick did. The nice man spent 10 minutes showing Thomas all the boxes that might meet his needs. This is what we ended up with. I think it's the most fun he's ever had for $2.99.

He is such a character. His thing lately is to get one of David's big nails from his toolbox, put as many acorns as he can on it, and then push it into the ground. The purpose? So he can play a trick on the squirrels. Never mind that there are hundreds of other acorns in our front yard.

My friend, Lisa, sent me a book the other day through James. James gave it to Thomas at school to give to me, but Thomas was under the impression that James gave it to him. I tried to tell him it was my book but that I'd share it with him. He was insistent that I was wrong and it was his until he noticed the note on the cover of the book. He said, "Wait a minute. This says K-I-M. That's not my name that's yours!"

David's favorite color is black and last week, that was the color of the week at school. Thomas was so excited about it that we had to call David on the way home from school to tell him. David must have been in a meeting because his voicemail picked up. This is the message David heard: "He says he's not available to take my calls! So I'm going to push the red button right now! I don't wanna please leave a message!"

We went to the bank last week and the teller forgot to send a lollipop through for Thomas. I called her back and asked if I could please have a lollipop for my little boy. She was very nice and sent two through immediately. As we were driving away, Thomas said, "Mommy, thank you for the lollipop, but next time could you call me your big boy?"

So Much To Share

Hey everyone, It's been over a month since my last Thomas post so I have a lot to share. First off, I wanted to share my favorite picture of Thomas and my nephews from this summer. Mason is on the left and Palmer is on the right. We sure wish they lived closer, but are grateful for the time we had together in June. At Thomas' preschool they choose a Proud American each day who says the Pledge of Allegiance nicely and follows all the rules and directions. Since Thomas is such a rule follower, we didn't think it would take long for him to get it and it didn't. He was the first boy selected as the Proud American and boy was it a big deal around here. He's wearing his flag pin that you "get to keep forever and ever!" And then just for fun, I thought I'd include a picture of him on some pumpkins since it is October.

And now, onto other things. We were driving to visit my friend Angie a couple weeks ago and to get to her house, I had to make a u-turn. Thomas wasn't really paying attention but noticed the u-turn because he looked up and said, "Mommy, what did you do wrong?"

He's been taking swimming lessons at a new place this fall and it has taken him a while to warm up to his new teacher. He's been into "X-ing" things out lately, because that's what they do at school when learning a new letter: circle the things that start with "N" and x out the things that don't. So during swimming lessons, he caught my eye and held up his right index finger, then his left and made an X, telling me in code that he didn't like his teacher. But he's doing really well now and even likes Mr. Patrick.

It's really interesting how he perceives, and sometimes misunderstands, song lyrics. He was singing along to The Jungle Book and sang, "Luck bottom, bare necessities, the simple bare necessities" and no matter how many times I tried to explain that it's "Look for the" he insists he's singing it the right way and that I'm wrong. He also does it when listening to our Queen Greatest Hits CD in the car singing my personal favorite "Another One Fights The Dust." Sure, they're really singing about housecleaning.

We're in the process of redecorating the boys' bathroom with a really cute dinosaur theme. You've never seen a boy as excited about shower curtains, kleenex box covers, and trash cans as Thomas.

Jonathan was babbling in the car the other day, and I said, "Hey Jonathan, what're you saying?" Thomas said, "Mommy, he doesn't speak people yet!" Thomas claims he can speak both people and baby so he interpreted for his brother.

David was in The Netherlands for a week late last month and the night he got home, he drove us out to eat. He clearly shouldn't have been driving jetlagged because as he went to pull into the parking space, he crashed into the curb and put a nice 3 inch hole in my bumper. Whenever we've shown anyone the bumper and told them the story, Thomas says, "Yep, Daddy, it was all YOUR fault!"

This past weekend, Tech and A&M played each other in football. We went to Tech and our friends D'Ann and Daniel went to A&M so we had some good-natured teasing going on. David was trying to get Thomas to tell D'Ann that the Aggies stink, but instead Thomas did a 180 and became the Aggies biggest fan. All during the game, he cheered those Aggies on and is insistent that they couldn't have lost, even though they did big time. I guess we'll just have to start working on Natalie to root for the Red Raiders.

And one final story for you today. The four of us were driving home last night and Thomas said to me, "Mommy, don't you think Daddy's a poopy head?" I said, "Now Thomas you know I don't like poopy jokes." He said, "But Mommy, I'm not joking, I'm serious!" David and I cracked up.