A Couple Stories For You

Well, I haven't posted anything in a while and have been meaning to for a week or so. Now I think I've waited too long and I can't remember all of the funny stories I wanted to share with you. So you'll just have to make do with the ones I did remember.

My mom's great-grandmother used to make her peanut butter and banana sandwiches. I make mine the same way my mom learned, by mashing the peanut butter and banana together. After almost 15 years of marriage, my hubby who will eat anything, still has yet to try one. Thomas just discovered the yummy gooeyness of a good peanut butter and banana sandwich and wanted to share it with his daddy. David absolutely refused. Then a couple days later, we had spinach and cheese pasta for dinner. Thomas tried it and liked it. As he ate it, he said, "Daddy since I tried this green pasta, you need to try the peanut butter and banana sandwich." David said he guessed Thomas would never have to try anything new again because he wasn't about to do that.

The boys and I were at Discount Tire last week getting a new tire put on my van, what a joy that was to make not one, not two, but three trips to Discount Tire over the course of two days, but I digress. Jonathan was in the stroller and Thomas was sitting on my lap sharing some freeze dried apples with him. Next to us was a morbidly obese woman. After several minutes, Thomas leaned back, and whispered very quietly in my ear, "Mommy, that lady is like a big round ball with a head on top." I whispered back my fervent thanks that he didn't yell it out loud and embarrass his mommy on an already stressful day.

Thomas has been playing soccer for about a month now. He tries and I think he likes it but it's not his thing yet. He has now progressed to running WITH the pack instead of behind it but he's not aggressive enough to take the ball away from anyone. If the ball spurts out, then he'll dribble down the field. It's only through the good shot timing and the magic of cropping that I got shots on my other blog that make it look like he's really good, but we know the truth. :-) Now t-ball on the other hand, is a little more his cup of tea. You don't have to take the ball from anyone, you play in your own position and don't have to run with a pack of 11 other boys. It was only as he started trying to learn the game that we realized how complicated baseball actually is. He can field the ball pretty well. And he can throw reasonably well, but he's just not a fast runner. Running bases is hard. When do you go, when do you stay? And he gets upset if he gets out. I was talking to him after practice the other day about that and trying to explain that everyone gets out sometime or another and that it wasn't anything to cry about, as he's been told "There's no crying in baseball!" He said, "Well, if you get out, are you out for the rest of the game?" It's a complicated game we Americans love.

Missing Grandpa

I'm a very lucky woman. I knew not only my grandparents, of which I had four+1 (Pa remarried after Granny died, so Bill is the +1) but I also knew 4 of my great-grandparents, and TWO great-great-grandmothers. I have friends who never even got to meet their grandparents. How lucky am I? Even knowing I'm lucky doesn't change the fact that I'm sad for myself, for my kids, for my mother, and especially for my grandmother, his wife of 61 years, that my beloved Grandpa is in Heaven now.

• I'll never get to see that twinkle in his eye as he tries, and always gives himself away, cheating at cards.
• I'll never hear him make that awesome train whistle sound with his hands.
• We'll never get to play Wii Bowling with him again.
• I'll never get to argue with him over who gets to pick up the tab for lunch.
• I'll never get to be on another road trip with him, have him slam on the brakes and honk the horn and ask us if we saw that elephant.
• I'll never have him walk me to my car as I'm leaving their house and spend 15 minutes asking me how many miles I have on it, am I sure I like driving a foreign car, and any other question he could think of to stall my departure.
• He'll never write any more poems for us or draw any more Mickey Mouses.

He is in a better place, and playing with Old Zackie Boy, and knowing that helps. I'm sad today because I found a song by the piano that I meant to learn to play for him and never did.

So I leave you today with a poem he wrote. This one is untitled, but he wrote it for my Grandma.

All she thought she really wanted
Was just a little kiss
As they sat so close together
Her thoughts he couldn’t miss
But that was forty years ago
Before grandkids and such
How can such a little thing
Turn out to be so much

Grandpa

I spoke at his funeral on Wednesday. I was nervous and emotional and was going to try to write something better here. But I'm stuck. So I'm just going to post what I've got so far.

I was very lucky to be his first grandchild. I had 37 years with him as my Grandpa. He was a special man.

Kids can really make you weepy and lighten the moment sometimes all at the same time. On Thomas' birthday, I was in Lubbock helping at the hospital with Grandpa. I called him early that morning to sing Happy Birthday to him. After I finished, he said, "Thank you, Mommy. Do we need to come to Lubbock? Is Twopa bad or good?"

On Tuesday morning, after his death on Saturday, we were driving over to Grandma's from Dale and Wanda's when Thomas asked me, "Why did Twopa have to die?" I explained that it was his time to go be with Jesus. He then talked about how Twopa was in heaven with Zack, our dog who died a year ago, and said, "Well, he'd better watch out!" I asked why and he said, "Old Zackie Boy bites!" After we stopped laughing, I told him I doubted Zack bit in heaven.


It was an honor and a priviledge to be there to help while he was dying. I could fluff his pillow and adjust it just right to suit his stiff neck. I could swab his mouth with a wet sponge when he wasn't allowed to drink anymore. And I could anticipate his needs and try to accomodate them: covers on or off, a Snickers bar, adjusting his position in the bed, time for more meds, etc. And as it got harder for him to speak and be understood, I was one of the ones who was able to interpret for him.


The day before he died, he had basically lost most of his ability to talk and couldn't get my name out, but as I walked by his bed on the way to get some snacks out in the hall, he pointed at me and said, "Her. Her. Her." Grandma was sitting by his bed, heard him and told me so I happily dropped my purse and sat and held his hand for a long time.


Although I wasn't there when he died, I'm so glad that my grandmother, my parents, my aunt, my two uncles, and two of my cousins and their wives were there by his bedside as he took his last breath. He was a family man and it's just like him to wait till they were all there surrounding his bed before he would go. As a matter of fact, the day before, I was in the room with him and his good friend, Bill, just the three of us, when he said, the loudest, clearest thing he'd said all day, "No! I can't go yet!" He wanted to wait till more loved ones were near.

Guitar Hero

We got Guitar Hero a couple weeks ago and have had a blast playing it. Thomas enjoys trying it. I'm better than Thomas. And David is the master. When Dale and Wanda were here Super Bowl weekend, Thomas wanted to show them how good he was at Guitar Hero. So he tried playing a song and quickly got booed off the stage. Then I played a song. Wanda told Thomas, "Your Mommy is pretty good." Thomas said, "Yeah, but my Daddy's better."

Earlier this week, we went to Chuck E. Cheese and while we were there "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" started playing in the background. Thomas got very excited and yelled, "Mommy! This is the song from Guitar Hero!!!" It reminds me of my teenage years, but reminds him of a video game. :-)

Holey Jeans

We ate dinner at Cheddar's the other night. As we were leaving, Thomas started climbing on the rocks out front. He was doing really well, until he said, "Hey look how good I can do this!" and then promptly fell down. He tore a big hole in his jeans, the first time that's ever happened. I thought he must have really hurt himself because how can you tear a hole that big in your pants and not bleed? So I tried looking through the hole and couldn't find any blood so I ripped it little more to get a better view since it was dark outside. And he didn't injure himself. Just ruined his jeans. After he got over crying and realized he was ok, he got very excited. "Mommy, I can't believe I tore a hole in my jeans! James had a hole in his pants the other day at school and now I do!!!" And then later, telling David about it, "Daddy, can you believe I got my first hole and then Mommy made it bigger!!"

Funerals

Our friend, Chris', dad passed away on Monday. I talked to Thomas about it told him that Mommy and Daddy would be going to the funeral. We talked about how funerals are celebration of someone's life and that people who loved them attend. I went to the viewing last night and my dad kept the boys so Mom could go with me since David was still working. They spent the night last night so David and I could go out for a Valentine's Day meal when he got home. I tell you that so you'll know why Mom was at our house this morning before school. So, she gets a phone call this morning, from Dad I think, and she was telling him that I was going to the funeral today. Thomas heard her saying that and came running into the bathroom where I was brushing my hair. He said, "Another funeral? Who else is dying?" I explained that they were both for Evie's grandpa. That tickled me but not as much as Evie asking if her grandpa was going to be buried or laminated.

Happy Loser

Jonathan and I went to Thomas' Valentine's Party today at school. The last activity of the party was a version of the game Hot Potato using a heart pillow, we'll just call it Heart Potato. The kids had never played it before and were so cute. Once they got the hang of passing it quickly from person to person, the music was cut off and the child holding the pillow got a heart sticker and was out of the game. Well, wouldn't you know it, my sensitive child was the first one out. It melted my heart, and cracked Lisa up, when Thomas came running up to me excitedly saying, "Mommy, can you believe I'm the first person to win?!?" And the rest of the kids were excited too. As each person ended up with the pillow, received their heart sticker, and got out of the circle, they clapped madly and cheered for the "winner" before the music started again.

Dandelion Fun

Took this one of Thomas last night as I was trying to get the dandelion pic on my Pics By Kim blog. Cute huh?

First Trip to Dentist

Thomas went to the dentist for the first time on Monday. This sign greeted him as we entered the office (it's a cell phone picture but that's all I had with me). He went to a pediatric dentist that came highly recommended. After our experience, we agree. To help him get ready, I downloaded a book from their web site about what to expect during your visit. After we read it for the first time, he said, "Oh, so they're just going to clean my teeth and not pull one out?" On Monday, he wanted to take his book with him to the dentist so he could check off each page as it happened: play in the play area, wait for them to call your name, get tooth pictures taken, etc. As they called his name to go back, he stopped, got his pen out and checked off that page before going with her. He went back by himself and came out 45 minutes later proud of how well he did. They said they'd never had another child bring their book with them and thought that was really cute. He asked them to show me his "tooth pictures" and everything looked great. He's got a good bite and no sign of cavities. He couldn't wait to go to school afterwards to tell everyone about it.

Map Confusion

Thomas is going to a birthday party tomorrow for a friend from school. On the way home today, he asked me where Aiden lived. I told him he lived in the north part of our city and we lived in the south part. He said, "Huh?" So I drew a map in the air and said, "Aiden lives up here and we live down here." He then said, "Oh, you mean he lives up in the sky and we live down on the ground?"

DVR Guru

Ever since we got a DVR 9 months ago, our TV viewing habits have dramatically changed. And as much as David and I have enjoyed it, we were a little surprised how much Thomas has enjoyed it. He loves recording his favorite shows so he can watch them whenever he wants instead of waiting for them to come on. He loves fast-forwarding through the commercials, and sometimes scary parts, so he can keep watching his show uninterrupted. He likes that so much that he's disappointed when he's watching live TV and he can't fast-forward. And then today at lunch, we were in the kitchen eating but he could still hear the television in the other room. He said, "Mommy, I'm going to go pause my show so I don't have to keep worrying about what I'm missing."

Spelling

Tonight at bedtime, Thomas and I were reading Dr. Seuss' One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Thomas was spelling the words for me. He went: "O-N-E-F-I-S-H." Sensing a teachable moment, I decided to take this opportunity to explain the pause we use between words and that he needed to take a small pause after spelling one word before going onto the next so the listener will know it's two different words. So he tried again, "O-N-E" (a long pause) "I paused Mommy. F-I-S-H."

New Glasses?

I was putting Thomas down last night when he gave me a huge, hard, almost-5-year-old-boy hug. I asked him to be careful of my new glasses. I'd just picked them up and didn't want them broken the first night. He stopped. Leaned back. Looked at me. And said, "You got new glasses?"

If you want to see them, check out my third blog (two just wasn't enough for me!).

Turks and Caicos Slide Shows

Wow, how lucky are you? Sometimes I go a whole month without posting and now you get THREE in ONE day? :-) I finally got around to making a couple slide shows of our trip to Turks and Caicos. How is it possible that that trip was almost 2 months ago? Boy it was amazing though. My first time leaving the country was this trip, at age 37. My youngest son? 11 months. I hope he continues to be able to take trips like this the rest of his life. As long as the rest of us can go with him. Boy do we have Island Fever now. It was so beautiful and relaxing. Enjoy our pictures! If you don't know everyone in the photos, we went with my parents, Gary and Jeanette, my brother, Mike, his wife, Amy, and their boys, Mason and Palmer. And by the way, I took 95% of these pictures using the Manual settings on my Nikon D80. I was excited and proud how well they turned out.

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Height Conversation

Today on our way to meet Melinda and Dayton for lunch, Thomas was asking questions about how tall he would be at certain ages. Here's how the conversation went.

Thomas: "How tall will I be when I'm 13?"
Me: "Hmmm. Probably at least as tall as my shoulder."
Thomas: "Well, I'm already as tall as Grandma's shoulder." (Not quite but close)
Me: "Well then, maybe you'll be as tall as Grandma when you're 13."
Thomas: "When will I be as tall as Grandpa?"
Me: "Boys grow taller at all sorts of different ages. And we have no idea how tall you'll be until you stop growing. But maybe when you're 15 or 20."
Thomas: "Well, when I'm sixty one hundred years old, I'll be taller than everyone."
Me: "I'm sure you will Thomas."
Thomas: "Oh wait a minute. When I'm that old we'll all be dead."

Sound of squealing tires as I laughed so hard I almost drove off the road.

Yes and No

Yesterday, we bought a small box of Goldfish crackers. Thomas wanted some as a snack during the afternoon and ate about half of it. Later, Jonathan wanted to try some so Thomas got some out for him. He'd eaten a lot of them earlier and we were going to have dinner soon so I told Thomas he couldn't have any more. Just give his little brother one at a time. That worked for about 2 minutes and then Thomas said, "Can I have this one since Jonathan's not eating it?" I said, "No." "Can I eat this one that fell on the floor? It's too dirty for Jonathan to eat." "Well, if it's too dirty for him to eat, it's too dirty for you to eat." "Can I just have ONE?" "No, no, no, no, no!" By this point we're both laughing. I looked at Jonathan and said, "Jonathan, I don't think your brother understands what N-O means." Thomas got this little twinkle in his eye and said, "Y-E-S!"

Cowboys and Older Women

Yesterday was Cowboy Day at Thomas' preschool. He was really excited about it and got dressed the second he woke up that morning. That was a nice change of pace since I'm usually saying, "We need to leave in 6 minutes and you still have your pajamas on!" But I digress. He has outgrown his old cowboy boots (they're size 11 and he's wearing a 13) and has been needing some new ones. So I thought Cowboy Day was a good excuse to go get them. But his teacher, Mrs. Petrelli, had told the kids not to buy anything special just for Cowboy Day so he refused. I tried to explain that she meant not to buy anything JUST for Cowboy Day and that since he was going to wear his boots other days, it would be ok, but no dice. So we made do with tennis shoes and the cowboy things we had around the house. And he had a blast. Last year, they had to convince him to sit on the horse for a few seconds to get a picture for us. But this year, he not only sat on the horse for a picture, but got on another horse for a ride around the playground. He's growing up.

And speaking of that, when we got home yesterday, he tugged on my arm and said, "Mommy, I need to tell you something." So I bent down and he whispered, "Mommy. A Kindergarten girl told me that she hates all boys but she doesn't hate me." And he then gave me this little shy smile. I said, "Oh really?" and asked him what her name was and he thought for a minute and then said, "Hmm. I don't know." Well, whatever your name is Older Woman, stay away from my baby. :-)

Christmas

We spent Christmas in Lubbock this year. It was a quick trip because David's really busy at work. And it was a busy trip because we were there for 48 hours and in that time had Christmas with both sides of our family, attended the Christmas Eve service, AND threw Jonathan's first birthday party because, well, first birthdays are all about family and we wanted as many family members as possible to attend. More on that whenever Jonathan has time to write his own post.

Every year Christmas only gets more fun as Thomas gets older. This year, I think I already mentioned that he decorated our tree all by himself. That little tree was so special, he decided it needed an angel AND a star on top along with a picture frame ornament with his smiling face. He also helped my parents decorate their little tree and would have been willing to help you with yours if you'd just asked.

While we were exchanging gifts with my parents and grandparents, David unwrapped one of his gifts and said, "Yeah, an old cell phone!" He was joking of course, and knew that there was something else inside the old cell phone box, but Thomas got really excited for him. "Oh Daddy! You got a new cell phone!" David explained the joke and proceeded to open the box and show Thomas what was inside. I think maybe it was coffee beans. About 5 minutes later, it's Thomas' turn to open another present. He carefully selected one and unwrapped it. He looked at the old cell phone box and said, "I'll just put this up till I'm 8." We had to convince him to open it right away and explained again that it wasn't an old cell phone. And as for how he decided he was going to be ready for a cell phone when he's 8, I have no idea.

Christmas Eve night, I was in the bedroom doing something and Thomas ran in to ask me a question. On his way out, he turned off the light and left me in the dark room alone. I could hear him crowing about his funny joke clear across the house. I came out a few minutes later and he was still laughing about it. To tease him back, I said, "Santa, did you see that?" His face fell and he got really quiet and said, "I think...maybe...not." We decided that Santa probably knew it was just a joke.

Christmas morning at 6:30 am, it was still pitch dark when Thomas whispered, "Mommy? Do you think Santa's come yet?" I asked why and he said, "I really need to go potty." I said I'd go check and reported that he must have because the cookies were gone. He said, "Good because I held it in as long as I could!" So we tiptoed down the hall and went potty. I figured we'd be up for the day since he knew Santa had come, but he thought it was still the middle of the night and tried to lay back down to go to sleep telling me he'd see me in the morning. Luckily for him, Jonathan heard all that whispering and decided sleeping time was over.

Thanksgiving and more

Hey everyone! Did you miss us? We have been incredibly busy the last few weeks. After The Week of Sickness, Thanksgiving, packing for and taking our trip to Turks and Caicos (more on that in the next post), and squeezing in Christmas shopping, we've been swamped, but it's all been fun.

First I thought I'd update you on everyone's health since my last post was concerning that. We had 11 straight days of someone being sick in our house and thought we were finally past it. After 2 days of everyone feeling ok, we headed to Austin for our long-planned visit with Chris, Jennifer, and Evie. Got there Friday night and stayed up late catching up and having fun. Then Saturday morning, David woke up with the same stomach flu the rest of us had earlier in the week. So all he saw of Austin was the inside of Chris and Jennifer's house, 90% of the time in their guest room. He's looking forward to a return visit to see more and hopefully have a better time. After that passed, we've all been healthy and stayed healthy through Thanksgiving and our beach vacation. Woo hoo! Three of us have colds now but we can deal with that.

One funny story from our visit with Jenn and family, Thomas and Evie got along great all weekend but did have one little fight...over a chair at Gymboree no less. I was listening to them each share their side and they were going on and on about how the other had hurt their feelings when he/she took the chair. Then Evie ramped it up a notch by saying that when Thomas did that it hurt her heart. Well played. Not to be outdone Thomas then said, "Well, when Evie did that it hurt my brain!" They've got a beautiful house and we are so happy to have them 3 hours away instead of 1500 miles away.

The other day, Thomas was eating Apple Jacks. He had some in milk and some dry on the table beside the bowl. He said, "Mommy, watch how I can crush this." So I watched as he valiantly tried to squish the Apple Jack with his thumb. There was a pause andthen, "Watch how I can break this." ;-)

We might just have a little preacher on our hands. On Thanksgiving Day, Thomas said the prayer and it went something like this: "God. We love you. And we want to say thank you. Thank you for my toys. And thank you for my friends and my family. But most of all, God, thank you for my mommy and my daddy. And, God, thank you for my little baby brother. Thank you again for my toys, God, and thank you for my little baby brother." David and I both got teary-eyed even as we were silently laughing so as not to disturb his beautiful prayer.

The Week of Sickness, part 4

Day 10. Jonathan threw up twice tonight. All over me.

Is this ever going to end?

The Week of Sickness, part 3

Well, we're now in day 9 of our week of sickness. Here's what's been going on. Friday night, Thomas threw up in his bed about 10:45. I took care of that. Changing the sheets, changing him, and getting him settled back down. I was up about 2 hours that night coughing, unable to sleep. At 5:30 Saturday morning, Thomas called over the monitor that his tummy was hurting again. David took care of that as I'd just fallen asleep after my coughing spell. I slept late and David gave Jonathan a bottle (one benefit of him not nursing anymore). Although Thomas still wasn't eating much (as of this morning, he still eats less than Jonathan) he was feeling better and played as usual. That evening after being trapped in the house for days, we all thought we were on the mend so went out for a low key dinner. Jonathan and David still had colds and I still had my cough, but we thought the worst was finally past. Sunday morning, I felt fine when I got up, except for being tired from coughing half the night. About mid-morning, I started feeling queasy. Great news, I caught Thomas' stomach bug. So I spent all day Sunday in bed and David took care of the boys. This morning, I feel much better, although weak, and am still tired from coughing half the night. Everyone now has a cough. And guess what. Jonathan woke up from his morning nap with a fever. We're sick of being sick!

The Week of Sickness, part 2

It's Friday afternoon and I thought you might like an update on our week of sickness. You already know about the events of the week and various illnesses up to that point. Here's what's happened in the last 24 hours. As the day wore on, Thomas started running a high fever, between 100 and 102 all day. He didn't want to take medicine and I hated to make him after what happened that morning although we finally got some into him last night before bed. Then around lunchtime, I started running a fever and not to be outdone, mine was higher than his, 103.8. This morning I woke up with white patches on my throat and fearing strep went to the doctor. It's not Strep A which is the only one they test with the rapid strep test. The official diagnisis is pharyngitis which I think is just a fancy way of saying sore throat. But I've got medicine to take and hopefully, please, please, please, Jonathan won't get it.

Pray that I feel better soon. Pray that Thomas feels better, which he was this morning until his fever started spiking again this afternoon, and that he'll start eating again. We know our boy is ill when he won't even eat his favorite foods. Didn't touch his Happy Meal yesterday and barely touched the donut David got for him this morning. Pray that Jonathan and David will somehow avoid catching whatever is going around this house. And thank goodness David's been able to be home with us these last two days!

The Week of Sickness

Well, we made it almost a year with two basically healthy children. They'd shared a cold or two but nothing worse. Until this week.

Sunday morning, Thomas woke up and said his blinkers were broken. I knew what that meant. Pink eye. So I got to take him to Care Now to get eye drops. We tried to keep Jonathan away from Thomas and his toys. Then Jonathan stopped nursing.

Monday morning, I took Jonathan to the doctor to see if there was a physical reason why he suddenly refused to nurse. There wasn't.

Tuesday morning, Jonathan woke up with pink eye. I called the doctor to see if I could use the same drops for him that I did for Thomas. Nope. So we got to take another trip to the pharmacy for a different prescription.

Wednesday, everyone seemed to be on the mend, but we did get to go to the doctor for Thomas' flu shot which had been on the calendar for a month already.

Thursday, today. I thought the worst was past, but I was wrong. (If you have a weak stomach, skip this paragraph). Thomas woke up early today and was really whiny. I just figured it was because he got up so early. That or because he's four. Then during breakfast, he started saying he was sorry. He'd had diarrhea and it got all over his pajamas. Gross, but that's ok, he couldn't help it. So we got him all cleaned up and in clothes. Then he kept complaining that he was cold. So I took his temp and sure enough, he's running a low grade fever. Then I tell him he has to take some Tylenol so he'll feel better. He's refusing and crying that he doesn't want to take medicine. I'm yelling that he IS going to take the medicine so that we can bring the fever down. Then I put him in my lap and make him take a sip of the medicine. Can you guess what happenend next? He threw up all over me and him. We were on the kitchen floor which was the best place in the house for it to happen, but it's still gross. So he's crying and apologizing for throwing up. I'm apologizing for making him take the medicine. And Jonathan is crying because he's tired of being in the high chair.

And I think I forgot to mention that David has had a cold all week and this morning I woke up with it but as a mom, I don't get to be sick. Talk about a stressful week.

Halloween Fun

Hey everyone. I know Halloween was two days ago, but I thought you might still enjoy a pic or two of our Batman and Robin. Both boys LOVED Halloween. Thomas' bucket was completely full of candy by the end of the night. Thomas was really into trick-or-treating this year but wouldn't say the words "Trick Or Treat." He'd ring the doorbell and say, "Happy Halloween!" It got him candy every time. I'm not sure why he doesn't like to say it but he never has. Jonathan loved it too. He kicked his feet and waved his arms like crazy while squealing the entire time we were trick-or-treating.

On a personal note, I tried some of Thomas' Milk Duds and they actually tasted good, guess there's not too much chocolate on them. Then I tried some Whoppers and realized that chocolate still tastes bad. I try some every few months hoping to get my taste for chocolate back, but it has tasted bitter to me ever since summer 2001. I'm still holding out hope that one day, I'll be able to enjoy it again. It's hard to let go of something you absolutely loved for 30 years. Poor me.

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.

First Day of School and More

Thomas doesn't like to pose for pictures very much these days which is why I haven't posted any of him recently. But last Friday, the first day of school, he willingly posed with his new Spongebob backpack and his "Who's Your Daddy" Star Wars shirt.

Thomas is very excited to be in the four year old class at preschool. If he had his way, he'd be in Kindergarten already. And if I had my way, he'd never go to Kindergarten. Guess that's the way with kids. I remember my grandpa telling me we were growing up too fast and I thought it wasn't fast enough. Now that I'm a parent, I understand.

The one thing he's been worried about though is his swinging abilities. He LOVES to swing, but prefers someone else to push him really high. Late last year, one of his teachers told him that in the four year old class you needed to swing yourself. I know she was teasing but he's been stressed out about it for months. Every few days, he said he needed to go to the park and practice his swinging so he'd be ready. Well, school started and he still likes to be pushed. On the way home last Friday after school, he said, "Mommy, I still need to practice swinging because I'm already in the four year old class!"

David teases Thomas about 98% of the time. Sometimes Thomas tells him, "Daddy no more jokes tonight" which only encourages David to make more jokes. The other day, Thomas said, "Tater sacks" again and I asked him why he said that phrase. When he replied that he liked to, I said, "That's not the right answer!" like David does. He looked at me and said, "Mommy. Don't act like Daddy."

He is VERY into superheroes right now. It's the classic scenario of by the end of the day, Mommy is sick and tired of hearing all about superheroes, and Daddy can't wait to come home to hear more. We were driving to school the other day, talking about superheroes as usual, and Thomas said, "Mommy, why don't superheroes ever go to the potty? Don't they have accidents?"

Funny Speech

Most of the stories this time are about Thomas' incorrect interpretation of words or misuse of terminology. Hope you enjoy them as we have.

Thomas was sick last week with a weird virus that caused fever but no other symptoms for 4 days straight. He was pretty grumpy when the fever went up and didn't like me taking his temperature. Once, while we were eating, he felt hot to me and I wanted to see what his temp was. I got the thermometer and he said, "Mommy, I don't want to do this in this moment."

He was telling my mom and me a story yesterday about swimming in the lake with David a few weeks ago. He said, "Me and Daddy swimmed towarder into the lake." I asked if he meant farther into the lake or toward the dock. He said yes. So I guess that's a new word that makes sense in that situation.

He was listening to a CD in the car the other day and said, "Mommy can you please fast forward backwards?" I said, "Do you mean rewind?" "Oh. Yeah."

He has started using his own version of an expletive: tater sacks. As in, "Mommy can I watch a movie in the car on the way to the grocery store?" "No, Thomas, we only watch movies if we drive at least 30 minutes." "Tater sacks!"

And last but not least, we were driving to meet friends for lunch today, well, four of my friends and none of his as their children all started preschool today and Thomas doesn't start till Friday, a fact that made him quite angry. But I digress. He said, "Mommy, where's the people museum?" I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "You know, the people museum where they bury your bones." I told him that was called a cemetery and that we'd try to drive by one someday soon. He said, "Yeah, when you die you have to be buried and then later an archaeologist will come along and find your bones."

Busy Summer!

Hi everyone! No, I did not stop writing this blog. Just took an unintended break over summer vacation. I don't know where the last 3 months have gone. They flew by but we had a great time. I have a notebook full of stories to share and will type as many as I can before Jonathan wakes up.

Thomas wanted Jonathan to sit by him on the couch one day. I told him he was happy playing on the floor for now. Thomas said, "No, he needs to be beside me on the comfortable furniture!"

And now for an embarrassing story. When Mike, Amy, Mason, and Palmer were visiting in June, Palmer and Thomas took their shirts off while we were eating dinner. Thomas looked down at his chest, touched his nipples, and said, to a table full of the entire family, "Mommy, mine are up here and yours are way down here."

We were eating at David's Barbecue one night, and Thomas wanted to eat some banana pudding. My mom offered one of her cookies from her pudding and Thomas said, "But my tummy wants to eat all of them. Listen!" A quiet moment or two and then in a tiny high pitched voice said, "I want to eat them all!"

The boys and I spent 10 days in Lubbock last month. We went to the Science Spectrum a couple times and Thomas loved all the neat science experiments and activities. For the next two days though, he was a total grouch. I finally decided to talk to him about it, expecting to hear that he was missing his daddy. I asked why he was being so grumpy and told him I missed my sweet boy. He was quiet for a minute and then said, "But Mommy, scientists are supposed to be mad!" I tried hard to keep a straight face while explaining that that means crazy not angry.

While we were at my in-laws house, Thomas thought he had to be outside every single minute building with hammer and nails or picking things from the garden or having adventures. One afternoon, it was hot, and Wanda wanted to rest inside for a little while. Thomas would play a few minutes and then think of some reason why he needed to go outside. When he was told not yet, he played a little longer before coming up with another excuse to go outside. After about 20 minutes, he said, "Granny, I'm cold! I need to go outside in the hot!" She said, "Honey if you're cold, Granny can turn down the air conditioner." He said, "No. I need to go out in the hot." That one finally worked.

Also in Lubbock, we spent quite a bit of time at my grandparents house and my grandma decided to take Thomas to the dollar store to help her pick out some toys that little boys like. He loved doing that and quickly filled her basket full. He got back to their house and picked out some toys to take outside where my uncle, Jerry, was taking a smoke break. After a little while, Thomas came in and I asked where Uncle Jerry was. He said, "Oh, he's just cigarettin'."

And this isn't a funny story, but a word to those of you who might be lax in backing up photos like I was. It doesn't matter that from September through early July that you were busy being pregnant and then with a newborn. Your hard drive doesn't care that you'll lose every picture you've ever taken of your baby. It crashes when and where it wants to and those pictures are lost unless you're willing to spend 2-3 times what the computer cost to retrieve your data. Definitely a hard way to learn a lesson.

5 stories

Tonight at dinner, David asked Thomas what we did today. Thomas said, "We went to Chuck E. Cheese, then did other things, and then nothing." David and I cracked up and he looked at me and said, "If you still wrote on the blog, this would be a good story to add." So here you go honey. :-)

A few weeks ago, we all went to an open house at Thomas' school. I was helping him get dressed and he decided to let me spike his hair so he could be cute. I tucked his shirt in and he immediately tried to untuck it. I asked him to leave it tucked. He looked at me and said, "But Mommy, I don't want to look TOO handsome." Good effort but the shirt stayed tucked and boy was he handsome.

Thomas picked out some Superman sunglasses the other day at Target but I didn't let him open them till we got home. As we were bringing the bags in, I dropped one of them on my foot and of course it was the bag with new cookie sheets in it. I was hopping around and Thomas asked me what happened. I told him I'd dropped a bag on my toe and his immediate question was, "Did you break my sunglasses?" I had to laugh and then told him thanks for being worried about my toe. He said, in all seriousness, "No, Mommy, I was worried about my sunglasses."

Thomas told us the other day that he was going to marry Natalie when they grew up. We said that was fine with us. A couple days later, we were driving in the car and out of the blue, Thomas said, "I'm not going to get married." We asked why not. He said that he was going to stay home with us to which we wanted to know what changed his mind. He said, "Well at Six Flags I asked Natalie and she said she didn't want to get married and was going to stay with her mommy and daddy so I'm going to do it too!" Poor guy, a rejection at 4. Hopefully, he'll wait another 20 years before proposing again.

As you can probably tell, Thomas tends to think about things for a while and then out of the blue pop something on you. He told me the other day that he didn't want to be in the 4 year old class at his school next year. I asked why. He said, with great indignation, that in the four year old class you have to swing yourself on the swing and he didn't want to have to swing himself. But he's very excited about going to Kindergarten in a year, a fact which makes his mommy sad. My baby's growing up!

I said 5 stories but you're getting a bonus story to go with the picture. Thomas was already dressed for the day when he saw his brother wearing overalls. He immediately said he had to wear overalls too and changed his clothes to match Jonathan and then asked me to take their picture. Sure are cute boys huh?

6 weeks later

Time sure does fly with two little boys in the house. This picture was taken the day Thomas decided he was going to be a daddy like his friend James. James wears ties to school sometimes so Thomas wanted to as well. He was so excited and proud to be a daddy and couldn't wait to get to school to show James. He said that James wouldn't recognize him because he was a daddy but that James would know his voice. He wore the tie the entire school day (5 hours) and he and James called each other Daddy the whole time.

We got home one day and David jokingly told Thomas that the fat guy said it was time to get out of the car. Thomas said, "Daddy, you're not fat! You're just big and hairy!" We still laugh about that one.

Last weekend, Thomas helped my mom work in her flower bed. He dug a big hole with his shovel , jammed it in the ground, and then noticed a worm crawling toward the shovel. He told my mom there was a worm and my mom told him the worm was probably just trying to figure out what that was. Thomas leaned down really close and said, "Worm! It's a SHOVEL!"

Thomas still loves counting. It's a great way to pass the time while driving. We'll count every other number all the way to 100. Thomas does really well and usually remembers what comes next, i.e. 20, 30, 40, etc. Sometimes he leaves out 13 and 15 but who needs them anyway? The other day, he was counting and got to 99 and stopped. I asked if he remembered what came next and he said, "Tenty!" Close.

Well, those are a few highlights from the last month or so. Maybe you'll hear from me again soon. If not, see you in June! :-)

Girl and Boy Stuff

Today, David and Thomas had a Boy Day. They made a list last night of 1o boy things they wanted to do together and spent the entire day working through the list. The list included things like washing the car, going to Chuck E. Cheese, spraying each other with water, and working in the yard. They were so cute because after they'd finished one item, they'd say "That was number 6!" (or whatever number they were on) and then move onto the next. Tonight we were driving to Ci Ci's Pizza, another Boy Thing but one they let Mommy and Jonathan join them on, and Thomas said, "Mommy, tomorrow is Girl Day and you can pick 20 things you want to do." Of course David acted offended that he only got to do 10 things while I get to do 20 which Thomas thought was hilarious. Thomas told me I should dream tonight about all the things I wanted to do with him on my girl day but his suggestions were great: go to the diamond store and shopping at Kohl's. Now that's a nice way for a boy to treat his mommy. :-)

4 Going on 10 and Then Some

I don't know how many of these "proud to be four" stories I'll tell but as long as they keep happening, I'm going to keep sharing. Thomas really likes counting things and people and sorting them into groups (ex. Are there more boys or girls?). He'll say, "How many people are at the table?" and then proceed to count them all. What makes us laugh is that he'll always find a way to make himself be the fourth person counted even if he has to jump back and forth across the circle to do it. Half the time he gets confused about where he left off to jump over and make himself number four and there end up being 10 people counted at a table with 6 people and he'll have to count them all again.

The other day he told us, "Hey Mommy and Daddy listen to this. I'm not 1, and not 2, and not three, I'm four!" We said that's absolutely right. He then said, "And next I'll be 5 and then 6 and then 7 and then 8 and then 9 and then 10!" a pause and then "Hey Mommy! I'm almost 10!!!"

We went to Lubbock last weekend and while we were at my grandparents' house, Thomas accidentally broke a glass ice cream dish. He started crying and I tried to explain that it was ok and that it was just an accident. He was inconsolable and said, "But Mommy it was all my fault!" More comforting and then, "Mommy don't tell Gma!" I told him that she knew what had happened and that she wasn't upset with him. More hysterics and "She knows?!?! Oh it's all my fault!" Poor guy.

The other day, Thomas was playing with Jonathan while I was hanging laundry. Jonathan started fussing and Thomas yelled, "Mommy! Jonathan needs his Mommy!" I said he'd have to wait a minute and that I'd be right there. When I got back into the room, I heard Thomas singing to Jonathan, "Your mommy will be right back. Your mommy will be right back."

At night we usually let Thomas pick which one of us he'd like to put him down. He usually picks David because Daddy plays silly with him while Mommy is all business. The other night though he wasn't too pleased with his choice when David did something to irritate him and he looked at his daddy and said, "I wish I wouldn't have picked you."

It's GREAT Being Four!

I didn't realize it but apparently there are many things you can do when you're four that you couldn't do when you were three. You can jump higher, run faster, and do many new 4 year old tricks. He is SO proud about being four. He tells everyone, strangers mostly since everyone else knows already, "Did you know I'm four now?" We were waiting in line at Sam's yesterday and there was a little girl in a cart in front of us. Thomas looked at her and held up four fingers. She smiled and then held up six fingers. He nodded his head like "Oh. Cool."

RIP Old Zackie Boy

After almost 16 years, Old Zackie Boy has gone to doggie heaven. He was a great friend and our first baby. We miss him already.

Happy Actual 4th Birthday Thomas!

Thomas is four years old today. We can't believe he's already that old. Time sure does fly when you're having fun.

He had his party on Saturday at a bounce house place. He had a great time playing with 13 of his closest friends and got lots of neat presents. He shared his birthday party with his birthday buddy James and with both of their friends running around it was crazy but fun. He wanted a Star Wars party because one of his friends had it for his party. He's never watched the movie and has no idea Darth Vader is the bad guy or else he probably wouldn't like him. But we had a Darth Vader cake and he got a Darth Vader costume and light saber which he keeps calling a life saver.

Saturday morning he woke up and said, "Today is March 5th, my birthday party!" So we tried to explain that Saturday was his birthday party but his birthday wasn't until Monday. He woke up yesterday and asked if it was his "actual birthday." I said that it wasn't yet. So today he was very excited to find out it was his ACTUAL birthday. He went around telling everyone that yesterday he was three but today he is four. He can't wait to go to school tomorrow to tell his friends that he's four like them.

This afternoon, Thomas got in trouble for something and started pouting. He was very quiet for several minutes and then said, "Mommy, I'm having a happy birthday but not a really happy, happy birthday." Guess he thought birthday boys shouldn't get in trouble on their big day.

Bouncing Babies and More

The other day, Jonathan was in his bouncy seat and Thomas was talking to him and playing with him. He said, "Mommy, babies like it when we do this." and started bouncing Jonathan really hard in the seat, so hard his head was bouncing around. I told him that was too fast for a little baby and that he needed to only bounce his brother very gently. He said, "Oh, like this?" and did little small bounces. I said that was very good. He then said, "Babies like when we bounce them like this" (and bounced gently) "but babies don't like it like this" (and bounced really hard again). I said, "Thomas!" He said, "OK Mommy. Babies like it like this [gentle bounce] but NOT like this [rough bounce]." He did the whole cycle three times before he was convinced that I knew how gently he should bounce his brother. Jonathan sure is going to have to be tough with such a loving big brother like Thomas. :-)

Thomas has started referring to us as "Mom" and "Dad" when telling stories about us and it makes me a little sad. He'll say, "My Dad always jokes on me." or "My Mom doesn't like to hear that word." He still calls us Mommy and Daddy but it seems like those days are numbered. Boy do they grow up quickly.

We have a little teacher on our hands. He likes to quiz us all the time. "What words start with the letter P?" "What animal has the longest neck?" "Who at this table has a goatee?" And he's always quick with his praise for how smart we are. It's fun for him to turn the tables on us and we're happy to play along.

Bad Words, Fogginess, and Art

There are several words that we don't say in our house including butt, stupid, and hate. Thomas views it as his job to let us know when anyone says a bad word, probably because it allows him to say it while telling us that a certain character on TV said butt. The other morning, Thomas was stalling and we were going to be late to school because of it. I was frustrated with him and told him to hurry up because I hated being late. He got very quiet and hurried to get ready. Once we were in the car, he said, "Mommy are you still grumpy?" I said that I wasn't. He then said, "Mommy, you said 'hate.'"

It's been really cold here lately. Well, cold for Texas, and as a result, our windows were fogging up in the van as we were driving the other day. Thomas yelled out that his windows were getting foggy. I said that was ok and turned on the defroster. Thomas watched for a minute and then said, "Oh wow Mommy! This IS a really special van!!"

Thomas has started taking an art class with his friend Natalie. It's the kind of class where the mommies don't stay and that was a little difficult for Thomas in the beginning but he's adjusting. When I picked him up the second day, his teacher, Ms. Hannah, told me that they were working on drawing Van Gogh's Sunflowers by following along as she drew it. Thomas was working really hard on it and when she walked by to check on him, he looked up at her and said, "I'm really good at this!" Last week, he waited too late to go potty and had a little accident during class. He got very upset about the whole thing and Ms. Hannah called me to come pick him up early. She was very sweet in how she dealt with the whole situation and I think he developed a little crush on her. On the way home he said, "Mommy, I think Ms. Hannah may be cuter than you." I said, "What!?!" He started laughing and said, "No, I was just kidding Mommy but she is cuter than Daddy!"

Germ Patrol, Making Plans, and More

I mentioned Thomas' cold in the previous post. David caught it, Jonathan got a newborn version of it, and just when I thought I was out of the woods, I came down with it this weekend. He tried hard not to share it but those germs were persistent. Anyway, I was holding Jonathan yesterday and without thinking bent down and kissed his cheek. Thomas ran up to me and said, "Mommy! Remember you've got my cold so you have to kiss him only on top of his head!" Nothing like being properly chastised by your three year old.

Last Thursday, when I picked Thomas up from school, he was mad at me that James didn't come home with us. I told him we had something else to do that day and that we'd get together with James in a few days. He said, "Well, James asked me if he could come over and I said 'sure' so that's the plan!"

Once he got over being mad, he asked me how Jonathan did while he was at school. I told him Jonathan did fine but that he missed his big brother. Thomas told him, "I missed you too. I thought about you all day!" Later, he wanted to hold Jonathan and as soon as I put the baby in his arms, he said, "There now. Your big brother's got you." Talk about melting a Mommy's heart.

Whenever Thomas watches a DVD these days, he always wants to watch the "commercials" which are really the movie previews but commercials fits too. Sometimes he'll want to watch the commercials over and over instead of the actual movie. He'd watched the Cars movie at my parents house a few weeks ago and was happy to get his own copy of the movie for Christmas. The next time he saw my parents he excitedly told them that his Cars movie had the exact same commercials their movie did.

Thomas Is a Big Brother!

Jonathan David was born on December 28th at 8:55 am. He weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. He was within 2 ounces and 1/4 inch of his brother. Mommy says thank goodness he came almost 2 weeks early! :-)

Thomas is such a proud big brother and is so sweet with the baby. When Thomas was watching them clean Jonathan through the nursery window, he looked at my mom and asked, "When do we get to touch him?" A few moments later, he was talking to David's parents on the phone and told them they needed to come see Jonathan right then. When he finally got to hold his brother, he was so gentle with him and of course, he washed his hands first. He makes sure than anyone who wants to hold his baby washes their hands. And when he washes his hands in preparation for holding Jonathan, he holds his hands up in the air like a surgeon going into surgery to make sure he doesn't accidentally touch anything on the way to the baby.

On our second day in the hospital, Jonathan was quite fussy after his circumcision. In the beginning, Thomas would quietly talk to him and say, "It's ok. Mommy is right here." But as he kept crying off and on for several hours, Thomas finally looked up and said, in a matter of fact voice, "Jonathan stop crying, you're giving me a headick."

Thomas also doesn't mind telling you that Jonathan likes him better than you. And I think he might be right because Jonathan will always turn his head to look at Thomas when he's talking, something he doesn't do for everyone. I think he probably knows Thomas' voice better than anyone's because Thomas talks ALL the time. :-)

Thomas is also so sweet singing to Jonathan. If Jonathan starts crying, Thomas will run over and start singing "Rock A Bye Baby" to him. Depending on the reason Jonathan is crying, it usually works and he'll stop crying and watch Thomas sing. If it doesn't work, Thomas will stop singing and say, "Nope, he must be hungry Mommy."

This week, Thomas has a cold and he's trying very hard not to pass it to his brother. He never coughs or sneezes near the baby and is washing his hands very often. This morning, he was holding Jonathan and put his face right up to him. I asked him not to breathe in Jonathan's face because he could get germs on him. So he turned his head and took several breaths and then held his breath while holding his face close to his brother. Not quite what I intended but it worked.

Merry Christmas!

We thought last Christmas was fun with Thomas and it was, but Christmas with a VERY enthusiastic three year old was even better!

Last night I was putting him to bed and he kept talking about making snow angels and throwing snowballs and making snowmen outside today. I only realized that he actually expected snow when he got out of bed and said, "Let me check if it's snowing yet before I go to sleep." All of the Christmas shows we've watched have included snow so he thought it snowed everywhere on Christmas Day. Thankfully he wasn't too disappointed that we only had rain.

This morning, he woke up a little early and called me over the baby monitor. I said good morning to him and the next words out of his mouth were, "Is it Christmas morning!?!?" I said that it was and he yelled "Woo hoo!" and ran to wake Grandma and Grandpa up. They spent the night with us last night so they could be here for the Santa gifts. I loved hearing him tell them to hurry up so he could go downstairs and see his camera. That's the one thing he asked Santa for and he had no doubt it was downstairs waiting on him, which it was.

He was so cute opening his gifts. My parents gave him some boxing gloves and he squealed with delight and yelled, "This is just what I wanted!" and ran over to give them both big hugs. He was almost as excited about every other gift he opened. At one point, he picked up a present and asked who got it for him. I told him Daddy and I did. He ran to both of us, hugged us, and said, "Oh thank you for my red present!' He hadn't even opened it yet. :-) Of course, with the honesty of a three year old, when he opened one he didn't want, you knew about it. David and I bought him a Leapster handheld video game. He looked at it and said, "This is a big kid toy. I didn't want this." He whispered it, but the message came across loud and clear. He also did that with Crocodile Dentist which he got from my parents. He said he just wanted to play that at James' house and didn't want it here. I told him that wasn't nice and that he needed to say thank you. He sighed really big and in a sad little whisper said, "Thank you Grandma. Thank you Grandpa." Thankfully, he changed his mind about both presents very quickly.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Baby Preparations

I told you it would probably be a while before I posted again didn't I? :-) Things have been very busy around here getting ready for Jonathan's arrival next week. And since that's such a big event in this house, all the stories today revolve around that.

Last week, Thomas came up to me at breakfast and patted my tummy and said, "Mommy, your tummy SURE is getting big!" After I stopped laughing, couldn't be offended because he's right, I asked him why he thought it was getting so big. He said, "Because Jonathan is just growing and growing!"

For the last few weeks, Thomas has alternated between being the baby and being the daddy. I've posted pics of both versions of our boy. When he's the baby, he needs a pacifier and crawls everywhere and wants his big boy bed converted into a crib with pillows along the edge. When he's the daddy, and he's a great one, he carries his babies everywhere, feeds them, buckles them into the car seat, and in general takes good care of them all.

We were at his friend Natalie's birthday party last weekend and I overheard Thomas telling Natalie's grandma that when Jonathan was born Daddy was going to stay home "a whole week to help me take care of him till Mommy comes home." I reminded him that Jonathan will be in the hospital with me until we both could come home and he said, "Well, I'll still need the help!"

And last but not least, this morning, he spent 20 minutes practicing silly faces for his brother. He'd do one and ask if I thought his brother would like that one. I'd say, "Definitely!" and then he'd try another one.

Life around here is about to change but we all can't wait. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Daddy Thomas 

Baby Thomas 

Another Month?

Well, it's been almost a month again since my last post. I'd like to promise that I'll do better but don't think that's realistic for the next few months. We're busy and I'm tired so you'll probably just have to be satisified with occasional updates. A lot of funny things have happened and I have plenty to share...that is if I can remember them because my memory is awful these days thanks to the baby. If I need to remember anything important, I have to tell Thomas and he reminds me.

Thought I'd start you off with a quick Thomas story. He has another runny nose since it's that time of year. On Saturday morning, he was sitting on the couch and I saw him wipe his nose on his pajama sleeve. I reminded him that we use a tissue not our clothing to wipe our noses. He looked at me and said, "Mommy, just drink your water...and look over there."

We finally have baby news to share, our little one was very stubborn and didn't want to let us know what we all wanted to know. We're having another boy and Thomas is SO excited. When the sonogram technician said "boy" Thomas went "Woo hoo!" and pumped his fist in the air. He was REALLY hoping for a brother and his excitement has been fun to witness. And our little one has a name as well. We've decided on Jonathan David. I know it's not as cool as Superman or Buzz Lightyear, but since we all agree on it, it'll have to suffice.

We also have a new car. Mommy finally got her minivan, a 2007 Honda Odyssey, and I sure do love it. Thomas is really proud of it too. He's shown it to all his friends and it's cute to see what he thinks the neat features are. He always shows them the "nets" which are the built in window shades in the second row and his toy holder, which is a console between the two captains chairs in the second row. He also points out the screen he uses to watch movies and tells them all about the navigation system: how you can see where you are and the map moves as you move and also how you can ask the car what time it is and it'll tell you, a feature we have used a LOT over the last few weeks. The minivan has lots of other neat features, but those are the ones that matter most to our three year old.

I'm going to go ahead and publish this one just so you'll have something to read. Maybe later I'll get around to writing a few of the stories from this last month. Or maybe not. :-)

That's My Boy!

Yesterday, Thomas and David went to the grocery store. After they got home, Thomas was telling me all about the experience: what vegetables he saw, what neighbors they ran into, and most importantly, what kind of cookie he got to eat as kids always get a free cookie at Kro Kro (Kroger). He told me he got a chocolate chocolate cookie (chocolate chocolate chip) and that it was really good but messy so he wiped his mouth on Daddy's shirt. David said, "Thomas you weren't supposed to tell Mommy that part!" Thomas laughed and said, "But Daddy, I tell Mommy everything!"

Lost, Found, and Sleepy Ankles

Last night, my mom called to ask Thomas where her 3 pound hand weights were. Thomas loves playing with them at Grandma and Grandpa's so she knew he was the last one to use them. He said, "They're on the fireplace." which is where they should have been but weren't. I asked him to think where else he might have put them. He thought for a minute or two and then said, "They're by Grandma's bed." She went in to look and sure enough, there they were under her side of the bed. Nothing like having to ask a three year old where your stuff is...

Last night at bedtime, Thomas trotted out a new excuse for not going to sleep. He called down and said that he was trying to go to sleep but there was a problem. "My ankles are sleepy but the rest of my body says that it wants to wake up!" We told him to just lay there and rest and that we were sure that soon his ankle would convince the rest of his body to go to sleep. One minute later he was out.

Has It Been Two Weeks Already?

Wow! How time flies. Thomas and I have been enjoying having David home with us lately and I haven't gotten around to updating the blog. Hope you haven't missed us too much.

Wanted to share a few things that have tickled us lately. In the past, I've written about our struggles getting him in bed at night. That has basically ceased. The most trouble we have these days is his common excuse when we tell him goodnight and we'll see him in the morning. He'll say, "But I'm not the fastest sleeper!" I'm not sure why he thinks that'll work because we always reassure him that he doesn't have to be the fastest, but he still keeps trotting that excuse out.

David and I have had our girl baby name picked out long before we ever got pregnant. It's the boy name that we're struggling with so we decided to ask Thomas his opinion. We asked him if he liked William or Jonathan better for a boy name. He thought for a second and then said, "I like John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt!" So, you can bet if we decide on Jonathan, Thomas already has his nickname chosen.

Thomas is in a phase now that I'm really enjoying. I don't know how long it'll last but I'm going to bask in it for as long as I can. He thinks his mommy is the prettiest girl he's ever seen and isn't afraid to tell you so. We went to eat at Babe's the other night and at that restaurant when the Hokey Pokey plays on the jukebox, all the waitresses dance in the middle of the restaurant. So when at least 20 college age girls got out there and did the Hokey Pokey, Thomas really liked it but when telling the story later he'd say, "Yeah, but they were not as cute as Mommy!"

We all went to an end of busy time party with David's coworkers and their families on Saturday. Thomas made several new friends and had a great time. At one point, he needed to go potty and invited his new friend Josh, aged 2 1/2, to come with him. So Josh's dad and I stood outside the bathroom listening to Thomas give Josh a pottying lesson. We heard Josh say, "Look tee tee!" Then a few seconds later, Thomas said, "Ok, now it's your turn." Don't think Josh tried that time but Thomas did show him how you have to wash your hands and flush afterwards. He was very pleased with himself for being the big boy and teaching someone else how to do it. He's going to be a great big brother.

Superman

Superman

Thomas decided quite a while ago that he was going to be Superman for Halloween and we ordered his costume early so he could enjoy it longer. His costume arrived this week while he was sick with his cold. And if anything could make a boy feel better, it's dressing up like a superhero. As a matter of fact, I tried to give him some cold medicine while he was wearing his costume and he informed me that Superman didn't need medicine because he didn't get sick.

The first time he put his costume on, he looked in the mirror and said, "Oh Mommy, I'm not Thomas anymore, I'm Superman!!" Kids are so much fun.

Weekly Update

Hey everyone,

It's been a busy week for us and Thomas has entertained us as usual. He's had a cold for the last week and goes through tissues like crazy. Thomas does really well covering his mouth every time he coughs so David and I decided not to make a big deal of the fact that he uses a different tissue for every single wipe of his nose. He went through 3 boxes of tissues the week of his cold but at least he wasn't wiping it with his hand or on his shirt.

Last weekend, David was still crazy busy at work so Thomas and I rode with my parents to Lubbock. Thomas decided that we should fly and not drive because flying was much faster. I reminded him we only fly to Lubbock when it's just the two of us and we drive when we go with anyone else. All the way to Lubbock, he kept saying it was taking too long and that he told us we should have flown. And he was right too because with the rain, holiday traffic, and construction our drive out there took 6 1/2 hours and our return trip took 7 1/2 hours when it should have only taken 5.

Lately, Thomas decided his pillowcase was too rough and wouldn't put it on his pillow. He said the pillow was softer without it. In order to encourage him to use a pillowcase, which can easily be washed, I gave him one of my satin pillowcases that my grandmother made for me. He LOVES it and called to tell my grandma how much he was enjoying it. She offered to make him one of his very own and asked him what color he wanted. He said, red, then green, yellow, pink, purple, blue, white, clear, and then cracked himself up before naming any other colors. When we got to Lubbock, we went to visit my grandparents. She gave him a gift sack with the pillowcases inside she'd made for him. He looked at his red and blue pillowcases and said, "Oh wow....where's the rest of them?"

All along, Thomas has been planning on naming the baby Buzz Lightyear no matter what sex it is. But lately he decided that if it was a girl, he'd name her Woody. And on the way home from Lubbock, he told me that he also thought Gma would be a great name for a girl. Gma is what he calls my grandmother.

Humorous Tidbits

Riding in the car with kids is a great time for interesting conversations to crop up. Thomas always suprises me with the things he comes up with to talk about.

• One day, he asked me, completely out of the blue, if it was going to hurt me when I went to the doctor to get the baby out. I told him that it would hurt a little bit but that it would be worth it to have the new baby. Not a humorous story but still sweet.
  
• Then one day last week, he was eating animal crackers while we were on our way to the museum. He found two rhinoceroses and asked me, "Mommy, how do rhinoceroses kiss?" I asked him how he thought they kissed and he decided they must use their noses.
• He also knows that I'm ready for a new car and knows exactly what kind I want. For a while, he would say that Mommy's new car was going to be a "moving van" but now he knows I want a minivan. He decided that after our minivan, we should get a race car and then a pick-up truck. He also told Grandma that she could get a race car right now because she didn't have a baby in her tummy so she could drive really fast.

David's parents and sister came to visit this weekend. Thomas was wearing one of his current favorite shirts, muscle shirts "so everyone can see how strong I am." He has three of them and the one he was wearing had the number 15 on the back. Wanda was talking to him and asked who was 15. He looked at me and asked, "Mommy, am I still three?"

Today at school, the kids got to make bracelets with their initials on them. Thomas told his teacher that he wasn't going to wear a bracelet but would make it for Mommy and that's exactly what he did.

Naptime Shenanigans

Silly sleeping

As you know, Thomas naps only about one day a week and he rests in his room for a while every other day. Yesterday, about 5 minutes after I left his room, he called me over the baby monitor asking how many more minutes were left of rest time. I told him it had just started and not to worry about it. Ten minutes later, he called me again, this time with a teary voice. He said, "Mommy, it hurts when I pull my hair! Can you come check and see if it's ok?" I told him that he would be fine if he would just stop pulling his hair. Ten minutes after that, he got quiet and took his weekly nap. This is how I found him when naptime was over.

Check Out His New Bike

New Bike

Thomas LOVES his new bike. He can pedal really fast and stop all by himself. If you look closely you'll see one of Thomas' little quirks. He wears a hat under his helmet because he says otherwise it sticks to his hair. Looks a little silly but we'd rather do that than have a fight over wearing a helmet altogether.

A Week of Firsts

Thomas had a good week this week. He got his first big boy bicycle. He's so tall that he was having a hard time pedaling his tricycle. David had been saying Thomas needed a bike for quite a while now so earlier this week, we drove to Toys R Us and tried several models out. The 12 inch Superman bike he tried first was so small, he couldn't even pedal it. I got down a 16 inch bike thinking it would be too big for him still, but he just took off. He drove all around the bike area at Toys R Us at least 15 times before we were able to go pay for the bike. He loves his new bike and asks to ride it every day. He doesn't even care that it's 105 degrees outside. Mommy tries to take him out first thing in the morning and Daddy takes him out late in the evening. It's still hot both those times but only 90ish and not 100+.

He also had his first day at preschool yesterday and he LOVED it. He was in Mother's Day Out last year and had a great time, but we decided to try a different place this year. I was a little nervous about it because he'd been happy last year but had heard so many good things about this new school that I wanted to at least try it. I walked him in yesterday and by the time I put his backpack in his locker he was gone playing. I had to track him down to give him a hug and tell him good-bye. When I picked him up, he got in the car and said, "Mommy, I had FUN at my new school!" He opened his backpack and pulled out a drawing he'd made that had a note attached from the teacher saying he'd had a great day and loved the trains and puppets. He looked at the note and said, "I"ll tell you what it says. 'I had a really really fun day at school. I had a terrific time at school.' He said a few more things but I was too tickled by the terrific time statement that I missed the rest, never heard him say that before. Then he said, "You can read the rest Mommy."

After school, we went to eat lunch at McDonald's with his friend James, who loves the new school too. And right in the middle of McDonald's, Thomas had another first. The first time he embarrassed his mommy by pulling down his shorts to show his friend his cool new Superman underwear. Life is never boring around here!

Not Gettin' In Trouble

And now for some more stories that have tickled our funny bones lately.

As you know, Thomas isn't napping much these days, but he still goes to his room for a rest time every afternoon. One day, he called down to me over the baby monitor, "Mommy! I have something dangerous for you!" I went upstairs to see what he was talking about and saw that he'd been playing with a picture frame that had a photo of him, Mason, and Palmer in it. He'd taken the frame apart and the glass had fallen out of the frame. It hadn't broken, but he knew it wasn't safe and wanted me to get the dangerous thing off the floor.

David had tried a new restaurant at lunch one day and was telling us about it that night. Thomas listened to David's explanations of all the yummy food they had and then said, "Daddy, maybe I can come with you to eat there sometime. Do you think they have grilled cheese for me?"

Lately, Thomas has been understandably fascinated with baby things (he now sleeps covered with one or more baby blankets each night) and toys he liked to play with when he was a baby. Whenever he notices a baby toy in an old photo of himself, he immediately wants to get that toy and play with it. Last night, he had us get the exersaucer out of the attic and got in and played around in it for quite a while. It was a funny site because he's so big now he was having to play on his knees. And his descriptions of his activities always start the same way, "When I was a cute little baby, I just LOVED to play with this."

Gettin' In Trouble

Lest you think Thomas is perfectly well behaved all the time, I wanted to share some stories from the last week or so of Thomas' other side.

Last week, we went to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History with his friend Corbin. Thomas was having a tough time sharing that day and we had to discuss his behavior several times. He didn't want to share the toys at the water table, he didn't share the puppets at the puppet theater, and he didn't share the train cars or the stuffed animals or any other toy available. On the way home, I asked him if he'd had fun at the museum. He said, "Yeah! My favorite part was the bubble thing!" Then he got a little twinkle in his eye and said, "No, my favorite part was me not sharing!"

One morning last week, Thomas noticed a disposable camera on the mantel. David had taken it with him on a business trip and there were still about a dozen pictures left on the camera. Thomas asked me if he could see it. I told him that was Daddy's camera and that he'd have to wait and ask Daddy that night. Well, that afternoon, I was upstairs and Thomas came up and excitedly showed me the camera and said, "Look Mommy, I can take pictures and this is how you do it!" He'd already taken all 12 pictures left on the roll. He had to be punished but the hard part for me was figuring out the most effective form. It wasn't a big deal that he took the pictures. The problem was he'd already been told no. So I finally decided the best thing would be for him to call Daddy at work and tell him what he did. And I tell you, that was the hardest thing Thomas had ever done in his life. I think it took about 5 minutes to even get the words out. He was SO upset about having to confess to Daddy but hopefully he learned a lesson.

David was putting Thomas down the other night and as they usually do, they were being silly and playing rough together. Things got a little too rough and Thomas accidentally gave David a nosebleed. He was so upset about that that I had to go upstairs to calm Thomas down after making Daddy's nose "all blooded." After a long hug and reassurances from Mommy, he sobbed, "Mommy, I think I am in trouble! I need to go downstairs and sit on the bottom step!" which is where time-out is in our house.

The Wiggles

We took Thomas to see The Wiggles on stage last night and boy was it fun. He wanted to buy a souvenir before we went to our seats and selected a feathersword just like Captain Feathersword has. Once we got to our seats, he waited patiently until the show started only because he had popcorn. I wish you could have seen his face when they came on stage. He lit up. He started waving and yelling "Hi Anthony! Hi Jeff!!" Then he turned to me and said, "I want to go down there and say hi to Jeff." Jeff is his favorite Wiggle and he was disappointed that I told him Jeff was busy singing. When Captain Feathersword came on stage for the first time, he stood up and yelled, "Hi Captain Feathersword! Look I have a sword just like you!" Of course, with all the music and other kids yelling, no one heard what he was saying. I could hardly hear him. It was a fun night dancing and singing along with The Wiggles in person. And when Jeff fell asleep on stage, he didn't get mad that all the other kids yelled "Wake up Jeff!" with him. That's something we were afraid he'd get mad about but he just laughed. And our other child loved The Wiggles too. I think the baby must have been dancing in there because I felt him/her move more during the concert than I'd ever felt before.

On an unrelated note, this baby has something else in common with his or her big brother. He or she didn't want to be too revealing in our sonogram today so we are in the dark as to what we are having. Maybe at the next one in October. We know we'll eventually find out one way or the other, but we enjoy knowing beforehand.