Think I Forgot About You?

I know it's been over a month since my last post. No excuses, I'll just say I'm sorry. Of course, it's been so long I've forgotten many of the cute things he did but I'll try to share a few.

Yesterday he and Natalie were playing at Chick Fil A and he came running out of the play area bristling with indignation. He ran up to me and said, "Mommy! Do you see those guys? Those guys right up there? They were playing really rough and they said I was a BABY!" I asked if he told them he was a big boy. He said, "That's not nice, not nice at all!!" No one has called him a baby before and apparently when you're three, that's the biggest insult imaginable.

As his vocabulary has increased, he's been using a lot more big words in conversation. Most of the time he uses them in the right context. However, a week or two ago, he was coming down the stairs and as he jumped from step to step, he'd pause, grin, and say, "Whoa, that was miserable!" Then, he'd jump the next step, grin, and say, "Whoa, that was miserable!"

The other day, Thomas did something, hit me I think, and I told him to go sit in time-out. He hates time-out and immediately apologized and started crying. As he kept sitting there, the crying got louder and he started saying, "But Mommy, I don't like time-out, I want a spanking instead! That's my choice!!"

One night last week, he came running out of the bedroom with his underwear on his head. He was cracking himself up by being so silly. David said, "Now wait a minute, is that your bottom or your head?" He said, "My bottom! This is my head!" and then bent over and stuck his bottom in the air.

There are a multitude of other stories I could tell. Like about his insistence on calling my Aunt Patty, "Uncle" Patty. Or how he had a blast tackling Uncle Mike when he was in town and talked about it for 2 straight days how fun that was. Or about how I warned him at my cousin Josh's wedding reception about how the older kids might play ball rougher than he was used to and he told me, "Mommy, I am rough, I can play rough!" and did. Or about how he had such a great time at zoo school with his friend James. But you might have just missed out on all those things. I'll try not to wait another month before posting again. :-)

Germany, Shoes, and Candy

Boy does time fly. I can't believe it's well over a week since my last post. David was out of town so I'll blame part of it on him since I was so busy as a "single" mom. :-) We picked him up at the airport on Saturday and Thomas wanted him to sit by him in the car. All the way home, Thomas kept saying, "Daddy, I missed you in Germany." Sweet, but cute because he pronounces it Gurmany with a hard "G" like girl not with a "J" sound.

The other day, an ant crawled into Thomas' sandal and bit his toe. He kept wearing sandals after that but with a little more caution. One day though, I brought out his tennis shoes instead. He looked at them and said, "Oh Mommy, these are the best shoes in the whole wide world! Ants can't bite my toes in tennis shoes!"

After dinner tonight, Thomas said, "Mommy I need some M&Ms!" I said, "Not tonight because you just shared some cake with Daddy." He said, "But Mommy, that was dessert and I need candy!" Nice try.

I know it's late notice but if you missed his television premiere in March on the Food Network show Unwrapped, it's going to air again tomorrow night at 6:30 Central time.

Why?

I'll preface this post by saying that I know this wasn't the best parenting I've ever done but I'm human and it was funny.

Thomas is in the phase every kid goes through. The Why Phase. He asks that question at least a hundred times a day. Most of the time, I'm very patient explaining why things are they way they are but every now and then.... Yesterday was one of those days. In the space of about 5 minutes, he asked me "why?" at least 15 times and I got frustrated. After I asked him to go throw something in the trash and he asked "why?" for the 16th time in 5 minutes, I said, "Thomas, sometimes I need you to do something just because I ask you to and don't ask me why!" He was quiet for a few seconds thinking about what I said and then said...."Why not?"

This morning we were headed to meet Natalie and D'Ann and I was explaining to Thomas that my back was hurting today and he needed to leave his shoes on because I couldn't carry him. He then told me that his back wasn't hurting. I said, "Well, then you can carry me." He repeated, "I can carry you." thought for a second or two and then died laughing. "Mommy, I'm too little to carry you! You made a joke!!"

Pretty Sportacus

More Sportacus

We were talking to Dale and Wanda (Grandpa and Granny) on the phone last night and Thomas decided to dress up like Sportacus so they could "see" him. After we hung up, Thomas said, "Mommy, do you want to come with me to see if I'm pretty?" I said, "Of course!" so we went into our bathroom to look in the mirror. He stood there for a few seconds and then said, "Yep, I'm pretty alright." :-)

Snipets

Several things have happened over the last week that have been funny.

On Friday morning, Thomas' friend James came over for a few minutes. At one point, Thomas, Lisa, and I went outside and when we tried to get back into the house, the door was locked. It took a few minutes for him to figure out how to unlock the door, but now we know that when James comes over, take the key out of the door. :-) Later that morning we went out to eat pizza with Natalie and D'Ann after art class. Thomas leaned on the table and spilled fruit punch all over Natalie. He'd also fallen down earlier and scraped his knee so we had an interesting morning.

He has started telling a joke that he thinks is so funny. He'll say, "Knock, knock. Now you say, 'Who's there?'" So we'll say, "Who's there?" And he'll say one of his friends' names, "James!" and crack up and after he's through laughing say, "That was a joke!"

Yesterday, we were eating lunch at McDonald's and Thomas climbed up onto the back of the booth. I asked him to get down because it wasn't nice to the booth and it wasn't safe. He said, "But Mommy, I'm king of the castle!"

This morning at breakfast, Thomas said, with a mouth full of food mind you, "Ms. Christine says not to talk with your mouth full."

Babies

Thomas has decided he's ready for a baby brother or sister and he talks about it all the time. Yesterday we were driving in the car and Thomas said, "Mommy, what is Olivia's baby sister's name?" I told him it was Emilia. He said, "When we get a baby what will it's name be?" I asked him what he thought we should name it. He said, "Maybe Marty or Melman (Madagascar characters) or Dory (Finding Nemo) or Timon or Pumbaa." I told him those were all very nice names but that I was pretty sure if and when we did have a baby that we wouldn't name it Pumbaa.

Then he said, "Mommy how do you get a baby?" I told him babies were a gift from God and that it took a long time to grow one in a Mommy's tummy. I reminded him that his teacher is pregnant and that her tummy is getting really big because a baby is growing inside. He looked down at his stomach and said, "Mommy, my tummy is really big maybe I'M growing a baby!" He was only a little sad when I told him only mommies can grow babies.

On a different note, we were in the grocery store yesterday and I was singing along with the music playing. I sang, "We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue. And then we'll take it higher." Thomas looked at me quizically and said, "Mommy, we do we have to take it higher?" Good question. :-)

Bedtime Battles

David and I know we've been spoiled. Even as a baby, when it was time for bed, we'd just put him in his crib and he'd go to sleep. So we've had three years of easy bedtimes and it makes the last two weeks seem that much worse. Thomas has decided to fight going to bed and does it quite well. It takes at least an hour to get him to sleep. It would probably go faster if we'd give in and lay with him until he went to sleep but we don't want to get into that habit. He wants "one more hug" and "please stay here just a couple more minutes." He'll grab fistfulls of my hair and say "I making you stay here." Of course, 10 "one more hugs" later he's still crying and wanting us to stay with him. He's even started coming out of his room and crying at the top of the stairs for us (another thing we've been spoiled by, for the last 6 months of him sleeping in a big boy bed, he's stayed in there and called us when he was ready to get up). We know, or I should say hope, it's just a phase but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with.

David worked late tonight and got home in the middle of Thomas screaming. He listened for a while and when he could tell I was losing patience, he asked Thomas if he could come up and lay with him. For 20 minutes Thomas had been at the top of the stairs screaming about wanting me to come lay with him and I was standing firm having given him his 4th "one last hug" but as soon as Daddy offered to come up, he said, "no" and went to bed by himself with no more crying. David and I laughed quietly saying he should have intervened earlier.

If our readers out there have any suggestions on how to get our boy to sleep without an hour of screaming and crying, we're open to suggestions. Just send us an email or post a comment to the site. When you've been spoiled as long as we have, you take it harder when he acts like a normal three year old.

Sportacus Thomas

Thomas got this Sportacus dress-up outfit as a potty prize for staying dry in big boy underwear. He wore it everywhere I'd let him all week long. It also plays a lot of Sportacus' sayings and also some songs that he sings. Thomas will push the button about 15 times until he gets to his favorite song and then will sing and dance with Sportacus. Lazytown is one of his and Daddy's absolute favorite shows.

FYI, you can view all the pictures posted on our blog in a bigger size if you just click on them.

Do You Think?

Yesterday we went to Chuck E. Cheese with Lisa and James. When we pulled into the parking lot, Thomas said, "Oooooh, Chuck E. Cheese! I smell piiiizzzaaaa!" I laughed and as we pulled into a space he said with an anticipatory grin on his face, "Mommy, do you think you need to tickle me?" Whenever he's silly, he knows he should be tickled.

Last night, Thomas was playing with his bat and got carried away and threw it and it hit us. David and I yelled at him a little about it because we'd just told him to be careful with it in the house. He fell apart because we raised our voices and through his sobs said, "Mommy, do you think I need to go sit in time out?" I asked what he thought and he thought yelling was enough punishment.

As far as the rest of the week, we did a lot of fun stuff. We went to Clark Gardens on Saturday with Mom and Dad. It was 35 acres of Texas gardens and really pretty. Thomas loved all the water fountains and lakes with fish in them not to mention the 30 minutes we spent in the train section. That night we went bowling with friends and all I'll say is David and I were embarrassed that Thomas was beating both of us until the 6th frame. To his credit, I will say that he bowled an 89 that game but it was still embarrassing to be losing to a three year old. Sunday we went to church with my parents. Thomas asked if Grandma's friends would be there. I said that they would. He said, "Mommy, I don't know their names but I like her friends." He spent 30 minutes in "big church" and then asked to go to his "nursery church" where he had a great time but was mad that they didn't give him a snack.

On a final note, since I'm sure you are expecting a potty training update, he wore big boy underwear to school both days this week and stayed dry. He hasn't had an accident all week and loves wearing his new Toy Story underwear (they were out of Chicken Little). And I find it highly suspicious that he could go without pottying from 7:30-noon while we were at Chuck E. Cheese and yet had to go three times during his one hour un-nap yesterday afternoon. Hmmm.

Potty Power

Sorry if you're tired of reading about potty training but that's our life these days. And since it is, I thought I'd title this post after our favorite potty training video, Potty Power. It's got catchy little songs that you find yourself singing at all hours, "No more diapers for me..."

Potty training is going very well. He is so cute being proud of himself and also praising others. At school, he usually gets to go potty at the same time as his friend, Preston. From what his teachers tell me, Thomas gets as excited about Preston going as he does for himself. He'll yell, "Good job going potty, Preston!" into the next stall which always makes his teachers smile. He also praises David and I too. Even as old as we are, it's still nice to have someone acknowledge what great tee-teers we are. :-)

He's been wearing underwear for over a week now. He hasn't worn them to school yet but will probably do that next week. The other day, we were getting dressed and I asked him to go pick out some underwear. He asked me to get them instead. He never likes what kind I pick out and I told him that. He promised he'd wear anything if I'd just get it for him. So I brought in some Thomas the Tank Engine underwear. He immediately said, "Oh Mommy, I don't want to wear those." At my look, he said, "I mean, I love Thomas but I don't like him." His absolute favorite underwear are his Monsters Inc. underwear but we only have three pair. Probably need to go shopping for more. I know I saw Chicken Little underwear somewhere. Maybe those would also be a good alternative in his book.

He's been napping again for the last month or two which is nice. However, twice this week, he went potty on his own during nap time and got so excited about that he didn't sleep. I could hear little footsteps running upstairs and wondered what he was doing until I heard the toilet flush. Then Thomas yelled, "Mommy, I felt the tee tee and poo poo needed to come out and I ran in there and it came!" So I ran upstairs and gave him a hug, told him I was proud of him, and put him back in bed. Then for the next 45 minutes, every minute or so, he'd yell, "Mommy, I felt the tee tee and poo poo needed to come out and I ran in there and it came!" I'd praise him again and holler good night. It would be quiet for a minute or two and then, "Mommy, I felt..." So we just gave up on the nap. He was so excited about being a big boy and doing it all on his own.

Come On, Daddy!

David likes to be silly with Thomas. He'll call him the wrong name just to get Thomas to say he is not Francisco, he's Thomas Henry! Thomas usually likes it when his Daddy is silly and joins in most of the time but every now and then...

Over the weekend, we were driving in the car and Thomas wanted David to sing the "Banana Song" which is a silly song David made up about a green banana he bought at Kroger named Thomas (and Thomas has his own version about a coffee he bought named Daddy). David said, "Oh I don't know how to sing that song." And in this sing-songy exasperated voice Thomas said, "Come on, Daddy!"

The next day, we decided to get ice cream after dinner. Before we left, I asked who was ready to go get ice cream and everyone excitedly said they were. On the way there, David told Thomas he didn't like ice cream and was going to eat pickles instead. In that same exasperated voice Thomas said, "Daddeee, Mommy said 'Who's ready for ice cream?' and you said you wanted some!"

On an unrelated note, Thomas has taken to consulting the clock whenever he wants to do something and without fail, the clock says we have time to do it. Last night, he wanted to play with his new bubble sword outside, but we told him it was almost time for dinner so not right now. He looked at the clock and said, "The clock says I can play bubbles for TWO minutes." Who are we to argue with the clock? :-)

Car Show

On Saturday, we went to the Dallas Auto Show with my mom. Thomas loved "driving" all the cars. He probably sat in more cars than the rest of us combined. What tickled us was that of all the cars he got to play in, his favorite was something we never expected. He didn't pick the $100,000 Porsche, no, his favorite was a Jeep. And you want to know why it was his favorite? Because it had an old fashioned crank to roll the window up and down. The kind of crank the rest of us said good riddance to years ago, Thomas was fascinated by. It's a lot of fun viewing the world through his eyes.

Traveling and Pottying

We went to Lubbock this weekend and Thomas did great going on the potty. He stayed dry the whole trip which I didn't expect. He told us every time he needed to go potty and was able to wait until we could find an exit with either a potty or a good field, being a boy tee-teeing outside is a LOT of fun. Yesterday, he wore big boy underwear all day and stayed dry in them too, so things seem to be going well so far.

We spent some time with my grandparents while we were in town and Thomas was very gentle with my grandma since she'd just had knee surgery. One thing that tickled us was after he went to go potty at their house, he threw a huge fit because I flushed the toilet and he wanted his "GMeMa" to see his tee tee first. His Granny, David's mom, very graciously looked at it every time this weekend but I didn't think my grandma was up for the walk into the bathroom. That was my mistake since she said she would have been glad to do it.

Last night, David and Thomas were about to play a game and David asked Thomas if he needed to go potty before they got started. Thomas said, "No, Daddy. Do YOU need to go potty?"

Jumping

Jumping with Daddy

Thomas and David like to jump on our bed together at night. In this pic, they're playing a game Mommy doesn't like to watch. It's called "Try To Touch the Ceiling" but I still had to take a pic since they were having so much fun.

Little Swimmer

Going to swim class

Here's one of Thomas all dressed up and ready for swim class. He's wearing Chicken Little all the way: swimsuit, shirt, backpack and beach towel. He's got about 5 swimsuits now so we'll have to spend lots of time at our friends' pools this summer practicing his new skills and utilizing all those suits.

Choices and Cottontails

Yesterday we were out running errands together and needed to get something from Walgreen's. As we were pulling in the parking lot, Thomas said, "Mommy you have two choices. You can go in by yourself or I can go in with you." I asked which one I should choose and he said "I go in with you." So even though it took longer and he could have waited in the car with David, he went in with me and was a very good helper.

Over the weekend we went to see Peter Cottontail on stage at Casa Manana. Thomas had a blast. David and I really enjoyed it too. It was cute and witty and since it's in a smaller theater the action was must closer. At one point, the two "bad" guys are chasing Peter Cottontail trying to catch him and they actually ran down our row saying "excuse me, pardon me" the whole way. That really tickled Thomas to have the action right where he was. Afterwards, the cast signed autographs and Thomas wanted them to write his name. When I explained they were writing their own names, he then started asking them to "draw" on his book. If you live in the area, I highly recommend you taking the time to go see it even if you have to borrow a kid to go with you. :-)

We've been intensely working on potty training for a few weeks now and it's finally going well. Thomas has done great as long as we are home and he's half naked. It's been remembering to go while we are out that he's had difficulty with but today he actually went on two different potties while we were running errands. He also complimented me yesterday on my "awesome tee tee" and told me I was a big girl when he went in with me to the restroom. It tickled me but I know it was high praise in his book.

Mr. Mommy and Music

Thomas and I were reading his new Caillou book that he got for his birthday. It's a story about how Caillou wants to be just like his daddy. On one page, Caillou says he wants to be a daddy when he grows up. I asked Thomas if he wanted to be a daddy when he grew up. He said, "No, I want to be a Mommy." I didn't tell him that barring major medical advances in the next 20 years, he's out of luck on that one. :-)

I haven't listened to country music in years but the other day a song popped into my head and without thinking I sang a little of it while we were driving. Thomas loved it and repeatedly asked me to sing "The Baby Song." Don't know who sang it but the chorus goes, "Oh me, oh my sweet baby said good-bye..." On the opposite end of the spectrum, one of Thomas' latest jokes is while he's eating a meal that he thinks is pretty good, he'll say, "This is nasty and yucky!" and giggle like crazy. So David taught him Janet Jackson's "Nasty" and it is pretty funny to hear Thomas singing, "Nasty, nasty boy, don't mean a thing."

Throwing Fits and Good Manners

We were at my parents' house last weekend visiting with all of my Dad's brothers and sisters who came up for the weekend. We had a wonderful time seeing everyone and Thomas was enjoying entertaining them. At one point, he wanted to play a game that was in the closet in one of the bedrooms. Since someone was in that room with the door closed, we told him he'd have to wait. He wasn't very happy about that and threw a mini-fit. He came running over to me crying and I said, "It's hard when you don't get your way isn't it?" He said, "Yeah! It's no fun at all!!"

I know I wrote about his manners, or lack thereof, a while back. Thought it was time to give an update. They have improved greatly and we're back to being the parents who feel like maybe we're doing something right when he is polite without being prompted. He almost always says "please" and "thank you" and now throws in "excuse me" and "you're welcome" and loves to hold the door open for people when we're out. We're proud of him for being such a polite young man. Tonight, he and David were sharing some candy and he offered some to me. I said, "No thank you." and he looked at me and said, "Thank you for using your manners, Mommy."

Swimming and More

Thomas is taking his first swimming lessons by himself, one of the priviledges of turning three. He is SO cute to watch because he does everything his teacher asks with as much enthusiasm as a three year old can muster...which by the way is a LOT. If he's asked to lay on his back and kick his feet, he kicks as hard as he can with his legs going perpendicular to the water and back down. If he's asked to put his face in the water, which some of the older ones even have a hard time with, he dunks his whole head and comes up grinning. He's SO excited about learning to swim.

The other night we went to see Bethany, Natalie's big sister, in a musical at her school. It was really good and the kids did a great job. Thomas watched the first hour really well. The last 30 minutes though, he was ready for it to be over. After a song ended, he'd say "That was really good. Time to go!" or "I liked that one. Let's go now!"

Being a mom of a boy, I wondered if he'd want to play the kinds of games with me that little girls play with their mommies. Games like Beauty Shop. I found out this week that he does. He just does it a little differently. For example, his idea of making my hair look pretty is to comb it all in front of my face. And when he decided I needed a haircut, he used his pliers. :-)

TV STAR!!!

Well, if you missed it, Thomas is now a TV star! :-) The episode of Unwrapped aired tonight and it was so fun watching him. We hoped he'd be on at least once and to our surprise and enjoyment he was on 4 or 5 times! It was so FUN!!! And it was amazing how much he'd changed since that was filmed last July. He still looks like a baby on the show but to me he looks like a big boy now. 7 or 8 months is a long time at this age, and a long time to wait for a TV show to air!

It was funny because I saw Thomas in the teaser for the upcoming segment and I picked up the phone to call my mom and see if she was watching but instead of a dial tone, I heard my friend Jennifer yelling, "I just saw him!" While I was talking to Jennifer during the commercial, my mom clicked in to tell me the same thing. After the show, I've talked to or heard from 6 different friends and family members and the show only aired an hour ago. I'm glad we have friends and family who get as excited about these things as we do.

If you missed it, the show airs again tonight at midnight Central time and Friday night at 6:30 Central.

And if you're worried, I feel pretty certain that although he's a big star now, he'll probably still acknowledge his friends and family. I will too, but I was only on for about 1 second, thank goodness. :-)

Birthday Party Weekend

Our boy is now a three year old! We had a great weekend filled with lots of birthday parties. I've mentioned Thomas' friends James and Preston before and how they're all the same age (well Preston is two days older than James and Thomas). Preston's party was on Friday, Thomas' on Saturday, and James' on Sunday. All three were a blast!

Preston's party had the Three Musketeers theme and was really neat. Leave it to Cristina to make her own party favors and Musketeer outfits for the boys to wear along with a huge spread of amazing food for adults and kids alike. She's so creative, a trait I admire but do not have.

That's why we had Thomas' at My Gym. :-) We had 16 kids celebrating his birthday with us including his friends, some of their siblings, and his cousins Mason and Palmer who we were so glad to have visiting from New York and able to come to his birthday party. Thomas had a blast except when we asked him to be the center of attention, like to blow out the candles. Then he just cried, so his friends helped him do it. If we just left him alone to play with his friends, he had a ball. It was a lot of fun!

James' party was at Clubhouse for Kids which was a really neat place. There was a big treehouse with a slide, a rockclimbing wall, a grocery store, a dress-up room, a kitchen, a block room, a game room, and much more. Thomas ran from room to room and tried it all, even the do-it-yourself face painting after watching James expertly decorate his own face.

After three days of partying, plus a week of fun playing with Mason and Palmer, Thomas is exhausted, but we wouldn't trade one single moment for anything!

Birthday Boy

Here's a pic of the birthday boy with some of his gifts. He had a pretty good haul!

Aaaarrrgghhh!

Aaaarrrgghhh!

Mike and Amy gave Thomas a dress-up basket with lots of great costumes. Here's the first one he wanted to try on. He called himself Thomas Pirate and immediately wanted to dance the Pirate Dance with our Wiggles DVD while wearing his costume.

Messes and More

One day over the weekend, Thomas was painting with watercolors at the kitchen table. He spilled some paint on the table and said, "Whoa Mommy! Look at this mess!" I asked him what he thought we should do about it. He thought for a minute and said, "Hmmm, maybe leave it alone." Even at his age, he knows it's not nearly as much fun cleaning up the messes as it is making them.

On Saturday morning we went to see Sesame Street Live with Natalie and her family. They both loved it and spent lots of time dancing along with Elmo and friends. Afterwards, we all went to eat lunch together. While we were eating, Thomas was trying to get Natalie's Dad's attention. He kept calling, "Daniel. Daniel! Daniel!!" Finally he said in an exasperated voice, "He's NOT hearing me!!!" At that point we all cracked up and he finally got Daniel's attention.

Since I can't remember if I've blogged about this before, I'm going to do it again. For quite some time now, if you want Thomas to say something, you ask him and he'll say no I can't say that, while he's actually saying whatever it was you wanted him to say in the first place. Over the weekend, David was talking to Thomas about Spanish words which we know he knows. They were talking about water and David told him that in Spanish, water is agua. David asked him if he could say "agua." Thomas said, "No, Daddy! I cannot say agua!" We tried not to laugh where he could see us but it always tickles us when things like that happen.

Cool Dude

Cool Dude

Thought I'd try posting a picture of our boy since you've read so much about him.

Clothes, Swiping, and TV Stardom

Although Thomas doesn't take many naps these days, he still goes to his room every afternoon for an hour or so to rest. During this time, he might fall asleep (once a week or so) or else he reads books and plays with toys quietly. I think it's good to rest, for both of us. Lately though, I never know how I'll find him when rest time is over. He's been looking through his dresser and finding various things he wants to wear instead of what he already has on. We've actually had some winter weather lately, highs only in the 40s instead of the 80s we had the week before. Well, he was wearing sweat pants when he went down for his nap and when he got up he was wearing shorts. And he would pick the coldest days to put shorts on. His little legs felt cool but he was so proud of himself for finding and putting on his "short sleeve pants" that I hated to make him switch back to sweats.

Last night at dinner, Thomas was drinking milk but decided he needed a drink of my bottled water too. I gave it to him and he put it to his lips and drank and drank and drank. Teasingly I asked him if he was going to drink my whole bottle. He looked at me with the most serious face and said, "You can get another one Mommy." To which I replied, "Swiper no swiping!" He giggled since he's a Dora fan and that's an inside joke in our house.

And now to what you've been waiting for all these months. Our son is about to be a TV star! Well, we hope he'll be on anyway. He filmed an episode of the Food Network show Unwrapped in July and they are finally going to air it. Click on the link for more info about airtimes. The first one is March 6th at 9pm Eastern, 8pm Central. The episode is titled "Spreadable Edibles" and the segment Thomas and his friend Preston are hopefully in is about the Children's Art Cafe. He took an art class through them last summer and painted with edible paint. It was messy and fun. I know the photographer filmed him at least four times so hopefully he'll make it on air. He was wearing a blue striped shirt and blue shorts.

Tummy Talkin'

This afternoon after school, Thomas and I went to the park to play since it's such a beautiful day. And if you're wondering why he went to school since he just went to the doctor yesterday, all I can say is that she said to use my judgement and I decided he wasn't sick enough to miss his Valentine's Day party. Actually he's a pretty fast healer because he's basically acting fine today. Anyway, as I was saying, we had a great time at the park. Afterwards he was really thirsty and wanted a snack but I didn't have the diaper bag with me, therefore, no food or drinks readily available. He told me, "Mommy my tummy's growling." And then in a low grovely voice as if it were the tummy talking said, "My tummy growling, I need a snack!" Now it tickles me beyond belief hearing him use that voice and then to find out that his tummy refers to itself as a tummy cracked me up so I asked what his tummy wanted to eat. He said it needed okra and chicken from Chicken Express. I told him that wasn't a snack that was a meal so no dice. Then his tummy said, "My tummy needs grilled cheese and tator tots from Sonic!" Again tummy, that's a meal. So the tummy and I compromised and let him get some okra from Chicken Express. Not the healthiest snack in the world, but sometimes you just gotta let a hungry tummy have its way.

Doctor Again

I took Thomas to the doctor today. Seems like we keep having one type of illness after another these days: pink eye, stomach flu, and now ear infection and bronchitis.

He did great again and did everything the doctor and nurse asked him to do. We talked about it on the way to the doctor and he knew everything the doctor was going to do to him: listen to his chest and back and look in his ears, mouth and maybe nose. As we were waiting on the doctor (which took a while because every other kid in the city was sick too) I asked him if he could breathe deep breaths thinking that might help the doctor listen to his lungs better. He said, "No, I not going to do that. I'm going to open my mouth like this and turn my head this way and this way so she can look in my ears and then I going to turn this way and this way so she can listen to my chest and back." I figured since he was willing to do all those things on his own that maybe I was pushing my luck asking him to take deep breaths too.

Sick, Mad, and "F" Words

Thomas has been sick this week and he very nicely shared it with me and then my mom, David's out of town so we hope he was spared. I would tell you that he threw up all over me during the Super Bowl but I did promise to warn you first about things like that so I won't. :-)

That only lasted a day or so and now he's got a cold and a pretty bad cough. After hearing him cough all night long, I decided he needed to take a different medicine so I brought out the Triaminic Yellow which is supposed to help that sort of thing. The only problem is that the yellow stuff tastes AWFUL. The other varieties taste pretty good and you'd think when you market medicine to children, you'd be able to make them ALL taste good but apparently not. The second he saw what kind I had for him, he started crying, "Oh Mommy not the yellow! I like purple!" I tried putting sugar in to help it taste better, which I don't know if you're supposed to do but I was desperate. With all other medicines, we give him the syringe and he'll take it himself. With the yellow, I ended up having to straddle him on the floor and force it into his mouth. He was sobbing and I was already regretting my decision and it didn't get any easier when through his sobs he started saying, "Mommy.....yellow....is.....nasty!!" Poor baby. Needless to say, we went back to flavors he likes the next time. It just wasn't worth it.

He's been identifying his emotions for quite a while now. Like the time about 6 months ago when he told me he wasn't grouchy he was grumpy. For the last few weeks though, he tells us every time he gets mad, which usually happens several times a day, especially when we ask him to do something he doesn't want to do. "Mommy, I just mad." "Mommy, I mad with that." "Mommy I am mad!" And most of the time, it's accompanied by him putting his fists on his hips which sometimes makes it very hard to keep a straight face.

Now for the third topic of the day, did you think he was saying the "F" word? Shame on you. After much practice, Thomas can now say his "Fs." He's so excited about it, he wants to know every single word that starts with "F" so he can practice saying it. Sometimes, he gets so excited, all the words we can think of aren't enough so he'll start saying things like, "fffffcookie that starts with an 'f''!" or "fffffffdragonfly!" He's had lots of practice using other sounds instead of the "F" so it'll take him a little time to get used to saying things the right way, but we're making progress.

Friends and Animals

On Thursday at school, one of the boys in the class pushed Thomas' friend Olivia. He was quite upset about it and has told the story repeatedly ever since. The story goes like this: "He pushed Olivia and she just cried! And I pointed my finger like this and I said, 'That's not nice to friends!' and then I gave Olivia a hug." We have a sweet boy to take care of his friends like that.

On Friday, we went to the Ft. Worth Stock Show with D'Ann and Natalie. It was raining and muddy but we had a great time. Actually, it's kind of funny but I felt like a tourist in Texas. I've lived here for 33 years but am a city girl. Going to the stock show was like visiting the Texas people from other states imagine. Everyone drove a pickup truck and wore boots, jeans, and cowboy hats. I felt out of place driving my SUV and wearing tennis shoes. :-) I'd also forgotten how chivalrous cowboys are. I've been lots of places with my stroller and never had anyone help me with it. But as we were trying to get on the trolley to go from the parking lot to the buildings (which would have been a LONG walk in the mud and rain), two cowboys jumped off and helped D'Ann and I lift our strollers up onto the trolley.

Huh?

We decided to let Thomas pick out his decorations for his birthday party, so I took him to Party City today to look around and see what he liked. Out of all the choices, I should have known which one he'd go with. He liked Buzz, and Elmo, and Thomas the Tank Engine, and The Wiggles, and well basically every other one he saw until he turned the corner and saw Chicken Little. After that, he wouldn't even consider another theme. So unless he changes his mind soon, he'll be having a Chicken Little party. Guess there could be worse things...like Spongebob. No offense if you like that one but I can't stand it. :-)

In the car on the way home he asked me, "Mommy, is it 'mar whi?'" I had no earthly idea what that could be. As his mommy, I know he can't say his "s" "f" or "v" sounds yet so I was working through the possible translations in my mind but having no luck. I asked him if he could ask me his question another way so maybe I could understand it. He just said the same thing again, louder and with slightly more emphasis, "Mar whith!" Still had NO idea what he was trying to ask. Finally he said, "For my party!" Ooohhhh, March 5th! No, not for another month. Eeek, my baby's going to be three in one more month!

Photography

Thomas's new hobby is taking pictures with my digital camera. I can't believe I'm letting him carry around my new camera. It is a year old by now but to me it's still new. Parenthood obviously makes you lose brain cells. But it's so cute to see him walking around the house deciding what to photograph next. Could be his shoes, or the wall, or a toy, or his favorite subject: Old Zackie Boy. He'll walk up to him and say, "Smile Old Zackie Boy!" That tickles me every time because he's got high hopes expecting his deaf old dog to smile at him. :-)

Speaking of photos, last night Mom and Dad kept Thomas so I could go to my photography class, got to try keep my skills ahead of my two year old as long as possible. Last night was the first class and David is out of town on business so they graciously offered to keep him for me. We all went out to eat dinner first. Thomas decided he wanted ice in his sippy cup and after I got it for him, he put the lid on and took a big drink. The only problem was that he hadn't screwed the lid on, just sat it on top and therefore he got drenched in ice water. I started cleaning his shirt off with as many napkins as I could grab. After a minute of that, and being very patient, he started saying, "Mommy my legs are really really cold." A pause and then, "Mommy, my legs are really REALLY cold!" So he ate his dinner with a slightly damp shirt on, and no pants. And somehow, I know that was not the last time that's going to happen.

And for one more story totally unrelated to photography, Saturday night, David put Thomas to bed. He got downstairs and heard Thomas crying, "Daddy! DADDY!!" By the time he got back upstairs, Thomas was sobbing. And what was it that upset him so much? David had forgotten to take Thomas's sippy cup downstairs with him. David hadn't followed the routine and since Thomas was really tired, it was a BIG deal. The next day, Thomas was telling that story again and I wish you could have seen his face when he scrunched it up and pretended like he was crying saying "Daddy come get my milk!"

Translation

90% of the time our family members can understand what Thomas is saying. For the other 10% of the time, I serve as his translator.

The other night David was putting Thomas to bed, and as occasionally happens, he needed me to translate something Thomas said that he couldn't quite understand . Thomas ran to the top of the stairs and yelled down what he was trying to tell his Daddy and then I yelled the answer up to David. What tickled us this time was that the translation was, "What did Daddy say?"

Tonight, my parents came over for dinner. Afterwards, Thomas was doing a jigsaw puzzle (he LOVES jigsaw puzzles and if I may brag for a moment, oh who am I kidding...it's my blog I can brag all I want!...he can do a 24 piece puzzle all by himself) with my mom and said something, can't remember exactly what it was, but whatever it was my mom didn't catch it and looked to me to tell her what he'd said. So I repeated it. Then Thomas said, "I JUST said that!"

Friendship and Sharing

I wanted to share a few snipets of things that have happened lately between Thomas and his friends. I guess this is the age where sharing becomes REALLY hard because they're all having a difficult time with it.

Thomas' friend James came over to play the other day and both boys ended up fighting over the phone that came with Thomas' kitchen. They probably each own a dozen phones but that was the prize phone of the day. I pulled Thomas aside and talked to him about sharing with his friend. I then gave him the ultimatum that I'm sure many parents have. "Either you share this toy with James or I'll put it up." He looked at me straight in the eye and said, "Put it up." So I did.

Today we went to music class with Thomas' friends, Natalie and Preston. I guess the message about sharing was coming across this morning because they would share with each other but not any other kids. So I guess the message came across too well. Share with your friends and ONLY your friends. :-)

Thomas and Preston were being silly after class and Thomas fell on Preston's head. Preston was understandably upset and then Thomas got upset so it took him a few minutes to calm down enough to apologize. When Thomas was telling the story later, he said, "I fell on Preston and he just cried and I said "Sorry" and hugged him and that was really really sweet."

At lunch, Thomas and Natalie weren't very interested in eating their own food so they decided to share. Thomas ate Natalie's turkey and Natalie ate Thomas' turkey. Guess it's the whole grass is greener thing.

Oh, one more thing, dear readers. If the title of my post is something like oh I don't know Poop or Boogers, that should give you a pretty good idea what I'll be talking about that day. So if you're not used to dealing with those things on a daily basis, maybe you should skip reading those stories. Don't say I didn't warn you!

From Poop To Pinkeye

Don't start expecting to read a new story every single day. I know I've spoiled you this week. That is if reading my stories about poop and a sick kid could be considered a treat. :-)

Wednesday morning, Thomas' right eye was matted shut and stayed swollen half the day. I told myself he slept wrong on it and that it would be better the next day. But this morning when BOTH eyes were matted shut, I knew it was something more. He woke up crying, "Oh Mommy! My eyes do that AGAIN!!" I told him I thought he had pinkeye and that I was going to call the doctor. He didn't want to go but I reminded him that the doctor could give him some medicine that would help his eyes get better. So we made an appointment (and isn't it just like kids to get sick on Mother's Day Out days?). Thomas did great letting the doctor look in his eyes and check him out without crying (which was a first by the way). After examining him, the doctor said, "Well buddy, I think you've got pinkeye." Thomas got this big smile on his face, looked from me to the doctor and said, "That's just what my Mommy said!" The doctor laughed and told him that mommies usually know.

POOP

How's that for a self-explanatory title? Before I get to the nitty gritty of the story, I want to give you a little backstory first. We have been working on potty training...again. Things weren't going very well and I found myself getting mad at him when he would sit on the potty for 20 minutes without success, get up, and then pee on the floor within 2 minutes (which I know is probably not the best way to potty train..tee tee on the potty or Mommy will yell!) so we went back to diapers for a few days so Mommy could take a mental health break. Thomas also has basically stopped napping, but I still put him in his room for a while each afternoon to rest and if he falls asleep great (which happens 2-3 days a week). Ok, now you're up to date so onto the poop!

This afternoon I went to get him after his rest time was over. When I opened his door, I immediately smelled poop. My initial thought was no wonder he didn't nap, he had a poopy diaper. But that wasn't the case. At some point, and for some unknown reason, he'd taken his diaper off and at sometime after that pooped on the floor. It was a firm poop so that alone was relatively easy to clean up. It was the rest of the scene that greeted me that took an hour to deal with. Yep, you guessed it, he'd either stepped in it or played with it and there was poop EVERYWHERE. On the wall, ground into the carpet, all over his sheets (and of course we had his white sheets on and not the red ones which made it all the harder to clean), all over his pillow, and last but not least, all over him. As I took in the scene I couldn't decide which to deal with first, him or the carpet. He won, but just barely. I cleaned him enough so that he wouldn't make a bigger mess and then got right to the carpet. I gave him a wipe and had him clean the wall, which he did very nicely. And to top it all off, I was so flustered I didn't even think to take a picture. Now that it's over and all back to normal, I'm mad at myself the most for missing that shot because I certainly hope I never have the opportunity to do so again.

Rule Stickler

Ah ha! Just when you got used to reading a new post once a week, I throw you a curveball just to keep you on your toes! :-)

Thomas has just started playing real games. Well, I should say playing one real game. It's called Lucky Ducks. The game says for three to six year olds but I figure since he'll be three in two months we're ok. The first time we played it, he had a hard time taking turns, but now he's got it down pat. So much so that he has to tell you the rules each and every time, even from round to round. It goes something like this. "I push this button and turn it on and you have to pick up the duck and look for your color and put it on your nest and then it's my turn. You understand?" I say that I do and he says Okay! and then we can play. Until one of us gets all three ducks of our color and then we put them back on the pond and he explains the rules again just in case I forgot.

FINALLY!

Our internet was down for a week but we're FINALLY back up! (Boo to Comcast for taking so long to come to our house and boo to the neighbor puppy who chewed through the cable.) I already knew how much I used the internet (a LOT) but I was reminded even more last week. When I wanted to check the news or weather, I had to resort to looking at the paper...gasp! The horror!! Ok, enough of the poor me story, and on to what you're really here to read...Thomas stuff!

You know the game you play with little kids where you pretend like you stole their nose and your thumb is their nose trapped between your fingers? Well, I did that to Thomas the other day and when I asked him if he wanted his nose back and he said, "Yes please." I felt terrible. I mean what if I really had stolen his nose? He shouldn't have to ask so politely for it back.

The other day, I asked Thomas if he wanted to go to his friend James' house to play. He said, "That would be really really perfect!"

One night last week, I asked Thomas to feed Zack a half a cup of food before we sat down to dinner. I was busy getting everything ready to eat and wasn't paying much attention until Thomas walked up to me about 5 minutes later with Zack's bowl brimming with food and said, "This gonna be ok?" We had to dump out about 9/10 of the bowl first but that's ok.

We were in a parking lot together somewhere and he held his hand up for me to hold until we got in the store. I told him how much I appreciated him remembering that Mommy needs to hold his hand in the street. He said, "Yeah but we don't hold hands in the snow!" I asked why and he told me that when it snows you make snowballs and throw them at the street sign and they go boom. He remembers being allowed to go in the street doing that very thing when we were visiting my brother and his family in New York over Thanksgiving (they live at the end of a cul-de-sac so it was pretty safe). I decided not to correct him on that since it only snows here about once a year and only sticks for a few hours.

We were driving somewhere over the weekend and Thomas was busy in the back seat playing with his monkey puppet. David and I were talking but heard Thomas say, "I love you Daddy!" David said, "You love me Thomas? I'm glad!" And Thomas said, "No, the monkey do!" and cracked up.

Thomas spent the night at my parents' house on Saturday night so David and I could go out with friends. This was his first time to sleep away from us and he did great. The only uneasy moment came when Mom was putting him to bed and after reading books she told him goodnight. He started tearing up and saying, "Grandma, the hong! The hong!" Mom thought maybe he was asking to go home and asked him to tell her again what he wanted. He composed himself enough to start singing, "If you like to talk to tomatoes..." Mom said, "Oh Thomas, Grandma forgot to sing a song! I'm sorry!!" So they sang the Veggietales theme song and he went right to sleep. You've GOT to follow his night night routine no matter where he is! :-)

More Stories

Not a very creative title, I know, but Thomas and I have colds (many thanks to David for sharing his germs with us) so I'm not feeling creative today.

Speaking of our colds, a few days before we got sick, I'd bought him a box of Mickey Mouse Kleenex on a whim at the grocery store. Well, now he won't blow his nose unless he sees the tissue come out of the Mickey Mouse box. That's not exactly the best thing since I like to use lotion tissues when we have colds so our noses won't get so sore but oh well.

I remembered another story from our trip that I wanted to share. The morning we flew to Tucson, we ate breakfast at the food court in our terminal. At the next table was a family with a small baby, probably less than 2 months old. The baby started crying, as babies are wont to do, and after a few minutes without success the mom got up and walked away with the baby to soothe her. Thomas yelled out, "That baby's going to time out!" and everyone at the nearby tables laughed along with us.

Zack must be reading this blog too because after I posted the one about what a sweet dog Fifi is, Zack decided to let Thomas fix his hair. He sat still on the floor for about 10 minutes and let Thomas put about 8 hair clips in his hair. He didn't growl one time! What a sweet doggie!

Bad Mommy and Ice Cream

I have two stories to share this morning. One from a week or so ago that I haven't had time to post and one from last night.

Just before Christmas, Thomas and I were running errands one day buying a few last minute gifts. On a side note, after he told my Dad about his birthday present, you would think I would have learned my lesson and NOT gone shopping with him but no. He told both my mom and David what we'd bought them the second he saw them. But I digress. As we were leaving Sam's that day, I opened the back door of the car, sat him in his car seat, and proceeded to put the rest of the things I got in the car beside him. Then I got in the front seat, buckled up, turned on the car and started driving away. I knew Thomas was saying something but at that moment I wasn't listening since he talks all the time and I was trying to navigate the parking lot. But he kept getting louder and louder until I finally heard him say, "BUCKLE ME UP MOMMY!!!" Boy did I feel bad. Especially since I am so conscientious about his car seat. I've read the statistics about how 80 or 90% (depending on which statistics you read) of car seats are installed incorrectly and always was a little obsessive making sure I was in that 10% who did it right. It's installed in my car so tightly that when you try to wiggle it, the whole car moves. Of course, having a properly installed car seat does no good if the child isn't actually buckled into it!

Last night we went to Sheridan's to get some frozen custard. Thomas said he wanted to get chocolate with M&Ms. After talking about it, David and I decided that he would just share with one of us since he usually doesn't eat that much of the chocolate and it's melted by the time we get home. So I asked him if he wanted to share my strawberry and banana sundae with me. At first he got all excited and said, "I going to share strawberries and bananas with Mommy!" Then he paused and said, "Wait a minute! I going to have M&Ms with chocolate!"

New Year's Eve

We flew to Tucson over New Year's Eve weekend for David's grandmother's 90th birthday party. Wanted to share a few stories from our trip.

David and I decided not to take the stroller this time because lately we've only used it to push our bags through the airport while Thomas runs ahead and then we never use it again the rest of the trip. And isn't it just typical that the one time we don't have the stroller is the one time Thomas wants to be carried the entire time. And he's a big boy at 40 pounds so David and I definitely got a workout.

Thomas did great with David's family. He hadn't seen most of them since he was a baby but was very comfortable with them like he sees them all the time. He did fairly well keeping track of everyone's name but it was a challenge since David has such a big family. If he wanted to talk to one of his aunts, he'd use their name if he could remember it. If not, he just called them "that girl" which I think really made their day since it's been a few years since any of them were technically "girls." :-)

He wouldn't call David's grandmother "Grandma" because he already has a Grandma (my mom) but he decided to call her Grandma and then her last name. He's a lucky boy to have three living great-grandparents. One story not about Thomas but still funny is that Grandma's birthday cake said, "Happy 90th Birthday Pink" which cracked everyone up since the writing was supposed to be her name in pink. Luckily everyone in the family has a great sense of humor, especially Grandma.

During the party, the family was watching a video of old family photos from Grandma's life. At one point many said "Amen" in response to a message on screen about Grandma's life and how it had influenced others. Thomas looked up from where he was playing and said "Hey Man!" along with them. David's uncle Bob and I were trying to explain to him that they weren't saying "Hey Man" but "Amen." Once he got it, he looked at David's uncle and yelled, "A-MEN Bobby!" It might not sound all that funny in print but we all died laughing when it happened.

On Sunday we got to go to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum which is really nice. It's like a desert zoo, botanical garden, and museum all rolled into one. Thomas loved all the animals and catcus and knew he couldn't touch the cactus because they were poky. At one point though, he ran too fast and fell down into one of the small cactus. I saw him fall and thought I grabbed him before he did too much damage to himself or the cactus. It was only the next morning that we realized, he had two small cactus needles stuck in his stomach. We felt terrible because we thought he'd just been grouchy that day because he was tired.

Messy Boy

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

Christmas

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

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

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

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

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

Cats

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

Friends, Dogs, and More

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

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

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

Songs and Parties

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

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

Christmas Musical

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

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

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

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

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

More Stories

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

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

Bethlehem Revisited

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

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

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

Sweet Boy

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

Manners

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

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

Busted!

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

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

Christum Lights

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

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

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

Mr. Staller

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

Thanksgiving

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

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

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

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

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

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

Old Zackie Boy

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

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

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

What A Character

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

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

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

AUTUMN TRIFLE WITH WARM CARAMEL CREAM SAUCE

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

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

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

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

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

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

Birthday Parties

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

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

The Joys of Being a Mom

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

Buddies

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

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

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

Argument

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

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

Weekend

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

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

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

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

Cleaning Man

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

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

Halloween

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

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

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

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

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

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