Silly and Sweet

David taught Thomas some 80s sayings the other day which really cracked him up. I hadn't told my parents about it and when he trotted out a few of them while he was at their house, they died laughing. Thomas was goofing around with my dad and licked his ear (thanks Daddy for that game). He then said, "Oooh, gag me with a spoon!" And while they were still laughing, did it again and said, "Gross me out the door!"

Every time Thomas goes outside, he brings me a special gift when he comes back inside. And being a three year old boy, it's usually something that he thinks is cool like some leaves or a stick. Today, he and David went for a walk in the "dark forest" which is actually just some trees surrounding a creek at the end of our block. While there, he selected a special stick to bring back to me. When they got home, he ran to find me and said, "Mommy, I got you a present!" When I told him how much I liked it, he said, "Mommy, I love you and that's why I got that stick for you." Talk about melting a mommy's heart.

Six Flags, Germs, and Grandma

Thomas and I went to Six Flags this week for only the second time all summer. I've been too tired to do anything up till now, but I'm glad we went because we had a blast. Thomas rode all the rides he wanted, played a few games, and had his picture taken with every character at the park. We rode the old cars together, I'd type the name of the ride but know I'd misspell it. In previous years, he loved the ride, but wouldn't even touch the steering wheel. This year though, he drove the whole time while I pushed the pedal. It was so cute to see him "driving" that I pulled out the camera for some pictures. He smiled a few times and then said, "Mommy, no more pictures, I have to drive!" Later, he was waiting in line to ride Boot Scootin' which is his new favorite ride. I couldn't ride with him being pregnant so was waiting and watching from another area. The ride filled up and the attendant stopped Thomas from going through the gate. His face crumpled and he started crying. I rushed over to ask what was wrong and he sobbed, "Mommy, she won't let me on the ride!" It's hard to understand waiting your turn when you're three, but he quickly realized that now that he was the first person in line, he could get on the color boot he wanted, his favorite color: red.

Thomas and David were goofing around the other day and just to get a reaction, David licked Thomas' ear. Thomas stopped playing and said, "Don't lick me Daddy! You have germs in your mouth!"

Yesterday, my mom came over to stay with Thomas while I went to the doctor. Thomas knew she was coming but was "napping" in his room. Mom said she didn't hear anything for a little while and then could hear him saying, "Grandma! Grandma! I am up here in my room!" So she went up to get him, as a grandmother should and he didn't take a nap that day. He had actually napped for the previous five days, but when he naps, he stays awake till at least 10. It was nice putting him down early last night. I want it all. I want to rest in the afternoon and an early bedtime. Is that too much to ask? :-)

Before she left yesterday, Grandma asked him if he wanted to come spend the night at their house tonight. It took them a while to recover from the bad experience several months ago when they, or I should say my mom, was up with him until midnight. But I digress, his answer was no because he wanted to go swimming at his friend James' house today. I told him that he could still go swimming this morning and have plenty of time to get to Grandma's. He still wasn't all that excited about it last night but woke up this morning and said, "I think I feel like spending the night at Grandma's." So we called Grandma to tell her and he told her, "Grandma I feel like spending the night at your house tonight." She didn't catch it all and said, "You're going to spend the night at my house tonight? Great!" He said, "Yeah, because I feel like it." And boy did he. You should have seen the stuff he packed to take over there because as he told me, "Mommy I am going to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's and play for a long long time and then you can come pick me up." He packed for himself and took every clean pair of underwear he had, which was at least 10-15 pair. He packed three outfits and would have packed more but Mommy stopped him. He took Bear from Bear in the Big Blue House and he's a big bear. I think he's at least 2.5 feet tall and 2.5 feet wide. He took a big bag of blocks, his blankie, teddy bear, pillow, and I'm sure there was more that I can't remember right now. They filled up the back seat of her car, but I bet they'll have a great time.

An Announcement from Thomas

Hi everyone! My mommy usually writes these blog entries but today I asked to do it because I wanted to share this news myself. If you are regular readers of my blog, you know that I've been asking for something for quite a while now. I'm excited to announce that my mommy and daddy have finally answered my pleas and I'm going to have a baby brother or sister!! My baby will be coming in early January and I can't wait.

When my parents told me about the baby, the first question I asked was what the baby's name was. Mommy and Daddy said we get to decide for ourselves what to name it. I'm pulling for Buzz Lightyear whether it's a boy or a girl. The second question I asked was if the baby was coming tomorrow but Mommy said it takes a long time to grow a baby. Now I understand that it won't be here till after Christmas. Then Mommy and Daddy talked about it a little more and said I'd get to be the big brother. I didn't understand what that was and started crying saying I didn't want to be that. But now I understand what it is and I can't wait. I keep telling my mommy that I want her to have two babies, one for me and one for her, but she said we'll just have to share the one baby that is in her tummy.

Music and Food

Yesterday, Thomas and I went to eat at my friend Masako's restaurant. We were eating our food when a song came on that Thomas really liked. He asked me how you were supposed to dance to that song. Knowing him and his rule following, I knew that I couldn't tell him there was a particular way to dance to any song or else he'd think that was the way it ALWAYS had to be. So I explained that dancing is just moving your body to the music any way you want. He said, "Moving my bottom to the music?" with a grin on his face and then stood up and turned around and starting wiggling his bottom to the beat.

Last night, on the way home from swimming at Gail and David's, who Thomas keeps accidentally calling Dail and Gavid, Thomas rode home with David and I got to drive by myself. Since I was alone, I took the opportunity to listen to some music I like rather than Sesame Street and The Wiggles we usually listen to so I popped in Joan Jett. I was still listening to "I Love Rock And Roll" when I pulled into the garage and turned it up so my boys could hear it too. We had a nice moment all three dancing to it in the garage. Maybe I'll see if he'll listen to my music more often. I know he likes Michael Buble, but anything else I try to put on, he usually yells at me to turn it off.

Earlier in the week, we went to eat lunch with Lisa, James and Amy at Shady Oak Barbecue. Thomas didn't want to go eat there and wanted to go eat at the mall with them instead. I explained that it was Lisa's favorite restaurant and so we were going to go there with her. As we were eating, he and James were sharing Thomas' toy Zurg and Buzz Lightyear that he'd brought with him. The only problem was that both boys wanted Buzz all the time and not Zurg so there was some conflict over that. After we got home, Thomas told me, "Next time we go to Lisa's favorite restaurant, I'm going to take these two Bear in the Big Blue House's and leave Buzz and Zurg at home so we won't have any fights."

Big Boy 2 

Little Swimmer Part 2

Big Boy

Thomas has become a much better swimmer over the last few weeks. He mastered all the objectives of his swim class and can move up to the next level. We're not going to take any more lessons this summer though because we want him to enjoy being able to swim without worrying about learning the breaststroke. Every time we swim, he does better and better. On Monday night, we went over to swim in Gail and David's pool, Gail is Dad's cousin. Thomas swam well there and wore his float belt about half the time. By the end of the night though, he realized that he could push himself down to the bottom of the pool and that became his new game. On Tuesday, we went to Natalie's house for a cookout with her family. We swam for at least 2 hours. Thomas swam and swam and after about an hour, I made him put his float belt on so he could rest a little bit. He jumped in from the top step and came up yelling that he couldn't touch the bottom and to take this thing off. So I did. And then, just to scare his mommy, he decided he wanted to jump off the diving board by himself with no float belt. And he did it. Repeatedly. Daddy was close by just in case, but he never needed David's help.

Mr. Geography

Thomas is really interested in geography these days. He knows the four cities where his closest friends live and who lives in each one. He also knows about our immediate family members and can tell you who lives where and who they live with. As you drive down the road, he'll tell you, "Mommy, you know each street has a name." and then go on to explain where we are and what places are on that particular road. He will also tell you that Lubbock is 5 hours away and that to get to Albany you have to fly because it's too far away to drive.

Today we went to Chick Fil A after music class and he was carrying his giraffe. He ran up to the counter and told the woman working there, "This is my giraffe. Giraffes live in Africa!" We got several admiring glances for that one.

I'm not sure what he can do with his geography skills later in life. Cartographer or truck driver? Maybe he can do something with his new dinosaur interest instead.

More Stalling

Last night, Thomas stayed with his friend Natalie while David and I went out with some of his work friends. He had a great time and had planned to swim but when I came back to pick him up at 8, he was just getting his suit on. I decided to let him swim for a while even though it was late. He had a blast playing in the water, with his float belt on, for about 30 minutes and then I told him it was time to get out. He looked at me for a minute and then instead of swimming to the step, he swam out into the middle of the pool and started floating on his back singing "Row Row Row Your Boat." Little turkey. I ended up having to ask one of the other kids in the pool to push him back to the steps so I could get him out. Still made me chuckle inside at his tactics.

Little Swimmer

Thomas is taking swim lessons again and this time he's in the more advanced class and is really improving. Before I tell you about his swimming abilities, I have to tell you another story first.

On Monday, the first day this session of swim lessons, I knew he was going to cry. He cries every time he has a new teacher and after that he's fine. But this time was a doozy of a fit. He screamed through 30 minutes of the 35 minute lesson. I kept apologizing to his teacher and told her he'd definitely be a different kid the next day and he was. On Tuesday, he wanted to take his swim goggles. I agreed as long as he wouldn't cry. He said, "Mommy, we talked about it and if I don't cry, I get to wear my goggles but if I do cry you take them away." Tuesday went great. Wednesday, he was wearing his goggles before class even started but when his teacher told them they were going to be in the "deep" end (4 feet) all lesson, he walked over to me with his lip quivering and handed me his goggles. He knew he couldn't cry and keep them which broke my heart a little bit, as it does each time I see that trembling lip. After I reminded him how much fun it was to jump into the deep end, he started grinning, asked for his goggles back and ran to join his class.

As I said earlier, his skills have really improved. Yesterday at swim lessons, his teacher had them jump off the side by themselves, come up for air, and swim to her about 10 feet away. Then she turned them around and they swam back to the wall. And he did it!

Today we went swimming at D'Ann's and I was telling her that story when all of a sudden, he jumped off the step of the pool, swam about 5 feet and turned around and swam back to the step. At first, I was slightly panicked because I wasn't in the pool yet but after watching him do it so well, I asked him to do it again so I could take a picture. :-) He did and then asked for his float belt so he could just play and jump off the diving board.

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? :-)