Another Month?

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

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

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

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

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

That's My Boy!

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

Lost, Found, and Sleepy Ankles

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

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

Has It Been Two Weeks Already?

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

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

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

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

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

Superman

Superman

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

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

Weekly Update

Hey everyone,

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

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

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

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

Humorous Tidbits

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

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

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

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

Naptime Shenanigans

Silly sleeping

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

Check Out His New Bike

New Bike

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

A Week of Firsts

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

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

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

Not Gettin' In Trouble

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

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

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

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

Gettin' In Trouble

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

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

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

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

The Wiggles

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

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

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.