Dishwasher and other chores

Dear Thomas,
I am only writing this now, because I know how much I will want to remind you of this when you are older. You love to help me around the house with chores. Your favorite chore is loading and unloading the dishwasher- a task I will happy to pass on to you when you are old enough. No matter where you are in the house, if you hear me getting into the dishwasher, you come running. I know that when I want you to help years from now, you will not be as excited about it. For now, you get right into it, picking up the dishes and helping me (not really) by trying to get them in and out of the basket. It's wonderful.

~Love you, Mommy

When you grow up

Dear Thomas,
What will you be when you grow up? If I had to guess right now, I would say you are going to do something with your hands. You have very good fine motor skills. You can put the shapes through the right spots in your toys, with just a little helping choosing which spot. You turn objects to make them fit. You love to put your blocks and rings into empty tissue boxes. Last night, you spent a while playing with the tupperware drawer, taking things out of the drawer, and then putting them back in. I left an empty diaper box in the kitchen, and you were putting your bouncy ball inside. Mommy's friend Peg gave you a puzzle on Friday, I am anxious for you to try it out and start figuring that out too! I never imagined you would be this good at those types of movements already.

Yesterday you had your picture taken with the Easter Bunny. We couldn't quite get you to smile, but at least you didn't cry.

Oh, and walking is a success now! You can take quite a few steps at a time, and even more important you WANT to. You seem to have overcome the fear of walking and you now try every time before scooting down and crawling.

~Love you, Mommy

One step at a time

Dear Thomas,
You are doing it! You are walking... well stepping. You have taken a step on a few occasions over the last few days. Once you take the one step, you lose your courage and sit down- but the attempt is there.
We have been having so much fun the past few days playing with bouncing balls. Tonight we went for a walk to get diapers, and I picked up a beach ball for you. You chased that ball around the house all night. You love to stand up and throw it, I can't believe how much you have learned over the past few weeks. When I pick you up at daycare, I am amazed at what you are doing. Climbing up on the steps to look in the mirror with your friend Kya, chasing the ball around with Derek and Daniel. Everyday it is something new. No wonder you are sleeping so well at night!

~Love Mommy

Laughing

Dear Thomas,
I love to make you laugh! It is really easy right now, pretty much everything I do makes you laugh. You have an infectious laughter that makes mommy do crazy things in order to hear it.
You are still so close to walking, but haven't done it yet. I can't believe how long you can stand in place without help. I watch you play, expecting you to topple over, but you don't.
We haven't seen any new teeth yet, but we are looking for them. We should see them any day now, you are definitely a bit uncomfortable.

Nothing more to share today, the weather has been cold and rainy so we haven't gone out for a while!

Throwing

Dear Thomas,
You have discovered throwing. You throw everything. Finally, you are interested in your toys again; now you have discovered how much fun it is to pick them up and throw them :) Tonight, we were playing in your bedroom, and you were picking things out of the toy box one-by-one (with much concentration) and tossing them over your shoulder. Only a toy or two could distract you from this task, and you would stop to play, but soon you would get right back to emptying the toy box. I couldn't stop laughing.

Love you~ Mommy

Let's play ball!

Dear Thomas,
It has been a rough few days with you not feeling well. The doctor thinks you are getting some more teeth! (no ear infection:)) Yesterday and today were wonderful though! We went for long walks when we got home- you really enjoy the stroller and mommy really enjoys the exercise.

Last night, daddy taught you how to play pass. You love to pass the ball or roll the ball back and forth with us, you get such a kick out of it. You are a little impatient when you are waiting for the ball, and try to crawl and come get it. We have a hard time passing it back fast enough for you.

You are standing on your own... although you don't know it yet. The only time you do it is when you are holding something with both hands that you don't want to let go of. Basically, if you aren't paying attention, you are standing alone. Tonight you did it frequently, and stayed up for quite a few seconds each time.

Love you~ Mom

Books

Dear Thomas,
We have to go about reading in a different way. We have been reading to you at night since you came home from the hospital :) It's not working right now. You no longer lay still looking at the pictures and cooing adorably- no, now you want no part of our book and flail around, often injuring one of us. So, we have put a temporary hold on story time. Instead, we have placed books around the house, so when you do snuggle down for a cuddle, we can pull out a book and read it to you.
Actually, your favorite thing to do with books right now is to play with them. You love to pull all the books off the bookshelf. You are particularly fascinated with our books, but you won't hesitate to make a mess of your books when the need arises.

Waving

Dear Thomas,
Today you and I spent the whole day together while Daddy was skiing with Uncle Jeff and Uncle Todd. We had a great time, you were in a very happy (and sometimes mischievous) mood. It was a good day.
Yesterday, you waved for the first time! We were leaving Uncle Don and Aunt Donna's house, going back to Grammie and Grandpa's and you waved goodbye to Uncle Todd. Last night, you stayed at Grammie and Grandpa's while Daddy and I went to dinner. They have so much fun with you when you are with them. We may be ready for an overnight soon...
You are so close to walking. You spend most of your time standing, and still use help to stay up, but I think you could do it on your own. Right now, you just don't feel confident enough to walk without help, you will soon.

Dear Thomas,
I had to come pick you up and daycare today because you were not feeling well. It was a rough afternoon, but you went to sleep early, and I hope you will get some rest now. I think it is a stomach bug this time, because I don't see any of the usual symptoms (other than fever) and you have been having a lot of gas. It is so hard to know! You were not yourself tonight, I couldn't even get you to laugh or smile. You weren't very interested in playing, you mostly wanted to cuddle with me (I have to say I loved every second of that). We watched some Caillou and you relaxed and snuggled with mommy. I think it helped.

Tomorrow is a big day. Daddy has the day off because your Uncle Todd and cousin Elliot are visiting from Alabama. So, he will pick you up early from daycare, and you will go up to Turner for the day with him. Tomorrow night, Grammie and Grandpa are going to watch you for a bit while we go out to dinner. I hope you are feeling well! You have already met Elliot and Uncle Todd a few times. They were up a few months after you were born, and also we went down there for your very first Thanksgiving. It was your first big trip with us, we even went on a plane ride.

Tomorrow is picture day at daycare.

Library Time

Dear Thomas,

You have a fever again :(  Daddy and I hope it is only teething.  You don't seem too sick other than a little grumpiness and a temperature.  We will keep watching through tonight to see how you do.

We have not made it out walking the last two days, a bit too cold.  However, today we went to the library.  You have been to the library before, but this was the first time you have gone and been able to get down on the floor and explore.  We found a few books for you to borrow about animals.  You love to look at real pictures of animals and pet the animals in the books.  You played with the puzzles for a while, and crawled around the play area.  Once I am on vacation, I will take you for baby time on Friday mornings, but for now we can get there once and a while to do our own exploring.  

You have started pointing a lot.  You like to point at lights the best, but you will point at anything you see that you want to get a closer look at.  We are trying to remember to tell you what each thing is after you point at it, so you can start to learn some new words.  Daddy loves your pointing a lot, and finds it quite entertaining.  

copy cat

Dear Thomas,

Oh, all the new things you have done the last few days!  We have been so busy, I haven't had time to journal about them.  You have become quite the copy cat- 

We have been playing with your blocks for months now.  I stack them, you knock them over.  Sometimes, you like to just grab the top block off the pile and leave the others in tact.  Yesterday, I put the blocks on the floor in front of you and YOU started to stack them!  Now, you only were able to stack two, the third one was a little too hard for you, but whoa!  I am so impressed.

In the bathtub, you have a rubber crab.  I always fill the crab up with water and make it swim underwater for a while before it pops up out of the water and squirts you (with sound effects, of course).  Saturday night, after I did this a few times, you grabbed the crab and made it swim under water and pop up!  You thought it was so funny, you were so pleased with yourself.

We have started walking again, as the weather is nice.  Now, you are riding like a big boy in your stroller, facing front.  It is sad for me  because I can't see you anymore :( But, you love it.  You hang on tight and look all around, talking the whole time.  I hope we will do this everyday, it will all depend on whether you continue to enjoy it this much!  The fresh air is good for both of us.

Eat, eat, eat... you love food and continue to have a hearty appetite.  You really like food that you can pick up and eat yourself, so we have been trying to give you more of those foods.  Unfortunately, you still only have the two teeth, so we are giving you a lot of Cheerios.  You don't mind, as I have said before, it is your favorite snack.  You even say "mmmm" when you are eating now.  

Night out

Dear Thomas,
We know that when we take you out to a restaurant we have to be ready to leave at any time. You have been to Gritty's quite a few times, and usually it goes well, but there have been a few times you have not been happy there. Last night we went and you were so good! You ate your dinner, you played with everything in reach at the table, you looked at everyone and everything. We actually kept you out a little past your bedtime- 7:15! We came home, gave you your bottle, you went right to sleep and slept all night. It was such a good time for daddy and I, thank you.

You're sleeping so much better these days. You still wake up a few times, but always before 11. Then you sleep straight through until morning. The only problem is you wake up SO EARLY! This morning you were up for the day at 4:30am. We made you stay in your crib, and you slept a little more, but you were still up by 5am! Daddy and I (daddy more than me) are having a hard time adjusting to this early schedule. Luckily, the time change comes in a few weeks, so we are going to use the opportunity to change your schedule a bit.

bananas

Dear Thomas,
Darn those bananas! You are very good at picking up and eating finger food, but you have the hardest time with bananas. It takes you so long to pick them up, and then when you finally do, they usually escape before they make it to your mouth.

Today I took out your rocking horse for the first time... you were terrified (see video). We made progress though, and you were more comfortable by the end of the night.

One week and still healthy! YAY!

I love you

Dear Thomas,
Today I missed you all day while I was at work. I couldn't wait to get home and see you. I love you so much! You made me laugh tonight, we had such a good time. I love when you let me shower you with kisses and when you snuggle with me. You move so much and so fast now that I don't get a lot of that snuggle time. I managed to squeeze in a few minutes tonight, after you fell and hurt yourself, right before bed time and when you wanted your bottle. I take every second I can!

Animals

Dear Thomas,

My goodness, you love animals!  This weekend was an exciting one because you were visiting a lot and got to see a lot of kitties and dogs.  Gus is Grammie and Grandpa's dog.  He doesn't really know what to think of you, but you LOVE him.  He usually knocks you over at least once during our visit, but you don't mind.  He is very generous with kisses, and you can't quite figure out if you like that or not.  Lucy is one of Grammie and Grandpa's cats.  She is your favorite because she loves you.  Most cats will come around you, but keep a good distance.  Lucy walks right up to you and rubs up against you.  Of course you don't know how to pet a cat yet, so you just end up poking her and hitting her.  You get so excited when she comes around you start hyperventilating; laughing and making a big to-do about her.  

Emma (our cat) continues to ignore you.  You don't seem discouraged though, every time you spot her you take off after her anyway.  One of these days, I know you will catch her!

Rashes, rashes everywhere

Dear Thomas,

 You have the mother of all butt rashes!  Poor guy :(  I don't know if you have a stomach bug or if it's the prunes I gave you Sunday, but you have been pooping three to four times a day since Sunday.  It appears that all the poop/wipes are getting to you, because you ass is as red as a tomato.  Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do for you... so I am apologizing now.

You are almost walking now on your own.  You can stand for a good 30 seconds before you lose your balance, walking should be next.  We can't wait/don't want it to happen... we better get ready.