Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, and wish that we could have spent it with both sides of the family! Here's a quick recap of the week.

Thomas fell asleep on the way to Columbia amidst all the presents and luggage.


We had a really good time visiting Gammie and Pop at their house. Thomas found a seat in front of the fireplace and held court there nightly.


He and his cousin Drew had fun in the yard playing with the wagon that's only supposed to hold flowers and plants :-)


Gammie read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas before bedtime on Christmas Eve.


Santa was good to everyone and Thomas was shocked to see that toys were left on his favorite seat in the house.


We ate too much and enjoyed every minute of it.


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

14 Months Old!

It's hard to believe that he's 14 months old! He continues to keep us on our toes...and on our knees picking up the food he's thrown on the floor. He's definitely headstrong and quite persuasive at times. We laugh a lot and feel very lucky for our happy little family.

SANTA

Thomas was not sitting on that stranger's lap...even if he was the real Santa Claus!

Chips!

Tom was eating Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips and Thomas really wanted some. We tried to tell him....


We laughed and he thought that was good.


Then he wanted more.


This could go on for a while.

This is from a couple of weeks ago, but is a pretty good picture of what he's like most of the time these days!

Is it Tricky if it's a Toddler?

In order to try and trick our child into eating vegetables, I got a cookbook by Jessica Seinfield called Deceptively Delicious that has great recipes for how to add vegetables to dishes so your kid doesn't know they are there.  The other night I made chicken fingers....it has sweet potatoes in the breading.  We knew Thomas would eat them because he ALWAYS eats the meat.  Well, Thomas is apparently a mind reader because he wouldn't eat the chicken.  All of a sudden, he started eating the breading - no chicken, just the breading.  We had to laugh since that's the part with the vegetables and we have no worries at all about the protein. He ended up eating all of the breading on his tray and I gave him all that was left on the serving plate as well.  

Tonight I made burgers - they have cauliflower in them that you can't taste at all.  He ate it like a champ.  On his plate his had his burger, some fruit, some cheese and I also put a few butterbeans on his plate. We made sure not to make a big deal out of anything, just let him choose what to eat when. He ate a few things then he picked up a butterbean, squeezed it a bit and put it down.  He wouldn't eat any of them.  How does he know? Apparently when you are a toddler, there is a big "DO NOT EAT THE VEGETABLES" sign that the adults can't see. We've given up the fight - there's always a small portion of vegetables on his plate, and eventually he'll eat 'em.

Brrrrr

I don't know about you, but I'm cold :-) We're looking forward to a little warm up today so that we can get outside some. We might be coming to the end of how much we can do inside without tearing the place to pieces.

In other fun news, Lila is close by for work so we got to spend some time with her yesterday. Thomas was in full performance mode all afternoon. He went about his business playing and then would turn around and flash a grin to make sure we laughed and told him how cute he was. Of course we obliged!

Lasagna

Thomas has been fully exploring the joys of toddlerhood. Right now, he is big time into feeding himself and is absolutely refusing to eat vegetables. Well, last night he had 1 green bean, 1 lima bean and a pea. All without a tantrum....certainly a joy for us.

We couldn't figure out why dinner was becoming such a nightmare. We had lasagna one night - he loves it, but wouldn't eat it. Finally we just put his plate on his tray and decided he could sit there and whine and we would eat. He dug right in. He wouldn't keep his bib on and he and the chair needed to be hosed down when it was all over with, but we all learned that Thomas enjoys meals much more when he can do it himself. I see a lot of chicken nuggets in his future :-)

Playing with Blocks

Thomas loves his blocks and is working hard to learn to stack them. He also enjoys watching us stack them into really tall towers that he can crash to the ground. We've been calling him Baby Destructo lately!

Happy Thanksgiving

In our daily lives, we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but the gratefulness that makes us happy. --Albert Clarke

Happy Thanksgiving!

Walking!

13 Months Old!

Thomas took a moment from his playing this morning to pose for a picture for me. He's doing great - walking and talking like crazy. He is very insistent when he is trying to tell us something and it continues to be unfortunate that most of the time I have no idea what he's talking about. I think I understand cracker and drink and play on the bed, but other than that I just guess - ha! He's not shy about letting me know when I got it wrong.

Busy Boy

Thomas stays on the go! He's walking better and better everyday and he got another tooth yesterday :-) He's talking up a storm and charmed some people at the zoo today with his pointing and jabbering at the animals. He's definitely a daddy's boy..he is thrilled every time Tom walks in the door - poor Tom will be in traction soon if this child doesn't start walking more-hahaha! Thomas is of course continuing to wake up during his naps several days a week and scream and cry before he can go back to sleep. This too shall pass....this too shall pass......this too shall pass.....

On a happier note, Here are some pics from the last week or so.

We built a tunnel in the den...it continues to be a favorite place for hiding toys.


He loves the balloons at the grocery store so of course we had to tie it to his walker....big fun after dinner!


Tom was putting clothes in the dryer and Thomas couldn't get his face far enough in the pet door to get him.


Thomas got some new cute PJs!

Update

Thomas is getting braver by the day. He is walking more and more. He prefers to crawl if it's a long distance or he needs to get there fast, but is trying to walk around at other times. It's so funny to watch...he really thinks about it and then lets go and walks several steps before he plops to the ground. On Wednesdays I teach a social skills group at Howard School, so Thomas hangs out with Tom in his classroom. Because there is good open space, Thomas was able to walk a really long way today!

Here's a picture from snack time today...

Leaves

Who needs toys when we have leaves? And what a great excuse not to do yard work - hahaha!

Videos

If you can't get the videos to play.. follow these links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvtHTuXE66I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuv4sGIKhiY

A Couple of Videos

Thomas LOVES bananas and has figured out how to hold one and bite into it. He's very proud!


He also has a new game. We put his socks on and he takes them off. Mostly he just hangs out with cold feet!

Brushing Teeth

It's hard to hold a baby and brush his teeth at the same time. So, Tom decided Thomas could just sit on the counter with his feet in the sink. Problem solved!

A patient voter

Thomas was a very patient little boy today during my 2 hour wait to vote. He was ready to go after about 1 hr. and 45 minutes, but with some convincing stuck it out in my arms for the last few minutes so I could actually vote.

Here's something funny - I went to vote mid morning so that I would have a shorter wait and wouldn't have to make Thomas spend his whole afternoon in line. Ha - Tom was in and out in 15 minutes this afternoon. The joke's on me!

Fall is in the Air

Thomas loves the pumpkins! He calls them all balls, but he also calls apples and oranges balls....everything round is a ball these days.

Every time we go outside, he wants to play with them. It was beautiful this weekend, so we spread out a sheet in the yard and the three of us just played there for a while.



I'm sure you're worried I haven't written about sleep lately. Thomas was doing great and then naps fell apart last week for several days.... he started waking up in the middle of them hysterical. He had to cry himself back to sleep a few times - YUCK, and has slept through the last two days. We'll see what happens next.

We are going to vote tomorrow - I'm already planning on the number of toys I need to bring to entertain young Thomas. Maybe I'll bring a pumpkin- hahahaha!

Happy Halloween!

We had big fun today! We all went to Caroline's house to take pictures and play and then came home to hand out candy. Thomas was exhausted when it was all said and done! He was a great sport about his costume....we're thinking he was so cute he'll wear it again tomorrow :-)

Hair!

We couldn't resist taking a picture....this is right after I dried his hair from bath time :-)

Detox!

We had a great visit with both sets of grandparents. Thomas was in full performance mode for several days! He had so much fun entertaining everyone :-)

We are now in detox...trying to convince him that he doesn't need someone's attention every minute of his day - hahahaha! He's not in full agreement with us, but sometimes forgets to fight and plays alone.

Visit to the Pediatrician

Height: 31.8 " (96th percentile)
Weight: 23.4 lbs. (60th percentile)

He got a great report - doing everything he should be doing!

Happy Birthday!

We had a great Birthday! Tom had the day off from work for Fall Break so we all got to hang out together on a perfect fall day. This afternoon, Thomas had a little party with some of his friends and their parents so that we could all celebrate a great year. We all had a really good time and were pooped by the time the day had ended :-)

There's Fun to Be Had Anywhere!

A New Experience

We were out doing some errands today and decided that we would just have dinner out since we wouldn't make it home in time for any real cooking to happen. We ordered food for Thomas off the kids' menu...he ate chicken tenders and veggies and drank milk out of a cup with a straw. Too cool!

A Miracle?

Thomas was awake sometime before 6:30 this morning as usual, but today, unlike every other day of his life, he went back to sleep. AND SLEPT UNTIL 8:00 AM. If you listen carefully, you can still hear us cheering and you might just catch us doing a happy dance.

He's Walking!

Thomas started taking steps all on his own today! The most at once is 4 - hahaha! We thought it was so cute we made him do it over and over until he just flat out refused :-)

"Talking" and "Walking"

Tom and Thomas are feeling better and I am on the road to recovery. Everywhere we go all the kids and their parents have this same cold....it's nasty :-)

We're having a good week -the weather has been really nice in the mornings so we've been able to get out and about more. Thomas is "talking" up a storm. He's trying to repeat the words we say and though he can't say them, it's hilarious to watch and listen to him try to say the words. He is still enamored with the playground in the park and can't wait until he can slide by himself. He's practicing walking and can get around holding only 1 finger now. He's still into everything he shouldn't be of course! Cords and the stereo buttons are incredibly tempting.

We are looking forward to Thomas' 1st on Monday...we'll have a few friends over and then celebrate with both sets of grandparents the following weekend. We can't wait!

Still sick but hanging in there!

We are not yet recovered from whatever crud has infested our bodies :-) Everyone is coughing and sneezing and blowing their noses. Well, except poor Thomas. He is constantly having his suctioned out. He's not at all impressed by how well I can do that now!

We're trying to transition him from the bottle to the cup and from baby food to more table food. He's not very impressed by the cup at all- hahaha! Just wait until he has to have milk instead of formula - oh boy! And we won't even talk about how much it gets on his nerves that I'm making him hold his cup. Mealtimes are not as quick and easy as they used to be. For food, he's doing okay. So far chicken pot pie and shepherd's pie are his favorites. Soup and vegetables for lunch and waffles for breakfast haven't been a big hit. He's ended up having yogurt those times to at least get some nutition. Given his size, though, we're not too worried about how much he eats - hahahaha.

He's still working on the 2 naps to 1 transition. He did a good job this weekend since we were both here to entertain. I'm anticipating it's going to take him a couple of months to get more used to this. Oh well, it looks like lots of trips to the playground and zoo in our future I guess. Good thing it will cool off soon (I hope!).

Go Gamecocks!

It was an ugly win, but a win nonetheless! Thomas slept through most of the game - woo hoo! It was his longest nap ever in his life.... 2 hours and 25 minutes. It was much appreciated because though his cold is not really bothering him very much, what he's passed on to me is driving me crazy. Hopefully we'll all be healthy soon.

Thomas also invented a new game yesterday. He's lately decided that putting toys in boxes or trucks is fun. He then takes them out and throws them on the floor - also fun. Well, yesterday he decided that just putting them in the crib was a good idea. Maybe he's bored in the night and wants to play :-)

Another Napping Change!

Good grief!  Just when you think you've got it figured out - BAM!  Today Thomas is still getting over his cold.  He's congested and has lovingly shared it with both Tom and me so that we also have sore throats.  Because of that and the 4 teeth he has coming in, he's waking up pretty early in the morning and is tired around that morning nap time.  So, I've been putting him down the last two days.  Yesterday was fine - he took 2 naps.  Today, however, he took a morning nap and I woke him up after an hour like I always do.  We played, etc. etc. had lunch and then  I put him down for his afternoon nap.  I thought two different times that he fell asleep, but NOPE!  He stayed in his crib for almost an hour and a half.  He laid around and then just sat up and played quietly.  He whined maybe 3 times the whole time he was in there.  Hmmmm......this nap transition thing is crazy.  Since he had a grand total of one hour of naps today he was a very tired baby this evening.  It's 6:50 pm and he's asleep - who knows what tomorrow brings?

A Little Humility Please

So yesterday I was bragging that Thomas was handling this cold with no problem, he was napping great and he had slept for over 12 hours, not getting up until after 7:00 in the morning. Hahahahaha! This is what happens when you brag. He was awake sometime before our alarm clock went off this morning and was crying, ready to get out of the crib by 6:35 - snotty nose and all. Needless to say, he is currently taking a morning nap - the first one in a while.

Well, it's an adventure :-)

Feeling Better...Hopefully

Thomas has been under the weather for the past few days. Nothing major - runny nose and feeling a bit yucky. We've been doing a lot with other kids lately and they are all snotty and drooling ;-) He's feeling better this morning and had a long good night's sleep last night. Yesterday was not fun. He was more whiny than he's been in a while. I literally carried him around most of the day. When I put him down to do something he just cried.

He's still struggling with this going from two to one nap transition. He needs about 1 1/2 naps...2 is too many and 1 is not enough. We are hoping that it will work itself out in the next couple of weeks so Thomas feels better. In the meantime, we are thankful for the days he sleeps until 7 in the morning and he's still going to bed at 6:45 every night. He was soooooo tired all day yesterday. He fell asleep while he was eating lunch - I had to just pick him up out of the highchair and put him to bed for a nap. It would have been funny if it wasn't so sad - hahaha. Last night we put him in the crib about 6:45 and he was in dreamland before 7:00!

In more positive news, Thomas' teeth are so very cute. It cracks us up to see them everytime he grins. We're also being very careful not to say the word "slide" too much. We have to spell it instead, because if not he starts laughing and squealing and thinks that we are going to the playground.

Out and About

We've been out and about all week- the weather has been gorgeous! We went to Oakland Cemetery, the zoo, and the playground. Thomas loves the slides. He can go down the little ones by himself as long as I hold his hands. I put him on my lap for the big ones. The higher and faster, the louder he laughs! We are waiting right now for my friend Mimi to come over. We will take Thomas and her daughter Riley to the park for the morning to play together.

Thomas' naps are still strange. He can't decide if he wants 1 or 2. The other morning he laid on the floor at 8:45 so I put him in the crib and he took a great nap. He then went down in the afternoon for another great nap. The very next day it was only 1. Oh well. Eventually he'll go to one and from what all my friends tell me, just go with the flow and know that the transition is hard.

Thomas has 3 of his top 4 teeth and the other one is about to break through. He looks very cute!

In very exciting news, Thomas slept over 12 hours last night. He didn't get up until almost 7:30 this morning. CRAZY!

A Story of Napland

Once upon a time, a Mommy and a Daddy heard about a wonderful place called Napland. Other parents claimed that their babies visited Napland for 2 hours at a time. Books written by wise doctors who don't actually have babies in their house also assured the Mommy and the Daddy that Napland visits were at least 2 hours long.

Thomas visited Napland, but rarely stayed longer than an hour. The Mommy and the Daddy thought he must not enjoy it very much there since he didn't want to stay longer. They tried explaining to Thomas that he would like Napland very much and would have a much better time if he tried to stay for 2 hours. Alas, he chose otherwise. He then decided that he would no longer visit Napland in the morning at all.

The Mommy and the Daddy noticed that since Thomas was visiting Napland only in the afternoon he was staying for 1 1/2 hours. That was doing okay they thought. Bedtimeland was a better place and Thomas was visiting there very early.

Today, Thomas decided that he would visit Napland for a little longer just to see what was going on there. He loved it! In fact, he stayed for 2 hours and 3 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thomas, the Mommy and the Daddy were all very happy.

The End

A Busy Week!

Whew! There's a lot going on around here. Thomas is about to get another tooth - his other front tooth. That will bring the grand total up to 5!

He's working hard on standing up without holding on and getting better every day. He's "walking" holding our hands, but isn't quite ready to do that on his own.

He has probably dropped his morning nap all together. Last week he had it a few days, but it made the afternoon nap pretty short. He has started sleeping later in the mornings, so we've just been getting out and about and coming back home for lunch and an hour and a half snooze that starts around 12:30 (that's as long as he can go until he passes out). It's a bit of a struggle during this transition, but he's doing great with it. Since he doesn't need to sleep in the morning, we've been able to go to playgroups and the playground and are planning on going to storytime at the library next week.

Thomas has been developing a strange habit of pushing his face against the glass in the bay windows. He likes to stand there and watch the world go by. I went outside to take a picture because it's funny and we can't wait to embarrass him with the photographic evidence when he grows up.

eebee Books!

The people at Sterling Publishing were nice enough to share some Eebee books with us. We got three books from them. Thomas is in all kinds of heaven!

His favorites so far are Eebee's Peek-a-Boo and Eebee's Hug & Splash. The Peek-a-Boo book is cloth and is the perfect size for him to turn pages and lift scarves and hats to find Eebee. He needs some help to maneuver some of the fabric, but knows what to do and is quickly catching on. The Hug & Splash book is for the bath. You can imagine his delight when he discovered that Eebee got to come in the bathtub with him! There are places to squeak, water "shoots" out of the sponge and shower and Thomas can easily turn the pages. Both of these books are great.

The Have a Ball book is also a winner. A ball is attached on a string in this cloth book. Each page has a new adventure for Eebee and the ball. Thomas really enjoys the book, but can't handle this one on his own at all.

We are looking forward to reading the Laundry Time Adventure book, but haven't gone to buy it yet.

Is he or isn't he?

On Saturday, Thomas went down for his first nap, but for the first time since we got a nap schedule, never went to sleep. So after about 45 minutes we got him up and just put him down early for his second nap. We thought this was the beginning of the end of the 2 naps a day and that we were headed for the transition to the longer afternoon nap. Ha! Yesterday and today he's taken a morning and afternoon nap. In fact, he's asleep right now. I think it's the baby plot to keep us confused so that we always pay attention to them - hahahaha!

11 Months Old!

Another Tooth

He's going to look a little crooked :-) The second tooth that came in is the side incisor beside the front tooth that came in the other day.  The next one to come in should be the other front tooth, but we've got a while for that one. Whew....bring on the Tylenol!

A Bad Review

Thomas really really really wanted some of my Coke yesterday. I tried to convince him that he wouldn't like it, but sometimes experience seems to be a better option for him.

Turns out I was right.

A tooth!

One of Thomas' front teeth finally came through the gum! There are 3 more top teeth working their way out. One is probably coming in the next day or two and the other two are not quite ready. Thomas is enjoying his teething ring, Tylenol and Orajel more than ever.

We're practicing walking like crazy. He is on the go all the time and we spent part of yesterday walking up and down the sidewalk outside just for a change of pace. He's got it no problem holding both of my hands and is getting better at being able to do it holding only one. He doesn't love wearing shoes, but is getting used to it :-)

A Streak is Broken

We had made it from August 5 to last night with 0, yes zero, nil, nada, no night wakings.  Alas!  The streak is broken.  At 4:20 this morning Thomas let us know our presence was requested.  We suspect his teeth are getting the better of him :-(  He has two trying to poke through right now and two more on the way down in his gums.  Yuck.  Fortunately for him and us, he did well with some Orajel, Tylenol, a quick diaper change and cuddling for a minute or two.  We put him back in the crib and he went back to sleep pretty quickly (which meant we did too)! We are thankful the whole thing was less than half an hour...unlike the marathons in July!

New toy and some new kicks

We went to a yard sale at the school next door today. Thomas got a pair of shoes, some books, some jeans, and a great new toy. All this happiness for only $3. He's not sure about the whole wearing shoes thing, but the toy is a hit!

Baby Steps

Thomas took his first step today! He was standing at the bay windows, turned, let go and took a step to get to Tom. Of course we tried over and over for a repeat, but no luck. It was a complete accident on Thomas' part, but much fun for his parents.

The Very Shy Tooth

Once upon a time there was a little boy who had a very shy tooth.  This tooth lived in his top gums. It was so shy that it was afraid to come out and play.  The very shy tooth caused great consternation and discomfort to the little boy.  He had to cry a lot in the morning and produce great quantities of drool to try and drown the very shy tooth.  King Orajel helped sometimes during the day and Queen Tyenol gave some relief at night. The little boy tried valiantly to get the very shy tooth to come and play, but the very shy tooth still hid in his house.

The very shy tooth is almost ready to come out and play.  The little boy will be very happy and so will his Mommy and Daddy!

Charge!

Two posts in one day...whew!  I couldn't resist.  Tom gave Thomas an empty paper towel roll and it turns out it's actually a sword.......too precious.

EEBEE!!!!!!

We don't watch a lot of TV with Thomas, but thought we'd check out our On Demand service to see if there were kids' shows that he would like.  We've discovered Eebee....Thomas llllllooooooovvvvveeeesss it. There are lots of songs and dancing and babies playing.  He's only seen the 10 minute free shows they have on TV.  We're going to go to Target today to see if they have the DVD there.  He won't know what hit him :-)

Always Learning

It's so much fun watching Thomas learn and grow. He's trying lately to figure out how things go together. He realizes that his little toy shapes go into this truck in a certain way and he really wants to do it on his own.

He's still "walking" around holding on to our hands and is biting everything in sight since those slow top teeth just won't get here. Fortunately for all of us, he's handling it pretty well most days.

Enthralled

Gammy and Pop are visiting from Columbia.  Thomas is definitely on full entertainment alert. He is ready with no notice to laugh or play or flirt! 

Today we went to the Summer Shade Festival at Grant Park near our house.  Thomas was great- he loved all the people and watched everything that was going on around him. Tom snapped this picture as Thomas was watching a performer juggle and do other tricks during a kids' show. 

Ahhhh...Sleep

A better day was had around here! Much less crying at naptime and no crying at bedtime. We can watch him on the video monitor and he was hilarious! He played in his crib for about 30 minutes and then laid down to go to sleep. He squirms all over the place while he's sleeping and this is where we found him right before we went to bed.

Ferber Anyone?

Since we are avid readers of all information related to baby sleep, we know that Ferberizing your baby means checking in on them at progressively longer intervals until they fall asleep. The verb Ferberizing is from the name Ferber...the doctor who first talked about this method. We don't do this because putting Thomas down and leaving him to eventually fall asleep has been working for us. He is still waking early, but going to sleep well most nights and staying asleep. Because we were feeling confident, he has decided to throw a few wrenches into the mix.

First, he is taking FOREVER to go to sleep for naps and is waking up at least once during both of them. Second, he will let me feed him breakfast, but is refusing to eat lunch or dinner if I feed him. He will only eat what he can feed himself. He's eating a lot of little crackers these days after I force a few bites of other things into his mouth.

So back to Ferber. Today was the day to tackle naps with a modified Ferber. I got him drowsy, put him in the crib and silently pronounced, "Let the screaming commence!" It did. For the next hour I went in every 15 minutes for one minute of soothing and then left again. He finally fell asleep and stayed asleep for the whole nap. I did the same thing for nap #2. I had to go in one time and he took only about 20 minutes total to fall asleep. He had a great nap that he slept through entirely. We decided that to be consistent we would go in every 15 minutes at bedtime as well. Hmmm...there was only squirming and changing positions for a while, but no crying and so no parental visits! Whew- wish me luck tomorrow.

The food thing is what it is. We're not worried about his size! He'll eat cheese and Cheerios and crackers until he won't :-) Note the messy bib- it's hard to force a baby to eat. I got a lot in him, a lot on him and then let him have some crackers.


This is where I found him earlier today