What They Forgot to Tell Us

Inchy

2012-02-13T17:31:00.000-05:00

Inchy, the class "pet" came home with Thomas over the weekend. We had to take pictures of him having fun with us and put them in the class scrapbook to go back to school today. At the suggestion of Thomas' teacher, Inchy first took a bath because he had just been with a little boy who had strep throat during Inchy's visit. Then, the adventures began - pancakes, a haircut and Kroger. Quite exciting :)

It never stops

2012-02-05T11:02:00.002-05:00

Tom: Thomas I need to take the sheets off the bed in our room so we can wash them. Do you want to help?

Thomas: Why yes, I would be honored to.

Where does he come up with this stuff?

HAHAHAHAHA

2012-02-04T19:07:00.000-05:00

Thomas uses Gammie and Pop's house as a measurement tool.

For example "How much did you miss me? As much as 12 Gammie and Pop's houses?"

So - we are eating dinner tonight and talking about the birthday party we went to today.

Tom: Thomas what was your favorite part of the party today?

Thomas (no hesitation at all): The cake.

Tom and Tara: HAHAHAHAHA

Thomas: It was as good as 58 Gammie and Pop's houses......... counting by little numbers.

Oh my we have an awesome kid.

Inside Voice

2012-02-03T10:06:00.000-05:00

Apparently they spend time at school discussing inside voice and outside voice. He has generalized that to all noises.

At dinner last night Thomas explains:

"An outside sneeze sounds like this. SNEEZE!!!!!"

"An inside sneeze sounds like this. sneeze"

"You see?"

And then he repeated just in case we didn't understand. And again. And again.

Exercise

2012-02-01T13:35:00.000-05:00

So we are all dealing with this yucky cold, but hopefully will be healthy before spring gets here :)

I was doing a cardio video the other day and Thomas wanted to join in. He was hysterical. First, he goes backwards when he does jumping jacks. It's an amazing phenomenon....

Then, he talks the whole time (surprise, right?). I have to ask him to pause so I can hear what we are supposed to be doing next.

His comments are great.

Thomas: "I'm going to be so strong from exercise and you won't be able to pick me up, except, wait, you are exercising too so you will be strong and will be able to pick me up."

Me: no answer - I mean really, what do I say to that?

Thomas: "Mommy, I'm getting all sweated."

Me: "Do you mean sweaty?"

Thomas: "Yeah, that too."

Then, my favorite. You know how the people doing the video talk to you while you are exercising?

Thomas (in a whisper): "How does he know what we are doing? Can he see us?"

Fun times and a workout - Bonus!

Excellent

2012-01-23T08:13:00.000-05:00

Pitter Patter comes the little feet through the kitchen heading to our room. He busts in with Mr. Rabbit and says, "Good morning, did you hear my feet coming?" When asked if he had a good night's sleep he replied, "Yes, well no.....it wasn't good, it was excellent!"

Awesome.

The things they say

2012-01-17T19:22:00.003-05:00

Again in the car!

On the way home from school our usual Q&A about his day.

Me: How was lunch? Was there a teacher at your table today?

Thomas: Nope.

Me: Oh? Just kids then?

Thomas: Yep. Well, with one exception. There was a giraffe.

A couple of things - First.....a giraffe, um what? Second....what 4 year old talks like this? "with one exception"....really?

Little boy. You are 4 not 44.

Of course later there was the major meltdown about the boo-boo on his thumb. You would have thought the whole finger was gone.

So yes, he is 4.......and 44.

No wonder he was so tired at bedtime.

Music

2012-01-15T13:58:00.000-05:00

Driving to the CVS with my boy....

Me: Thomas, this is Michael Jackson singing "Thriller."

Thomas: We love Michael Jackson, right?

Me: Right, well, er, um, yes, Right.

Thomas: And Jack Johnson and Duran Duran too.

Me: Um, yep.

I think I gotta expose this boy to more music :)

Pitter Patter

2012-01-12T12:46:00.000-05:00

Thomas: ....and there was you and Daddy and Gammie and Pop and Trent and Amber and Drew. And we were fighting bad guys and I don't know and they were foxes. And Daddy and me and Drew had to hide. And there were bad guys.

Me: ...um. something unintelligible about potty and bed.

Thomas: It was a bad dream.

Me: Yes.

Time, you ask? 4:43 AM. Yep, that's AM folks.

A Fat Lip

2012-01-08T10:51:00.000-05:00

Fun times- a face plant on the kitchen floor right before dinner last night. Much crying, much ice, much needing Mommy. Looks much better today :)

Sarasota

2011-12-31T17:18:00.001-05:00

Thanks Aunt Lila for the great videos!

Pizza for Dinner

2011-12-20T18:40:00.000-05:00

Santa

2011-12-13T12:50:00.000-05:00

The quality is not great and Thomas looks more scared than he actually was. He told Santa the one present that he wants and when Santa asked if there was anything else, Thomas told him "Nope, just the one." Santa promised a few surprises as long as Thomas leaves him milk and cookies.

Cookies

2011-12-05T09:14:00.000-05:00

We may not be super talented, but we had a great time making (and eating) cookies!

And it continues

2011-11-27T21:41:00.001-05:00

We took the decorating outdoors.

And between the pictures above, there was a little time for some football, and a ...

Touchdown Dance!

Staying Busy

2011-11-26T18:17:00.000-05:00

This stomach virus has kept us homebound so any sign of health leads to frantically trying to get things done.

We ran to IKEA.

Tom started putting together the new bed.

Oh my all the parts!

Thomas' new bed is almost ready.

Bravo - just in time for bed!

And today? Christmas begins.

Thanksgiving Assembly last week

2011-11-26T18:14:00.000-05:00

Very cute 3 and 4 year olds singing at Thomas' school. He's on the first row in a blue plaid shirt. He did a great job singing the whole song looking out at the audience.

Big Buddies

2011-11-20T16:52:00.000-05:00

On some Fridays Thomas' class spends time with their Big Buddies. Thomas' big buddy is Sarah - she is a 5th grader. Apparently he is smitten :)

Gold Star Student

2011-11-15T19:19:00.000-05:00

Thomas' 2nd gold star day was today and Tom got to go see him in action leading Circle Time. Before that, however, there were trains!

Check-Up

2011-11-08T16:18:00.000-05:00

Thomas had his 4 year check up today. 35.9 lbs (51st percentile), 40.5 inches tall (57th percentile). A surprise - he still has a tube in one ear!!!! The pediatrician said it was open, in his eardrum and doing fine. Ummmmm....then why did the ENT say they were both gone? Well, one of them has made it for almost a year, so great news!

Overall he checked out okay and then got 3 shots. That did not impress him at all.

The new treasure tower had glow in dark rubber balls, however, so all was forgiven.

Cupcake

2011-11-08T11:01:00.000-05:00

Friday was one of the teacher's birthday. She brought in cupcakes as a treat for the kids.

Autumn Fun

2011-11-05T21:59:00.000-04:00

After soccer today we went to play on the playground for a little while. Then a bit later in the afternoon, we were able to collect some Pecans and smash 'em up!

Trick or Treat

2011-11-01T07:38:00.000-04:00

Birthday Fun

2011-10-24T16:45:00.000-04:00

Whew- a great small party. We loved it!

Happy Birthday

2011-10-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

Scootering

2011-10-17T09:47:00.001-04:00

Thomas said he went scootering!

First he practiced on the porch.

Then he headed down the street.

And came back.

Getting ready for Halloween!

Uncle Bob's Pumpkin Farm

2011-10-15T18:56:00.000-04:00

We had a great time - looking at pumpkins, watching yarn being spun, learning about bats and bees, walking in a corn maze, taking a hay ride and shooting a lime into a pumpkin.

Big Dreams

2011-10-12T09:56:00.002-04:00

Mommy, I had 2 big dreams last night and you were in both of them!!!! We caught a dolphin. With our hands!

How delightful to dream the dreams of a 3 year old :)

Learning!

2011-09-29T17:42:00.000-04:00

I visited Thomas' school today to watch him be the Gold Star Student. The Gold Star Student leads circle time - calendar, the letter/sound of the week, weather, etc. Thomas is apparently picking up what they are doing!

Birthdays

2011-09-28T09:29:00.000-04:00

We have had several birthday parties recently. This past weekend was a smaller one, so much more fun! All of the Dads took turns after cake making sure the kids were sufficiently tired out :)

Fruit Break

2011-09-23T14:25:00.002-04:00

Thomas' class has fruit break in the mornings. Apparently he loves it!

Advice from Thomas

2011-09-23T10:59:00.001-04:00

Don't crash your car into any buildings.

If you come to a bridge, drive over it, not into it.

Watch out for skunks.

This is his advice to me as I leave for work.

Almost every day :)

More from School

2011-09-18T15:05:00.000-04:00

They did a family collage and saw their Big Buddies this week (Thomas' class is paired with a 5th grade class, so Thomas sees his Big Buddy Sarah once a week).

Thomas at School

2011-09-13T19:50:00.000-04:00

Thomas' teachers send us pictures many days each week to show us what is happening in the classroom. These were some of the pictures from today.

1st day of Soccer!

2011-09-10T16:05:00.002-04:00

We've all been really looking forward to it for a while. The schedule makes it a fairly early outing, but we were all up for it. No Goalies, nobody keeping score, lots of super cute kids and friendly parents. Very fun!

Awwwwww......

2011-09-08T10:51:00.001-04:00

We went to Thomas' parent-teacher orientation meeting last night. We heard all about his schedule and what they do all day. They had pictures around the room and we had to figure out which one was our child. Their names were hidden underneath their description. The teachers "interviewed" each child to find out their favorite food, what they enjoyed doing and what they wanted to be when they grew up. If you click on the picture it will enlarge and you can read what he said.

Awwwww........

Busy Busy Busy Busy

2011-09-07T10:37:00.000-04:00

We stay on the go! This past Sunday, however, we were just taking it easy. Tom had to go tutor so Thomas and I decided to head to the park to play. We walked to the park, played, got worn out so we headed to the Smoothie Studio for some books and a smoothie.

That boy....

2011-09-01T12:27:00.000-04:00

Tom: How about some milk?

Thomas: How about some.....diamond?

Tom: What's a diamond (expecting to hear it is a shape like a square)

Thomas: Well, it's a mineral that's formed under the Earth, and under a volcano and then it gets pushed up and up and then it comes out, and then it is a shiny mineral.

Tom (mouth agape): Ok. Where'd you learn about diamonds?

Thomas: On Dinosaur Train

Guess TV is not so bad after all :)

It's a Regular Day

2011-08-30T07:59:00.000-04:00

As I was leaving this morning we were reviewing the daily schedule.

Me: "It's just a regular day".

Thomas: "Nooooooo.....A regular day is when we all stay home together."

Awwwww.......didn't want to burst that bubble just yet :)

Made it Though the Week

2011-08-27T15:35:00.000-04:00

Whew. That was a stressful week. On Friday there were no tears about going to Discovery :) That was a nice surprise when I got there to pick him up.

We came home to play for a while and then go get something to eat.

The sneezing began and the nose stopped up. He went to bed at 8....woke up at 11, 2, 3 and 6. Thank goodness today is Saturday!

Yep, he made it 8 days and is now the second one in his class who is sick.

Oh well, we are currently skipping a birthday party and watching the Jungle Book on DVD. A much less stressful day than we usually have :)

Fingers Crossed

2011-08-25T08:56:00.002-04:00

Thomas continues to love school. He picked flowers on his way in today, "so my teachers won't be sad when I have to leave".

The transition to Discovery was not quite as bad yesterday. I think it helped that he napped. Which meant that after he had been in bed for an hour last night he came out because he still couldn't go to sleep. I guess on nap days we need to run him around in the park or something to tire him out.

When it is not 96 degrees and humid and full of mosquitoes.

Isn't that October?

Discovery- Argh!

2011-08-23T19:33:00.000-04:00

On a really positive note, Thomas loves his class and his teachers. He likes to play with all his new little friends and when Tom drops him at his classroom door he has to ask for a hug because Thomas is running into the classroom.

Discovery is what they call the After School Program. Thomas is there for about 45 minutes M-Th and 90 minutes on Friday (they dismiss early that day) so that I can leave my job and get to him.

It's basically play time and snack for the kids after school.

Thomas does not like it. In fact, he cries.

Every.
Single.
Day.

Sometimes on and off the whole time he is there. Today his classroom teacher told me she can tell when he starts thinking about it as the afternoon progresses because he gets more upset as time passes.

At dinner last night he said, "I think I'm not going to cry but then the cry just comes."

Heartbreaker.

I hope that soon the cry just doesn't come.

Keeping us guessing

2011-08-22T20:45:00.000-04:00

Napped today at school.

Bed at 7:30, out visiting at 8:00.

Who knows what this night will bring?

Another mystery on our hands.

Fantastic :)

And then things changed

2011-08-22T12:00:00.000-04:00

Thomas continues to have great days at school overall. He is struggling with the going to school all day thing, however. He is back to sleeping poorly, coming in our room in the middle of the night and he cried a long time Friday afternoon. He napped on Saturday! but not on Sunday.

We will see what he does today :)

Day 2

2011-08-18T18:27:00.000-04:00

Another great day at school. Thomas' teachers love him and he loves them. When I picked him up I ran into one of his teachers and she said he is funny and said something today that sounded like an old man (but she couldn't remember what)- I told her he was definitely 3 going on 43.

These days are lllllooooonnnnnngggg days for him. He didn't nap during naptime at school (shocking, I know!) Last night we put him to bed at 7 and didn't hear from him again until 6:30 this morning. Today 15 of the 17 kids in his class napped. Of course, Thomas was one of the 2 that did not.

Tonight we ate dinner early - at 5:30 so he has some play time before bath. As he got in his chair he said, "Mommy, I think I just want to get out of this chair, get in my bed and go to sleep."

So apparently if I had put him in full time school as an infant I wouldn't have had to write about sleep at all :)

I'm a Big Kid Now

2011-08-17T09:29:00.002-04:00

First Day of Pre-Primary at The Children's School. I was more nervous than him :)

Whew

2011-08-13T15:33:00.002-04:00

Thomas spent from Sunday - Friday with Gammie and Pop. He returned with them to Atlanta and

has.
not.
stopped.
talking.

Seriously!

Funny Boy

2011-08-04T09:00:00.000-04:00

I was going to post this last night, but instead decided to spend 30 minutes fighting Thomas to stay in his bed. After a very teary time out he finally gave it up. Needless to say, after that I wasn't feeling much like writing about his royal cuteness.

But today, all is well and Thomas told us he was going to follow the sleep rules for 10 days in a row. I don't know what will happen on day 11, but it might be bad :)

In addition to great fun at swim lessons with lots of jumping, kicking and going underwater Thomas has been in summer camp at his preschool.

On Tuesday Thomas' summer camp class made banana fritters. Apparently they were a hit....with almost everyone.

Thomas: Mommy, I love a banana and I love a fritter, but I hate a banana fritter.

Me (between snorts of laughter): Thomas, let's don't use the word hate. Let's say, "I don't care for."

Thomas: Mommy, I love a banana and I love a fritter, but I don't care for a banana fritter.

Good to know!

On Wednesday after getting dressed for camp he looked at me and said, "Mommy, do I look fantastic?"

Awesome.

Proving that he is Gifted

2011-07-31T13:07:00.000-04:00

It is 100 degrees with 100 % humidity. Nothing can live - our flowers look terrible, our tomato plants croaked, there are smog warnings every day.

I would guess that there is perhaps 1 microscopic cold virus in all of Atlanta that survived all this.

Lucky for us, Thomas found it.

Told you he was gifted.

Swim Lessons!

2011-07-29T23:06:00.002-04:00

These were taken during the first 2 days of this week.

These taken today.
Actually, he jumps bigger with me, but doesn't want to go under the water unless it is with Ms. Toni.

Fernbank

2011-07-29T16:33:00.000-04:00

We had a great time at Fernbank museum today. We explored the NatureQuest kids area, saw dinosaurs, a cool shell exhibit and I got to take lots of pictures with my new phone :)

Leaving Camp Today

2011-07-28T19:54:00.000-04:00

We were leaving camp this afternoon and stayed a few minutes to chat with Christina since she is now an assistant teacher at the preschool. Because of that, we were one of the last ones leaving the building as camp ended. Thomas' teacher, Miss Kachia was in the hallway as we got his lunchbox and headed for the door.

Thomas: Bye Miss Kachia, I will miss you.

Miss Kachia: Bye Thomas, I will miss you too.

Thomas: But don't worry, I'll come back to visit.

Me: Thomas, you will be back next week for camp.

Thomas: But don't worry, I'll be back next week for camp.

As I'm sure you can imagine, Miss Kachia just laughed as she walked back into the classroom.

Um...what?

2011-07-25T15:44:00.001-04:00

On the way home from a playdate this morning.

Me: Thomas, what do you think we should have for lunch today?

Thomas: Well, I smell something. I hope it's carrion. Yep, it's carrion waiting at home.

Me:. Um....I don't think I really want that in our house.

Thomas: That's too bad, meat is what I need.

Me: How about a sandwich instead?

We settled on a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Apparently Dinosaur Train was about carrion this morning. Lovely.

Trip to Forida!

2011-07-20T14:16:00.000-04:00

Thomas' marathon stomach bug had infected Mommy, and seriously threatened our only chance to get to Florida at all for the summer. We ended up having to make the very hard choice to brave the venture without Tara!( (Who got better while Thomas and I were away, and seemed to make the most of the time catching up with some friends - and, of course, work.)

We had a picnic lunch on the way down, at about Lake City. Thomas was GREAT in the car!

We were able to make good enough time to get to go see Grandaddy on the way into town. Then the next morning, Thomas found a race car trophy that was my dad's. I told him a little about it, but he wanted to bring to to Grandaddy so that he could explain it better. Grandaddy was so pleased that Thomas was interested in it, that he gave the trophy to him. A very sweet moment!!

Thomas did a great job of entertaining himself, as well as us, when he needed to.

And back a Grandmommy's house, he wasted no time settling right in!

The breakfast table. While we were there, they boy definitely made up for the stomach issues of the previous couple of weeks. We could barely get him filled up.

We went to the beach at Siesta (#7), where we practically had the beach to ourselves to start. While we were out jumping waves, we saw a little fish jump, then a minute or two later a Dolphin jumped entirely out of the water, then swam along the surface for about a minute (about 40 or 50 feet from us). After some sand building and a walk, we went back in for more wave jumping and saw what we now believe (based on the biologist that we later talked to at the aquarium - later) to have been a young marlin, swimming by under the water at about 20 or so feet from us. Since I wasn't exactly sure what it was at the time, we didn't jump a lot more waves right then.

We had lunch with Grandaddy a couple of days (2 whole PB&J sandwiches!!).

Then Grandmommy took us to her library; where they have an amazing fish tank!

It is a TUNNEL!!

We went to Mote Marine Aquarium and saw their very cool exhibits ...

took at least one silly picture ...

and saw them feed sharks! Afterward, we got to meet up with one of Bruce's hockey buddy's, who also happens to be a senior biologist and head of the shark research laboratory at the facility! He gave us a special, behind the scenes tour of his lab. Very impressive! Maybe more so to me than Thomas?

Then to Lila and Bruce's for dinner, and to meet Bruce's mom, Delores. Who had a great surprise for Thomas! Thanks Delores!!

Thomas helped clean out the pond ...

feed the fish ...

try out his inner (and usually quite well hidden) daredevil, both in front of the swing ...

and on it!

Then ICE CREAM!

Time to head back home to see Mommy! Thomas was very helpful in getting ready to hit the road.

And another "picnic" lunch on the way back. This time a good bit of the trip was made in the rain, including lunch. We stopped once for gas, Thomas didn't want to get out. Then this one stop for the bathroom and lunch, then back on the road. The boy was a SUPER TRAVELER! I'm sure that having Mommy at the end of the journey was a very strong motivator.

All in all, it was a really great trip! We missed having Tara with us, but had a pretty good few days of adventures.

A Very Big Day!

2011-07-18T22:06:00.000-04:00

Today was a big day of firsts! For his first time seeing a movie in a movie theater, Thomas went to see Cars 2. He was so excited all day - and was so impressed by the whole experience. We were all alone in the theater until the previews started. During the movie there were only 4 other people in the whole place. The movie was also pretty good.

Later in the same day, the first day of swim lessons. It was a little more active than our house usually is. There were 3 groups all happening in the same little corner of the pool, and 4 kids in Thomas' group, of varying experience energy levels. Thomas did really well!! There were a few tears when his face dropped into the water unexpectedly, but he stayed with it and hung in there to the end. He said he loved it, and is excited to go again tomorrow, so we're taking it as a huge success.

Tomorrow - just the Zoo, errands, some play at home, and day 2 of swim lessons!! Summer is Great!

Beginning week two of diarrhea!

2011-07-04T09:40:00.000-04:00

In Jail!

Eager for release!

Jail Break!

Stomach bug won't let us go to a public pool ... we'll make our own!

Mosquitoes are in full effect - but we won't be stopped!

Lovin' the set-up!!

Water table IN the pool!!

A Letter

2011-07-02T11:01:00.003-04:00

Dear Stomach Virus,

First, let me thank you for not being very serious. I appreciate that we are only dealing with one end and that we didn't end up in the ER like last time.

Now, a request.

Go away.

I do have my reasons. My boy is starving and not keeping all that food in his little body. He is going too many times a day. Oh yeah, and did I mention that the fact that he has to go at about 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning every single day is GETTING.VERY.OLD? No, I didn't mention it. Well let me now. I am tired. I am done with you. AND.....I NEED to get out of this house. We are no longer having fun. I have heard "Mommy" about 12 bajillion times in the last few days (yes, I counted).

So.

To summarize. Thanks and buh-bye!

Sincerely,

I need a babysitter and a night out

ps- Tell your friend respiratory virus that he/she can take the endless snot and coughing and shove it.

Whatcha Doin'?

2011-06-30T13:19:00.001-04:00

Me: "Hey Thomas, What are you doing?"

Thomas: "I'm not takin' it hard, I'm just takin' it easy."

Cautiously optimistic

2011-06-28T19:39:00.001-04:00

Feeling hopeful........he was fever free all day today! He also used every word that he has not used, plus all of mine, plus all of Tom's by 8:30 this morning. I had to tell him to be quiet so I could brush his teeth and stop getting toothpaste all over his face. Whew - sounds like he's feeling better.

Really

2011-06-26T14:11:00.002-04:00

It is 95 degrees everyday. We hide out in the A/C playing with trucks and trains.

Still, he manages to catch a virus.

Cough, cough, bathroom, bathroom. Fever. Cough, cough, cough.

Gifted I tell you - not many kids can pull off finding germs when we aren't around anyone and it's the middle of summer!