so many changes

he doesn't have a safety blanket or "lovey" item yet, but one thing he has always liked to do is put his hand up our shirt sleeves while drinking milk. once in awhile, he will sit in our laps (infant nursing style) and drink, but he mostly likes to sit on his own when he drinks. however, it we're not sitting next to him, he will follow one of us around, motioning to his arm, until he can drag us over to his chosen sitting spot for the evening. this is to ensure a shirt sleeve to fiddle with. sometimes he sticks his whole hand in and reaches around for some unknown sweet spot, sometimes he likes to just feel the edge of the cloth b/w his thumb and fingers, and other times, he just sticks his hand in and lets it sit there. it is actually one of our favorite things to watch him do because he is growing up so fast, and when he does this, it feels like he is still a baby.

as you with kids know, toddlers change really fast. it seems as though new traits and behaviors pop up almost every day. it is hard to remember every single one, but the most significant one that has surfaced in the last month is that he clearly understands and has remorse when he upsets us now. before, he would just look at us with this puzzled look on his face, or sometimes bark back at me what i just said, "Thomas look what you did!!" in Thomas speak "Aaaaa AAAA AAAAAA!!!" and look with curious anticipation to see what i would do next. very irritating but very funny in the back of your head too. now when i act upset with him, he clearly shows a change in demeanor as well as a "prolonged period of droopy, puppy-eyed expression", followed by no movement. ie. this afternoon, i got irritated with him b/c he would not let me finish clipping his nails. so i smacked his rear as he squirmed away for the 10th time, and said "fine. ok FINE." he lay very still and watched me walk away. when i passed the den a minute later, he was still laying there; just his eyes followed me as i walked by. i came back a full 5 minutes later, and he was sitting very still in his froggy/buddha position, hands in his lap, eyes terribly downcast, wounded look on his face. the pic below is the closest i have captured to it - but this afternoon, the corners of his mouth were much more pouty, and his chin was more downward, allowing him to capitalize on the puppy-dog droopy eye look. i'm not sure if it was my imagination or not, but his eyes looked a little red too, like he was almost about to cry.


so i cupped his little face in my hands, and said that i shouldn't have gotten mad at such a small thing, but that sometimes, mommy needs him to sit still, even when he doesn't want to. when i reach down further to hug him, he reach up and got into my arms. we just hugged for a few moments, and all was forgiven.
oh and as eric and timothy's dad, Andy, says, snuggling in bed with them at this age is the best thing ever. thomas actually wants to snuggle now and doesn't try to wiggle away. he fits so nicely under my chin, right up against my chest. he lays on his side, but every moment or two, he looks up into my eyes, touches some part of my face, then turns to his side again. sometimes we both giggle from the eye contact. i love how his head smells, even when he is a little sweaty :)

baby showers and new booties

yesterday we went to Cheyene and Alex's baby shower. they are due around thanksgiving and Cheyene looks beautifully, glowingly expectant! they had lots of yummy food and thomas had lots of fun playing in the ice chest with his friend sara. look at them gettin busy in there! i think she just nudged him out with her head :)


william got this CUTE pic as they walked with sara's dad down the hallway. (sorry vijay - i had to cut you out of the picture when i cropped it and saw how cute it was with just the 2 of them! ha ha :)



--------------winter clothes--------------------
i got to make a trip up to H&M clothing store in walnut creek on Friday. picked up some clothes for me as well as some of the coolest booties for thomas :). just in time for cold weather!

that is dad's doing by the way: sweatshirt, onesie, booties, no pants. william comes up with some funny combinations of winter layering for thomas. below - hey look at my cool new slippers! and yes, he still drinks his milk out of a bottle. i'll probably let that go until the end of the year and then start figuring out a way to wean him off the bottle.



--------------bad mommy!!--------------------

early last week, it was dinner time and i hadn't put anything together for thomas yet. he was hungry and opened the cabinet and starting pointed to the cereal boxes. he got a little whiny and cried a little. but i told him to please wait and that dinner was coming soon. he walked away and starting looking at his toys.
i was zoning out as i cooked and realized suddenly that thomas was awfully quiet. i turned around and didn't see him anywhere in the room. i walked up to the island and peered over. thomas was on the ground behind the island. it was sooooo SOOO sad - he was sitting in this little froggy position, feet together, munching on some stale cereal he had found. i felt like such a bad mommy for starving him! heartbreaking! i had left the camera in the kitchen and managed to catch the pure pathetic-ness of his posture and situation... look at the dejected bent in his neck. like he realizes that he's getting to the last one.


it was so sad for me to see this little creature sitting so quietly and intently eating the few little o's he had found. actually, sad doesn't quite describe what i was feeling. but it was this funny aching feeling in my heart. i went over, hugged him, and told him i was sorry for making him wait. as he reached up and hugged me back, it almost felt like he was saying "it's ok mommy." silly, i know...

first rain

today was thomas' first real experience in the rain. we got fully suited up, raincoat and boots, and we went to the library... in the pouring rain. he loved it as you can see :)

post secret

postsecret.blogspot.com

this guy handed out blank postcards, as an book/blog/art concept. he had instructions which asked to mail him secrets (anything that you haven't told anyone yet) and keep it anonymous. he just published a 3rd book of the best of. he also publishes the best weekly in his blog. it is completely tantalizing and got me totally hooked. some of them are just funny, others are so touching, i almost get teary.


here is a quip from a book signing he is doing in oakland on the 17th:
Frank Warren, author of "Postsecret", "My Secret", and "The Secret Lives of Men and Women", comes to Diesel. Postsecret.com started out as Frank Warren's temporary community art project. "Confessors" send their secrets to his home on postcards they decorate themselves. Mr. Warren reads every one and picks 10 to 20 to post on his blog every Sunday. "A Lifetime of Secrets" is his third book collecting and celebrating these mini pieces of art.

man where does the time go

i can't believe it has been over 1/2 a month since i posted. bad me. so much stuff has been going on too. thomas is growing up so fast it is crazy. they really do grow up right in front of you. it is no wonder that our parents know us so well. they get to see it all as it happens, development from the very get go. i think sept was our most picture poor month since thomas was born. we took only 50 pics.... not even 2 whole rolls of 36 exp! pretty puny in digital terms. and don't even talk to me about finding time to stay up to date with email. i have given up and now take email breaks on monday and saturday. can't keep up with it, so i just let it go! :)

here's a cute pic of thomas smiling with william's mom. thomas is really understanding the concept of picture taking now. he pretends that he is taking pictures of us (we gave him an old first gen digital camera) and loves when we play along and pose for him.



-------------getting sick----------------

toddlers are pretty gross when they are sick. sometimes it feels like you just keeping wiping and wiping and somehow, from somewhere deep within their teeny nasal cavities, long snot strings keep emerging. sometimes, i look in there, and it is just filled with gooey snot, even though i just wiped it! and when toddlers get sick, it usually isn't just for 2-3 days. usually, it takes a week to 2 weeks for all symptoms to clear. we have been lucky so far though - he has gotten 2 colds this season and they only gave him really snotty noses. no sore throat or hacking cough. the last time he got sick was back in Feb and it was pretty bad. so we are going to keep praying that he just gets these minor colds and not really bad ones with fevers and the whole 9 yards.

oh wait, i know i mentioned he likes climbing a couple months back. still does, and he likes anything that can get him higher. he loves carrying the little step stool around to see what it can get him access too. caught him on the coffee table - crazy boy. he definitely understands height is advantageous.

---------------eating--------------------

he has been pretty picky overall about eating, but he gets enough food in him to poop consistently 1-2 every day. i figure that is enough. his favorite snack is a smoothie - 1/4 cup milk, a 1/2 banana, 4 oz yobaby yogurt, and a couple pieces of frozen fruit. blend all together and instant healthy meal! very slurpable.


--------------personality----------------
on Monday, thomas threw a plate down on the table with a loud klunk. william admonished thomas very sternly, only to have thomas (who was standing on a chair next to him) smack both hands on the dinning table, stare right into william's eyes and grunt with an exclamation point "huh HUH!" we both agreed later that he had a little smirk on his mouth too. COMPLETE defiance! but when william turned to me to back up a time-out, i couldn't hold my composure and starting laughing, deep in my belly. i just couldn't believe what i was watching our son do to my husband. it was hilarious!

our family foot portrait. next time, we'll try to get scsi in there with us :)

--------fun on the computer-------------
thomas' auntie jenny from LA visited this weekend and she brought with her an Apple that had a fun little camera on it. thomas caught on instantly that he didn't look right had had loads of fun snapping pictures of himself. her macintosh has a built-in camera with all these kooky effects. here's what happens when you have a 1.5 year old and a free hand on the computer...