A day in the life of two brothers...: 28 months old!

Last week Thomas turned 28 months old! In his prednisone-induced hyperactive state it was especially hard to get him to sit still for a few pictures, but we managed to snag a few, like this one:

Most of them were something like this:

And then I gave up on trying to keep him in the chair and tried for closeups elsewhere in the room. I got lovely photos like this one:

At least he's happy (or looks it! -- he's looking at his Daddy):

So yes, he is 28 months old and it's so hard to believe our little boy is growing up so much. He talks SO MUCH now. There's really very little he's not saying (except L and V sounds; L comes out as W and V as a B). He says the funniest things sometimes and I notice he's picking up so much from the books we read all the time. For instance, he's started saying to me when I seem upset about something, "Mommy, what happened?" I realized the other night that that is a line ("What happened?") from one of the old Sweet Pickles books (a series I had as a child) I've been reading him. One day Parker spit up and he said, "Parker...Ohhhh (said with great sadness and despair). What happened, Parker? You spit up!" Sometimes he does try to talk a little too fast and I have to remind him to slow down because his words get all jumbled and he gets a bit flustered. But he is doing so well and I'm so proud of him.

He will sing along a little with his ABCs and "Jesus Loves Me," and gets so proud of himself when he gets it right. Now I'm working on improving his manners...getting him to say his "ma'am's" and "sirs" and to ask for things by saying "May I..." It's definitely a work in progress, but he's doing better than I would expect. Lately he has been very good about saying "Thank you Mommy" when I do something he asks. And he often will say, "That's great, Mommy!" when he approves of something I do.

He still gives me one great nap a day; generally from 1:30-4:15 (and I have to wake him most days). He goes to bed by 8, or rather he is in his crib by then. And yes, he's still in his crib. He's not trying to climb out and I, for one, enjoy having a space where he can be contained. And since he usually is only allowed to have his paci when in his crib, he will frequently ask to go get in his crib in the morning if we hang out here all day and he gets bored or tired. I imagine he'll probably be ready for the "big boy bed" sometime between now and the spring, but I'm in no rush!

His favorite things in life, aside from his Mommy, Daddy and brother, are all things with wheels and everything he can drive. He is such a boy, that's for sure. He hates shopping with Mommy and has about as much patience with it as his Daddy does. :) He loves Elmo, Bob the Builder and Thomas the train, but we try to keep him mostly reading about them and not watching them. It's a struggle though!

All in all, he is such a sweet, loving child. He plays well with others and shares well. He starts school this week and I hope and pray it will be a wonderful experience for him. I know it will be an adjustment (for me and for him!), but I know it also will help him grow and develop in so many ways. It's only two half days a week, so it's a good start for all of us. I can't believe how fast these 28 months have gone by, and I look forward to watching him grow over the next 28!

And just for fun, a year ago this was our little guy...