31 months old!

Apparently if I keep waiting around until I have pictures of Thomas, I'm never going to post his monthly update. I'm only five days late at this point. There's not a ton to update this month, but I'll take a moment to record a few thoughts.

Thomas is really becoming so much of a little boy and not so much of a toddler anymore. He can talk pretty well when he wants to and some of the things he says really make me laugh. Some of his current favorite phrases are:

"I've seen that before" or "I've never seen that before."
"I'm 'tendin'' to {insert something he is "pretending" to do here}..." For example, we asked him to try his broccoli the other night. He said, "I'm tendin' to eat it....Yummmmmmmy! It's delicious!" When he finally did try just a tiny bite, I asked him if he liked it and he said, "No, I didn't." Oh well. At least he tried.
"I'm sorry, Mommy, it was an accident." (this is said even if he just deliberately poured his drink all over the floor! :)
"I like {insert a number of things here, like peas/crackers/school/etc}. {PAUSE} I do not like {insert whatever he just said he liked.}" I'm not sure what this is all about, but he does it all the time! Sometimes it's with things I know he likes. Who knows.
"Why?" He is really getting into the typical-2-year old stage of asking "Why?" for everything! It's so much fun! (Can you read the sarcasm there?)
Edited to add:
"What's your name?" He asks everyone we see this! Sometimes it's funny, sometimes a bit embarrassing!

Yesterday I took him to Target and let him peruse the toy aisles to gauge what things he might want for Christmas. He was contained in the shopping cart, so he was dependent on me to pick things up for him and let him hold them. He asked to hold a bazillion things, but then after quickly examining it, he'd say, "Let's find something else." Who knew a child could be so picky about toys! Of course when he finds something he says he wants, smart me says, "You'll have to ask your Nana, Umpa, Nannie or Papa for that!" ;-)

We try not to let him watch too much television (I try for not more than an hour a day), but there are times when I have to (somewhat shamefully, but then again we just "survive" around here sometimes!) use it as a babysitter. Well, pretty much only when I have to feed Parker right before a naptime or bedtime and I need Thomas not to come in and wake him up. He loves Calliou best right now, and Calliou seems to have replaced Bob the Builder (which is something I could not have imagined before!). :) He also sometimes likes Thomas & Friends (the train/tank engine), Zoombafoo (or something like that!), and Barney. We talk of getting rid of our digital cable, but I'm not sure what I'd do without the Sprout channel (PBS for toddlers/preschoolers).

He also still loves books. We've been going to the library occasionally and picking out books that are a bit longer and wordier than his beginner books and he loves them. It always amazes me how much he can memorize with all these books! He can open up a book that we read regularly and can go from page to page "reading" the story. Children truly are little sponges!

He is a delightful child. Thomas is good with "please" and "thank you," but we are still working on his "ma'ams" and "sirs." But he generally is a very well-behaved child. Sure, when he is tired or in a mood, he is a horrible listener, but usually a little bribery snaps him out of it. :) It's amazing what the promise of watching Calliou or an oatmeal cookie can do. I never thought I'd be "that parent" that pulls out bribery all the time, but we do what we must to survive around here. :) And honestly, it's not the norm.

School is going well. In the beginning he told me all about playing trucks with the other boys in class, but lately when I ask him who his friends are in school he gives me the name of two to three of the little girls. He doesn't always talk a whole lot about school, but he does say he has lots of fun. And we have a beautiful stack of artwork (that I need to figure out what to do with!). Sometimes he still cries when I drop him off, but this morning he found one of his friends and then joyfully told me, "Bye Mommy!" I'll be leaving shortly to join his class for their Thanksgiving party and that is fun to see him interacting with the other children.

Thomas still naps most days from 2-4:15 (sometimes he goes down earlier when he is obviously tired). On a few special occasions he has skipped a nap altogether and then he just goes to bed earlier and quickly. He goes to bed most nights around 7:45-8:00 and sleeps until about 7 am.

He is stll a picky eater. We've been trying to slowly introduce dairy into his diet, as he seems to do okay with it in small quantities, but he's not really fond of the taste just yet. We've been mixing his soymilk with whole milk, but he will thumb his nose up at it completely if we put too much of "daddy's milk" in there. He's probably the only kid in the world who doesn't like macaroni and cheese! I don't force food on him, but do try to encourage him to take at least one bite of everything on his plate.

I'm sure there are other things I will think of later to note, but if I don't post this soon, I'm afraid too much time will pass. I'll have to come back with some pictures later!

Edited to add:
His latest new thing is something his Daddy taught him. He can accurately tell you which hand is his left hand and which hand is his right. Of course his Daddy taught him this because his Mommy is still not always so sure without giving it at least a little bit of thought. :)