22 months!

Yesterday Thomas turned 22 months old. It's hard to believe he is only two months away from being two. What happened to my baby boy?!? And by the way, his first haircut is now scheduled for Tuesday morning. Yes, there will be a camera. :)



Every day I enjoy him so much and I think I can't enjoy him more... And then I do. It is such a joy and a treat to watch him learn and grow. He is learning so much, all the time. I could try to list his words, but the list would be too long. Two of my favorite words/phrases are "Panzee" (chimpanzee) and "Go Dogs Go!" (which he says emphatically and more as one word and it's entirely cute).

As I mentioned the other day, I recently measured him and he was 35" long. I let him step on the scale at my doctor's office a few weeks ago and it said he was 28 lbs (though it's digital and not always accurate...I can't remember if it weighs high or low...I think low.).

He is still a pretty good napper. If he gets down too late, it can take him a while to get to sleep (and then he's all grumpy because his nap wasn't long enough). But if I can get him down in the magic window of 1:15-1:45, he will sleep until we wake him at 4:15. As for bedtime, we put him down around 8:00 and it usually takes him a little while to get himself to sleep (but he is content). He is still in his crib. In the morning he wakes around 7-7:30 (give or take 30 minutes), but likes to hang out there for 15-30 minutes doing his own little thing. Since I like to have some time to wake in the morning, I completely understand.

Thomas loves cars and pretty much all types of vehicles. He is always paying attention to every car, bus, truck and anything else on the road when we are in the car. He makes sure he points out all the buses, dump trucks (which sounds more like "duck truck"), taxi cabs (he says "tab") and every single car that is the same make and model as his dad's car, no matter the color. If he sees such a car he happily exclaims, "DADDY!!!"

People are frequently asking me if Thomas understands he is going to be a big brother. He will point to my belly if I ask him where Mommy's baby is, but that's about all I think he "gets." He is so sweet about it though. I always tell him he has to be gentle to my belly and be nice to the baby. So now he will come up and softly put his hands on my belly and say "Nice." And then he will frequently lay his head on my belly and say the same, or "baby." I know it will be a big adjustment for him, but I look forward to the day when he and his little brother or sister can be buddies.

He thinks it's funny to run from the camera and say "Noooooooo!" when I ask him to smile for a picture. Today I finally got him to sit still for a second by showing him the lights on the camera and telling him I'd let him touch the light (the red light for the redeye reduction that comes on when you start to take a picture) if he sat on the chair. It worked for a few pictures...so that's all I've got. But they are cute nonetheless....well, at least in my completely unbiased opinion.







Yes, the hair is a bit of a mop at this point...


And yeah, I was trying so hard to get the picture, I didn't even realize he was pulling on the pointed end of the stickpin when he took the sign down. Oops. Luckily, no one was hurt. :)


Most of the time, I can only take a picture of this:


And then I give up and just take pictures wherever I can get them...


Too bad the flash didn't go off here...


I haven't taken any nap pictures of him lately, but today I couldn't resist. He just looked so comfortable, cute and asleep. Of course I couldn't use the flash and it was very cloudy outside, so it's a bit dark. Oh, and he wears pajama pants or shorts while napping and I don't worry if they match (so that explains the curious outfit).


Thomas is such a lovable and happy child. He brings joy I never thought possible into my life and I am grateful for every second I spend with him (even if he is waking me at 5:30 am because he can't find his paci). He is my heart.

Various recent pictures of "the boy"

Thomas is 22 months old today! I haven't taken the pictures yet, but hopefully will do that tomorrow along with a proper monthly update. Until then I thought I'd share a few recent pictures (a few were on the Valentine last week).

Thomas loves to "drive." It matters not to him that the car is not moving (or even on, for that matter), he just loves to pretend. It's sometimes a dangerous can of worms to open to let him get in the driver's seat as it can be very difficult to get him to leave! Last weekend he got to "drive" with his dad (and in his dad's AF hat):


On Monday Thomas and I declared it an Official Be Lazy Day in our house. It was raining ALL morning, so we were stuck inside. We stayed in our pajamas until 11:30, played with Play-Doh, created some beautiful drawings and entertained ourselves as best as we could.




Tomorrow I must call and see if I can schedule that long-discussed haircut for this weekend!

A couple of weekends ago Thomas had two birthday parties to attend. One of them had a Thomas the Train theme and our little Thomas thoroughly enjoyed his little spins on Thomas:


We attempted to create Valentine's masterpieces on Valentine's Day...but I waited until too close to naptime and it ended up as an incomplete project when the little prince got fussy. Oh well.


In other news, Thomas got into our first choice preschool for the fall. It seems silly to say he "got into" a 2-year old school program, but it was a really big deal (to us). It's a great school, and therefore it has a long list of kids (or parents) who want to get in. It takes a little politics...a little begging...and a few good words on your behalf to make it more likely, and luckily it all worked out. He will only be going Tuesday/Thursday mornings and will start at the end of August. He probably will also attend some of the school's summer camp offerings over the summer. We are really excited about it and I think Thomas is really going to love school.

On another note, this has been an interesting week. Trey is out of town and had he been here, I would have had to make a middle-of-the-night visit to the hospital in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. This baby has decided he/she has been quiet and cooperative for far too long and it's time to make it interesting. After nearly two hours of contractions two minutes apart, I finally called my doctor and she wanted me to go to the hospital. Since it wasn't going to be simple to get away, I was allowed to stay home and given advice on how to help matters. It helped and my reprieve was granted. After an hour, however, they came back, though not as bad. After a 6 am call to the doc I agreed to go to her office later that morning. Everything checked out fine and the baby and I are doing just fine. Not sure why the baby decided I needed to wake up at 2 am that day (and not go back to sleep at all), but hopefully it was a one-time thing. So please keep your fingers crossed that Baby will return to being cooperative and boring.

And last, but certainly not least, Thomas and I would love to wish his California aunt (Aunt S) a very happy birthday today!!! We hope your husband and daughter gave you the royal treatment you deserve. :)

Southeastern Wildlife Exposition

As a sidenote, I measured Thomas's length this morning and he is now 35" long! I can't believe how much he has grown. It happens too fast.

This morning Thomas and I (along with my friend C and her little boy) set off in search of free events with the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition. I am quite frugal when I'm talking about two hours to spend. We ended up at Marion Square downtown and had a great time.

Thomas usually won't stay long in jump castles, but they had just set up one for the little, little kids and he had a ball!






We did do some wildlife-related things while there. We caught the tail end of the retriever demonstration when we arrived and Thomas thought that was pretty neat. Then we ventured into the petting zoo where Thomas saw a variety of animals including goats, a llama, baboons, a porcupine, some type of African steer/cow, a zebra and other animals. This is a funny face he's making next to the steer:


We had a little picnic on the ground while the bird demonstration was going on, so that was fun. The poor guy leading the exhibit was sweating pretty heavily when his bird wouldn't return when called. Finally after about ten minutes or so he did return. Thomas and J weren't too worried. They were too busy making a seat for themselves in the temporary landscaping:


And then we decided to splurge on a $5 pony ride before we called it a day. Thomas enjoyed that quite a bit. I was worried at first because after answering "yes" to "Do you want to ride a pony?" for about five minutes straight, after I gave the man the money and started to head in, he gripped my neck and said "NO!" But he quickly changed his mind. Sorry the pic is a little dark, but it's all I've got...

(No I haven't been eating too much. I am nearly 28 weeks pregnant, remember!)

It was a fun day. I always love it when we are able to get out and enjoy a local event or anything outdoors. It's one of the great things about being a full-time mom!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Fort Sumter National Monument

On January 31, the last day to use the Be a Tourist passes, Thomas and I set sail aboard the Spirit of Charleston to visit Fort Sumter. We were joined by Thomas's friend C and his mom and a good time (albeit a bit chilly!) was had by all. It was a breezy day in general, and a bit nippy by Charleston standards, but to be out on a small island in the middle of the harbor, the wind was amplified by about 20! Still, it was fun and I'm glad we made the trip.

On the boat ride out there:


A feeble attempt at a self-portrait since S & C were upstairs at this moment:

Do we have the same eyes? :-)

Thomas did fine on the boat and before we knew it we were there (20-30 minutes after departure):


Thomas & C decided they didn't need to hear the historical presentation given by the park ranger. Instead they much preferred to show their expertise manning the canons.


And there are many, many canons to man:




We climbed up a rather tall flight of stairs and once we reached the top Thomas celebrated in a victory run:


It was very, very windy:


Not sure what he is doing here other than making a really goofy face:



You can see our boat off to the right, and the Cooper River Bridge in the background. The city of Charleston, therefore, is to the left in the background.

We sought a bit of warmth and shelter in the little museum, but Thomas didn't really want to look at any exhibits. We mostly hung out in the front entranceway.



He does not want to pose for pictures, at all!

We finally decided to venture back outside.


I managed to get him to sit still for a second:


More play with the canons...


And then since we couldn't find a warm place to picnic at the Fort, we headed back to the boat:


Not the best picture, but I'll share it anyhow...


The boys had a good time together. Thomas has never really met anyone he doesn't like!


A view back to the city as we made our way out to the boat:


There were about 4-5 tables downstairs on the boat (where it was heated) and luckily we got onboard just in time to snag the last table! It made for a perfect little picnic. We enjoyed the pretty views from a warm place as we enjoyed our lunch heading back.


Thanks so much to Trey for the Be a Tourist passes this year. I think we definitely got great use of them, and maybe next year we can do it again and explore even more of the sites!

And yes, I promised this post by Sunday...sorry it took me until Tuesday!

The animals at Magnolia Planation

Nearly two weeks ago we used our Be a Tourist passes to visit Magnolia Plantation with Thomas's friend J and his mom. We pretty much only visited the petting zoo there, but spent plenty of time hanging out with the animals. Thomas and J seemed to have a great time. You walk into an enclosed area and hang out with sheep, deer, goats, chickens, peacocks and other animals that are in cages.



The deer are really brave and got really close...


Thomas enjoyed "pat-pat"-ing them all!



In that picture he was trying to imitate the sounds the chickens were making. He liked imitating all of the animals...or at least giving it a good try!



He liked these little goats at first, but then decided he was quite scared by them. Every time one came his way, he'd run to me. But at first he was willing to give them a little "pat-pat."


Thomas & J took a little break on a bench (that later the goat showed us was his to stand upon):




Too bad this picture is blurry. Sometimes when I tell him to smile he laughingly says "NO!" and then runs to me for a hug. This was one of those times. I caught him at the start of his attempted getaway:


I almost forgot I have this little video from our visit. Thomas was happily watching the goat drink water and commenting on its every move when a deer stepped in to give him a little kiss. Thomas didn't quite share my amusement.


Tomorrow I plan to finally upload and share the pictures from our trip two Thursdays ago to Fort Sumter! Check back soon!