The joy of hand-me-downs

Poor second son...


Yes, that would be Parker. :) Luckily, he doesn't seem to mind...




I'm sure one day he'll give us a lot of grief for this! :)

First friends

I post frequently about Thomas and his friend Lily. She is 7.5 weeks older than him and they have been "friends" since he was about a month old. It has been such a delight watching them grow up together. We had lunch with Lily and her mom and new baby sister today, in fact! Thomas loves Lily (he calls her "Yeeyee.").

But now it's Parker's turn. Lily's baby sister was born six weeks after Parker. Now Parker can have a friend just like his big brother. Parker's new friend is Sarah Ellen. Last week we took dinner (Chick-Fil-A drive thru) to Taryn and the girls because their husband/daddy was out of town for the evening. Though Parker had actually "met" Sarah Ellen once before, this was the first time we could put them face to face and let them be properly introduced. :)



Usually these days I can get Parker to smile on command. He must have been pretty overwhelmed that night with his new friend because all he could manage was this odd deer-in-the-headlights look.


I thought this picture was funny because A) it shows how crazy-big Parker is (he's 11.5 weeks, Sarah Ellen is 6 weeks in the photo), and B) Sarah Ellen is already telling him who is boss!


And this of course compares with Thomas and Lily's first meeting when he was about 4 weeks old and she was 11 weeks.



I hope that Parker and Sarah Ellen can become as good of friends as their bigger siblings already are...and I look forward to watching all four of them grow up together!

Taryn has a few pictures on her blog here...

An Alexander kind of day

When I was younger I loved the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. Yesterday wasn't that bad, but it defintely had its moments. A few highlights are below, and will explain the reason for this picture:


I took Thomas to the aquarium to meet some friends. We rode down the elevator at one point and Thomas put his hand on the door as it was opening and I couldn't react fast enough (there was no time!) and his pinky and ring fingers got stuck in the door where it opened into the "pocket" part. I quickly jerked them out before more of his hand went in, but it was a very scary few seconds for me, Thomas and our friends. Poor Parker was wrapped to my chest and my quick movements scared him too! I think it scared him (Thomas) more than anything and for a moment he was trying to cry, but no sound was coming out. I remembered how a friend recently told me about her daughter reacting to something similarly traumatic to the point where she stopped breathing and lost consciousness so I started urging him to breathe and cry as he was turning. The whole ordeal was so scary, but in the end, he was fine.

Another highlight is the reason for the picture. As I was fixing dinner, Thomas asked if he could give Sully (our dog) a treat. I told him he could give her one but since we were having a pretty bad thunderstorm at the time, I told him Sully probably would be too scared to eat. I didn't pay more attention to this (he gives her treats all the time). A few minutes later he came to me and said proudly, "Thomas ate Sussy's treat, Mommy." I said, "Noooo, Thomas, no you didn't. That would be yucky!" He said, "Yes, Thomas ate Sussy's treat." I asked him again, and he very proudly and clearly said, "Yes. Yes, Mommy!" I asked him to show me and he took me to the couch and showed me a few crumbs that appeared to be milkbone crumbs laying on the couch where he had been sitting. I know it won't kill him, but it sure was nasty. And it's quite funny seeing how he's so picky about eating everything else in the world!

Another highlight was at bedtime. Parker was getting quite fussy but I was trying to read Thomas a few bedtime stories anyway. As I sat down next to Thomas with Parker held up on my shoulder he let out a hearty burp and spit up all down my arm, and some landed on Thomas's shirt, head and face. He looked up at me with the cutest and most dumbfounded look ever. It was so funny I couldn't help but laugh.

After I got Thomas and myself cleaned up, Parker proceeded to get pretty worked up and I apologized to Thomas that we'd have to skip the stories. I took him to his room and said his prayers, ending with The Lord's Prayer, as usual. By now I could hear Parker wailing in his room so I said the prayer as quickly as I could. I don't think I took a breath. When I said "Amen," Thomas said, "Quick prayers, Mommy." Yes, they were. :)

Well, I have a little munchkin crawling all over me at the moment, so I better go. By the way, he had a great day at school today. He didn't cry at all (aside from a bit of teary eyes when I dropped him off) and they didn't have to give him his paci. When I came to pick him up he was sitting on the floor with all the other kids listening intently to the teachers singing a song. I was so proud of my little boy!

The name of my friend is...

I have a lot of catching up to do in here, but I wanted to remember something Thomas said today that made me giggle.

He went back to school ("camp") today and will again on Wednesday and Friday mornings. He cried "a little bit" again, but did pretty well, from what they tell me.

After we got home I asked him about school and what he did. I asked him if he played with some new friends and he said, "Yes!" Then I asked him if he knew the names of any of his friends and he said:

"Uhhh, yes... BOY!"

Maybe you had to be there, but hopefully you'll get a giggle too. :)

27 months old!

Today Thomas is 27 months old. After all those months, he still never stops finding ways to make us smile.



The biggest development this past month has been his language. It almost seems like overnight he went from 3-4 word sentences to sentences of many, many words. It's so interesting to watch this develop. At first he'd get a little tongue-tied and jumble his words together if he tried saying too much too fast. I'd encourage him and tell him, "It's okay, slow down and you can do it." ANd he would. Now he often tries to say things quickly and repetitively, just to show off, I think. Like he will say, "Mommy & Daddy & Parker & Thomas go outside...Mommy & Daddy & Thomas & Parker...Parker & Thomas and Mommy and Daddy go outside!!!" And then he laughs at himself. :)

It's amazing to hear the things he has picked up when you don't realize he is paying attention. And he has a great memory. I'm always surprised at the things he can remember. We went in a children's shop the other day and it was one we had not visited since right after Christmas. He walked in the door and straight to the back right corner (where the kids' play area was). I was floored! Things like this seem to happen all the time. And now that he talks more, I guess he's just more able to tell me things he wants to say.

He can now correctly count from 1-10, all by himself. And he still knows almost all of the letters of the alphabet, though he's still working on actually saying his ABC's. He does know more of the song though (I'd say about half, maybe). He also loves "the Jesus song" and sometimes I hear him say while in his crib, "Daddy says Jesus loves ME!!!!" This would be because his Daddy taught him the song. So sweet. His other favorites are The Itsy-Bitsy Spider and Twinkle Twinkle. He throws out a word here and there, but he's not quite singing along just yet.

As all 2-year olds should be, he is a messer player. I had to take a picture of his table the other day because it's so typical of play/snack time with him.


Let's see.... He's very into dumping out any food I give him. Here he said he had to dump his raisins on the truck. Then he wiped them off with his Daddy's hairbrush (which he just HAD to bring downstairs earlier in the day). And, you might can tell that he also has decided that the windowsill would look much better with a splash of purple crayon. Thank goodness that Crayola has mastered the art of making things washable.

He is not a great eater, still, but we do the best we can. It sure would be a lot easier if he could eat dairy, but here we are, still unable to add it to his diet. We still try things from time to time and sometimes they give no reaction, but most of the time, he ends up with a nasty flareup of eczema and sometimes some stomach issues. It's frustrating, but what can you do? Trey let him have a small bite of ice cream sandwich the other day and I was so hopeful it was going to be okay, but within a few hours, his bright red rash was on the backs of his legs. I hope Parker can outgrow this sooner!

One thing that has helped us get Thomas to eat more lately (and I know it will wear out soon!), is the "Nannie cookie." Nannie made him some cookies a month or so ago. They are oatmeal raisin cookies with no dairy and made with applesauce instead of oil/butter. I think I've let my mom convince me they are health food or something, but then again, they are a great tool for bribery so I go with it. "Thomas want Nannie cookie," he'll say...and I'll say, "You have to eat your dinner first." And he'll eat! My mom has done a great job of keeping us stocked up on them, and sometimes Thomas & I mix up a batch to supplement. He likes that part just fine:


Nannie cookies are best when worn, he says:


He also loves the water and wants to play in whatever water he can find. The other day it started pouring down rain right after dinner. He asked me if he could go outside and play in the rain ("Thomas go outside play rain!") and since I didn't hear any thunder, I agreed. It was pouring, but he didn't care one bit!




I finally got him to come back to the porch and I dried him off in hopes of taking him inside, but he had other plans. You see, his Daddy started something with him a while back called "SUPERBABY!" After he gets dried off from his nightly bath, he likes to wear the towel on his head because it makes him "Superbaby!" Trey calls him "Supes!" and Thomas loves it. After his bath THomas will say excitedly, "Be Supes! Be Supes Daddy!" So anyway, after I dried him off all he wanted to do was "be supes" and run back in the rain...


Now for as much as Thomas is a pure delight, he also has shown us all about the terrible twos. He seems to be getting a little better, but he can defintely be defiant, usually when he is tired. He tests his boundaries and throws food and fits, but for the most part, he is a good little boy. If nothing else, I'm always thankful that when we are out and about he listens very well and never runs off from me in parking lots and such, even when I can't have my hands on him every second (he has learned to hold onto my pocket quite well!).

I can't believe another month has passed us by and sometimes I feel like if I sleep too long one day I will wake up and he'll be in kindergarten. I hope not. It is a sad thing that they do have to grow up, isn't it? It's moments like these that make me want to keep them this young and innocent forever!

Shhhhh....baby sleeping!

I probably shouldn't say a word. So I'll whisper. Parker has slept through the night for four of the past five nights (and the one night he made it until 4:30). He's 11 weeks old. Thomas didn't sleep through the night until he was 11 MONTHS old. I'm not kidding. However, the difference is something that might mean Parker will have a greater need for an orthodontist. You see, when he sleeps through the night, this is why:


The only bad thing is that I've had to change his sheets daily lately (as you can see, nasty as it is, in the picture above). His diapers can't seem to hold up to sleeping 10-11 hours straight. But I'll take a daily sheet change over waking up in the middle of the night any day!



Even me taking these pictures around 7 yesterday didn't stir him. And this morning, I'm going to have to go get him up in a moment because he quite obviously is in need of a diaper change. I hear him sucking hard on his finger right at this very moment. Let's hope this fabulous behavior continues!

First came school, then came quarantine

Thomas was supposed to have "school"/camp last week on MWF half days. I was anxious about it a bit since ever since his last time there last month every time we talk about school Thomas says, "Thomas cry school." And this would be because Thomas does, in fact, cry at school. In June he went two weeks in a row, just on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. The second week he pretty much cried the whole time he was there. They even asked me to leave his paci and children aren't supposed to have pacis there. Ugh.

So anyway, last Monday I took him back and as soon as we started getting out the car, the sadness started setting in. His bottom lip started quivering and he started saying, "Mommy come back?" over and over again. I tried to ease him into the room, but he was wise to me. The teacher had another crying child that day and I could tell she was a bit anxious about having two criers that day. But as they tell me to do, I told him goodbye and left. As I was going out the door Thomas started crying pretty hard. He was gagging himself a little bit, but I left. Well, I didn't even make it to the car before a teacher came out and said "Ma'am!?! He just threw up." Lovely. After assuring them that he was not sick, that he just gagged himself until he threw up, they were okay with him staying and they encouraged me to hang around for a bit longer. So I did. Eventually I left and when I came back at the appointed time they said he ended up having a pretty good day. Whew. He actually participated with the art project (more than he had been doing) and when I asked Thomas if he had fun at school he said, "Thomas cry school a little bit." Progress, no? :)

Unfortunately later that day I realized that what I thought were ant bites on the palms of his hands had multiplied (I had first noticed them the previous Thursday). After some Googling, I realized he must have picked up Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease when he went to the doctor for a vaccination the previous week (Monday nearly two weeks ago). I felt terrible that he had been at school while possibly contagious and I felt bad that we paid for the week and he wasn't able to return! He never ran a fever, that I noticed though, and from what everyone tells me, this must have been a very, very mild case. I tried to take a picture, but my jitterbug wouldn't stay still enough!




This doesn't look like the face of a sick boy, does it?


Those pictures were a week ago. I think the spots are finally clearing up and I hope we can be out of self-imposed quarantine this week! And next week he heads back to school for the last camp session before he starts for real on August 26.

Oh, and Parker, as you can see, thinks it is all a bit funny. I just hope he doesn't get it!