11 1/2 months old

This has been a nice week with Matthew and Thomas. We have been around town doing errands and enjoying time at Borders, and I voted (early). It only took 35 minutes and I can say that I voted in the 2008 elections! We will see later today how the other Floridians vote this time. Hope the elections goes better than 2004! How can it not (knock on wood frantically)?

The weather has been beautiful and our stroller rides in the morning are lovely. The weather has been hovering around 65, but this morning it dipped down to 50! I think Mom and Dad are bringing the weather down with them! One of the ducks on the lake has a brood of nine ducklings, and they are so fuzzy and cute! They huddle up to their mother and she steps protectively between them and us when we get too close. Thomas takes to shouting, "Duh! Duh!" when we get in the vicinity, which is very exciting! He also says "Duh!" when he's near his rubber duckies or there's a picture of a duck in a book we're reading, so I like to say, "yes, Thomas, duck!" and point it out, just to be sure he's getting the right idea. This morning he gave me a huge grin when I did that and kept patting the book and saying, "Duh! Duh! Duh!" as if he really got it for the first time. We will see if he does, because a few days ago he pointed straight at Chloe and said "Duh!"

Here is a picture of Thomas very absorbed in pushing buttons on the flash for Matthew's camera. Matthew said, "I really wanted fill flash for that shot but ... d'oh!" (He lightened it up in Photoshop.) He's still so excited by buttons. Thomas, not Matthew, although sometimes, judging by the sheer numbers of remote controls we own, I wonder .... ha ha! I've covered up power buttons for the TV, computer and backup power for the DVR so that prevents a lot of hassle. He did find a new, fun button, though. He discovered that by pushing my belly button it makes me giggle. Thomas really likes it! He'll sit and push my belly button (or around my belly button) for minutes on end.

Thomas is gaining in coordination these days. He lets go while standing a little bit more often these days, can sit down without holding onto things, and has fun pushing around the ottoman while standing up. Yesterday he even took a staggering step without support on his way to something. And now when he plays with Old MacDonald's tractor, he has enough coordination to place Old MacDonald into a spot on the tractor so that he triggers the noises. Matthew says he seems to like "Uh-oh, I can't drive!" the best.

This week has been a trying one for Thomas. He is not sleeping well and seems to be in a lot of teething pain. He is biting much less, but when he does it is with such force that it leaves welts! There are also little tooth marks running along one whole top rail of his crib, poor guy. He is also starting to shriek loudly. If you are holding him during a shriek, your ears ring and hearing dims! At our safety training sessions at work they call it "temporary threshhold shift" and they caution that too many of these can lead to permanent hearing loss! I hope that he outgrows this quickly! I guess the only thing to do now is ignore him when he makes the noise and reward him when he's quiet. It really sets the hair on edge, though.

Well, Mom and Dad have made it to Gainesville and are now visiting Utaka and Shauna. It sounds like they are having a wonderful time, decorating the place for a Halloween party and going out to eat. Later today they will drive down to Orlando! Can't wait!