12 3/4 months old

Last week I wrote to tell you that Thomas' arm had gimped out again, but later, after I sent the update out, his arm healed itself! Today we finally had an appointment with a pediatric osteopath, and he said that it was probably nursemaid's elbow, and even showed me how to click it back into place so that I can try that next time before we do things like x-rays and visiting Centra Care! He was very reassuring and great with Thomas, who complained (loudly) about being examined. He really hates strangers touching him!

Matthew has taken off for Guadalajara again. This time his flights were delayed due to tornado warnings in Orlando, ground stop in Atlanta, and a mechanical! He finally made it to Guadalajara, arriving at the hotel at 2:30am!! We are sad to see him go after more than two weeks home, including a wonderful Thanksgiving with Utaka and Shauna, Mom and Dad, Matthew, Thomas and me. Matthew and Thomas visited the park often, taking his new truck, and had lots of shoulder rides. For Thanksgiving we had an amazing amount of food, including a New York cheesecake that was actually flown in from New York by a couple of our friends! Wow what a cheesecake!!!! Utaka and Shauna seemed happy to lounge around for a couple of days, and we all ate food and pie and cheesecake, went for a couple of walks, and watched part one of Lawrence of Arabia. A very low-key, relaxed, and lovely Thanksgiving.

Thomas is signing. The only difficulty is, the signs for "all done," "drink," "hi," and "bye-bye" all look the same, which can cause some confusion in the high chair. Sometimes he just points to what he wants: water, now food, water, more food, light, water .... sometimes I feel like the servant to the king! He is also signing "more," but it looks just like clapping hands. So he is either applauding Mom and me for bouncing balls and doing "this little piggy" or he wants more!

Thomas is very interested in dogs these days. When he hears the word dog, he will start barking short "arh, arh" noises. The other day we visited a friend's house (they have a boxer) and Thomas started barking as soon as we pulled up to the house! He has a good memory for where all the dogs in the neighborhood live and barks at them when we are near.

I’m ready for bed! It's almost freezing tonight, so time to pile on the blankets and kiss the tomato plants!