14 1/2 months old

Matthew's been home for a week now, and he's adapted very quickly to Thomas' new skills. When he left on his last trip, Thomas wasn't walking yet! And when he came back, Thomas was a pretty adept walker. Matthew says he became used to the idea of Thomas walking from our many internet video chats, where Mom, Dad and I would show off Thomas' new walking skills by calling him and getting him to walk from one grandparent to another. The other day, we all went to Sweet Tomatoes for Sunday brunch, and Mom took a restless Thomas for a walk around the restaurant, and 15 minutes later when they came back, Mom said that Thomas spent the whole time walking solo. How quickly he became adept at walking! This is a picture of another restaurant we visited this week, Sushi Tomi. Thomas liked the fish eggs.


This week, Thomas' top two canines have erupted, one right after another! So now we know what all that ear-shattering shrieking was about this week. Teething pain! And now he has six teeth on top and two on the bottom! Does that seem a little lopsided? Oh well, he seems to be coping. He's even waking up and going to bed really easily, considering! After I put him down in his crib, I sometimes hear the occasional "da" but he usually falls asleep without uttering another sound. And he used to cry bitterly when he woke up, but these days he seems to be in a better frame of mind, with a lot more cooing, cheery talking and pointing at objects.




Thomas is becoming ever more initiating and interactive. He requests books at bedtime now by pulling them off the shelf and giving them to me. When I'm done, he'll close the book and then open it to the first page again so that he can hear it again. Books that are showing up a lot recently: "Stranger in the Woods," "Where the Wild Things Are," "Santa Duck," and recently, "Kapai's New Mates." He'll also try to climb up the side of his playpen to get inside (when there's a cool toy still in it, like the rice cooker). And sometimes he'll walk into the room and straight into my (or Matthew's, or Mom's or Dad's) legs and bury his face into them and cuddle us and give a happy hum. Out of nowhere -- for no reason I can fathom! What a lovely warm feeling to get a hug from my little boy! And yesterday Matthew and I made a "Thomas sandwich" for the first time: we squished him between us with cuddles and kisses. When we came up for air, he signed "more" with a big grin on his face! And then again after that! He also loves to show affection to Chloe by patting her and pulling her tail. He's a lot more gentle now, actually patting most of the time instead of grabbing handfuls of fur, but she has started defending herself a little so she's not as easy a target as she once was. And he's starting to play with rubber balls recently: rolling, carrying, bouncing, chasing. And while he's dressing, we play a game that he loves: when I put on his shirt, I'll say, "Where's your hand?" and he'll look into his sleeve and give such a grin when he sees his hand! So cute!

By the way, Thomas is not in a real airplane, so don't worry. None of the switches are hooked up to anything. At Matthew's ground ops' office, there's a 727 cockpit parked in the lobby area for show. It's fun to go there and take photos ... like the one below. Last time we took a photo there, Jocelyn was there, along with a 1 1/2-month old Thomas. A year ago! How time flies!