17 1/4 months old

Matthew's off again, flying between Mexico and Toledo.  Mom and Dad are finishing their trip with Shauna, driving from Gainesville to their city near San Francisco.  It sounds like they did a crazy amount of driving, with twelve hour days and was it four or five days of driving? and several adventures along the way.  It's so easy to forget how big the United States is!  They made it safely, and got to stay a couple of nights with Shauna's mother Kathy in Los Angeles, and they got to see her sister Aimee, too!  So today they're coming back to Florida by airplane.  It'll be great to see them again!  And Thomas will be so excited to see them again, too!

(Talking to Daddy on the "telephone")

 

Last week, before Matthew left, the Conway Mom's Club had an egg hunt for all the kids.  We went to one of the mom's houses, and Chipotle catered!  There were about 20 moms and 30 kids and Matthew, the sole dad.  So nice that he could make it!!  There was fun meal time, and before the egg hunt there was general playtime for all the kids.  Thomas was very interested in the sand box and the mini-piano (see blog for photo of the piano).  First the big kids had their egg hunt in the front yard, and then the littler kids had a hunt in the back yard, and then the under-twos were supposed to have one in the living room, but by the time the eggs were declared hidden, the bigger kids had found them and there were none left!  Just as well, because I think that the act of hiding eggs for under-twos might be a little too advanced.  

The day before the hunt, Thomas and I practiced picking up eggs off the floor and putting them in his basket.  He got the hang of it after a couple of sessions, but kept turning his basket upside-down after he collected a couple of eggs.  I think we would have needed a lot more practice to introduce the idea of looking for eggs that were hidden!  But, we all had fun, and a yummy lunch. 

 

These days, Thomas has been requesting "The Nickle Nackle Tree" by Lynley Dodd for bedtime stories.  Three times in a row, at naptime and bedtime.  For the past week.  For the Americans who haven't heard of it, see the link on the side panel.  It's such a fun, cute book, with bouncy rhythms and rhymes that roll off the tongue and worm their way into your brain.  Thank you, Lloyd and Anne!  Still going strong!  Also still a favorite with Thomas is the Hello Kitty Japanese Songbook that Mari-chan gave him.  We've just replaced the batteries because it's getting played so much, even in the month and a half that we've had it!  He can sometimes do some of the motions to "Ito Maki-Maki" and if you sing one of the songs, he knows which button to push that plays that song.  It keeps him occupied for quite some time, and is especially useful in the car when he's bored.  Now I don't have to sing to him to keep him entertained!  Thank you, Mari-chan!

 

One thing I've just noticed recently is that Thomas listens to me when I say, "Not in the mouth, please, Thomas."  He'll immediately put his hand down.  He might have been just testing, checking to see if I notice that he's about to put something grimy in his mouth, covered with dust or dirt, but who knows?  I'm just excited to see him listen, under

stand and obey.  What we're working on right now:  "Stop" as in, Stop because you are just about to run into the street.