20 months old!

Everything is going well here, me with my new full-time job of being a stay-at-home mom (bye-bye, Northwest/Delta!) and Thomas in the business of toddlerhood. I think he's been growing a lot in the last month, judging by the way his face changes shape in these videos! And he now has two more teeth! A bottom canine/cuspid and that final bottom incisor have come out! And yet he's still chewing on his fingers and my dress hem and having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. On closer inspection, it looks like another canine or two are coming out!

The other day, we were at the store looking at kitty litter and suddenly he points excitedly to one of the boxes and says, "coo, coo!" He usually says this when he's watching Blue's Clues and they find a clue, marked out with one of Blue's (the dog's) paw prints. Sure enough, on one of the kitty litter boxes, there is a teeny-tiny blue paw print on the label. Wow! ... or does this mean that Thomas is watching too much TV?! Still, television does have its useful points, and it's fun to sing the songs because it always gets Thomas' attention when I need it. And because of Blue's Clues, he knows what mailboxes are: he always points out the mailboxes with a "maaai" and loves to check the mail. As soon as he sees a letter in the mailbox, he takes it in both hands and shakes it from side to side, the introduction to the "we just got a letter" song, which I always sing on cue.

Last week our Mommy/toddler playgroup met at the library to sit in a real fire truck and hear firefighters talk to kids about fire safety. One of the firefighters put on all of the protective gear one piece at a time and then crawled around letting the kids examine him so they would not be frightened of him and run away in case they were in a real fire, which seems to happen. Thomas was very interested in the whole thing, and even let a strange man put him into the cab of the fire truck (amazing!). He calls fire trucks "ding! ding!" because he has a toy fire truck that Mom and Dad saved from when I was very young that goes ding! ding! And he also makes siren noises sometimes, and mysteriously also whenever he sees fireplaces or candles. Is it possible he makes the connection??

Thomas is learning lots of half-words or sound effects, like "e" for egg or "haaaa" for rice (the sound of blowing on hot rice to cool it down). He is starting to recognize letters and numbers and points at them in books, license plates and signs. The next thing for Thomas is a potty... we're thinking of getting the one that plays music (technology these days!).

The new baby is starting to kick and roll around my tummy, especially when I'm trying to sleep. This leads to some weird dreams. I'm just over halfway, so just over the 4 1/2 month mark! Morning sickness is all gone, and I feel great. Thomas still has plenty of room on my lap, too!