23 1/2 months

"Sometimes my parents dress me funny. It's not my fault."

Things are really rolling on the house front. We close tomorrow, Friday, and move in on Saturday! So you can imagine the things that we are doing right now, like scouring Orlando for boxes, packing, finding a new TV, washer and dryer for the new house, not to mention continuing our usual activities, like playdates for Thomas, hypnobirthing lessons for me, and even some hanging out with friends. The whole week slipped by and I didn't even realize it!

Thomas has been having trouble falling asleep the past week for both naptime and bedtime. He'd be up, crying, until 9, 10:30, and last night he was even awake until midnight! It was a nightmare for all of us! He's been okay during the day, just looking sleepy with puffy, red eyes, but tonight, thankfully, it looks like he drifted off to sleep after only a minimum of crying and cuddles. I think it all caught up to him at last. Just in time for daylight savings! (Tonight we put him to bed at nine, one hour later than usual.)

Thomas can point to my tummy and say, "baby." I think his understanding is still pretty minimal because he sometimes points to his own tummy, or Matthew's tummy, and says "baby?" When I put Thomas to bed at night, he sits on my rapidly shrinking lap and leans against my tummy so I can read him some bedtime stories. My tummy has only just gotten big enough where it's starting to get pretty uncomfortable! I can't even hunch over enough to take the pressure off! We will have to find some other way of cuddling up for storytime. "Marsha Jr." is still growing on schedule, and she's getting heavy. I'm starting weekly visits to the doctor now, and he's going to check tomorrow whether she is head up or head down. Just think, I'm due in 4 weeks! And Thomas came early, so ...! I keep telling her that we will wait for Matthew to come back home before she comes out. I hope she listens to me.

23 1/4 months

Matthew came home. Thomas was very excited to see him. We went out to the airport, saw a bunch of my friends from work, went through security, and met him at the gate. Thomas was excited to see the airplane come into the gate, and when he saw Matthew get off the airplane, he ran over yelling, "Daddy! Daddy!" So cute!

23 months

Well, Matthew comes home tomorrow! He's been gone for two and a half weeks this time, a little longer than usual! We're going to the airport to meet him, and maybe see some of my former coworkers for chatting. I think Thomas is excited to see Daddy and airplanes because ever since we told him what we're doing tomorrow, he randomly signs his "airplane" sign, and sometimes says, "daddy?" He's just started calling Matthew "daddy" instead of "dada," and just a couple of days after we came back from Wisconsin, Thomas woke up one morning and started calling me "mommy" instead of "mama." What happened? I'm not really sure!

Thomas and I went to Firehouse Subs for dinner with the Mom's Club the other night. I had a yummy steak and cheese sub, and Thomas got a PB&J and a plastic fireman's hat! We also got to ride a really old painted-up fire truck around the parking lot. Everyone rode up top, so the kids were lifted up

into the back and the moms who had littler ones had to clamber up and then kneel, holding onto the railings and kids. A few of the other kids who were just Thomas' age or younger cried when they were handed off to the woman up top who was helping everyone up, but they were ok once their mommies made it up there. Based on past stranger-holding-Thomas experience, I thought for sure that Thomas would do the same, so I took care to repeat to Thomas a couple of times as we were waiting in line, "Look, Thomas, see how everyone gets lifted up and then the lady up there holds them? That's how we get up there. I'm going to give you to the lady, and I will be right behind you. And then we can ride in the fire truck!" Thomas stared at the truck and said, "ding ding?" which is his word for fire truck. So when our turn came, I lifted him up to the woman up top, and he was fine! He just stared off into the distance as I struggled up behind him. And then, same on the way down! I was so excited, and very proud of him! Did my coaching help? Was his excitement for "ding ding" greater than his dislike of being handled by strangers? Maybe both! He even signed for "more" after we got off the truck!

The big discovery this week was of rainbows on the floor of Mommy and Daddy's room. We have a prism in the window, so when sunlight directly hits it and the curtains are open, little dots of rainbow get scattered throughout the room. Thomas was very busy, excitedly pointing them all out to me, and looking at and naming the different colors in the rainbows, and trying to touch them, and trying out his new word "bow" (for rainbow). Then later that night, we read one of Katie's old books called "Is it Sunny Today?" and when we got to the picture of the rainbow, he laughed excitedly and said, "bow? bow? Mommy Daddy?" and pointed to our room. He does that now whenever we read that story and come to the page with the rainbow!

He's also developed quite an interest in my violin, and other musical instruments. His sign for "trumpet" involves crooning a few notes into his thumb, and "guitar" is a dramatic air strum. We can't pass by the music store when we go to pick up groceries without Thomas pulling on my hand to go in, and strumming all the guitars within reach. Same with "bubble" in the bath. He'll be surrounded by other toys, but he's just discovered how to make the soap dispenser work, so he'll spend most of his bathtime squirting foam out of the dispenser and ignoring his other toys. We had an unfortunate bubble incident the other day: I was blowing bubbles into a soapy washcloth for him again, and I gave it to him to try again. He was getting the hang of it, but then he inhaled at the wrong moment and he ended up inhaling a bunch of soapy water, I think. Yuck! Poor guy, eons of coughing and wailing and mucus and couldn't be consoled until we found Matthew online, thank goodness. I keep wondering if he'll remember these incidents, even subliminally, but I'll just have to keep writing them down so that at least I can remember them!

Bump good! Check-up on Tuesday! I've heard that the weather will get down to the seventies (mid-20's for the Kiwis) in a couple of days, so I'm thrilled that we can spend more time outside (like anytime after 10am) without becoming a limp sweaty mess! Having said that, it's nice to have a pool down the street! We won't have that when we move, unfortunately! House stuff still going on and on. The mortgage company are being annoying and just want document after document. I suppose they're being extra careful after the whole lending/bailout crisis.... Scheduled to close October 31st, so will keep everyone updated.

Video: Thomas pulling a bag at the airport

Scroll down the page a bit and then click on the link at the right-hand side of this page. It's a picture of Thomas from the back.

I love how Thomas clearly waves off my offer of help at one point. It's pretty grainy so you may not see him smile at the end, as if he's feeling like a big boy... so cute!

Video: Thomas picks up the hose

22 3/4 months

We've been home from Wisconsin for a good week now. Matthew left for Mexico/Toledo a couple of days after we got back, so it's just me and Thomas. The weather down here is back to hot and muggy and in the mid-90s. It's hard to believe we were just wearing long sleeves, long pants and even jackets up there! A few of the things we did in our Wisconsin life came back down to Florida with us. When we were up in Wisconsin, we gave Thomas his baths in the big bathtub which went pretty well, so when we came home, I started giving him baths in the big bathtub down here. There's lots of space for his toys and he seems to enjoy having enough space to lie on his tummy, though I do need to watch and make sure he's not drinking his bathwater while he's down there. It gets pretty soapy because he loves it when I copy Mom's trick of blowing millions of bubbles out of a soapy washcloth. He can say "bubble" pretty clearly now! Also, after eating raw beans out of their garden, Thomas has become more adventurous with raw foods. I have started buying a small box of produce weekly from a local, mostly organic food co-op because I miss the fresh tasty veggies from Mom and Dad's garden and their farmer's market, and Thomas readily eats the raw green peppers and cucumbers now. He's also developed an attachment to his red sneakers (from Katie) that he wore while we visited Mom and Dad. This morning it was hot and muggy, so I presented him with his blue sandals and said, "ok, Thomas, put on your shoes please." He looked around his feet, around the entryway, in the shoe rack, opened the door and looked in the hallway and said, "De? De? (Red? Red?)" I finally pulled his shoes out of the diaper bag and said, "Thomas, do you mean these shoes?" and a huge smile broke out over his face and he chuckled. So he's been wearing them for the past few days, even in this heat!

Thomas' favorite book for the past two weeks has been Kapai's New Mates by Uncle Anzac. It's three stories in verse about a (flightless) kiwi named Kapai having adventures in New Zealand. Many times I've read all three stories back to back before naptime, then again before bedtime, so I know them pretty well now. One day we heard a helicopter make a few passes above our house, and Thomas cupped his hand to his ear and looked at me questioningly. I said, "That's a helicopter, Thomas. Remember Kapai? 'A shiny helicopter came racing through the sky/"C'mon, Kapai!" shouted Doc. "It's time you learned to fly!" ' " I quoted. He gave me a big grin, then ran into his room, brought the book to me and pointed to the picture of the helicopter! Incidentally, once we were also looking at a picture of a kiwifruit in one of his picture dictionaries, and he pointed at the picture, then pointed at the Kapai book. "Yes, Thomas! They are both kiwis!" I was so proud! And here in the picture of Thomas sitting under the table, he has the book open in front of him and he's showing me where his "puku" (stomach) is. He can also wave "Kia ora" (hello/goodbye). We'll keep his kiwi roots strong, thanks to Lloyd and Anne and everyone else over there!

Incidentally, I have finally told Thomas that there is a baby growing in Mommy's tummy. He can say, "baby" and seems interested in all the babies I point out to him as we're out and about. I just had another check-up and now am on a bi-weekly schedule to see the doctor... or is that bi-monthly? Or is it "once a fortnight" for you Kiwis? The doctor says everything is fine, but I should keep an eye on this cough that I picked up. Fortunately it's going away and I feel much better so I won't need any antibiotics. Getting a bit more tired these days, and it is hard to keep cool! The restless legs are back at night, but I'm trying a new calcium-magnesium supplement so hopefully my legs will stay put while I sleep. I'm at 33 weeks now, so it's going to be between 5 and 7 more weeks until The Arrival! Hmm, that's not much time! Better get cracking on ... everything! This is probably my last two weeks of "alone-time with Thomas" before Matthew and then Mom and Dad come for the winter, so I had best make the most of it!

22 1/2 months -- Wisconsin visit!

Well, we just came back from five nights in Wisconsin! I actually bought a ticket since I don't get any benefits since I stopped working for Northwest. Good thing, too, because it was completely packed going up to Wisconsin! Matthew rode the jumpseat and somehow managed to sit next to me, which was fantastic so I didn't have to worry about Thomas crawling all over other people. As it was, there was a lot of crawling going on because even though the flight was scheduled right at his naptime, he couldn't fall asleep...even after we made it all the way to Wisconsin, a dinner stop at the Old Country Buffet, and the whole hour-long car ride to Mom and Dad's place on a full stomach! A full day of no nap. Amazing. He seemed to be relatively ok, though, besides an almost unhealthy obsession with wanting to be The One to pull Matthew's laptop case! I was told off in no uncertain terms that he was fine pulling it all by himself, thank you very much! See the video!

We were there for five nights, which is a long time for us. As it was, it went by so quickly! We got together with Dominic, Michelle and John a few times, and it was lots of fun to see how the two kids interacted. They're only three months apart, but so different in terms of where their development is. We marvelled at Dominic's amazing vocabulary--which included "Thomas," "Marsha," and even "Michiko!" That one is hard even for adults! We all went out to dinner a few times, and Dominic and Michelle came over once to brave the cold gusty weather to walk up the hill and see the miniature horses. The neighbors were so nice, they even let us borrow their golf cart so we could go out to the horses since we couldn't lure them to us, even with all the apples and carrots that we brought! I think the two boys had the most fun trying to "drive" the golf cart, even more than feeding the horses!

Mom and Dad had dug up some of Utaka's and my toys from when we were young, so Thomas had great fun playing outside with scooters, wagons, little wheelbarrows, and an enormous green Tonka cement mixer. He was also very interested in the garden. Dad picked him a little purple bean to eat, and every once in a while after that, Thomas would say, "bean? bean?" and go over to the bean patch, part the leaves looking for beans, pick one, and then eat it! He was also very busy bringing apples and zucchini to Mom from the garden. Good thing the weather was so nice the first couple of days, because it quickly got too cold to be outside for long (55 degrees on our last day! The horror!).

We revisited Fanny Hill for brunch, took a few photos and reminiced about our wedding seven years ago, and visited other Menomonie must-see sights like Legacy Chocolate, the farmer's market, Acoustic Café, and even the Creamery (which has changed hands and now has a café in addition to the restaurant and rooms!). Dad showed Thomas the corn field behind their house, and how the corn grows. As soon as Thomas saw the corn that Dad husked, he put it in his mouth and tried to bite it. I think it must have been quite a surprise to him as it was corn for cows and not for people!

Of course we took a gazillion photos, so I'll post a few more cute ones on the website soon. Thanks to Mom and Dad for having us and showing us a great time!