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.
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