Sophia has started smiling! She is in the best mood right after she wakes up or right after feeding. She gazes unblinking into my eyes, and when I smile at her, her eyes will curve up and her mouth will open into the most beautiful smile. My heart melts! She's still waking up to be fed once or twice in the night, but her awake times are getting longer, and she's more and more alert. Today we played the stick-out-your-tongue game with each other. She'd stick out her tongue, then me, then her, both of us smiling all the while. She really seemed to enjoy it! Sophia seems to sleep best on Matthew's pillow, in someone's arms, when we're out and about in a noisy place, or in the stroller or car. Recently she has been getting very fussy in the evening, and she gets even more fussy when I give her to someone else to hold (as if she knows that she's being held by someone other than Mommy and doesn't like it!), so I've been spending a lot of time holding her and walking around in the evening. Now that she's 11 pounds 7 ounces, it's making my back/arms/wrists hurt! On the other hand, surely this is causing me to get stronger and be able to fit back into my regular pants soon!
Our new backyard has two huge trees that are shedding their leaves. Matthew, Thomas and our friend Pam have had a big raking-blowing-bagging session to clean up the backyard. They left one big pile of leaves for Thomas -- he likes to jump or fall into it up to his neck! It makes a terrific crunching noise when he does and I always remember doing the same when I was about his age.
Thomas' new social confidence continues to amaze me. When he's all done playing at the park, he turns around and waves to everyone, saying, "Bye, bye people!" He very happily played with Dominic, sat on Michelle's lap, and let Michelle and John pick him up for tickles or a ride! He'll "talk" to other kids while playing at the park or play area, and he barely reacts when he realizes he's holding the wrong hand or talking to the wrong mommy in our playgroup. How far he's come!
Sophia and Thomas' murals are all done! My friend Jerryl came over and painted a beautiful cherry tree in bloom on Sophia's wall, and an enormous Cat Bus and Totoro from the Japanese animated movie My Neighbor Totoro that wraps around three of Thomas' walls. They look fantastic! The tree exudes peace and the Cat Bus grins playfully with a huge Cheshire-cat grin.
Life with two kids is a lot easier now that Matthew is back home. He came home a week ago, just in time for Mom and Dad to go to a special dance camp that lasted days! That was very lucky for me! We are back to the schedule we had in the first weeks after Sophia's birth: Thomas wakes up around seven and then wakes up Matthew either by visiting his side of the bed or making noise closing the door to his room. Then they have a little snack in front of the TV watching Blues Clues or Thomas the Tank Engine and the Magic Railroad (Thomas' favorite thing to watch these days). Then I'll wake up a little after that in the recliner in her room (or in my own bed if I'm very lucky), and either feed Sophia or put her down for some more sleep. Then Matthew or I will get breakfast together while Thomas has some alone playtime in the playroom. Sometimes, when Matthew is home, we'll all go out for a playdate or some shopping/coffee time, or he and Matthew will walk across to the park. Lunch - nap - playtime - dinner - bath - bed come in that order to round out the day. Usually Matthew takes care of Thomas while I take care of Sophia, but we are starting to change off more often. Mom and Dad are still babysitting often and making dinner every night that they don't have a dance lesson, which is a lifesaver.
"Thomas, today we're going out for a playdate."
Thomas has three bites on his face. We think they're ant bites because he keeps scratching and scratching them. They scab over and then he scratches them off! They look even worse because the skin around them is inflamed from the band-aid -- he seems be allergic to latex!
Dominic, Michelle and John have come for a visit!
After a brief warming-up period, Dominic and Thomas started playing together really well! In fact they started chasing each other around and around the house, giggling all the while. I've never seen Thomas play so happily and unreservedly with another kid his age! I think it's because Dominic is so outgoing (just like his mommy)! Still, on the second day of their visit, Thomas got very possessive of his toys and his Auntie Rose. I kept hearing an angry "Dom-nic! DOM-NIIIIIC!" from the playroom. Weeks later, when we had Ben and Sarah and their little boy Ellis over, Thomas was getting possessive of his toys again and he yelled in frustration, "Dom-niiick!" Then he realized his mistake, he yelled, "E-ssss (Ellis)!"
While they were here, it was the coldest it's been in years. We had a few consecutive nights of hard freeze warnings! I didn't get to see any frost, but it definitely got below the freezing point at our house. What bad timing for three people on vacation from Wisconsin! You come to Florida, you expect nice weather! The funny thing is, the day after their flight home, it got up to 80 degrees again. Hmmm. I'm beginning to think that THEY were the cause of the cold weather! They must have brought it with them! The good news is, Sophia got very good usage out of Granny's hand-knit sweater and booties!
While Michelle, John and Dominic were here, Thomas slept at Mom and Dad's house. It was actually really great because it kept the chaos to a minimum, and it meant that it was nice and quiet right before bedtime, making the going-to-bed process smoother. Mom even found time to cook for all of us! They are awesome. 
