Matthew's gone back to work in Mexico. Mom and Dad are dancing twice a week, but they came back early the first day to keep me company and to lighten the load a bit. It was much appreciated! And today they had Thomas for more than 24 hours. It sounded like they had lots of fun chasing each other around the house, cleaning up the frost damage to the banana tree and wrestling. We all had dinner together that night at our favorite soup and salad buffet, Sweet Tomatoes. I was glad to have a nap and vacuum the house!
Sophia is growing a lot. She's getting heavier and heavier, and she's almost too long to carry in one arm these days. She's found her fist and sucks it occasionally, and has started kind of batting at things hanging in front of her. She also stares wide-eyed into faces, smiles, and earnestly responds to us with "agoo" and "hrmmm." It's so endearing! Her awake times are about an hour and a half at a time, but it's only recently that her naps are more than 45 minutes long. Sometimes she sleeps six hours at a time at night, gets fed, then sleeps another five. I'm way more flexible with this child than I was with Thomas!
At bedtime these days, Thomas has started saying goodnight to everyone. His vocabulary is exploding, so he knows the names of all the trains in Thomas the Tank Engine. At night, in addition to saying good-night to Baba, Jiji, Daddy, baby, Cat Bus and Totoro, he says, "Night, Gordon ... Toby, Henry, James, Dodge, ..." He even says good-night to the "bad choo-choo!" On the other hand, for the past week, at random moments, he'll mysteriously say, "Toby, please" or "Gordon, please." Recently we all went to Barnes and Noble for something, and there was a little boy there who had brought about eight of his own engines. So Thomas got to play with Toby for a while, which he must have been excited to do because he was talking about Toby the whole time we were there! I got to witness almost for the first time how toddlers "negotiate" without the interference of Mommies and Daddies -- which means a lot of quiet grabbing and trading and some complaining, but everyone seemingly satisfied in the end. Very interesting! It's good to know that they can take care of themselves, even at that early age.
Sophia is wearing all kinds of things from New Zealand, thanks to Jocelyn, Tony and Helen, and Tony's folks! The knitted sweaters are from Jocelyn and they have been fantastic because we've been having colder than average weather here. And as you can see, Arabella's hat is getting a lot of use because even though it's cold, we're still the Sunshine State. Thank you!
Thomas' nighttime excursions have dropped off a lot recently! I pray that this is the new normal. As I put him to bed, I tell him that I will leave his door open if he stays in bed, and that seems to do the trick! He seems to hate having the door closed as he falls asleep. (What is behind that???) So with this new trick, he doesn't come out of his room at all as he's falling asleep (YAAAY!)! As for his nighttime visits, we're down to one or two, and sometimes none at all! Usually it's four or five in the morning and I'm feeding Sophia in the next room, which is kind of mysterious because I could swear that we don't make any noise. It still creeps me out that he wanders around silently (seeing The Shining once was once too many!), but usually I intercept him right away so he's not running into any danger. It was only one time that I couldn't find him for a couple of minutes ... and then discovered him coming out from under the dining room table! It kind of makes me wonder if he's sleepwalking, but what are the odds of that?
Everyone a getting a little sick, so must break out the garlic and try to get some rest!
Our two kids are getting bigger! Matthew is home, but it looks like Thomas is sick with something as he just woke up in the middle of the night vomiting. I thank my stars that Matthew was home! I guess we're pretty lucky because this is the first time in 2 years that he's been this sick! I think he must be a pretty tough cookie! Hopefully this is just a passing thing and he will be fine in the morning. 
This is the way Sophia smiles when she sees us just after waking up, or right after her milk. Such a happy smile! She's also learning how to wave her fists around and make contact with things, and can suck her fist enthusiastically. She's also getting more "talkative," goo-ing and gaa-ing so charmingly! She's about 14 pounds now, and settling down into her routine: asleep at nine or ten at night, a sleepy feeding at about 5am, and then awake after 8am for another feeding. This is great because Thomas wakes up around 7am, so it gives us time for breakfast and other things. 
Thomas "helps" by pushing all the buttons on the mobile. The CD player is to play the "Happiest Baby on the Block" to help her fall asleep. I use it often at night and in the middle of the night, but I think now she's getting the hang of falling asleep right after a 5am feeding ... I don't have to use it every time. 
Thomas asleep under his bed ... must have crawled there after his nap, then fell asleep again playing with his favorite train!
