Thomas 2, Sophia 9 1/4 months

Playtime with BabaJiji; Sophia enjoying finger foods; Thomas learning from Jiji that "Sharing is Fun"; Thomas doing his favorite digging in the sand at the park; the two kids having a quiet moment looking at books together.

Thomas 2, Sophia 9 months

Society of Model Railroaders were having an open house.

Thomas 2, Sophia 8 4/5 months

Mom and Dad come to visit!!

Thomas 2, Sophia 8 3/4 months

Thomas 2, Sophia 8 1/2 months

Matthew was here for 4 days, but then he left again. His work is doing something involving temporarily moving the shifts to the middle of the month (??). It was great to have him here, though ... He did a lot of lawn mowing and other stuff.

Thomas: A few days ago, I heard him moving around in the wee hours of the morning. I found him in his room in the dark at 5am with his pants and diaper off, pee in his little porta-potty, and Thomas very excited. On one hand, I was so proud. I could see his little brain working even in his sleep, figuring out the Potty Problem. On the other hand, my sleep-addled brain said, 5am? Really? We have finished a potty-training sticker chart and have started another one with all of his favorite Thomas the Tank Engine trains on it. Perhaps we could get one with dump trucks on it, or helicopters, like on the videos he watches. He seems to go in spurts: Ivor the Engine was a hot video for weeks, and then it was his Farm Tractor video, and then it was the Dump Truck video, and now it is the video all about Helicopters. Such a boy! We get them all from the library; otherwise we would bankrupt ourselves keeping up with his obsessions!

Sophia: Starting to become the Rolling Over Monster on the diaper changing table. As if she can't help herself and must! roll! over! At least she's going to sleep easier these days. I don't know what it was, but perhaps something about teething or growing pains? I'm still holding her until she falls asleep (or almost), but at least she now rolls over and falls-- and stays-- asleep. And no teeth yet. But she eats with hearty appetite and doesn't refuse anything, even plain yogurt or raw apples (Thomas made such faces!). She's recently started self-feeding with Cheerios and little cubes of tofu, and kind of gnaws off the tops of broccoli florets. She loves to crawl, but she also loves to pull herself up to standing using tables, chairs, the stepstool, the bathtub, my shirt when I'm changing Thomas' diaper, .... She also sometimes likes to crawl with just her feet and hands on the floor as if she's about to stand up and walk away.

I have taken some photos of Thomas and Sophia together. They seem to be playing more compatibly in each other's company in the past week. It seems idyllic when you look at the photos, but the good times are the times when I can leave them alone to get the camera! I will say that they do seem to be playing "together" happily much more often. Thomas loves to crawl after Sophia, laughing his head off, and today we brought home two balloons from Publix, and I've never heard Sophia laugh so much, watching Thomas whack the balloons! As for the "bad" times, .... there are no photos where I'm telling Thomas off for taking away her toy, or putting him into time-out for hitting Sophia on the head, or telling him to give her GENTLE hugs, or this afternoon it was drying Sophia's head because he was squirting her with the squirt bottle. Or yelling at him in the car to stop screaming at her to wake her up or see her jump. Grr. But, thankfully the screaming has tapered off. After we buckle him in, we put his favorite book in his lap

"Richard Scarry's Biggest and Best Storybook Ever" (he calls it his Baba-Jiji book because they gave it to him), and he spends the whole car ride looking quietly at it, sometimes laughing at the different silly things in there, sometimes pointing things out to us ("Dook, Dook, Mommy! Barge! On fire! Oh no!"). It's adorable! I hope this phase lasts for a long time. I know we might be ruining his eyesight, but it's either that or ruining our ears with his yelling and screaming. I only slightly exaggerate here.