Getting to use the coveted "double shopping trolley" at the supermarket; "more O's, please Daddy"; Thomas on Marmite: "It's so yummy, Mommy, so yummy!"; can anyone see teeth coming in there?; contemplating the mysteries of life
Matthew is home, and he's been home for a good 2 weeks already! While he's here, we're looking at cars to replace our little Alero, and he's doing other little projects around the house like installing showerheads and hiding speaker wire. Mom and Dad came to visit for about 10 days! A few days before they arrived, I made a little chart so we could count down the days until Mom and Dad got here, but I don't think Thomas quite understood it. How does one explain the concept of "day?" Everyone was happy to see each other when the day finally came! Mom and Dad spent a lot of time with Thomas and Sophia and did a massive amount of babysitting while I ran around town doing errands and enjoying me-time. We went out to our favorite restaurants, and also went to the Open House for the Society for Model Railroaders (for Thomas). Otherwise, it was just a lot of sitting around the house enjoying each other's company.
Thomas: Favorite questions: "What you doing, Mommy, what you doing?" "What this for, Mommy?" He's using his imagination more and more, acting out scenes from his again-favorite TV show Blue's Clues. Sometimes he looks at us and says, "Oh, you see a clue? Where? Where?" then "Need our handy dandy .... notebook! Let's go!" and runs to get his notebook. Or sometimes he asks me "do you see Blue anywhere?" One day he was swinging at the park and he told me that Blue was on the slide, and then climbing the tree, and then on the swing! He more and more often is enjoying silly things, laughing and saying "That funny!" When our clock chimes the hour, he says "What time is?" and can usually tell us on the first try "It's nine o'clock!" And whenever we back out of the driveway, he says "Is sunny today, Mommy?" like in the book from his cousin Katie and then says "Yes! Is sunny!" or "No, is cloudy!" And these days, unfortunately, is a little more often lying awake talking to himself for an hour and a half instead of taking his nap. I hope it's not the end of naptime! Especially since Thomas and Sophia (and thus Mommy) nap at the same time! On the other hand, Thomas is learning about sharing, and will generously share his beloved trains sporadically: "You play with Thomas [the Tank Engine], Chloe?"
Sophia: She's just had her 9-month checkup, where she was measured at 22 pounds and 28 inches and declared to be in the 90th percentile for height and weight and head size! No wonder she's wearing 12-month old outfits, and I've just pulled a bunch of 18-month outfits out of a box! She is crawling faster and will actually go crawling off away from me to find her brother or something to explore! This is amazing, especially since I remember Thomas sticking to me like glue, even in our own house. She is pulling herself up onto things like a champion, carefully checking her headroom when she is underneath tables and chairs. Considering how new is is to the whole game, she doesn't seem to have as many pulling-up/falling-over accidents as her brother did, which is such a relief! Sophia is eating mashed foods these days, but what she is really interested in is feeding herself soft chunky food like tofu or O's or peas without the skin. She'll totally ignore my hovering spoon piled with mashed stuff while her fingers pick at little pieces of carrot on her tray. She seems to sign "more" (at least, we're acting as if she does it on purpose), and we're trying to decide if both hands raised means "all done." She's saying mama, dada and baba, (we're so proud!), seems to have fun blowing raspberries and uses her own fist to be a motor (bu-bu-bu-bu-bu). She can walk a few steps if we hold her hands, can push the light switch to turn on and off the lights, turns the pages of her board books, and raises lowers the sheet by herself when playing peekaboo. She loves it and always gives us huge grins. We know we are doing really well when she actually laughs, never more than a gentle "heh heh."
Today Thomas went to a Mom's Day Out program for the first time. It's basically nursery school for children 2 to 4 in the mornings on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We've been talking it up all week, and he's been there a couple of times already with me, staying about an hour, and he knows the "teacher," my friend from my Mom's Club. There's four other kids, all younger than him. I stayed with him for the first hour or so, and by the time it was time to go into the backyard for playtime, he lined up and went outside without even a look at me. I said bye-bye to him while they were outside, and he took it very well, didn't even blink! Having said that, I'm glad I stayed for the first hour. We came back to pick him up just before lunchtime, but he was doing so well we left him there for another hour while the rest of us went to my Chiropractic appointment. I think we adults were the most traumatized! His teachers are great, and I think we will all get some good experiences out of this.
