May 2005

Tommy's Language: mama, dada, down, done, again, bye bye, Elmo, yeah, ding ding (windchime), no, apple (means any fruit), boo, drink, num num (yummy), book, hello, home, bubbles, dog, bowl, milk, hose, out, up, knock, bang, bird, snail, box, movie (means TV), baa (sheep), moo (cow), bawk (chicken), sssss (snake), neigh (horse), meow (cat), hug, brr (cold), open, whoo whoo (owl), banana, block, glove, pen, bean, backpack, button, dino(saur), elbow, knee, bath, knife, spoon, toot toot (train sound), vroom (car sound), boom (drum sound), bang (hammer sound), night(gown), panda, stroller, dinner, chair, bath, bunny, turtle, eye, ear, taco, tickle, puffer(fish), egg, airplane,    

 Sounds I can't write phonetically indicating: scissors, Wiggles, lizard, a pig snorting, and a dog barking, turkey gobbling, Blue's Clues, toothpaste, crayon

Words Tommy can sign: down, all done, more, drink, book, tv, cold, sleep 

05/27/05

We're leaving for Kansas tomorrow and won't be back until June 5th.  I probably won't be posting any pictures or news until we get back.

I was cleaning out the fridge today and Tommy discovered a wilted bunch of green onions.  At first he thought it was a broom and swept the kitchen floor with the root ends.  I asked him if he wanted to eat one and he said yes.  I cut off the tender green and white part, peeled off the outer layer and put them in this bowl.  He ate quite a few of them.  Strange, strange child.  You can't tell, but he doesn't have any pants on in this picture.  He managed to take his overalls off by himself.

05/26/05 ... later

Here are some pictures from our play date this afternoon with Claudia and her mommy Ruth.  

Sitting nicely together for a picture

Tommy steals Claudia's cup.  Mommy says, "Tommy, give Claudia her cup back."  Tommy says, "No!"

Claudia gets her cup back and Tommy goes off to find his own drink.

We really did have a good time and the kids played well together.  Tommy didn't really act like a cranky toddler bully.  It just looks like it in these pictures.  J  

05/26/05

He only ended up taking a 50 minute nap yesterday.  Those teeth must have really been bothering him.  He's been sleeping 2 to 2 1/2 hours once a day for his nap the last couple of weeks.  The good result of all that crankiness and sleeplessness yesterday was that he slept 11 hours last night.  I didn't have to get up until 6:30!  He seems much happier today.

In other news, he's expanded his use of the word no.  I knew this day would come eventually.  He is a toddler now, after all.  Up until this week he would say no to himself -- "No, I'm not supposed to touch that" -- or use it to answer questions about other people or objects -- "No, there isn't a puffer fish on this page."  Now he's figured out that he can use it to express his desire not to do something.  "Do you want some lunch?"  "No!"  "Let's change your diaper." "No!"  He still says yes ("Da!") more often than no, but this negatively opinionated Tommy is a new sort of person to live with.

"Kiss Daddy goodbye."  "No!"

05/25/05

Tommy's top cuspids are just starting to break through his gums.  Yippee!  Just in time for our 9-day trip to Kansas to visit David's parents and attend my brother Ben's wedding.  He's not too cranky yet, but he's not napping today and just wants to sit around watching movies.  Of course, he wants a different movie every 15 minutes.  I'm indulging him because 1) David's volleyball team is playing the end-of-season tournament this week so he's not going to be home 3 evenings this week, 2) it'd been ridiculously hot the last few days (mid 90s already), 3) we fly out Saturday and I have to get a bunch of stuff done before then, and 4) I'm also feeling lazy.  I'll turn my "good" Mommy instincts back on in a little while and we'll eat some lunch and then head out into the heat to DO something.  He'll probably take a long nap after that.  Hopefully!

05/22/05

Swimming pool fun...

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Tommy sign-language translation: "Can I drink this water?"

05/19/05

I was watering the flowers in the courtyard yesterday morning and Tommy was helping me.  I went around the corner of the courtyard wall to wind up the hose.  I was still in the front yard and could see over the wall into the courtyard, but my view of the gate and driveway were blocked by a gigantic bush.  While I was winding up the hose, Tommy started knocking on the door because he wanted to go inside.  I told him that I didn't have my key and that we'd have to go around to the back door.  When I came back around the corner he was GONE.  I panicked, of course, then went racing around David's truck, hoping that he hadn't either gone in the street or been baby-napped.  I immediately saw a flash of his backside as he rounded the corner of the house running towards the back door.  He actually listened to what I said and headed for the back door as soon as I said it.  Good for him!  You can bet I'll close the courtyard gate when I'm winding up the hose from now on. 

This also happened yesterday.  While sitting in the car at a red light, Tommy started saying "Boo!" over and over.  We looked back, and he was covering and uncovering his face with his hands in his own game of peek-a-boo.  After a couple of seconds we realized he was playing peek-a-boo with the man in the truck next to us.  The man didn't know he was a part of the game.  He was just sitting at a red light, resting his elbow in his window, and leaning his head on his hand with his face partially covered.  Tommy knows everyone would want to play with him if they could.

Gloves for a goofball.  

05/17/05

This is what I heard through the door yesterday, while Tommy was in his bed emphatically not napping.

"Glove, glove, glove. Banan, banan. Ma Ma? (pause) No. (pause) meow, baaaa, sssssss, Elmo? (pause) No. (pause) Down, down, down. Boo!  heh do meow.  (hello cat)  Book? Book? Mama? Book? (pause) No."

It went on like that for 20 minutes before I decided he wasn't going to drift off to sleep.

Captain pajamas goes bananas.

05/15/05

Tommy ate FOUR bananas yesterday.  I guess bananas are his new obsession.  We've only let him have one so far today in an effort to avoid prune juice counter-measures.  Poor Tommy.  Yesterday we said "yes" to his banana-related demands and today we say "no".  The rules are very confusing when you're one.

Helping Daddy in the garage is very thirsty work.  Yes, he's very adept at drinking from a bottle like this.  (No, he still won't drink from a sippy cup.)

05/13/05

I've updated the list of words Tommy can say.  I decided I should be a little more forgiving on what makes it onto the list.  If it's a sound that clearly and consistently indicates something, and David and I both understand it, then it counts.

05/10/05

Tommy and I are both feeling cranky this afternoon.  It might be because this is our first hot day of the year.  Our porch thermometer says 89, although there's a strong breeze so it feels nice out there as long as you're in the shade.  It's 76 back in the bedrooms and 79 in the kitchen.  Time to turn on the swamp cooler!  I think David's going to come home early today and get it all set up.  People rarely have air conditioning here.  Evaporative coolers work really well in the dry climate.  Ours used to be frustrating because it only had three settings -- off, low and high.  It was always too cold for me when we had it on.  I like it much better now that we have a thermostat for it.

I thought chocolate chip cookies might sooth the savage Tommy.  It worked for a little while.  I took his shirt off so he wouldn't get chocolate all over it.  

He's trying to feed his cookie to Cookie Monster.  This toy is where he got his "num num num" phrase from.  It's kind of funny that knows what a cookie is and what to do with it.  He must have picked it up from the toy and from watching Sesame Street.  Today is the first time he's ever eaten or seen a chocolate chip cookie.  We usually only eat them after he goes to bed.  

05/08/05

Happy Mother's Day!  I've had a good Mother's Day weekend.  David and I took turns going out to see Kingdom of Heaven on Friday.  We both really enjoyed it.  Yesterday, we piddled around the back yard.  David's repainting the gate into the side yard.  Tommy is great incentive for us to do all sorts of homeowner projects outside, since we're already out there with him all the time anyway.  Today we had pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast, and then went to the Botanic Gardens and Aquarium after lunch.  The Belgian chocolates David bought me for Mother's Day were actually delivered last weekend.  I managed to ration myself so that I had one piece left to eat today.  Mmm.  Chocolate.

We're going someplace with lots of plants?  Huh.  And you say there will be fountains for me to play in?  I'm reserving judgment.

Ok.  I'll agree this is fun.  Let's stay right here for at least 20 minutes.

Daddy!  The model train is coming around the corner again!

  I love the children's play garden.  There were paths, and plants to touch, and tunnels, and other kids to chase, and oversized garden-y things to play on.  

More water!  I could reach so many round shiny things, but Daddy made me put them all back.

05/06/05

Rrowr!

Kisses for Daddy

05/05/05

Talking to himself...

Tommy:  Da Da? (looks in bedroom)

Tommy:  Nn oh.

Tommy:  Da Da? (looks in kitchen)

Tommy:  Nn oh.

Tommy:  Da Da? (walks to front door)

Tommy:  Bye Bye Da Da

......

The other day Tommy walked into the kitchen with one of my Mother's Day chocolates in his hand.  There was a bite out of one side and chocolate on his mouth.  He handed it to me triumphantly and said, "num num num num."  Then he walked back into the living room.

05/02/05

It constantly surprises me what he'll eat.  This is Indian chicken tikka (moderately spicy) on flat bread with grilled, spiced onions and cucumber sauce.  He started out with pieces of chicken on his plate, but was insistent that he should be eating a "dac doe" (taco) too.  Right after I took this picture he offered me a bite and I accidentally bit his finger instead of the food.  Oops.  Poor Tommy.  I have no idea how I managed to do it.  There was much screaming and crying, but thankfully no blood.

We're teaching him to be gentle.  In these pictures he's carefully nudging the train so it will coast down the slope.  David's coaching him.  "Just a small push.  One finger.  Gentle.  Slowly.  Good job Tommy!"  He practices gentle, one finger touches on the snails in the backyard during the day.  I don't think we've managed to kill too many of them.

05/01/05

Two signs of cuteness...

• He wanders around saying "no" to all the things he knows he's not supposed to mess with -- the roses, electrical plugs, etc.
• He loves to back into things -- his chair, the wall if he wants to lean on it, my legs if he wants to lean on them.

We bought Tommy a train set today.  David's going to have to make an insert for the top of Tommy's table so that we can stick the track down semi-permanently with double-stick tape.  Otherwise, Babezilla will spend more time tearing up the track than zooming the trains around it.

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