October 2005

10/31/05

Happy Halloween!  I'll post trick-or-treating pictures tomorrow (Nov 1).  We carved pumpkins last night during the long hours before bedtime.  Daylight savings time is officially wearing us out.  Keeping Tommy and me awake an extra hour is hard work.

Tommy said "Ewww!" with every hilarious handful.

  Is it empty yet?

"Trwiangle!"  His favorite part was putting the cutout pieces back into their holes.

10/30/05

This first morning of daylight savings time hasn't been a disaster.  He woke up at 5:30 new time.  I can live with that, especially considering he was asleep by 7 pm new time last night.  It's a good thing he randomly started sleeping past 6 (old time) the past 10 days.  Tonight will be the first time we try to keep him up later.  I don't think we'll make it until 8 pm new time.  That will feel like 9 pm to Tommy.  I just hope that we'll be able to get him back to an 8-6 sleeping schedule before our Thanksgiving trip.  We'll be in a later time zone for the trip so if he's back on his regular schedule by then the clocks at the beach will say 9-7 when he's sleeping.  I'll at least be able to pretend like I'm sleeping late while on vacation.  Eh.  I know I'll be exhausted and miserable and totally sleep deprived by the end of the week.  I always am when we have to travel.  David too.  At least Tommy will get to have fun with his Uncle Terry and Aunt Amy at the beach!

Tommy's friend Quartz (and his parents) threw a Halloween party yesterday!  We all had a really good time.  It was the perfect time of day for a party -- after nap but before dinner.  Our little Nemo behaved relatively well, although he was obsessed with going up and down their stairs for the first 20 minutes.  I don't think they'd intended for the party to spread throughout their ENTIRE house, but Tommy's curiosity could not be contained. 

 Nemo doesn't really like his hood.

Quartz the monkey doesn't really like his hood either

Brianna and Isabella, as usual, were calm, cute, happy to wear their headgear, and willing to sit still for pictures.

Tommy eventually calmed down when he found the books.  (I'm wearing a shirt that says "boo!" and a spider web cape.  David wore his pirate costume I made for him years ago.)

  Sleepy Nemo.  All that socializing, and the warm costume, wore him out.

10/28/05

Tommy learned a lot yesterday...

• Mr. Potato Head prefers to sleep on a pillow in the living room.  
• If you think Buzz is lost forever, he's probably in the car.
• Decaf Pumpkin Spiced Lattes are yummy...but Daddy won't take a drink.
• Even though the lions at the zoo say "roar," they are not monsters.
• Saying "Ank tu!" to the UPS man makes Mommy very proud.
• Mommy really does know where to find any book you ask for.
• Chocolate is good.

10/27/05

I've been trying to figure out why I can't come up with any cute or wry Tommy anecdotes lately.  The answer?  Because every waking moment not spent eating, watching TV or playing at the park involves staring lovingly at Mr. Potato Head, occasionally saying "Hi Taytoe Head."

We may be in trouble.  I can't find Tommy's little plastic Buzz Lightyear.  All of Tommy's favorite toys go in pairs.  His Dash action figure goes with his clicking dog.  His favorite dinosaur goes with his little caveman.  Elmo goes with Ernie.  Buzz is the toy that goes with Mr. Potato Head.  Since he's ALWAYS carrying Mr. Potato Head around, he's going to want to know where Buzz is too.  I know he had him before our walk yesterday, and I know we didn't take him with us, but I can't find him now.  Tommy's going to spend a lot of time today wandering around, looking under things saying "Where Buzz?  Somewhere.  Buzz go?  Find Buzz.  Here?  No.  Here?  No.  Somewhere."

  Tommy got up here, grabbed the gourd and asked me to take his picture.  He's never done that before.  I guess he's figuring out what the camera is for.

10/26/05

Don't bother me Mommy. I'm thinking.

Now you may take my picture.

10/25/05...later

New website design!  What do you think?  Please e-mail me if anything seems wonky or isn't working.

10/25/05

Tommy did reasonably well yesterday afternoon without a nap.  After he finished watching Alice in Wonderland he wanted to go outside with his bouncy playground ball.  Once he got out there though, he just sat on the step and half-heartedly rolled the ball around.  Eventually, he asked me to get some books and we read outside for a while instead of running around.  The poor little guy was so tired.

We're starting to get some indications that Tommy is definitely my child.  For example, he likes to organize his movies.  He makes sure they're all facing the right direction and puts his favorite ones to the left.  

10/24/05 

Tommy isn't napping today.  We had a really nice morning, just doing the usual weekday stuff.  He took his small Buzz Lightyear figure to bed with him for his nap, and Buzz fell behind the crib just as Tommy was falling asleep.  That's it!  Nap's over!  I did everything I could to re-set the boy so he'd nap, but my efforts were not successful.  Now Tommy is watching Alice in Wonderland and I'm trying to figure out what we can do this afternoon.  It has to be something interesting but not too interesting since Tommy will be tired and potentially cranky.  David won't be home until late tonight because of work, so I'm on my own with a no-nap toddler.  Oh well.  Even without a nap he's still 10 times easier to deal with now than when he's teething.  

10/23/05

Random nuggets of weekend-y goodness...

After months of waking up between 4:50 and 5:30 Tommy randomly slept until SEVEN Saturday and Sunday mornings.  Why?  I have no idea.  His diaper was leaky by the time he woke up both mornings, but he seems to be sleeping through the wetness.  Maybe he's sleeping longer because we've put him in a new, layered pajama configuration.  He might have been cold or have felt constricted by his sleep sack, which has finally been retired because he's outgrown the largest size.  Maybe it's just getting later in the year and darker in the mornings, although he's been getting up 1-2 hours before sunrise for a couple of months.  Maybe it's a growth spurt, although he's still eating normal toddler portions instead of mega-growth-spurt Tommy portions.  He might be getting sick, but he isn't acting at all like he's feeling bad.  On the contrary, he's incredibly happy in the mornings, probably because he's getting 10 1/2 to 11 hours of sleep instead of 9 to 9 1/2.  He's still taking his 2 hour naps in the afternoon.  I don't know why he's suddenly sleeping more, but I'm doing every superstitious thing I can think of to prolong this trend.  Unfortunately, daylight savings time starts next weekend so I only have 6 more days before his new, wonderful sleep patterns disintegrate.  Curses!  

In other news, we got a new dishwasher this weekend.  Ours was pretty old (20 years maybe) and it's been taking multiple tries to get it running.  It probably could have held out for another couple of years, but we've been in home-improvement debt-accumulation mode for a few months so we decided to replace it now rather than wait.  The new one is so nice.

Daddy's little helpers

10/21/05

Four a.m.  I wake to quiet chanting.  "Open door NOW.  Open door Now.  Mommy open.  Mommy open.  Open door NOW."  After about three minutes he starts slowing down and mumbling.  After another two minutes he's asleep.  It takes me a while to go back to sleep myself, but he's still sleeping at 6:15 as I type this.  It's a rare morning when I wake up on my own before Tommy.  

A random lady at the bagel shop gave Tommy a quarter yesterday.  He carried his "money" around all day long.  I showed him how to put it in his pocket, but he wasn't interested.  "Mine money.  See Mommy?  Tommy money.  Oooo!  Money (go to) library?  Buy books."

David says, "I'll be in the bathroom if you need me Tommy."  Tommy replies, "Stinky!"  

The intrepid explorer contemplates a new species of Potato Head, one invented by Daddy.

10/20/05

Tommy got his first temporary tattoo and I managed to put it on upside-down.  Sure, it's right-side-up for the photo, but Tommy has to crank his arm into all sorts of strange positions to get a good look at Shimmer from Miss Spider.  

10/19/05

Today's Tomish transcription sponsored by Brianna's wiffle ball, our DVD collection, and Little Bear.  Requests for additional translations will be accepted.

• Mine ball.  Tommy ball.  Mine turn.  Throw Tommy.  Mine turn.  No, no, no, no.  Tommy turn!
• Losh moovoos (lots of movies).  Tommy pick moovoo.  Hmm...  Find Memo, Wrella (Cinderella), Toy Stowry, Elmo, Mickey, Monshters Inc., Genie, Boom, Miss Pider.  Hmm...  Where Supers (Incredibles)? Tommy find's Mommy's secret stash.  Ah ha!  Found Supers!  Nuv you Supers.  Watch Supers?  Peese!
• Tommy eat honey?  Bear eat honey.  Where honey?  Bee honey.  Bear get honey.  Tommy get honey?  Peese!  (No, I didn't give him any honey.  Yes, I know it's bad for babies.)  

10/18/05

Tommy can recognize the letters O and B now, mainly because he really likes the word Boo.  He can point out those two letters in any context, and is starting to recognize D too.  I guess it's time for me to start working on letters.

I almost made another non-retractable decision on the slippery slope that seems to be my parenting style.  It was time for Tommy's nap and he was lugging Mr. Potato Head (MPH) around, as usual.  I said it was time for his nap and the daily begging to sleep with MPH began.  I don't let him sleep with MPH because the pieces are constantly falling off and there's no way Tommy will relax and fall asleep if he's worried about replacing the nose.  Besides, it's a big and clunky toy that will either be uncomfortable or make loud bangings when Tommy rolls around in his sleep.  So today, the frantic requests for "Taaaaytoooooe Head!" happened to begin when MPH was devoid of pieces.  I thought, maybe, just this once, I'll let him sleep with MPH as long as there are no pieces.  That would eliminate most of the problems.  I explained that he could keep MPH, but none of the body parts.  Tommy very sadly said "night pieces" and trotted into his room holding the naked tan blob of a featureless MPH.  At that moment, I thought that this was probably a mistake, but it was too late to change my mind.  Luckily for me, Tommy accidentally dropped MPH into the clothes hamper while I was changing his diaper and putting on his pajamas.  I was sure he was going to start begging for me to rescue it, but he forgot about it because he's all about "Mommy Milk!!!" at that point in our nap routine.  Whew!  Undesirable change in the rules averted.  Now I just have to remember that MPH is in the clothes hamper when Tommy starts asking for it after his nap.  

10/17/05

We went to McCall's Pumpkin Patch in Moriarty Sunday!  It was a fun day for us all.  I got a bit sunburned, but Tommy and David survived unscathed.

Coewrn. (corn)

Cattle and chickens and goats.  Oh my!

  No, you may not run in the mud puddle, but you can look longingly at it.

Master of all he surveys.

This was the highlight of the day, not because he got to ride the pony, but because the pony SNEEZED.  Tommy thought this was absolutely hilarious.  He's still talking about it.  "Pony sneeze.  Tommy ride pony.  Pony sneeze!  Hahahaha!"

Hay ride to the pumpkin patch.

Giggling about how the pony sneezed...for the 73rd time. "Reading" to himself on the drive home.  He points to and names all the colors and animals, plus the teacher and children.

10/15/05

He still loves Mr. Potato Head.

I was just sitting here writing about how much I'm growing to dislike Mr. Potato Head when this photo opportunity arose.  I know.  It's not a good idea to let him poke stuff into his ears.  Would you have missed this photo for a little thing like eardrum safety?  I think not.

Anyway, so I'm starting to really dislike Mr. Potato Head.  He's stayed assembled in the same configuration for almost a month now.  Tommy carries him around the house all the time.  The collection of features Tommy chose includes the mustache and shoes and, more recently, glasses.  If you have a Mr. Potato Head at your house you know that these three items are constantly falling off.  Tommy's response is, "Oh no!  Help Mommy."  I like to think I'm a relatively patient parent on my good days, but I have to reassemble the nose and mustache combination or reattach Mr. Potato Head's feet at least 10 times an hour...all day long.  Tommy can do it himself, but he gets frustrated.  I usually don't let him take Mr. Potato Head out of the house because I'm afraid we'll lose pieces, so at least I get a break when we go out.  However, I let him accompany us to the grocery store yesterday, because we went at an odd time and Tommy really didn't want to leave the house.  I was about ready to leave Mr. Potato Head in the frozen food aisle by the time we finished.   

10/14/05

  Run!

Destroy!

10/13/05

  "Pumpin' Piiiiiiiieeeeee!"  Fun to poke with a fork.   Not so fun to eat.  Whipped cream?  Fun to poke with a finger.  "Mmmm mmmm yummy!"  

10/12/05

Tommy just told me he loves me for the first time.  We were in the rocking chair in his darkened room getting ready for his nap.  He said "Nuv you Mommy" three times before settling down to nurse.  I'm so proud.  Plus, he said "Night Mommy" last night before he went to bed.  What a sweet little boy.

10/11/05

I know Tommy better than anyone else, but I still don't always understand him...

Yesterday morning, Tommy was flicking his tongue in and out of his mouth like a lizard.  He'd been doing it for 15 minutes or so, running around while I sorted laundry.  All of a sudden, he ran up to where I was sitting, held my head steady with his hands and LICKED MY EYELID.   I haven't laughed so hard in months.  Why did he do it?  I have no idea.  The sensation of his little puppy tongue licking my eyelid was pretty creepy...and hilarious.  I just kept laughing and laughing.  Tommy watched me quizzically for a while then said "Mommy funny!" and tried to lick me again.  Very strange. 

This also happened yesterday.  We were in the car on our way over to a new Target that just opened very near our house.  Tommy started saying "tiergar" over and over.  I thought he was talking about a tiger so I started babbling about tigers myself, complete with roars and claw like hand motions.  He listened politely for a few minutes, but when I paused for breath he quietly said "no" and shook his head.  I thought about it for a while and then asked him if he'd been saying Target.  He grinned and said "Yep!  Tiergar!"

10/10/05

Disney-on-Ice Finding Nemo was an absolute success.  We almost didn't go because Tommy's nap was shorter than usual and it was raining like crazy most of the early afternoon.  David and I are basically homebodies and getting us out of the house is a struggle at the best of times.  Add rain to the day and it's so very easy for us to blow off any outing that's new or unknown and to stay home puttering around instead.  However, Tommy was in a really good mood by 3 pm when it stopped raining and the sun came out.  We took the hint and dragged our sorry butts out the door.  It was a good decision.  

We got there about 20 minutes early so parking was easy.  I think we both grew up with much larger event venues, so our instincts always have us over-prepared and extra-early for the smaller venues of Albuquerque.  We bought Tommy a hard plastic shark (his choice) and some popcorn.  Then Tommy and David ran around until the call to be seated.  He held the shark most of the time and ate a ton of popcorn.  We had tickets for three seats, and it was nice to have the extra space before the show and during intermission.  He sat on our laps for most of the show, though because it was easier to see that way.  

Tommy was absolutely enthralled by the ice show.  He wasn't scared when they turned the lights off or when there were fire works or mild special effects.  I think it helped that he's totally familiar with the movie and lots of the dialogue for the show was taken directly from it.  He got to see all his favorite characters, and did say their names when he saw them.  He was mostly silent throughout the show though.  I think he was too overwhelmed to say anything.  He was grinning most of the time, carefully picking out one piece of popcorn at a time while sitting on either my lap or David's lap.  We moved him back and forth between us as the view shifted and he never took his eyes off the show.  I think we'll definitely go again next year.  

(I don't have any pictures because I didn't want to risk taking my camera if it was too crazy or crowded.)   

10/09/05

Captain Pajamas and "no-snail" (empty snail shell, no snail inside)

Tommy ate 15 hard boiled egg whites this week.  The boy is obsessed.  Just thought you'd like to know.

10/08/05

Good news!  I've finally found the hair stylist of my dreams.  My hair still doesn't look great, but this new guy was able to work miracles with the 2-month-old disaster I've been growing out from that nightmare haircut I got in August.  He listened to what I wanted, was comfortable to chat with and most importantly was able to cut off all the stupid, uneven, fiddly bits the crazy hair stylist gave me.  It will take a couple more months to get it back the way I like it, but at least it's even and neat and manageable now.  Plus, I have someone I trust to cut my hair in the future.

Enough about me!  I know you just come here to see pictures of Tommy.  Today was supposed to be a do-nothing day since we're going to Disney-on-Ice Finding Nemo tomorrow.  (Are we crazy, taking a very young toddler to an ice skating arena for a crowded, 5 pm show?  Maybe.  I'll let you know how it goes.)  The weather was just too gorgeous to stay inside though, so we ended up going to the Rio Grande Nature Center.  Here are some pictures.

10/07/05

It was really cold yesterday.  Let me clarify by saying it was cold for Albuquerque in October and we're kind of wimps.  It was overcast, windy and had rained the night before.  I'd guess it was in the 50s by mid-morning and maybe in the mid-70s for a late-afternoon high.  Anyway, Tommy got to wear his new coat to the park in the morning.  He was so excited about it.  He wouldn't take it off for about an hour after we got home and wore it periodically throughout the day.  He also likes playing with the zipper.  

Now if only we could get him this excited about fleece, footed pajamas.  It's chilly enough now that he needs to move from his summer, cotton knit pjs to the fleece ones.  We finally got him to wear a pair last night after two weeks of trying.  We had to talk about them all evening and frequently point out the fire engine (wee ooo!  wee ooo!) and dog printed on them.  He slept a little bit later this morning (5:10!) and didn't feel as cold when I went into him, so I think the warmer pjs will help.  Yes, we could have forced him to wear them, but he's very opinionated and the one time we held him down and forcibly put the warmer pjs on him he was so upset we eventually changed him back into his old pjs so that he would go to sleep.  Hopefully he'll decide this type of pajamas is normal after a few days.  The new size 2T ones he wore last night are actually a bit too short and I don't think there are any fire engines on the size 3T ones I bought at the same time.

10/06/05

Tommy tidbits...

• When we're rough housing and he feels he's in a precarious position he tells us to be "Carewful!"
• After a whole month he still remembers Grandma Sylvia and Grandpa Mel.  Yesterday, when I woke him up from his long, long nap the first thing he said was, "Gwamma?"   I told him Grandma wasn't here and he replied "Bye Gwamma.  Miss Gwamma.  (sigh...pause)  Hi Mommy."
• When we tell him he needs to stop doing something, he says goodbye to whatever it is he was doing.  When we switch from running in the field at the park to swinging he says "Bye grwass."  When I get tired of letting him play on the kitchen counter and set him on the floor he says "Bye counter."
• Like most toddlers, he has some favorite playthings that are definitely NOT toys and that I probably shouldn't let him play with -- David's electric change sorter (money scheen!), painted ostrich egg from the box of Easter decorations (pink ahtrich egg!), leftover disposable camera from the balloon fiesta trip (camra!), set of Murano glass paperweights that Uncle Terry gave us (no-bang balls!), a mug half filled with cold water and my used morning tea bag (Tommy's tea!), the decorative clock in our bathroom (tickety-tock!), and finally all of the attachments from our vacuum, two of which are currently in the car because he wouldn't go out without them yesterday

10/05/05 - later

We're all better now.  Tommy's medicine?  A three-hour nap.  My medicine?  An entire Lindt Lindor Milk Chocolate Bar. 

10/05/05

No real post today.  No pithy stories.  No cute pictures.  No funny anecdotes.  We're having a bad day, and it started at 4:30 am.  I'm hoping Tommy will take a long nap so I can mentally regroup.  He'd better after the 30 minutes of disaster that replaced our usually calm pre-nap routine.  Not fun.  And now I'm too worked up to take a nap myself, and I could probably use one just as much as Tommy.  Sigh.  

10/04/05

More pictures, less talking...

Tommy finally ate pancakes this weekend.  He usually refuses all homemade baked goods.  The boy won't even eat from-scratch biscuits!  We convinced him to eat half a pancake by letting him dip it in syrup.  He mostly just licked off the syrup, but he did take a few bites. 

"None, two, theee!" (Yes, he can count to three now.)

Tickle!

Sitting in "Daddy's baffroom!" for tooth brushing after his bath.  We make it very cushy.  He rests his head on a pillow leaning against the higher level counter.  Being surrounded by mirrors make tooth and hair brushing so much more fun.

Captain Pajamas reads books at his  new Pooh table before bed.  

10/03/05

Here are our miserably poor pictures from Tommy's first ever balloon fiesta.  I'm very disappointed.  I guess this will teach me not to forget our camera.  We spent $65 on disposable cameras and developing and this was the best we got.  I guess we took reasonably good pictures, but the quality of the digital images is really bad.  The physical prints aren't quite as grainy, but they still aren't great.  David says we can't go back Friday just to get new, better pictures.  I agree that would be silly, but it's tempting.  Oh well.  There's always next year.

Sleepy boy Run away!

10/02/05

We had a grand time at the balloon fiesta this morning.  Since Tommy wakes up around 5:30 most mornings anyway, it was no trouble at all getting out the door in time for a 6:30 shuttle bus.  The only downside to the event was that I forgot our camera.  I know!  How could I do that?  I was very unhappy about it.  We ended up buying some disposable cameras, and discs of digital versions of the prints will be ready for me to pick up late this afternoon.  Hopefully we got a few photos that aren't too dismal.  I'll put the best ones up this afternoon. 

Tommy's favorite phrases for the morning were, "school bus", "lots big balloons" and "down! run! go!"  We spent most of the time chasing him through the crowds and wishing we'd brought the stroller. 

10/01/05 

I'll have lots of pictures on Sunday.  We're planning to go to the balloon fiesta.  Until then, here are some of this week's lessons.  

• Tommy learned that there are cookies in one particular cabinet.  
• I learned that a whining boy asking for TWO cookies can be tricked in to thinking he's getting TWO cookies if I break one cookie into two pieces.  Too bad that trick doesn't work for waffles...or eggs...or pickles...he wants TWO of everything these days.
• Tommy learned to say Yee Haw.  I don't know where he picked it up.  
• I learned that giving into requests for the park after two days of pouring rain leads to a very wet and muddy little boy.  
• Tommy learned that running into a boy riding a bike while splashing through gigantic mud puddles isn't fun.  Luckily no one was hurt. 
• I learned how to draw Mr. Potato Head.  I also learned that Crayola markers are only washable if they say WASHABLE in big letters on the box.  The ones that don't say washable?  Not washable.

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