new words and signs

Thomas' communication skills are growing by leaps and bounds. He's been adding new words and sounds to his vocabulary, picking up new signs for other words and can point to more body parts almost on a daily basis. I know he understands way more than he is able to communicate to us, but it still awes me when totally out of the blue I'll ask him something like where is your hair? and he'll immediately point to the part in question. His vocabulary consists of around 30 words and he can sign another 16 or so words. He will point to major body parts when asked where they are. Of course, if you spent time with Thomas, you'd think he only knows one word - car.

[Note: Our home computer is experiencing technical difficulties. Posts will be few and photos nil until the problems get resolved. I'm still snapping many, many photos -- I just have no way to download them off the camera. Grrrr... Once the problem is fixed, I'm sure I'll post a whole slew of photos in a single post! Brace yourselves.]

summer continues!

mama's little helper

Thomas loves dill pickles

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Every few weeks I think to myself this is the best time -- how could it possibly get any better, he become any cuter, or Thomas be any more fun than he is right now? and then a few weeks will go by and again I'll think the same thing at that exact moment. He's developing into such a fun little boy.

Thomas has also become a great little helper. Moving furniture, raking leaves, folding laundry, running the vacuum, bathing the dogs... whatever it is that I'm doing, he wants to be there helping me. I tell him that these same activities can be his responsibility when he's older if he wants. [wink.]

Fall is upon us

As the days get shorter, Thomas and I have been out savoring these last days of summer and welcoming fall. Yesterday was cool enough to warrant pulling out some longer pants, warmer shirts and his Disney winter coat. I had received this coat as part of a gift set prior to Thomas' birth but this was the first time he had actually worn it. I wanted to take some photos to send to the gift-giver so Thomas and I walked up and down our street seeking out photo ops.


watching the neighbor's remodel project ~ another neighbor's extremely tolerant cat (neither were harmed in the taking of this photo!)

16 months

I was busy in the kitchen yesterday afternoon but keeping an ear out for Thomas as he ran around the house playing. After what must have been 15 minutes of quiet, I went looking and found him in the spare room reading a book quietly by himself. Sometimes he's so serious!

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a Grandma like no other

Thomas is fortunate to have the kind of Grandma that every kid dreams of. She is amazing with him and he loves to be with her. This last weekend she gave us a much-needed break, coming over to stay with him and the girls so we could get away for an evening. He's a lucky little guy to have her (as are we!).

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*Grandpa missed Grandma and also came over to bring dinner and camp out. Sounds like we missed some good times here at home!

he sleeps like a horse -- literally!

It's been a long week at our house and none of us have really had adequate or restful sleep. It seems possible that the new upper molars are really causing Thomas much grief. For the last two days he has refused to lay down and sleep in his crib - both at night and during the afternoon. Last night we listened as our fantastic little sleeper cried it out for 45 minutes before finally settling down to sleep. Only, when I checked on him before going to bed myself, I found him asleep standing up. Again this afternoon he fought the nap and after a 15 minute period of quiet, I checked on him to find him asleep standing up. I thought only horses were known to do this!

At any rate, my fingers are crossed that things are turning around. He hasn't had much of an appetite this week, but today he ate like a horse. He could not get enough. And when I put him down for the night, he cried for about a minute but then fell fast asleep. Let's hope he stays asleep and this becomes the new trend...

Harvest Festival

We spent the morning at the Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island for the annual Harvest Festival with M's brother and his family. Thomas and his cousin enjoyed visiting the barn full of farm animals, playing on farm equipment, running through the u-pick flower field, getting lost in the corn maize and taking a ride on the cow train. Good times!

T gets a better view of the corn maize on his dad's shoulders!

(fi) sshhh at the Japanese Garden

It's been really fun for us to watch Thomas' language skills develop. He uses sign language for some words and verbalizes others. Sometimes the sign is accompanied by the word or what he says for the word. Just this week he started to sign/say words like banana, telephone and Neha (his friend from down the street). But one of my favorites is still fish. He leaves off the F and the I so it's just ssshhh. I love hearing it so much that I'm convinced we need to get him a pet fish.

This morning we visited the Japanese Garden with his cousin and aunt. As beautiful as the Garden and structures are, the Koi pond area was probably the most fun for both kids. There were so many swimming around and each one is so unique. Thomas recognized them and said ssshhh. Again I'm convinced he needs one. Not a Koi, but a fat little orange goldfish with bulging eyes...