our growing family

Two adults, one toddler and two dogs just wasn't enough. Today we've added three guppies to our family. I had intended to get two goldfish, but when I told the saleslady that I wanted to put two of those in a 2 gallon bowl she quickly steered me to the smaller fish. I guess they would need a little more space than our little bowl (who knew?). We picked out our three new guppies, a new plant for the fish bowl and the woman directed us to some water conditioner and salt something or another that we would also need. We had the fish bowl and some pretty blue rocks at home so I figured we were all set. Nope. I forgot fish food.

musical chairs, anyone?

Today marked an entirely new car riding experience for Thomas -- we turned him around so he now faces forward. As with anything child-related, I had read several different recommendations as to when to make this change. Everyone seems to have an opinion. We had decided to put it off until he weighed closer to 30 pounds. Not sure if that's where he's at right now, but he feels pretty close and we're comfortable with spinning the seat around. He didn't mind facing backward, but seems maybe just a little happier to be facing forward.

Of course, having him face forward and now seated behind the passenger seat is totally throwing me off. For the past 16+ months I've been watching him via the rear view mirror (and another mounted on the backseat). Now I only get a partial view of him in the rear view mirror and instead need to peek over my shoulder to see him. While out driving this afternoon, I found myself constantly checking the rear view mirror and, on more than one occasion, wondering where Thomas was...

new photos!

Our home computer has been back up and running for almost a week now. Last night M was able to get the digital camera to download photos again to the computer. Not sure what happened there, but the two weren't finding each other. I thought I'd have a whole bunch of photos during this interim, but I really didn't. I'll post a few here that were taken these last few weeks...

a splishin' and a splashin'

A previous post included a photo of Thomas in the casting pond as it was being filled. He enjoyed splashing around in the water and getting his jeans totally soaked.

Greta plants herself

I tell her she's beautiful and smells pretty all the time. She must think she's a flower. I caught her one afternoon sunning herself in the planter. Silly dog.

Thomas' playroom

Toys here, toys there, toys everywhere. One of my pet peeves is coming home to a front room cluttered with toys. Books over here, plastic cars over there. A stuffed animal in the planter. A ball on top of the dining room table. It really bugs me. And now that Thomas is getting older and accumulating even more toys, the problem was growing. Our solution? A playroom. All the toys reside in there and at the end of the day when he's long asleep, I can close the door. I love the playroom!

still smiling

Over the last two weeks, all three of us have had this cold. Thomas was the only one smiling while down with it though.

chipmunk Thomas

A new exhibit in the Science Playground at OMSI invites children to see the world from our furry little friends' perspective. They can wear these little costumes, climb into a bird's nest, and enjoy all sorts of other fun activities.

Halloween shopping

Kind of cute as an Elvis impersonator, eh? We didn't go with this costume idea.

riding in the front seat

When I need to move the Mercedes into the street, I often take Thomas with me and plop him down on the front seat. He loves it.

Hollywood comes to the 'hood

Thomas and I rode our bikes over to watch filming of Sean Penn's new movie "Into the Wild". They have been in production on the Oregon coast since June, but have now moved inland and landed right in our 'hood. We weren't able to get too close as they were in the middle of filming, but I did snap a few photos of what we were able to see. Right behind the blue newspaper stand above are actors William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden. The guy to the left in a gray t-shirt and jeans is director Sean Penn. Also starring in this film are actors Vince Vaughn and Catherine Keener, but we didn't see either today.

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After they finished shooting one scene, I figured we had seen enough and Thomas and I started walking our bike down the block away from the shoot. Marcia Gay Harden was coming up behind us and stopped when she reached us to gush over Thomas. She and her assistant oohed and aahed over him, commenting on how adorable he is. Marcia asked if he was almost two, made a few comments about the monkeys on his bicycle helmet and said our setup with the bicycle and bicycle trailer looked like a lot of fun. Her face was familiar but I could not remember her name or think of anything intelligent to say. I resorted to the normal small talk I'd do with any stranger. Of course, once we got home I had to look her up online to find out her name. Marcia Gay Harden! Duh.

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local celebrity?

This photo of Thomas appeared in the local newspaper today. By 8am this morning, we had already received a phone call and an e-mail from people who had seen the photo. Last Friday Thomas and I joined his playgroup at the nearby park as the casting pond began to be filled for the first time in 5 years. Quite the excitement for our little neighborhood!

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...

seeing double

Thomas at the zoo

chuck & duck

Because all the cool kids have them...

This morning we found Chuck Taylor All Stars on sale so I decided to finally pick up a pair for Thomas. He liked the blue while I was partial to the black with flames so we got them both. I also got myself a pair in picante (is that a great color name or what?). I haven't worn a pair since junior high, but I'm loving them already. We just need to get M a pair now!

I couldn't resist snapping a few photos of Thomas this morning when I noticed him wearing his OU shirt and standing by the dogs' duck toy. Maybe it's a sign of things to come? Oklahoma, strong and victorious and Oregon...? [note: Thomas isn't going, but his parents will be at the Oregon-Oklahoma football game next month. Go Sooners!]

reading with Grandpa

Thomas loves to read

books on trucks are favorites

Grandpa likes them too!

BBQ with family

Thomas checks out his cousin's new Pug puppy, Lucy...

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and eats black olives off his finger!

All Aboard!

In his book Trains, Thomas' favorite page is toward the end when the conductor puts his hand up in the air and shouts All Aboard! When we get to this page, he always turns to watch me because he knows I will raise my hand up in the air and shout All Aboard! He loves it. This morning Thomas heard a real train conductor shout All Aboard! several times (to which he smiled) as we enjoyed his first train ride.

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Typically we visit the Zoo for about an hour but this morning we spent nearly 2.5 hours at the Zoo, taking a ride on the Zooliner. Thomas really enjoyed the train ride. Each time the train's horn sounded Thomas would answer Choo Choo! I found it terribly cute. As we neared the end of the ride, we were also nearing his nap time. Thomas was very content to sit on my lap with both hands in his pockets, staring straight ahead. His mama loved every second of it.

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blue eyes

Thomas and I haven't explored too many local kid-friendly coffeeshops, but with all the buzz surrounding the latest Portland offering and an invite to join friends, we went to one this morning. He had a great time playing in the children's area and also out in the main seating area. It wasn't quite the relaxing, sipping hot coffee and enjoying a yummy treat whilst chatting with friends that I always imagine it might be (it was actually none of those things), but it was a nice outing nonetheless. It was fun to check out this place and to see these friends again.

M and her big, beautiful blue eyes