Update from Tommy's mama

Tommy's zest for life continues to amaze me. I love to watch him stuff his face with pomegranate seeds, laugh out loud while running, or sing out 'bye bye' in upper octaves that have been known to set off security alarms. He requests group hugs and is a very generous giver of kisses and waves. He's never met a stranger he didn't know, especially fellow Metro riders. If he keeps up these flirting skills into his teenage years, we're in trouble.

He likes to keep a close eye on his loved ones, often signing for their presence as soon as he notices them missing. And the dancing! The unadulterated joy he feels while spontaneously dancing and laughing is downright infectious. I dare anyone to not smile while watching him dance. Michael Jackson is his favorite artist, but he's not picky.

He's obsessed with doors and keys, balls, wiping and scrubbing, toothbrushes, and watching videos of himself. Tommy maintains his patience with being groomed, becoming uncharacteristically still while I put lotion on his face or wipe his nose. He proudly sports a curly mullet and has all but run off his baby fat. No one can make him laugh quite like his papa. He's developing his words and signs at lightning speed. The only thing that he seems to do slowly these days is grow teeth. Still no sign of any beyond the six he has. No matter, I still love that T Bone. Mama out.

Can you say, "Snow"?

The Blizzard of 2009 hit a couple of weeks ago and dumped about 16 inches of snow in DC. Tommy wanted to play near it, not exactly in it. We went outside, then back in three times, but he barely wanted to touch the stuff, despite it being perfect for snowballs or snowmen. Maybe next time. We did manage to get him to say his version of snow. It came out sounding more like a gentle Nooo. Very cute.

If you look closely, you'll see a snot bubble...gross, but funny.

The aftermath of the storm on our block and in our backyard.

And a short vid.

National Botanic Gardens

The Holiday Magic exhibit at the U.S. Botanic Gardens is really impressive, with a huge holiday tree, replicas of national monuments and buildings made of plant parts, and train sets running through fanciful villages also all made of plant parts. The detail is amazing to see, and the kids loved watching the trains motor past villages of fairies, gypsies, and other characters from children's stories. It was so much fun, we went twice!

And then back at home to his wild and crazy ways...

To The ATL

Our next stop on EZ's work trip tour was Atlanta. We got to visit three wonderful families and their kids. Getting to hang with EZ on her work trips has been great! How else can we fly for the price of one ticket and get to visit our friends and family at the same time?

1st stop was the Pangles' house. Ellen blogged and posted pics about our stay there at http://thepangles.blogspot.com/2009/12/chris-elizabeth-and-little-tommy-visit.html. Can't believe we didn't take pics on our own camera. Thanks for bailing us out, Ellen! They gave us the royal treatment over there, and the boys had so much fun together. The force is strong w/Tommy thanks to Walker's jedi training.

We then got over to Sugi and Mike's house for a great pizza dinner and our first time meeting Esan. What a great kid! Love that smile, and he was kind enough to share his toys w/Tommy. Turns out it's taken me so long to catch up on the blog that I believe his 1st birthday recently passed. Happy birthday, Esan!

And the last stop on our trip was to Susan and Duncan and Dean's house for dinner. Dean and Tommy were born 3 weeks apart, and after Dean rabbitted ahead in height and weight soon thereafter, it seems that they've evened out as of late. However, Tommy now has the lead in being a maniacal, screaming little boy, and Dean was left wondering who the heck let that kid in the house. Great to see the Cannons and to compare notes on living with a 15-month old. See you soon!

Post-Thanksgiving Travels

The day after Thanksgiving, we packed up and hit the friendly skies for a trip to Denver. Tommy and I tagged along w/EZ on a work trip, and we took the opportunity to visit cousin Liza and family. As usual, the hosts hooked us up with fine accommodations and gourmet cooking. And we took a peek into the operations of the Denver chapter of Daddy Daycare, adminstered by Andy (congrats on the new job, by the way). Luke and Sophie are too cute, and Sophie loved hanging w/the little guy.

Washington Park is only a few blocks from the house, so we checked it out. Beautiful lake and playground over there.

Several pianos are set up around downtown Denver, so Tommy tickled the ivories a bit. One random guy even stopped to take his picture.

Group photo! Got this with the timer after 2 failed attempts. Everyone's smiling (Luke's is sneaky)! Not a bad piece of photography, if I do say so myself.

At the hotel, Tommy decided to see what kind of trouble he could get into...

Giving Thanks In Richmond

Thanksgiving weekend came, and we went to Richmond to celebrate with our families. We're always grateful that both of our families live in the same city, so we don't have to choose where we'll spend the holidays. The pleasant November weather continued in Richmond with sunny skies on Turkey Day. Gobble gobble!



Tommy wanna cracker?

The backstory to the following sequence of photos goes like this: Tommy was so excited to get to Granny and Pop's house for Thanksgiving that he started running up the sidewalk to the front steps. Before we could catch up to him, he fell and scratched the pad of his hand. Well, he sure milked as much sympathy as he could from those in attendance, showing them all his grievous injury and furrowing his brow in obvious disdain for his lax parents who were not paying close enough attention to prevent it.

Finally, family friend Karin showed Tommy that all it takes is a little healing breath to make things feel better.


Family portrait.

After eating, David and Tommy had fun ripping through the leaves in the backyard.

After a quick rest, it was over to Lola's house to join the Heraldos in giving thanks.

The Karaoke machine got turned on, and Tommy showed off his moves to Billie Jean sung by cousin Sarah. Check out the video below for some serious groovin to MJ.