More Pictures of Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008

Well, Christmas of 2008 has come and gone. This year was a whirlwind. Now that Thomas can walk, kind of talk, and kind of understands what gifts are, this year's version of Christmas was a little more hectic. First off, Thomas was recovering from his 2ND double ear infection in the last 3 weeks, so we were just hoping he would make it to dinner time without too many issues. As it turns out, that wasn't as much trouble as we thought it would be. Once he saw the gifts and his cousin Francie, it was on! The two of them were having a great time tearing the wrapping paper and playing with their toys. Francie, truly understands the idea behind presents. She squeals with delight after she opens a gift, then it is on to the next one. Thomas still seems a little confused as to what the big deal is. He takes his time opening each gift, takes a look at it, seems interested, then gets distracted by a light turning on or a new song on the radio. I think next year will be when he really gets into the opening and playing. This year, after the first few gifts, Emily and I did most of the opening. Then I did most of the playing. Tom, however, did figure out how to destroy one gift in particular. But that was o.k., the gift was meant to be knocked down. Click here to see the video of Tom the Tornado do his stuff.

Overall, we had a great (and busy) day. Morning with the Anderson family, afternoon with the Moores, then dinner at the extended Anderson family. Thomas was sacked out by 8 and really surprised both Emily and I with how well he handled all the excitement going on around him. Here are a few pictures from the morning portion at my parent's house:

Look out the window, that is the sun, just coming up. 7:30 AM my friends!
Tom and Francie getting ready to rip it up.

Francie is trying to get Tom to start the madness, but he is a little hesitant.

This is my cousin Jodie, recreating a picture from a few years back. This was X-Mas Eve, after a few cocktails, I believe.

My "Babysitting" Skills Have Improved

I was told it's not called "babysitting" when it is your own child, but whatever, that is what I am calling watching Tom while Emily is out, it is just easier to say. Anyway, a year ago, when I would babysit, I would be a little nervous. I didn't know if I could handle Tom's crying, noises, diapers, feedings, etc. I would consider it a successful evening if he drank his bottle and went to bed by 7:30. What a difference a year makes.

Now, I look forward to the "guys night in" evenings. We get to hang out and play. I'm just a big kid, so having a little kid around allows me to act like an idiot and no one questions it. We have a lot of toys now for Tom to play with, but as this video shows, he usually picks the one thing you wouldn't expect. This video is only 2 minutes long, but after I stopped filming, he kept at it for another 20 minutes.

Not the most exciting video, but it gives you an idea about how determined Tom is. If he wants to wear Daddy's shoe, he is going to keep trying until he gets it on his foot.

This next video was one I wanted to post a few weeks back, but never actually had my camera ready. It was kind of like Bigfoot. Sure, we knew Tom could say vacuum, but where is the proof?

The Family Tree Adds Some Branches

I am a little behind on the announcement front. My older sister, Kristy, is expecting her second child this April. I've known about that for awhile and just kept forgetting to put it on the blog. They tried to find out the sex a few weeks back, but little Goff was shy, so the doctor could not tell if they need blue clothes or pink.

Over Thanksgiving, Emily's older sister Kate had some big news as well. She and Jeff are expecting their first child in May. They just recently found out they are having a boy. So congrats all around, it's going to be a busy Spring.

Kate and Jeff (Baby Miller not pictured, yet)

Follow The Leader

I am back from my unintentional two week break from the blog. We actually had a pretty normal few weeks, no calls to 911 or ambulance rides, hence the lack of posts about Thomas. Some fun things have happened since my last post.

Tom has become quite the talker in the last few weeks. He has always been good with the "Da Da's" but he called everything "Da Da" so that really didn't count as a first word. Well he officially said his first word that made sense to us. Unbelievably the word is Vacuum. He LOVES vacuums. In fact, one night when he woke up and was scared and crying, he actually was yelling for vacuum. It's like the vacuum is his security blanket. The other word he is really good at saying and he knows what it means is "hot". He will point at the oven and say "hot hot hot hot" for a solid minute. It's amazing how fast he picked up on that one. He is also pretty close to saying "Ball, Shoes, and Mommy", but not there yet. He does say Daddy, but we are not sure he knows that means me.

The other fun thing we noticed about Thomas is that he understands what certain things are and how they relate to him. The one video I posted shows him going to "Bear", so he knows that. He also knows that "Bye Bye" means we are leaving. But the best one so far is in the following video, where I set the record for most times saying the word "Bath" in a minute. Enjoy: