Outside

It's a hard sell in wintertime to get Thomas to play outside for very long, but an even harder sell getting him to come back inside once the weather gets a little bit warmer in the other three seasons.  This year, nicer weather has taken a little longer to reach our neck of the woods, but now that it's here, Thomas is loving every minute of it.

This week, we took a few field trips to fun local places.  Thomas and I joined a few West Point friends at the Bear Mountain Zoo in Fort Montgomery on a gorgeous Monday.

"Oh!"

There is a pop-up book, Dinner Time, that has recently been added into our bedtime book rotation.  In it, various animals end up eating each other for dinner.  Don't worry, it's not as morbid as it sounds.  The vulture eats the frog on page two.  I didn't even think about that when we walked up to the bear's den, which strangely enough also houses the vultures.  It's a small zoo and it's free, so we don't question pairings like that.  I told Thomas to look for the bears and the vultures and he immediately said, "Bultures? I going eat my dinner!" which bears a strong resemblance to the recurring line from the book, "I'm going to eat you for my dinner."  Too cute.

"I eat my dinner..."

Snacking with the crew

After a nice time with some friends and animals ("em-u-uhls") and a nice nap, Thomas was ready to hit our backyard.  No rest for the weary!   We were off to take care of the yard.

Drag the blower out,

Add some gas,

And pull to start

Once the yard work is done, Thomas does allow us to take a little time to play and have a snack together.

Heading up to play hockey in the yard

This weekend, Dad joined us for some good playing and a picnic near the river at West Point.  The warmer weather was a little elusive, but what fun!

Breaking away from lunch for some time by the river

A fort?!?

Checking out the waterline with Mom

Upper-body strength training with Dad

On occasion, we do head inside, but (butt) we'll spare you most of those images.  Welcome Spring!

A Hoppin' Good Easter

Thomas was in his glory this Easter.  We spent it again with Aunt Caca, the third Easter in as many years.  

Easter #1 (at 7.5 mos) in Hilton Head

Easter #2 (at 19 mos) at our house

Easter #3 at our house

This time, Caca brought along a special friend, her dog, and we convinced Great Aunt Laura to hop on a train and join us at our house.   Despite some pretty cold temperatures, Thomas managed to really enjoy three things he loves: Charlie Dog, people to play with, and candy.

We have Frankie Dog, and Thomas dotes on him and drags him around.

Watching YouTube and eating with Frankie Dog

But Frankie's got nothing on the living, breathing, non-battery operated Charlie Dog.  Caca noted this trip that Thomas was a little gentler and Charlie was a little more patient.  Two very good things.

Charlie sniffs out the jelly beans in the eggs

Taking Charlie for a walk

Speaking of Charlie, over Easter weekend, Thomas became acutely aware of who needs to know important information.  For example, when Caca was getting her hair done and Mama was in charge of watching Thomas and Charlie and he happened to trot away into the neighbor's yard, Thomas knew it was his duty to tell Erica, "Charlie runned away, Caca."  Thanks, Thomas.

I was not the only victim of Thomas' information sharing.  While Mike and I went to pick up his car, Thomas stayed at our house with Aunt Laura, who was tasked with giving Thomas a bath.  When we got home, the first things Thomas shared was, "Hi, Mama!  Laur couldn't find a bath."   The knob that releases the water from the shower and into the tub was stuck and poor Laura had to resort to filling the tub with shower water.  Thanks, Thomas.

The harmless sharing of information is a tiny bit uncomfortable for the "guilty" party, but there are so many other things he says and does that we just laugh it off.  Like how charming it was when he came inside to find eggs that the Easter Bunny had hidden.  And, "Oh, my goodness! Hey Laur!  There is a jelly bean in there!"

"Oh boy!  Another jelly bean!"

 To work off all the candy, cake, cookies, rolls, asparagus, potatoes and ham, Thomas and Dad headed outside to rake off the calories.

Thomas and the bunnies feasting

Overall, an extended weekend of lots of good food, lots of good fun, and lots of nice family time.  Lucky all of us.

March Madness

The NCAA Basketball tournament has begun.  Thomas is a huge basketball and sports fan.  With the absence of the Army Black Knights at tourney time, he has decided that he really likes the red team.  Not sure who the red team is, but that's ok.  Even though the Black Knights didn't fare well in the post season, but that didn't stop Thomas from cheering loudly for Army.

Thomas and Dad clap

Thomas himself is quite a basketball player.  He weighs in at approximately 30 pounds and 35 inches tall.  Shoots with both, but favors the right.  We practice shooting baskets daily in the garage. 

Score!

The Dunk

Swoosh

After, of course, the madness ensues and we play hockey, baseball, bike riding and "driving" Mom's car.

Shoots the puck as a lefty

We do have time to settle down and enjoy the scenery though.  Our winter has followed a predictable and rather enjoyable pattern.  Snow a lot, then it gets warmer and the snow melts.  Repeat.
Thomas enjoys watching the plow guy from his perch inside.

"See Dan a plow guy, Mama?"

Part of our nightly scenery is Dad reading the news on the couch after dinner.  One night, Mike wasn't home for dinner, so Thomas took it upon himself to show his Mama that he could adequately fill the void.

Check out those size 7 feet!

Basketball tourney aside, part of the madness this March is the anticipation of the addition of a new member to the McCollum family.  This summer, Thomas will welcome a baby brother to our family.  With respect to his interest in lawn equipment and machinery, he is sporting a new shirt.

July 27th, specifically

Can you make out the cute little nose? *hint: the head is on the right side

What Thomas Loves

From day one, Thomas has been very clear about what he likes and doesn't like.  We have moved, thank goodness, from incessant crying and spitting up as tell-tale signs to his verbalizing his likes and dislikes using very complete and relatively complex sentences.  Lately, there have been a few things that really stand out as things he clearly loves more than just about anything else. 

Thomas loves to go to a park.  When the park is on a list of three places to go, he'll ask, "Us go free (three) places, Mama?  Us go to a park first?"  There is no "the" in Thomas' current working vocabulary.  We go to a park, get a ball, bring a iPad, etc.   He loved the park near Nana's house in Lake George this summer, the one he went to in Florida, and the one near our house in Cornwall.  Last week, the three of us braved the chilly weather and little bit of remaining ice to visit the park.

Thomas' first stop is to see the geese, ducks and swans.  Mama is happy to stand and watch them from 10 feet away and talk to them, but of course, Daddy tried to coerce Thomas into helping him catch one.  These geese are no fools; they made it to the water before Mike could get them.

Next, it was Mama's turn for coercion.  She wrangled the boys up from bird patrol in favor of a ride on a seesaw.

T

Thomas loves to play with his Dad.  He also loves to play on the slide.  Double score!

Since there is only so much sliding you can do on a cold day, we ran a couple of errands with Thomas' big buddy, Daddy.  Thomas became Dad's able-bodied assistant while changing the air filter on Mama's car.  Thomas loves to help.

Thomas loves to do what his Mama does.  Sometimes this is helpful, like when we wants to clean the windows, but it is usually just entertaining. 

Taking pictures like Mama (with his mini camera)

Making stew with Mama

Sporting Mama's headband and eye shadow

 Thomas loves "Tube."  Mama loves Tube too.  Tube is YouTube.  He watches various shows and videos every day.  Thomas loves it because he can turn it on and select the videos he likes all by himself.  Mama loves it for that reason too, but mostly because it is a babysitter of sorts.  It is during the time Thomas watches Tube that I enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee or enjoy a shower sans Thomas in there with me or time to start a blog post like this one, for example.

Life is not all Tube, as you probably can guess.  Thomas loves anything that involves a ball or a ball and a stick or a stick and a puck.  We "play hockey in a graj (garage)" pretty much every day.  Thanks to our friend Jason, Thomas even now has a lefty stick.  This kid wants for nothing. 

We also play a lot of soccer.  Soccer was the first sport Thomas really picked up and was good at.  He has been able to kick the ball in a straight line pretty much since he could walk.  We now play something called Championship Soccer.  I have no idea where this came from, maybe he heard the term championship on tv with all of the basketball that has been on lately.  Sometimes we play Championship Basketball, but it's mostly "Cham Chan Ship Soccer."

Thomas still loves to be naked.  I cannot fathom why on earth he likes to be naked in 35 degree weather, but of course, I feel the need to document this as well.

Enjoying his own nakedness in our bed

 Thomas loves his Mama.  If you didn't couldn't tell this from the wonderful snuggles we have or from the way he requests Mama for book reading at bedtime, then you would most certainly know it when on my birthday he said to me, "Mama, I buy you TWO candies for your birfday!"   Doesn't get any sweeter than that.