Happy Birthday Thomas

Something crazy happened! My baby boy just turned into a smart, helpful,  yet still wild and crazy little BOY! I don't know when….but it happened. Ha ha. Okay so it has probably been happening for a while now…But I've been in denial. Something about Thomas turning 4 really made me look at him and realize how quickly he is growing up and changing. Even pictures from a year ago he looks so tiny in comparison. It  makes me take a deep breath and try to really soak up my time with him. There was a time I felt the little tiny stage would last forever, and now I am seeing how very fleeting it is. And It makes me a little sad. But, right now I am fully enjoying the stage that Thomas is in. He is so fun, sweet, loving, curious, smart, silly and downright adorable. He has quite a hold of my heart. He may just be my favorite 4 year old EVER! 

 I love the look on his face! He is so nervous about the fire, yet so intrigued.

 We gave him this little airport game. He and Caroline have been having a lot of fun with it. It is so cute to watch them play together.

 Clint got him a little T ball set. He is starting to really enjoy playing sports, especially with Clint. And I love watching them together. So sweet.  His birthday was so fun. We had a celebration with the Allred's and then another one on his birthday with my Mom and Niel. Of course I don't have photo documentation of either d'oh! I'm the worst at taking pictures.

A little bit about Thomas at 4 Years

 Thomas is a big sweet heart. I love that he is such a little mama's boy. He can be really wild at times, but deep down he is just a little sweetie. He can be a bit pesky to poor Caroline sometimes (I think I hear the phrase "Stop it TaTa!" More times a day than anything) But they do love each other very much and he can be really cute with her. One day Caroline woke up from her nap and I had my hand full and couldn't get to her right away, so Thomas went into her room and said, "Its okay Caroline, Thomas is here." What a good big brother.  Another day he said to me, "Caroline is so cute! She is adorable! What does adorable mean?"

 Speaking of Thomas being a big softy…This boy really cannot handle any kind of conflict or tension at all! We try to watch movies with him and he gets so scared! "Turn it off! Turn it off!" And this is from watching shows like Finding Nemo and the Jungle Book. He gets so into the movies he just can't handle the conflict. Its adorable really, because it shows how completely innocent he is. Someday I will miss when that is gone.

Thomas is extremely particular about things… He can kind of be a little dictator sometimes! Although he is getting better. But for instance, he will not eat a broken graham cracker, he will only use blue or red straws, he has to have his firetruck blanket perfectly draped over his chair- just so! He only likes his mom to help with certain things, But he does not wan this mom or sister to interrupt his play time with his dad at all! He will say, "This is just for the boys!" He will only wear certain things, basically t shirts with trucks or dinosaurs or things of that nature. He likes to have lots of books read to him at night and he sleeps with a huge pile of blankets on his bed, with the closet light on every night. Putting him to bed is quite the ritual. Its exhausting! But we love him so we do it.

 Its not easy getting Thomas to pose for the camera...

 Unless you try to get action shots of the monkey.

 The boy still loves his trucks.

He has really developed quite the cute little sense of humor. Its funny. He loves to tell jokes and make people laugh. He is just the silliest!

Some of his favorites:
Show- Paw Patrol
Food- He is still way picky but is slowly getting better… He loves graham crackers and applesauce and plain spaghetti noodles
Friend- He still talks about his friend Lincoln a lot… It make me sad! There aren't a lot of kids in our neighborhood, but he loves to play with the two girls next door, Averi and Lili. But if you ask him who his best friend is, he will tell you, Its Grammy Joey.
Color- Blue and Red
Playtime- He loves the sandbox, trucks, and legos
Treat- Ruby Snap Cookies

Thomas, you are the most darling little boy. I love you with my whole heart. You inspire me to be a better mother, and you challenge me to be the best I can for you. You have so much potential. You are a leader, people want to be around you. You have given our home the gift of laughter and you bring a smile to our faces everyday. You are truly one of a kind and we thank Heavenly Father he has trusted us to raise such a special and sweet fun loving little boy. Happy Birthday! And lets have this year go by a little more slowly, okay? I don't know what I'm going to do when you turn 5!

Caroline turns 18 months

This girl. I'm telling you, she has just about everyone in the palm of her hand, and she is only 18 months old! Could there be a sweeter soul out there? I think not.

This is my favorite stage of early childhood. She is starting to be so curious, and she is learning at lightning speed. Her little personality is showing through more and more everyday. And she is just a big sweetheart. One of my favorite things is hearing Thomas call Caroline his little sweetheart. It melts me.

The lady is still a thumb sucker! Any tips out there? She looks so cute, its hard to want to break her of it! And then she won't be a baby at all anymore! One day I wrapped her two thumbs in bandaids. She held our her hands, with a very sad expression on her face and said, "All gone?" 

Serious, serious caroline. That little face!

She has started learning names for emotions, and making faces accordingly. This is sad.

And this is happy! Caroline is a pretty happy little gal.  She has become quite good friends with Thomas, or TaTa as she calls him. Initially Thomas wasn't a fan of this. He said, "I am not called TATA!" But he has warmed up to it now, and its kind of like a little pet name. When he isn't around she calls out around the house, "TaTa? TaTa?" She started trying to say her name and said, CuCu (pronounced Cockoo) Of course Thomas thought that was hilarious! "She thinks her name is cuckoo!" So we coached her to say coco instead. So there you have it, my two kids, TaTa and CoCo.

She has been talking quite a bit. Her vocabulary is very impressive. She will say words I had no idea she knew. Like Broccoli, X-Ray, Cocoon, Pirate, Tunnel, Butterfly. I could go on and on. I have completely lost track of how many words she has now. Its well over 100 for sure. 

She has even started putting words together to form sentences. Her first sent ace, "Papa, See Moon?" How cute is that? Caroline LOVES the moon. She asks to see it every morning and every night. When she sees it in the sky she stretchers her little arms up and says, "Reach! Reach!" Yep. Adorable.

She also loves learning sign language. She picks the signs up really quickly. This is a picture of her signing, "Baby" but she knows several signs, and learns a new one almost every day. 

Caroline has also taken a keen interest in coloring and painting. When she see's the crayons or a pen or markers or whatever she says, very urgently, "Color! Color!" When we go grocery shopping she often takes my pen and my list away from me to color a picture. And she always ends up coloring on the milk carton in the cart too. :)

Of course she still loves her babies. That bed is packed like sardines!

This little girl is not all sugar, she has a little spice as well. She is getting a little sassy and she is also quite mischievous. Of course after raising toddler Thomas I can take just about anything this girl dishes out.

Silly lady! That doesn't go in the garbage. 

One of my favorite things Caroline says now is "Silly Papa!" she says it like "SeeWee PaPa" When she is looking for Clint during the day she will say, "Papa? Papa?" And I respond, "Papa is not home, Caroline, papa is at work" and she says, "Papa Sleep (and does the sign for sleep) Seewee papa!" So there you have it, apparently Clint is sleeping on the job. Everyday. 

There are no words for how much we love this sweet little girl. She adds so much joy to our home. Her spirit is pure, and good and kind. Her gentle mannerisms and her precious smile make us all so happy. While I truly wish I could keep Caroline at this age forever, I can't wait to see the person she develops into. She is worth so much and she is going to do great things. That is for certain!