What's Tommy been up to...

So I'm really bad at blogging. But the occasional update is still helpful and good to have for memory's sake. Tommy has been changing so much lately. He's as handsome as can be, looks just like his Daddy with his Mommy's coloring (aka - pale). He's looking more and more like an adorable boy instead of a cute little baby. I'm okay with that, I'm really enjoying watching him grow and change and do more things.  He can sit himself up and army/belly crawls. Tommy loves to eat pretty much everything. His favorite food right now is Club Crackers. He is getting more teeth. They aren't coming in the expected order, but that's typical with kids with DS. Right now he has his two front bottom teeth, two teeth at the top kind of in the middle towards the back, and there are a couple more coming in the bottom and possibly the two front teeth. Tommy's teeth are suuuper sharp and he has a heck of a bite! So I'm scared to feel around for new teeth.

I am so thankful that Tommy is finally belly crawling. We are still working toward crawling on his hands and knees but we'll take what we can get. And it just gives me peace of mind that he won't skip over a developmental stage. Like going straight from sitting to walking, skipping crawling. It has been soooooo much fun with him being more mobile. Tommy plays on the floor by himself for long amounts of time now and that gives me a lot more free time! It's been glorious!!!!! I feel like we're finally experiencing what a lot of other parents experience a lot sooner, a little more freedom. But there are also perks that come with this for us, it has definitely made the transition as he gets older a lot easier for us. And we definitely greatly appreciate his mobility, which I doubt we would have been as aware of before.

Playing all by himself

Tommy's favorite things these days:

-Club Crackers (as mentioned above)

-Bubbles

-Knocking down towers made of blocks (his blocks are his favorite toy, he used to hate them)
-The Remote Control (that's how we got him to belly crawl)
-His Nana Jan (she can get him to crack up laughing)
-Bath time (or shower time)
-Swinging
-Wagon Rides at Nana & Pappy's house
-Drinking cold water out of his sippy cup
-Playing Peek-a-Boo (still)
-Listening and watching Mommy sing songs (we do hand motions to a lot of songs)
-Discovering new things around the family room (mainly the air vents)
-Wiggling/sliding himself out of your arms, down to the floor
-Being held upside down by his Daddy
-Squealing/screaming suuuuuper loud and high pitched when he gets excited
-Pinching! AAAH! Wish he didn't love this, it really hurts!
-Playing with Mommy's hair (which is usually how I get pinched b/c he reaches back to find my hair and instead gets my neck)
-Making music (playing the piano, he has a drum full of toy instruments that our friend Stephanie got him for his birthday - he particularly loves the drumsticks and the "shaka shaka eggs")

He discovered the shelves and had fun making a mess (don't worry this was supervised, Kyle encourages me to let him explore)

BUBBLES! Or as Tommy says, "bub, bub, bub"

Things Tommy dislikes these days:
-Naps (he didn't need to much of crying it out as an infant but he does now)
-His Daddy trying to put him down for naps/sleep
-Getting his hair washed (he's very independent and wants to be left alone to play in the water)
-Not too big of a fan of physical therapy these days, once again b/c of his independence but he has a great PT who finds different ways to distract him & get him to work
-When people leave, even if I walk out the back door just to let the dog out, he starts crying; when Kyle leaves for work he cries; when Nana & Pappy left on the 4th of July - he cried
-That I choose his food for him; he is not a picky eater in general but there are certain times it's hard to feed him certain things...it's beyond me.

Some other things I forgot to mention before he is trying to say the word "more" & "bubble". He can turn a light switch off when you ask him to. He can point to your mouth if you ask where it is and your nose. Sometimes he gets a little confused between the mouth and nose - but they're so close together and he's only a year old. He has really really good "receptive language" which means he can understand and responds to a lot of what we say. But he doesn't say any words yet. He is starting to sign "more" pretty regularly now. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that he can understand things we say! However, the little stinker, is going to be a handful to discipline. He thinks "NO!" is funny. He found an extension cord under the couch and reached under, pulled it out, & I said, "No, No!" very sternly and he looks at me and gives me the most mischievous grin and one year old boy could ever give! I shook my head and obviously went and physically took his hand off of it and told him no and moved him away. I'm thinking we have our hands full! But overall he's super laid back and very easy to keep out of trouble. We are so thankful for our sweet boy & how much fun it is to watch him grow into a bigger boy.

Other new things - Kyle is now working a new job. So far it's going great. The schedule has been a little sporadic at times but it's a much better schedule for all of us and he is enjoying it. However, it leaves me without a car a lot and over time that makes me grumpy. I don't like being stuck in the house all day with no option of leaving and of course when Kyle's been working all day the last thing he wants to do is go out. And I really like and love my hubby so I don't want to leave when he's home. We're hoping to find a very used but in good condition minivan - so if you know anyone let us know please!

As for me and my updates there's not too much new, I'm trying to be more motivated around the house. I'm praying more often for a joyful and loving spirit to serve my husband and my son. I feel like I do a lot of internal complaining about having to do certain things. But I know that it is a joy and a blessing to have both of them in my life and to have the opportunity to serve them and I am ultimately serving Christ in those moments, not them. So I would hope that I would not internally complain about serving Him. I'm trying out a new thing this week, I wish I could be a menu person to plan out our meals, but realistically I know the day would come that we're supposed to have Vegetable Soup and grilled cheese (what we had tonight) and it would sound awful. So I made a list of 6 choices of meals (b/c we eat out once a week, almost always fast food) so we could choose when we wanted what. So far it's working out okay. It's nice to have options. It was more expensive at the grocery store. It has helped mentally, not having to feel like I'll have to scramble around trying to figure out what we're having. Our choices this week are homemade pizza(had it Monday night), Tuesday night out, Vegetable Soup and grilled cheese (had it tonight), Chicken Fajitas, Waffles or Pancakes, General Tso Chicken (new recipe to try for Kyle, he's obsessed with this chicken so I have to learn how to make it good), Ramen or baked ziti (which ever Kyle prefers and yes we love Beef Ramen!). We'll see how it goes.

That's all for now, sorry for being so random and scatter brained!