When I started this blog a few years ago, Karen insisted that we make the URL "oconnorbabieS.blogspot". She also bought a double stroller a couple months after we had Tommy and has been talking about setting up the second baby's bedroom since last summer. No to mention that we're really hurting for a drummer after Thomas abandoned the role last fall in a move that NEARLY shattered the band. So it's with great excitement that we'll make this trio a quartet sometime in July. Tommy has been practicing with a baby doll, and he's gotten pretty darn good at smothering, dislocating and dropping his doll, which basically means he's ready for babysitting. Honestly though, he's really excited about the new addition. He gives Karen's tummy lots of hugs and kisses and barely ever jumps on it. He doesn't know if it's going to be a boy or a girl, but he thinks we should call it "Baby" which is definitely in the top 3 right now.
In less than exciting news, Thomas is 2.25 years old, and is definitely exhibiting signs of what the experts call the terrible-atrocious-you have got to be kidding me-oh my God what is is now-seriously, you're upset about that-two's. Most of the day he's still the curious little sweethearted boy who asks for permission to play his piano, but every once in a while (especially right after he wakes up) he is SUPER PISSED at the world, but specifically at Karen and me and our house and our possessions.
So we continue to work through those episodes, but I'm not really encouraged as Grandma Tracye reminds me that I struggled with the same difficulties between the ages of 3 and 30.
His new favorite word is "DON'T" and he's found a multitude of creative ways to use it:
Don't do that!
Don't take that!
Don't block me!
Don't change my diaper!
Don't hug me!
Don't eat that!
Don't help me!
Don't love me! (my old favorite)
Don't see me! (my new favorite)
From the vague to the very specific, to denying us the use of our senses, he's pretty demanding. The toughest part is that he's so specific about his needs that it's becomes impossible to please him in the morning when we have approximately 32 minutes from the time we wake him up to the time we get out the door. In those 32 minutes he usually finds something to become disgruntled about (You put too much butter on my toast! You didn't put enough butter on my toast! You put exactly the right amount of butter, but it's buttered on the wrong side!). Again, the apple's not falling far from the tree here, but while I have learned to appreciate these "quirks" in myself, I am not a huge fan of it in others. One of life's little puzzles!
I give Karen a lot of credit for being very patient but also firm with him. We give him a little leeway but after a few minutes it just becomes a 2 versus 1 royal rumble and despite our 300 lb advantage, (he's surprisingly difficult to pin in his carseat) we find ourselves leaving late most days.
Apart from a couple of rough patches recently, we've had some great times together this winter.
A few weeks before Christmas we watched Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas cartoon, and as further proof that this boy is my son, he was absolutely hooked the moment that mean old Grinch slid down Wendy Lou Who's chimney. He has the song memorized, he has the lines memorized and to this day he asks to watch the Grinch a few times each day. The movie is 30 minutes long, but through the miracle of YouTube we found a video that has the song and all the thieving in a nice little 4 minute clip. We easily watched it 500 times over the last 3 months, and whether due to our repeated viewings or CBS's copyright laws, it was (mercifully) removed last week. You try explaining where that video went to him, because no matter how I tell him, he cannot accept it.
We read in Tommy's room before bed every night. 3 months ago, he was small enough to still sit on my lap in the chair, but now he's so big that either his feet nearly touch the ground, or his head blocks my view of the book. So we've moved down onto the ground where we lay on his dog, Gussie. The other night, Karen was at gym and Tommy and I were reading on Gus when she came home. When she came in to join us for our last book, he took out his choochie, and with his tiny little tired voice said, "Want me to scoot over and make room for you, Mommy?" And I almost lost it. That little thought and that he's able to say it out loud to us now is all I ever wanted from my son. He's been a little bit of a rabble-rouser lately, but he's a thoughtful, kind little person and sometimes we just look at each other and smile at how happy he makes us.
