Thomas is 2 1/2 years old!

I thought I would share a little bit about Thomas at 2 1/2.  Thomas has an amazing imagination which keeps him up at nap time and bedtime despite my best intentions to get him to sleep.  Today I went into his room and he was skating around his bed.  He said, "I am skating.  Look at my skates (his socks were halfway on his feet)."  He woke up mooing because the cow he had slept with was ready to get up.  He also makes amazing accurate train sounds (whistle and choo-choo) all day.  I am afraid James will grow up thinking we live next to a train station. 

Thomas has a great memory and surprises us every day with what he remembers.  The other day he was talking to Grammy on the phone, and he asked her to bring over another gingerbread house (he had made one with her before Christmas).  He repeats everything you say so you have to be very careful.  Lately he has began asking what things are that he doesn't know, which I love. 

Thomas loves to be naked (luckily he keeps his diaper on).  Even though we have had one of the coldest winters ever, Thomas spends most of the day wearing just a diaper.  Every night I have to put jammies on him.  Then he immediately takes them off and sleeps with the jammies next to him.  He has gone potty in the big boy potty a handful of times.  He used some very colorful and hilarious language to describe his first experience.  I will spare you the details.  I am hoping to begin potty training this summer.  However, he told me, "I don't want to wear underwear, Momma.  Just diapers."   

He genuinely loves babies.  I have heard many people say that their older child barely noticed a new baby, but not Thomas.  The other day Thomas was playing in his sandbox with our neighbors, Kate (5) and Ben (3).  Thomas would get out of the sandbox to look at Kate and Ben's little sister, Emily (5 months) and comment on what she was doing or how cute she was.  I am not sure Kate and Ben even know they have a sister yet.  He also talks about Baby Charlie and Baby Louie.

He is a sensitive kid who loves to watch and play with other kids.  He gets very concern when other kids are crying.  He really wants to play with other kids but doesn't quite know how.  When we go the park, he will go up to other kids and roar at them (he is a dinosaur).  Most of the time the other kids just look at Thomas and don't know what to do.  We recently began playing with our neighbors, and now Thomas wants to go outside and play with the big kids all the time.  While I am excited for him to begin engaging with other people beside his family, it saddens me because I know that he will have to face the cruelness of the world also.

Other things Thomas loves are playing in his sandbox with his trucks, going to the Horse Park, feeding Babe apples, Mickey Mouse, peanut butter, animals, trains, the Train Store, going upstairs with Granddaddy, Keekie, and Baby James.