Sleep, Christmas Spirit and Chatting

I've gotten several inquiries over the last few weeks on how Thomas is sleeping now-a-days. The answer is MUCH BETTER! After implementing Operation Night-Night Chart, we have all been getting much more sleep. As you can see by the our November chart below, Thomas earned a lot of stickers beginning on Nov 10th. Out of all of those nights, only 2 times did Thomas get up in the middle of the night and wake me - all of the other nights that he didn't earn a sticker usually resulting in him coming into my room in the middle of the night and curling up with his pillow, blanket and baby bear next to my bed and falling asleep - I really didn't want to reward that behavior (but it sure was cute to find him fast asleep snooring). BTW... he loved getting all the prizes each time he earned 3 stickers.

Mommy's little Christmas reindeers
Is this not sweet? While Abby isn't happy about having to sit for another one of my quick picture escapades - Thomas trys very calmly to quiet her down with one of his kisses. He is just the sweetest to her.

Lots of hilarious conversations have been going on between Thomas and me lately. I'll quickly try to give you some highlights:

• We are driving home one afternoon from school when a ambulance is fast approaching behind us. As expected, all of the cars are pulling over into the median or shoulder to let him by. Just as I'm merging back into the left lane with everyone else, I peek over my shoulder to ensure no one is coming. There is a car "drafting" the ambulance and trying to get ahead of everyone else in my lane. Jerk. Actually I wanted use another choice word but I promised myself I would keep this blog rated "G". Anyway - I quickly yank the steering wheel back to the left so as to not hit this jerk of a driver and yelled, "YOU are KIDDING me!" Thank goodness I didn't yell any profanity because before I knew what I had said, Thomas was yelling the same thing with the exact same conviction and meaning. Except his version sounded more like this: "Mama, YOU are KIDDING me, right?" This went on the rest of the night until he went to bed.

• Over the course of the last few months, Thomas' grandparents have continued to give him money when he goes potty; I, on the other hand, have stopped giving him money because he goes to the bathroom several times a day... I would be broke if I continued to do this. Besides, he's got the idea, right? For Thanksgiving, my mom sent him and Abby each a Thanksgiving card and inside each card she stuck $1. When Thomas opened his card, he exclaimed, "Mama - look I got "Pee-Pee money"! Yeah! He then opened Abby's card for her and pointed out that she also got "Pee-Pee money" (which I thought was hilarious). Finally, I let him open the card addressed to Brian and me. When he opened the card and there was no money, he said, "Mama, you don't get any "Pee-Pee money." Good to know Thomas.

• We bought a 24" tall Christmas tree with lights to send Brian this year so that he would still have the holiday spirit all around him. The other night I asked Thomas if he wanted to see the small tree that we were sending Daddy? I placed it on the floor in the exact spot that we will be putting our Christmas tree. He sat down with his legs crossed and said, "OK Mama, I'm ready." I had all the lights off in the room and then I plugged in the tree. The small little tree lit up and Thomas immediately "ooo'ed and auh'ed" and then brought me to tears when he said, "Mama, Daddy has such a pretty Christmas tree." He contined to smile as he stared at the beautiful lights and said "I miss Daddy."