Frequent Dryer

It's amazing to see how curious this little person is. He rarely slows down for a second, and is curious about EVERYTHING. We've also entered the new stage of climbing, where anything (lego container, laundry basket, mom's leg, a book) can be used to get a little higher and possibly obtain access to the top of a table or piece of furniture. The most recent obsession is his desire to be inside the dryer. Now, all you safety freaks, don't worry--we use the gentle cycle.

And the tech-challenged saga continues...

OK. After that diatribe, then I accidentally changed my setting so that only "team members" can comment. WELL. Maybe if you aren't on my team you should be! JK. Now, I expect a LOT of comments. ;)

I'm a dork.

Confession: I have been feeling a little sorry for myself lately that no one has been commenting on my ever-so-timely blogging. So, I had a few moments tonight and decided to check to see that anyone can enter a comment. Fiddling around with the settings on the blogger host (which, BTW, has been having several problem days lately) I stumbled upon an entire page worth of comments from all of you, my dear friends and readers! Somehow I had FORBIDDEN your comments from being posted! There are a few of you determined and faithful commenters who tried several times to get your comment posted, so now your comment is up several times. And all along, it was MY OWN FAULT that you couldn't see the comments! Oh dear. I am humbled. Thanks to those of you who do comment. Any blogger likes to know that others are looking. Sorry you were silenced temporarily. COMMENT AWAY!

Lions and monkeys and elephants and bears...and farmers! OH MY!

This was the ultimate indulgence for five first-time parents who are so crazy about their cute boys. We dressed them all up PRETTY much only for this very picture. But wasn't it worth it? They were adorable. For those of you out-of-town friends, I'll try to put some name captions below.Elephant: Nathan Lion: CARSON! Bear: Henry Farmer: Silas Monkey: Ethan

Sneak Peek

Tonight is the real spectacle, as this little lion will meet up with his buddies the monkey, bear and elephant, but I wanted to give him a chance to give the costume a test-run.

8th Annual Thompson Harvest Party

What kind of freaky trick is this?!

I forgot to write about a hilarious moment at Carson's first first birthday party. (No, that wasn't a typo.) Charlie (pictured) is Trent's grandmother's husband, and he is such a neat guy. Carson had warmed up to him and was sitting in his lap, when he reached in Charlie's mouth and his teeth came out! Carson, who had, up until that moment, been restless and chatty, held perfectly still and stared at Charlie and those teeth like he didn't know if he should laugh or cry. He stared at Charlie for several seconds waiting to see if the teeth were coming back out, then slowly slid down off of his lap. It was too funny.

The apple doesn't fall far from the Playstation.

Somehow I don't think this is what the Scripture was referring to when it says "Train up a child in the way he should go."

How Many O's in Zoooooology?

Saturday was a gorgeous day, so the three of us decided to go to the zoo, which we had been wanting to do for a long time. We kind of had to lower our expectations for Carson's first encounter with all the animals. I had imagined him staring, mesmerized and filled with joy by the tigers and polar bears and giraffes. Well, most of the time the animals were so far away from where we could stand, that trying to get a one-year-old to find the center of the attractions was like asking him to find Waldo and be excited about his hat. Often he was much more interested in the little kids around us than the actual animals. (Which, someone pointed out, we could have done at the mall and saved ourselves the $10 tickets.) But he could see big things like the elephants, sea lions (bottom pic), and gorilla, and a few of the exhibits had little windows into a "nest." The Merekats (sp?) were busy in their small nest and less than a foot away from the window, so finally Carson was really intrigued. (Although every animal that he was actually able to focus on he called "dog.") He did love the train ride, which is always a crowd-pleaser. Oh, and what do you think of my new 'do? :)

Scabbyhead takes a bath

Poor C-dog took a header onto the back patio the other day and now has a nice scab on his forhead. After the initial tumble it hasn't seemed to bother him much.

Funny story--yesterday at church we were down in the kiddo-land, and when someone asked about Carson's owie Trent said he fell and hit his head on the cement. About 20 seconds later, as we were walking up the stairs, this little girl (maybe 5?) said to Trent with a concerned look: "What exactly did you mean when you said he fell and hit his head on the cement?" Trent said, "Well...I meant that he fell...and hit his head...on the cement." Evidently, she had a similar experience and it resulted in two stiches, so she was worried for Carson. Too cute.

Who needs clothes?

New tricks, new loves, new stuff

"Please" in sign language. It's really only supposed to be one hand, but the double hand action indicates a silent, urgent whining: "Puleeeeeheeeheeeeeheeeeeeese!!!"

TaDa! Superman showing his supersmile.
Oh, Dryer, I love you so! Why don't you hug me back?
Ah, the first tent is the start of a true outdoorsman. Except, you know...indoors.

My strength and my downfall....

...is my addiction to pictures. I constantly am reaching for the camera, mediocre as it is. I know the joy I get from looking at these pictures, sharing them with all of you, and being creative as I scrapbook them. However, sometimes I'm so focused on getting the perfect pictures that I can't just enjoy a moment. The other day Carson and I were laughing and reading a book inside his little pup-tent set up in the living room. It was so fun. But I was obsessed with getting a picture of it. When Trent got the camera, it was too slow, Carson moved too fast and before I knew it, the moment was gone and I was frustrated that my expectations weren't met. I wish I had just enjoyed the time and not worried about capturing it on film.

Then again, sometimes this kid can be my downfall too. He has learned to say "please" in sign language, and it is pretty darn endearing. It's hard to say "no" to. I must have let him hang on to the camera recently, because when I turned it on the other day, the LCD screen was completely destroyed. You could kind of see little bite marks in the corner where it had "shattered" digitally. Grrr! I was frustrated with him, but I knew it was also my fault for not keeping it out of reach.

Back to pictures, I also have to let myself enjoy pictures that aren't perfect. For instance, these pics below would probably get deleted soon...they are out of focus, too close, or they don't show his face. And yet they all capture a bit of Carson. Maybe I just need to have a collection of imperfect pics...in honor of an imperfect photographer.

Birthday Boy--Day 2

These pictures speak for themselves:

Quotes from the DaVinci guy

I'm reading Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, the author of another somewhat popular book you may have heard of. Something about a certain CODE. There was a monologue in this book by a priest addressing the world of science. I found it interesting and provacative; it made me wonder about the author, since he write characters that passionately and articulately debate many sides of controversial issues. See what you think:

"Humanity cries out for meaning. And believe me, we do cry out. We see UFO’s, engage in channeling, spirit contact, out-of-body experiences, mindquests—all these eccentric ideas have a scientific veneer, but they are the desperate cry of the modern soul, lonely and tormented, crippled by its own enlightenment and its inability to accept meaning in anything removed from technology….all the while, the church is proclaimed ignorant. But who is more ignorant? The man who cannot define lightening, or the man who does not respect its awesome power? The Church is reaching out to you. And yet the more we reach, the more you push us away. Show me proof there is God, you say. I say use your telescopes to look to the heavens and tell me how there could not be a God! You proclaim that even the slightest change in the force of gravity or the weight of an atom would have rendered our universe a lifeless mist rather than our magnificent sea of heavenly bodies, and yet you fail to see God’s hand in this? Is it really so much easier to believe that we simply chose the right card from a deck of billions? Have we become so spiritually bankrupt that we would rather believe in mathematical impossibility than in a power greater than us?"

Horses and Hurts

Carson experienced two firsts today: his first rocking horse and his first scraped knee. Incidentally...the two were mutually exclusive and occured at different times of the day. Thanks, Zeffers, for such a cool b-day gift!

Birthday Boy--day one

For my birthday I get fire?!? FINALLY!

Frog bib? Good. Banana cake? Good. Frosting? GOOOOOOOOD. Who says kids don't appreciate clothes? He's practically hugging that shirt.

Mr. Independent. Thanks, Aunt Tara, for getting a noisy toy that has an on/off switch.

Pictures...take 2

Some people have had trouble getting to Mike's Flickr site to see his cool pics. Try again.

365 days ago...

...I was in serious labor, sitting in the hospital, having frequent and painful contractions, assuming that our baby's birthday would be September 21. He evidently needed a little more cooking in the oven, because he didn't come until the next day at 12:10 pm. Those hours are forever embedded in my memory, and I can't imagine my life without my sweet baby in it. I never really understood unconditional love until I held Carson in my arms. I could go on and on, but then I'd start crying (I'm already choked up), so I'll save it for another blog day. For now, tomorrow is Carson's 1 year b-day and we gave him part of his present last night before bedtime. So far it's a hit.

Little Naked Piper

OK, sometimes, I crack myself up. And many of those times, others are not amused. There have been points in my life when I actually had to pay people a quarter for lame stories. However, since you surfed to this site and are reading of your own will, no apologies.

For some reason, this picture reminds me of some old-fashioned picture of a happy little boy skipping/marching along playing some sort of flute or pipe. Except that he's naked. And he's running, not marching. And he wasn't happy when the picture was taken. But other than that...it's exactly like the other thing.

And just to prove that I'm not psycho, here's an adorable pic of Carson sporting the new fall line of Tompkins kids wear.

Yeah for Uncles!

Uncle Mike took this cute pic. Check out his other awesome pictures.

Seriously, Mom, this is so lame....

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but we are trying to teach Carson a few signs, as in: sign language. The one he knows the best is "more." It's supposed to be all your fingertips touching on each hand, then pressed together. Carson's version is like the signal for "time out" or just one finger into the palm of the other hand. Whatever. He's trying and we take what we can get. (For those of you keeping score at home, no, we decided not to focus on the sign for "milk.") Well, the other morning I kept trying to get him to do it for the camera, but he had this annoyed look on his face.....I can think of a dozen different captions for this funny shot. (Anyone care to offer one?) Finally I got him to do the sign while not making such a pained expression:
I know. He's a genius.

"Gentle! Gentle!"

This was what I was saying for a couple hours this afternoon as Carson and I had a great playdate (after visiting Aunt Becky!) with three wonderful mommies and sons. Carson is the oldest, and we are working on him not mauling the littler guys. Here you can see he's giving Nathan quite a push in the gut. Also notice the beautiful alpaca rug at the Marr's.

It was so neat to see all the baby boys together and it's so incredible the love I feel for those that are not even my own. I think going through the pregnancies and births with each of their mommies just reminds me how precious their lives are. Plus, they are incredibly CUTE! It was hilarious trying to get all of them to hold still for a pose. Henry was by far the best behaved...and he held still the longest. :)

Say "Mommy's psycho!"

These pictures don't have anything to do with the topic of this post, but you just can't have too many pics.

In the past few weeks/months, I've discovered a really strange cultural and verbal phenomenon centered around babies, particularly babies who can't yet talk. That phenomenon is that we, as adults, talk for them. About half the time, we use the phrase: "Say '_________,'" and the other half of the time we just say something in a baby-ish voice, indicating to all present that you are now vocalizing for the child. If you are around babies, you've probably done it, whether you realize it or not.

One of the most common examples is when I want Carson to seem polite. So, at the store, when someone says (TO him) "You are a cutie!" I feel the need to follow with "Say 'Thank you!'" Why do I do this? Is it because in complimenting him, I feel she's actually complimenting me, therefore I'm obliged to reply? Why don't I just say "thank you"? It's certainly not that I'm trying to communicate what he is truly thinking, because, in truth, it probably is more along the lines of "Your breath stinks," or "You wear a lot more makeup than my mom," or "You have a huge head."

But the funniest use of this strange vicarious communication is when I noticed Trent and I have occasionally used it to be slightly passive-aggressive with each other. (Okay, I'm usually much more guilty.) Especially when Carson was very little, I would find myself going "Daddy! That's too much powder on my bottom!" or "Daddy, your farts smell worse than mine!" or "Mommy, how come Daddy is more interested in his video games than in playing with me?" etc. etc. It's like I found a whole new way to tell Trent how to parent or that I frown on his gas-passing ways or that I want him to watch the baby for a while, without actually saying it MYSELF.

If you haven't watched the movie "Look Who's Talking" recently, you should rent it. It was infinitely more funny after I had a kiddo. We all wish we could know what thoughts are going through those precious little heads, and that those thoughts would be as developed as ours. Since that's not happening any time soon, we'll just have to speak for them. "Carson! Say, 'Bye-bye!'"