Thomas at 2-2½ years old

Happy Holidays 2008

As always we spent Christmas in Leicester, UK with the Blankley clan.  Christmas dinner was the usual multi-course affair at the local pub, but Thomas handled it fairly well and especially enjoyed the new experience of pulling Christmas crackers.  It was a banner turnout this year, and Thomas lapped up the attention of all his extended family.

At his Granddad's Thomas had fun playing with his new car carrier as well as new pup Henry's assorted doggy toys.  Other pleasures included reading stories (sometimes accompanied by Thomas reading out the letters himself!), trying out the bumpy car at Mothercare, and chocolate chocolate chocolate.

There were also pleasures to be enjoyed at Granny's including popping soap bubbles, sharing Jaffa cakes with dad, petting Domino the cat, and chasing the purple boingy toy.  Another pleasant pub outing was spent with more family, and the highlight for Thomas was undoubtedly shooting cars back and forth across the table with his cousin Alfie.

Back home, more fun with various presents including safari truck from Grandpa Ken and new pyjamas from Granny.

In Thomas' words: "Merry Chri'mas and Happy New Ear" to everyone!

December '08 - Various Christmas preparations

A big tree has appeared beside our building, with the all-important star on top.  After closer inspection, Thomas was eager to help with the tree-trimming at home.  Among the favourite ornaments are the soft Nutcracker characters made by Cindy's mum, and a little needlepoint Santa's head with a mouth that opens, made by Cindy's school friend Cindi.

Thomas' small daily advent calendar gifts this year have consisted of parts of a Duplo fire station, beginning with the base of a fire truck and expanding from there. 

He survived this year's "Julefrokost" (our yearly Christmas gathering with old friends from Cindy's Danish class and their respective young families, this year held at Carl and Bodil's).  He still prefers smaller groups, ideally just Mum and Dad :-) 

He's recently taken to rubbing his mum's feet with moisturising cream, very nice!

Helping to hang the Christmas wreath, and proudly displaying his gift to us which he made at the day care: a beautiful brightly-painted candle.

Visiting our friends Tim and Lise and their son Mark. Thanks Tim for taking this year's winning photo for our electronic card!

A great picture of dad and son.

More October-November '08

Thomas has rediscovered some old toys, such as his wooden train set and Fisher-Price puppy.  He still loves trying to hitch things, not least his favourite blanket, to his little tractor.  However the attraction of the ride-in shopping cart / cars at the local shopping centre is hard to beat!

One of the local programs boasts a different kind of riding toy, together with the joys of ramp and stairs; Dad looks on with long-suffering tolerance!  There are also some great little hills to run up and down.

Still loving the corn!

He has now added "This Little Piggy" and "Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes" to his repertoire.  Click here to see and hear him singing!

October-November '08

Another interesting breakfast discovery: rice cakes dipped in Weetabix. Yum!

Thomas still gets a lot of pleasure out of his stacking cups.  He can now stack them himself in both directions, and has discovered the fun of turning the top cup around to balance a ball on it.

Since the weather in Denmark has gotten very windy, dark and wet, we checked out the indoor playground at Fields (Capella Play).  It was a bit busy and overwhelming, but there was a toddler corner with a slide that became quite a favourite.

Thomas had a tough last few weeks: cold, teething and ear infection.  The doctor prescribed penicillin for the infection, which appears to have done the job - but a new rash has appeared on Thomas' legs just after he finished the prescription.  It doesn't seem to itch or bother him much, and now seems to be fading a few days later - our best guess is a reaction to the medecine, as both his mum and grandmum have a sensitivity to it as well.

Thomas' many accomplishments now include:

• counting to 20 in English and Danish
• knowing the alphabet (thanks partly to the Fisher Price ABC Zoo web page, where he can press the letters on the keyboard and the corresponding animal pops up and makes a sound). Thomas can name at least one animal and sound for each letter in the English alphabet, and can add the Danish letters æ ø å when he sings the alphabet song
• pretty good at knowing his left and right (gets it correct more often than not)
• very good at saying "here y'are", "please", "thank you" and "you're welcome"!
• can name all the original "Thomas the Tank Engine" trains and their corresponding numbers
• knows the words to "Twinkle Twinkle", "Pat a Cake", and one of the current favourite bedtime stories: "A Squash and a Squeeze"

He's now a big 14kg (30.86 lb) toddler, about 85 cm tall (33.46").

September-October '08

Another visit to the zoo!  Most of the animals were napping, but the polar bears were up and about and just about to be fed... as was Thomas!  Even though most of us were kind of feeling under the weather that day, a good time was had by all, and a sweet little leopard came home with us at the end of the afternoon.

In deep concentration watching Thomas the Tank Engine over breakfast - disturbed only by the camera flash.

Thomas had a wonderful time romping around a local playground with Isabella from the mother group.  Too bad we didn't have a very good camera with us!

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Updated 01.01.09