Patrick Kunio Tompkins: Toddler

Patrick is finally officially a toddler. Five days before turning 17 months old, something finally clicked inside his very large, very adorable head, and he began to walk. He has been doing what we call the "drunk t-rex" for short distances around the house for a while now, you can probably imagine what that looked like ;) Since Thursday though, he has been non-stop walking everywhere. He even explored every corner of the gym where we take him to playgroup three times a week. This was a huge accomplishment considering that for the past two months he hasn't ventured more than a few feet away from the "bicycle" area where he would sit watching the other children play. He even kind of tried to play with another little boy today! It has been a very exciting time for me and Delmar!

Here's the proof. This is Thursday night, day one of Toddlerhood. He's already advanced to walking and eating a rice cake at the same time. Although I'm pretty sure the dogs cleaned up at least half of it off the floor. And he has already become a much smoother, more coordinated walker since then. 

Back in January, we took a week to visit family down in the Bay. Patrick spent a couple days with Grandma Tompkins and Auntie Frances while Mommy and Daddy went to San Francisco. I think everyone was happy with the arrangement! Patrick got to go the SF Zoo with Grandma and Auntie. Here are some pictures from the trip.

Reaching for the tiger I believe.

I love those big, blue eyes, taking it all in.

Have I mentioned before that he's really observant?!? Just in awe of the giraffes.

When we visited the Nakamotos, Delmar and my dad spent a day at the Sawdust Shop making a table for Patrick. Patrick is such a lucky boy to have a custom table made with so much love my his Daddy and Grandpa. And he loves his table!

Daddy just finished the final coat of polyurethane 

Patrick's table is perfect for puzzling...

And playing with trucks!

The funny face is because he was making his "vroom-vroom" car noise. It's too cute!

Well, it was a busy month so I didn't get too many photos. When I did have the chance, I was too excited with Patrick's walking to pry myself away to get the camera.

He's finally a toddler!

-Sarah

16 Months

Patrick is officially a big boy now. He had his second Christmas, his second and third haircuts (Daddy likes cutting his hair, and now with the big boy trimmers!), and he can feed himself with a fork and spoon and drink out of a real cup! Now he isn't walking or talking much yet but the doctor says it isn't anything to worry about yet even though he is a bit behind the curve. It turns out that Patrick is just a very cautious kid and he has found that crawling and using his walker are much faster and safer methods of transportation. Patrick actually chases our dog Sophie around the house, yelling in joy, all day long!

Walking practice is always better when naked!

Patrick is finally getting some good play time with other kids now that we are taking him to a playgroup. He really likes to ride the "bikes" and play ball. He often sits for 20-30 minutes watching the other kids play but when he's finally ready to join in, he'll play catch with any parent or child. He has also had a chance to play with our friends kids aged 6 and 8 quite a bit lately. He loves playing with them and I think they like pretending they have another little brother.

Here's the living room when Olian and Whilder come to visit. They manage to keep it pretty tidy still!

You might notice that we also had a couple four-legged visitors in the above picture. Eskie and Cooper (Grandma T's dogs) stayed with us for about three weeks in December. Patrick loved Cooper and Cooper was an angel with Patrick!

Like I said, Patrick loved Cooper...

...and I think Cooper might have actually loved Patrick too!

Patrick playing on top of and all around Cooper

Patrick was a very lucky boy this year at Christmas. He received so many cool presents and got to visit with Grandma T and Auntie Frances, and Grandma and Grandpa Nakamoto, Uncle and Great Grandma Bachan. Patrick really enjoyed sitting on top of all of his presents, poking the dogs with the presnts, and eventually he figured out how fun it is to rip the wrapping paper off the presents and throw it! Here are some great pictures Auntie Frances took at Christmas.

Climbing on presents!

Finally ripping!

Throwing paper

Patrick can't get enough of Uncle!

Patrick and Bachan! Four generations of Nakamotos in our little house!

Grandma can't get enough Patrick!

We also went to the UPD Christmas party. Patrick's "Uncle"/Officer Billy dressed up as Santa Claus but Patrick was not amused. It was hilarious! 

Patrick loves to help feed the dogs every day. Mostly, he just likes to throw their food on the ground while I fill their bowls. He also has figured out how to open the food container lid if I don't screw it on completely tight. One evening I walked in of this...

Reaching for the food...

Throwing the food...

Oops, ya caught me!

One time we heard muffled crying coming from the kitchen and found Patrick stuck in the dog food container. Unfortunately, we saved him before taking a picture. If it ever happens again though, he's going to have to suffer an extra second before being saved so that I can take a picture first. 

A couple last pictures, just because they're cute! 

Patrick suddenly decided it was nap time, so he fell asleep on the couch. 

My sweet sleepy baby

Well, Happy New Year everyone! 

Sarah

I Forgot to Add the Very Best Pictures of 15 Months

So having Patrick sleep on his own mattress on the floor has been a wonderful experience so far because it teaches him independence and he has a better understanding of our sleep routine at nighttime. In addition, it has also been an absolutely hilarious experience. Here are a few pictures of positions I have discovered Patrick in during the night. They're a little difficult to see, but use your imagination and enjoy!

Head hanging off the mattress

Legs off the mattress, appear to somehow be weight bearing

Completely off the mattress!

 

The only one that beats these three could not be photographed. Picture Patrick in a very similar location and position as picture number three. Just to the left of his head is a Cars (the movie) book that has a steering wheel with a working horn on the front. Well Patrick rolled off his bed and his face landed on the steering wheel. I woke to the sound of the honking horn. He did not!

15 Months

Hi all! Patrick sure seems to have grown up so much to me and Delmar all of a sudden. He's really starting to understand our daily routines, activities and commands. He helps put the dirty laundry in the washing machine, he tries to puts the keys in the front door and the car ignition, and no one is allowed to make a pot of coffee without Patrick pushing the start button! And yes, you thought right, Patrick finally got his first big boy hair cut. Here's the before, during and after.

Before- bordering on "mad scientist" status

During his first haircut; so patient and calm the whole time!

After! Pretty wavy and still curly in some places. No more blonde!

One of the coolest things we did this past month was update Patrick's bedroom into a toddler room. Everything is set so that Patrick can get to it all by himself. We even put his mattress on the ground so that he can learn to put himself to bed. We were pretty nervous about the sleep training involved with a 14 month old learning to go to sleep on his own, but it actually went really well! Now after we're done with his whole bedtime routine, we sit him on his mattress, give him kisses, turn of the light, and he lies down own his own and signs himself to sleep. It's precious! Here's his room:

Everything a toddler could need; clothes, toys, books and lots of diapers!

I have to admit, I pretty proud of myself for making those pillow covers!

Sometimes Sophie likes the mirror more than Patrick :)

So Patrick may not be walking or talking a whole lot yet, but we think we might have a "rain man" type situation when it comes to mechanical/handy man type things with this little boy. The kid loves to take things apart, play with the pieces, and tries to put it all back together. He actually understands how to use a screwdriver. Here he is "helping" Delmar work on our fridge. He actually found a screw and put the screw driver to it, trying to unscrew it.

Takes after his Mom, sticking his tongue out in concentration

As a side note, Patrick actually took his first steps today! Two days after his doctor said he was a little concerned about Patrick not walking yet. He might be a little delayed, but he's getting there! He'll be running around with a soccer ball in no time ;)

Patrick does not let the rainy winter weather get him down. Luckily for him, he has a Mommy who doesn't mind him getting very dirty! Every time it rains, we get a very large muddy puddle in our driveway. Patrick is playing in the puddle, and doing laps through the puddle and around my car, then back into the puddle. He did this for about 30 minutes!

That's one dirty baby booty!

You can see the path that Patrick made from all of his trips around my car and back to the puddle

Yes, he did stick his face in the puddle

Well, I think that's all for this month. Happy Holidays to everyone! We'll be celebrating at home because Delmar has to work, but we'll make our way down to the Bay for our usual late holiday visit mid-January. 

Love,

Sarah

Month 14

So I am actually ahead of schedule for Month 14 of The Life of Patrick. For the first time ever, I made dinner early so that I could eat with Patrick. Normally I don't eat until after he's gone to bed. Then on top of that, he had a rough day with teething so he was ready for bed early. So the baby is asleep, I've eaten, the house is clean, and it isn't even 8pm yet! Now, what to do on a Saturday night when I'm home alone (Delmar is working nights) and everything is done for the day? Start this blog early I guess!

Greetings from the Tompkins!

Delmar and I were dressed up for a preschool tour (WHAT?!?; and it's Humboldt County dressed up), so we had our friend take a few family photos when we got back home.

Month 14 of Mr. Patrick has been a fun one. The big news is, he still is NOT walking, but he is a pro at crawling now. He's getting so close to walking though. He can go up and down stairs, up the play structures at the park, he can get on and off of his toy truck all by himself now, and he's cruising across any surface he can find.

It's not that Patrick is not yet capable of walking, he just isn't motivated.
It's so much easier to use the Walker on his knees. Duh, Mom!

Something else we've noticed about Patrick is that he is extremely observant. He likes to sit and take in his surroundings before taking any action. The first couple times at a new park, he sat there for an hour just looking around. Eventually he started playing with the bark. I think by day 4 he started running around. Bachan (Grandma Janet Nakamoto) says he gets it from his Grandpa Bruce :)

Like I mentioned earlier, Patrick is teething again. We had a really nice hiatus from teething for several months but now these teeth are coming in with a vengeance. He already had his front 8 teeth so these are the big nasty ones that hurt a lot. I feel so bad for the little guy!

This past month we had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Nakamoto. While Delmar and Grandpa painted the outside of our house (it looks amazing now!), Patrick spent the weekend hanging out with Grandma. They did lots of playing and reading, finger painting, playing in the rain, and most importantly, cheering on the Giants against the Cardinals in the NLCS!

Eating carrots from the garden with Grandma

Watching and learning before diving into
the art of finger painting

 All done!

Paint face!

Finally, this past month included Halloween and Patrick was a tiger! A friend of mine works at a nursing home, so I dressed Patrick up in his costume and visited all the residents. They enjoyed seeing a fresh young face dressed up and roaming the hallways for the holiday. We also visited at HSU (even though Delmar was at home sleeping for work later that night), to say hi to all our friends at the police department. They all got a kick out of seeing Patrick! Luckily Patrick was still in costume when Delmar woke up so they were able to hang out for a little bit before work. 

Two days after the Giants won the World Series, I was dressed
 up as a very happy fan!

Next up, Thanksgiving pictures! Patrick is going to have his mind blown with delicious food! Happy Holidays to everyone. We should be down in the Bay for our annual post-holiday trip sometime in January. 

-Sarah