All about the T-Man

Tommy LOVES the beach

Soooo, it's been a while... I'm just a little behind.... oh well. Life passes regardless of my noting of it on the blog.

But I have been intending to do a Tommy update - this was supposed to happen around his 4th birthday but I'm a little late. However, I've been saving up my thoughts and still want a record of how cute he is at 4 years old, so here I go. (This is mostly for my own records, please bear with me!)

Talking: Tommy is SUCH a talker. It's pretty much non stop from the time he awakens to the time he's asleep. He has a hard time stopping talking to eat. He is quite observant about life and full of interesting questions that are becoming increasingly difficult to answer. He seems to have a basic understanding of life and death, of relationships, and responsibilities. As I imagine most parents experience, I am constantly surprised by his depth of communication and thought processes as he develops. He has created a few words or phrases to fill in his perceived gaps in the English language, which I love. He calls the drawstring ties on pants "looses" because that's how they loosen up, and says something is "too tasty" if I put to much powder flavor in his drink. Things also come "two-part" instead of "apart," since there's now two pieces, and he still calls the number 0 "zerio." I think he's finally saying "crackers" correctly but for years they have been "cackers."

Tommy's mouth is rarely closed as he narrates his observations of life while in the car - though currently he's often singing/shouting at the top of his lungs to his favorite song on my ipod - Queen's "We will Rock You."

"Helping": Tommy loves to be a helper. He really enjoys washing the cars. This involves getting a bucket of water and wiping a wash cloth around on the car - it doesn't actually leave the car cleaner than when he started. He also likes to wash windows the same way and will always offer to sweep up crumbs on the floor. He loves to help me cook and always pushes his chair up to the counter to stand and help - unfortunately it is always exactly where I want to be standing, but we make it work, somehow. And just this morning as we were leaving for preschool, I shouted out from the door, "Tommy, let's go!" And he said, "Just a minute mom, I'm putting my spoon in the dishwasher!" You can't really yell at him for running late when he's cleaning up!

Occasionally, we can even get Tommy to clean himself up!

Friends: Tommy is definitely making a lot of friends and is very interested in kids his age. He loves to go to school and was really upset with me a couple weeks ago when I picked him up early from school. He told me "Please don't do that again. Pick me up after I've done the afternoon playing next time." He asks to go play with his friends from church Richard and Jacob. He also tells me in great detail all about Colin and Jake at school - down to the cavities and fillings that Jake is getting ("That's why we brush teeth, right mom?") He rarely mentions any girls, except that he told me the other day that a girl at school told him she liked his shirt. (He used to be more friendly with the girls but I have overheard the girls at school telling him they don't play with boys - though he seems oblivious to the gender stuff so far.) He tells me that Jake is the "leader" at school, and when I said, "do you ever want to be the leader?" he answered with a shrug and a casual "naah" ...then said, "Jake REAlly likes to be leader."

Tommy and Jacob Burton (not the Jake from school) running through the water at Lover's Point

Bathrooms: Tommy has been well potty trained for close to a year now with basically no accidents - in fact other mothers have tried to use Tommy as an example to train their own kids who still have trouble during the night. However, I never anticipated the difficulty the automatic toilet would be to a child. He HATES the automatic toilets that might flush while you're using them. For months he refused to use them if we were out somewhere and he'd either hold it or we'd go find a hidden bush somewhere to relieve himself. But he's now getting so they don't scare him so much - though we still have a lot of discussions about sensors and automaticity. But you still can't mention going on a plane to him! After using the bathroom at home, he's good to set up his little step stool and wash his hands by himself. One funny thing I've noticed is that he really dislikes leaning over a wet sink. He will meticulously dry off the sink area with a towel before he washes his hands. (We do frequent towel changes in our house!)

Swimming: Tommy still LOVES the swimming, and has been in lessons pretty much straight since June. He can dive down to the bottom to get rings, can swim a rudimentary front and back crawl several yards and has even started learning a basic pool-side kneeling dive.

Brother: Tommy is generally a caring big brother who looks out for Josh and alerts me to trouble ("Mom, Josh is emptying out the cupboards!") Josh is now getting old enough to want stuff Tommy has and vice versa so there is some conflict, but nothing unexpected, I think. They share a room and sometimes in the morning I hear them giggling. I walk in to find Tommy has climbed up into Josh's crib and they are both bouncing around and having a great time. It's very cute.

Tommy and Josh at the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk

Blankie and Finger Sucking: Perhaps the biggest accomplishment of Tommy's life has occurred in the past two weeks. Tommy has given up the finger sucking and his blankie! I had been trying for months to get him to stop, and finally I bought him some toy prizes that he could have when he stopped. He then quit almost cold turkey! Our goal was really just to stop the finger sucking, but then we realized the blankie and sucking were tied together. We talked about it to him and he immediately asked that we put his blankies up high on my dresser and never asked for them back! At night, to stop him in his sleep, I first tried band aids on his fingers and when that didn't work, I put a sock on his hand and that did the trick! I am SO SO proud of him and his self control and determination to stop. In addition to his prizes, he also got a mini shopping spree at ToysRUs and got a few more gifts to congratulate all his hard work. I think this experience really shows his character and bodes well for his future.

Tommy with the sock on his hand to break the habit!

Birthday: Tommy had a great birthday party at the gymnastics center. He and his friends had a great time running, jumping, and climbing.


Great kid: We love Tommy and are so glad he's in our family!!