Guess who is 8? Here is my best shot at capturing my little love bug as he is, now.
Tommy is the most cheerful person in our family. I cannot ever remember him being in a bad mood when he wakes up in the morning. He comes into our room, goes to Eli's side of the bed, and starts chatting about whatever he's thought up over night -- something he wants to build or invent, maybe a question, or perhaps a story about something he's read (we learn a lot of our animal trivia at six am). If we are too tired to pay attention to him, he finds a book and goes out to the nook and reads until he is desperately hungry. Then, he will either go down and make himself a piece of toast (this is a very messy process) or come and get one of us (Eli) to make his breakfast.
He loves having time before school to play Lego, or draw, or read. Sometimes he has earned iPad time and on those days he is especially happy.
Then, he cheerfully packs his backpack (a new rule this school year) by cramming everything in it, and heads down to the car. Now he can reliably tie his shoes with double knots (remember when he couldn't hold his own head up??), so he picks out some of his new striped socks from Auntie Chinka, puts them on and then moves onto his shoes. While he can tie his own shoes, he prefers that I do it, so he does this slowly to see if I will have time to help him.
He still sits in a carseat. It converts to a booster and we will do that soon-ish, but five point harnesses are safer and he can be in this seat (with the harness) until he is 80 lbs. Much to his chagrin, that is still more than 20 lbs away as he has not weighed in at 60 lbs except once. He very nicely buckles his own carseat.
In the car, his favorite things to do are read and listen to podcasts. He likes "Brains On" and he also likes some stories. One of his favorites is about a knight named Max Goodname and he is happy to listen to those stories over and over. If he's reading nonfiction, he frequently says, "MOM! Hear this!" and then reads me a fact or two from the book.
He saves his biggest questions for the car ride to school. I generally try to answer my kids' questions with answers I would give to anyone, but he stumps me occasionally. Yesterday, he wanted to know what animals live in the Olympic National Forest. Another day recently, he wanted to understand exactly what it was that Hitler did. Ack.
When we get to school, he tries to get me to carry his backpack for him but nicely puts it on when I refuse. He prefers to walk to his classroom ahead of me but only because he views it as a race - he does not (yet) refuse to walk with me or hold my hand. He's pretty happy to hold my hand if I ask, actually.
After he enters his classroom (or runs out for the final few minutes of recess before the 8:25 bell), I don't really know what happens. I know that he is doing really well in math after a bumpy start. I know that he loves best their IT "special" during which they play Minecraft (it somehow relates to the farm-to-table unit they are on). I know that he has a great accent and is doing well in Spanish. But, mostly, I only hear tiny slivers from his day. He comes home happy, and is happy to go back again in the morning which I suppose is all we can ask for.
This trimester, we are backing off the extra-curriculars for Tommy. He will do karate twice a week, and basketball and swimming once a week. I realize that is still a lot. Imagine how the poor kid felt last trimester! Next year he wants to keep playing soccer (which his coaches support) and he will keep doing karate (because he likes it and because Lizzie and I are doing it at the same time; I started two weeks ago).
Every afternoon when he gets off the bus, he smiles at me, says, "HEY, MOM! CATCH!" and hurls his backpack up the stairs at me as hard as he can. I almost always catch it.
When it's dinner time, Tommy is unfailingly sweet. He always tells me he likes dinner, even when he obviously doesn't. He will try almost anything (not avocado or banana, but he's hated those since they first met his lips). He understands what it means to eat healthy food and he is interested in growing big and strong so he rarely tries to skip eating his veggies (unlike his sister).
Here is how we celebrated Tommy's 8th Birthday:
On Thursday (April 9), he had three friends over to play a game on the iPads (you can only have four people in a world, so the number of guests was capped). It was nice for all of us, as one of my favorite moms came to drink wine with me while they played.
He requested an ice cream cake but my options were limited. Luckily, he didn't mind the pink.
In the morning as he left for school, he asked if he could change his clothes for his party. He wanted me to choose the outfit. (I love that he lets me choose the outfit still. His only requirement is that his shorts have pockets so he can carry around Lego, rocks, bent paperclips, coins and other small treasures (aka trash).)
On his actual birthday, he awoke to our new rainbow birthday bunting (thank you, Grandma Nancy!) and a pile of gifts. His favorite is his new nerf gun. It is the first gun I have bought for my kid, and while it's probably not my best choice, it made him SO HAPPY. All day, he thanked me for his birthday gifts. The gun came about because he suggested getting it for Eli on his birthday. I told him that if he opted to give Eli a nerf gun for his birthday, it would be Eli's to play with - not Tommy's. So he said he'd buy Eli something else and he would take the gun for his own birthday. I still can't figure out if I was duped?
Eli had to go to work, so I took the kids to the Radisson and indulged Tommy's request for his own order of fish and chips (versus one he shared with his sister as usual).
Eli came home from work a bit early, we ordered Pad Thai for Tommy, did the birthday interview and blew out candles. Then, Tommy cut his own cake!
I could not be more grateful for another happy, healthy year with the most amazing little guy I could ever have imagined. He is a delight to parent.
Tommy is the most cheerful person in our family. I cannot ever remember him being in a bad mood when he wakes up in the morning. He comes into our room, goes to Eli's side of the bed, and starts chatting about whatever he's thought up over night -- something he wants to build or invent, maybe a question, or perhaps a story about something he's read (we learn a lot of our animal trivia at six am). If we are too tired to pay attention to him, he finds a book and goes out to the nook and reads until he is desperately hungry. Then, he will either go down and make himself a piece of toast (this is a very messy process) or come and get one of us (Eli) to make his breakfast.
He loves having time before school to play Lego, or draw, or read. Sometimes he has earned iPad time and on those days he is especially happy.
Then, he cheerfully packs his backpack (a new rule this school year) by cramming everything in it, and heads down to the car. Now he can reliably tie his shoes with double knots (remember when he couldn't hold his own head up??), so he picks out some of his new striped socks from Auntie Chinka, puts them on and then moves onto his shoes. While he can tie his own shoes, he prefers that I do it, so he does this slowly to see if I will have time to help him.
He still sits in a carseat. It converts to a booster and we will do that soon-ish, but five point harnesses are safer and he can be in this seat (with the harness) until he is 80 lbs. Much to his chagrin, that is still more than 20 lbs away as he has not weighed in at 60 lbs except once. He very nicely buckles his own carseat.
In the car, his favorite things to do are read and listen to podcasts. He likes "Brains On" and he also likes some stories. One of his favorites is about a knight named Max Goodname and he is happy to listen to those stories over and over. If he's reading nonfiction, he frequently says, "MOM! Hear this!" and then reads me a fact or two from the book.
He saves his biggest questions for the car ride to school. I generally try to answer my kids' questions with answers I would give to anyone, but he stumps me occasionally. Yesterday, he wanted to know what animals live in the Olympic National Forest. Another day recently, he wanted to understand exactly what it was that Hitler did. Ack.
When we get to school, he tries to get me to carry his backpack for him but nicely puts it on when I refuse. He prefers to walk to his classroom ahead of me but only because he views it as a race - he does not (yet) refuse to walk with me or hold my hand. He's pretty happy to hold my hand if I ask, actually.
After he enters his classroom (or runs out for the final few minutes of recess before the 8:25 bell), I don't really know what happens. I know that he is doing really well in math after a bumpy start. I know that he loves best their IT "special" during which they play Minecraft (it somehow relates to the farm-to-table unit they are on). I know that he has a great accent and is doing well in Spanish. But, mostly, I only hear tiny slivers from his day. He comes home happy, and is happy to go back again in the morning which I suppose is all we can ask for.
This trimester, we are backing off the extra-curriculars for Tommy. He will do karate twice a week, and basketball and swimming once a week. I realize that is still a lot. Imagine how the poor kid felt last trimester! Next year he wants to keep playing soccer (which his coaches support) and he will keep doing karate (because he likes it and because Lizzie and I are doing it at the same time; I started two weeks ago).
Every afternoon when he gets off the bus, he smiles at me, says, "HEY, MOM! CATCH!" and hurls his backpack up the stairs at me as hard as he can. I almost always catch it.
When it's dinner time, Tommy is unfailingly sweet. He always tells me he likes dinner, even when he obviously doesn't. He will try almost anything (not avocado or banana, but he's hated those since they first met his lips). He understands what it means to eat healthy food and he is interested in growing big and strong so he rarely tries to skip eating his veggies (unlike his sister).
Here is how we celebrated Tommy's 8th Birthday:
On Thursday (April 9), he had three friends over to play a game on the iPads (you can only have four people in a world, so the number of guests was capped). It was nice for all of us, as one of my favorite moms came to drink wine with me while they played.
He requested an ice cream cake but my options were limited. Luckily, he didn't mind the pink.
In the morning as he left for school, he asked if he could change his clothes for his party. He wanted me to choose the outfit. (I love that he lets me choose the outfit still. His only requirement is that his shorts have pockets so he can carry around Lego, rocks, bent paperclips, coins and other small treasures (aka trash).)
On his actual birthday, he awoke to our new rainbow birthday bunting (thank you, Grandma Nancy!) and a pile of gifts. His favorite is his new nerf gun. It is the first gun I have bought for my kid, and while it's probably not my best choice, it made him SO HAPPY. All day, he thanked me for his birthday gifts. The gun came about because he suggested getting it for Eli on his birthday. I told him that if he opted to give Eli a nerf gun for his birthday, it would be Eli's to play with - not Tommy's. So he said he'd buy Eli something else and he would take the gun for his own birthday. I still can't figure out if I was duped?
Eli had to go to work, so I took the kids to the Radisson and indulged Tommy's request for his own order of fish and chips (versus one he shared with his sister as usual).
Eli came home from work a bit early, we ordered Pad Thai for Tommy, did the birthday interview and blew out candles. Then, Tommy cut his own cake!
Happy Birthday to Tommy from Margaret (and her parents)! A fun ONP answer is mountain goats - just like we saw at NW Trek.
ReplyDelete