It is hard wrap my mind around the fact that it has been seven years since our first son came home from the hospital in this little outfit. Seriously, is that not a doll baby’s outfit?!?
He was a mere 8 lbs, 4 oz. then, and now he’s somewhere over 60 pounds (62 at last check a month ago). We came home from the hospital completely in awe that he was miraculously and safely into this world and that he was ours forever. Additionally we were in awe that the hospital allows first-time parents to walk out that door at all. We were clueless. But here we are, seven years later and hopefully we are getting better at this gig called parenting.
Seven seems like a big age and I am not sure I am ready for it. In the past year, Thomas has learned to tie his shoes (finally!)…
…and he has started losing his teeth (at this point he has lost the front two teeth on the bottom)…
And he just generally seems to have crossed this imaginary line into the world of “big-boydom.” I find myself really trying to be aware of the clothes I buy him (that they aren’t too cutesy and are more plain). And every time I hug him I am amazed at how big he is now. I guess he has “filled in” as people say and he is just so big I cannot stand it.
He started the Cub Scouts this year and he loves it. We haven’t been able to make many meetings lately because of baseball, but he misses it so much and wants to get back to them soon. He was so proud of himself when he placed second in his pack at the Pinewood Derby races back in March.
As I mentioned, he is playing baseball currently. I was surprised initially when he said he wanted to play this year and it very well may be the last year he gives it a try. It has been machine-pitch baseball this year and it has been a bit of a struggle. He seems happy enough, most of the time, but he went through the first 4-5 games without a hit and I think the frustration was finally getting to him. Finally he got a hit and maybe that will give him the confidence he needs. He starts his first try on a swim team soon too. We’ll see how that goes.
The things that he loves most of all are playing outside and reading. The boy reads everywhere and all the time.
At any given moment you could stroll through our house and my car and probably find 4-5 books he has left open to a page or with dog-eared pages. He gets very upset at night if I make him turn off his lights before he feels he has had ample time to read. He loves it if we get him to bed early enough on a Friday night that he can have 1.5-2 hours to read.
I try to take him to the library every couple of weeks. It’s hard to limit him to 15-20 books and he usually reads 5-6 in the first day.
He reads very fast too. One time we read two pages of his book silently together. He finished before I did. I thought that meant he didn’t really read it and he would have no comprehension of what he had read. So I asked him some questions about the story and he answered every one of them correctly. He generally does very well with reading comprehension at school, too. He also does well with spelling, but sometimes gets frustrated when he knows the word is not spelled right but he can’t quite figure out how to get it right!
He goes through phases on the books he likes to read. We tend to like books that are part of a series. He started with Magic Tree House books, then read most of the Flat Stanley and Ready Freddy series. His current favorites are the Bailey School Kids, Geronimo Stilton, Dan Gutman’s “My Weird School” books, and various books by Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume.
Thomas also likes to make you laugh and he likes to think he’s pretty funny.
On the flip side, he can have a bit of a temper sometimes and we’re trying to help him better handle his frustration without yelling and getting so upset so quickly. He is generally such a happy boy, so s tough to see him so quick to anger when someone (generally his brother) doesn’t do what he wants them to do!
His circle of friends changing somewhat over the year, but the one thing that stays the same is that his brother is his absolute best friend. They fuss and fight like I am sure most brothers do, but at the end of the day they want to be around each other as much as possible.
Food is not so much of a challenge these days. Well, I should rephrase. He is willing to eat most of what we give him, but sometimes I feel it takes him almost an eternity to actually make it through dinner. But we have continued with making him (and his brother) eat at least small amounts of vegetables and everything else that is on his plate. Recently he surprised us with a love of roasted okra! However, his favorite is still pizza (and spaghetti with meatballs and chicken parmesan – apparently he is a fan of Italian food!).
I’ve said it for several years, so I might as well say it again…Thomas is a happy, social child and he is such a blessing. His teacher talks about how talking to him is like talking with an adult. She recently surmised that the reason he comes over to talk with her so much is because talking with adults is easier for him than talking with his peers. I thought that was funny.
For all the moments he drives us crazy by not listening or having a temper, there are many more moments that he does something to make us smile. I remain eternally thankful that he is our son. It’s been quite a ride these past seven years and I look forward to the years to come…I just want them to slow down!
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