Letters from Pemberley

Hard to believe that Tommy turns 4 today.  Tommy is in general an introspective, thoughtful child.  He is shy in large group situations, though he does open up and act silly with friends and family whom he knows well.  He is very detail-oriented (as the firstborn of two firstborns, he even arrived right on schedule on his duedate!), and I often find him lining up things…books, cars, underwear…in straight, orderly lines.  He thrives on a schedule and always asks me, “What are we going to do next?”  He takes deep satisfaction in recounting our plans for the day, and like me, he seems to find peace and confidence in the predictable routines.  Like me, he’s quite thrown out of joint when something disrupts them.=)

Tommy has become quite helpful and moderately independent in the past year.  That independence has been difficult when it manifests itself in refusing to eat former favorites for dinner (last night he informed us that the only two dinners he likes are cashew chicken curry and bread with sunflower seed butter and banana slices) or coming up with a different plan for the day than I’d had in mind.  But it’s mostly good!  He can put his shoes on by himself, completely dress himself head to toe (as long as the clothes fit), buckle himself into his car booster seat (as long as he doesn’t have his coat and mittens on), and (occasionally) pick up toys without being asked.  I’m so glad we started practicing picking up toys before age 2, because he is completely capable (though not always willing!) of putting away any of our toys in the proper location.  I anticipate that he will want to help me a lot with the baby, though I’m not sure he’s quite big enough to carry him or her around!

Tommy is still very sweet and affectionate with us.  One of my favorite things in life is to sit on the couch, reading a book to Elizabeth, and have Tommy run up and sit on the other side, nestling his head on my shoulder while I finish.  He willingly gives hugs and kisses and often tells his sister and his mommy how beautiful we are!  (Obviously he has a good role model for that in Daddy!)  We’ve done a TON of debating about putting him into some sort of preschool situation because of his shyness in large groups, but he is currently completely content to stay at home with me.  I know that will change, and I’ll want it to change because he can’t always be tied to my apron strings, but I really do love that he’s still a sweet little boy for a little while longer!  Lately, when we tell him something (“Grandma is coming!”  “So-and-so is going to have a baby brother!”), he’ll go, “What?!  I didn’t know that!”  Derek’s been working on teaching him to say “breakfast” instead of “breakIST” (which I sortof miss).  He’s getting big so fast!

This morning we did the Muller tradition of waking him up to breakfast in bed–truck and plane pancakes!  He was overwhelmed by the whole thing…

Because it’s supposed to be in the 50s today, we decided to give him his big birthday present first thing so he can try it out before Daddy gets home for dinner.  He was astounded to see a big boy bike just for him!

Elizabeth wanted him to get on it right away, but he took awhile to take it all in…

Inspired by some homeschoolers for whom I used to babysit, we have the birthday tradition of giving the kids a book for every year old that they are.  (Obviously this will be more of a big deal when they’re, say, 17…)  So Tommy had four presents waiting to be opened!

He had to look all the way through each one before opening the next, so it was quite a long process.  So getting him three French Tintin books seemed like a good idea at the time…but I just realized that, barring a visit from Eleanor or Natalie, I’m the only one around who can read them to him!  Next year, we’ll have to get more books in English.=)

After breakfast, he finally decided to try the bike out–just a couple turns around the house to see how it felt…

On the schedule for the rest of the day: meet our play group for storytime at Barnes and Noble followed by lunch at McDonalds, then a bike ride this afternoon when things are warmed up and the sidewalks are (hopefully) melted clear!