Tommy - 3 years, 7 months

It's been quite awhile since I've written an update about you! Life has been very busy for our family in the past two months, so our normal routine of library and playground visits, play-dates, family walks, and puttering around the house has been upended. 


I've heard a lot of frightening things about the age of three, that it makes the Terrible Twos look like a day at park. So far I haven't found this to be true with you. You do have some emotional issues that we are consistently working through (like whining and crying at inappropriate times), but you're generally as obedient as anyone could expect a 3 year old to be.


Your gentle personality is shining more and more as you grow. You share your prized possessions with your brother spontaneously and frequently: one day you got two M&Ms as a potty reward and you said, "Mommy, I want to give one to Benji, because that would make him happy!" (melt my heart). Another time, you gave Ben half of your bread at dinnertime, which is very special because you love bread.

Your drive to help around the house is kicking in too. We've been doing a lot of moving and cleaning in the past two months and you seem to really enjoy helping load up Daddy's truck and unload it into the house. You also enjoy helping me clean, do dishes, and fold laundry. It's a lot easier for me to do these tasks myself, but I'm purposing to stop and take the time to show you how to do these things. We both end up having a good time together, even if the tasks takes three times as long as it otherwise would.


You have a soft heart for animals and bugs. The other day you found a roly poly and carried him around with you for about an hour, until I told you that he would be much happier in nice bush. Full of concern for your new little friend, you took him outside right away and found a new home for him. You're also very friendly with snails.


Books: I've been making an effort to bring very good books into the house, so you've been exposed to many classics lately. Some of your recent favorites are Leo Lionni's The Biggest House in the World, Richard Scarry's What Do People Do All Day?, Dr. Seuss's Hop on Pop, and Esphyr Slobodkina's Caps for Sale.


Shows: You haven't watched much television at all since we started moving. When I do pop a DVD into the laptop for you to watch, invariably it's Wall-e or Letter Factory, since those are your dedicated favorites. 


Food: You are still very much a vegetarian. We've been eating take-out a lot these days (which means a lot of Chinese food), and you positively gobble up all the broccoli and other veggies in sight. You're open to trying new foods, but invariably fall back on your favorites: bread, fruit, and vegetables. 


Toys: Currently your favorite toys are something you call "sound gears". Daddy found them for $2 at a garage sale about a year ago and you're now just old enough to play with them on your own. You create amazing things with them, like this  design you called a "water tractor".

Activities & Skills: You like writing letters and things that you claim are sentences. You will writing a string of your favorite letters (currently H, I, O, and T) and then tell me "This says, 'I love great grandma!'". Your pictures are getting interesting. For a few days you went through a phase where you drew many variations of suns. Here is a "sun man" that  you drew: