Tommy at 6 Years Old

You have grown up so much in this year. Sometimes I look at you and I can still see little Tommy, the way you used to crouch with your chubby toddler legs over a bug on the ground and study it. Other times I look at you and you look so positively grown up, it's a little unsettling. Where did my little guy go?

You've grown into a wonderful young boy in this past year. You have shown yourself to be a caring big brother: whenever Ben is sad or hurt, you do everything you can to show him love and comfort him. The other day Ben got his finger caught in something and ripped some skin off. He was badly hurt and was crying a lot, so while I doctored him up, you fixed him a snack of an apple, some bread, and some yogurt and found him his favorite sticker (of a train). It melted my heart to see you be so thoughtful to him! 

Another example is this: we have a rule that birthday gifts are off-limits to others for the first day that the birthday boy receives them. But you never hold to this rule, you always share with your brother anyway. And Ben does the same for you. (Kind of a pointless rule, right?)



You are loving school. Sometimes you lack the ability to sit and do the work for more than ten minutes at a time. But you are thriving in your learning. Your reading has improved a immensely this past year. This time last year you were just able to read the very simple Bob Books and could barely sound out words. Now you're at a second grade reading level and reading everything you can find. You're zooming through your math lessons too. Math and science seem to be your favorite things to learn about. 

You like doing paper crafts, anything that involves cutting, folding, glueing and taping. If I leave you alone with paper, tape, and scissors, you will create complex paper sculptures of airplanes or robots. For an-almost six year old, you've gotten very good at origami.

You have gotten more outgoing in this past year. You used to be shy about talking to people, particularly strangers. But now you are comfortable talking with people you know, and you're getting more comfortable talking with strangers. You seem to really open up and get animated when you talk about something that you like a lot.

I'm looking forward to watching you mature in this next year. You are such a sweet, sincere, loving boy and I love being your mom.

This past spring you learned how to read Green Eggs and Ham all by yourself. You were so proud.