Virtute.org

Thomas turned 5 almost two weeks ago and I’ve been thinking about what I should write about him on and off since then.  Here’s what I wrote about him last year, and at age 3, age 2, and age 1.

Thomas is a very smart kid.  I think he’s my best pre-kindergarten reader.  He knew all his letters and letter sounds at 3 and started reading small words back then.  By 4, he was reading Ila’s kindergarten books over her shoulder and memorized all her sight words before her.  Now he’s a good reader, but he often claims that he can’t read books (probably because he still loves having people read to him).  I do sometimes catch him reading books by himself and he regularly reads words he encounters throughout his day.  I wish I could better quantify his reading skills, but I’ll probably have to wait till Kindergarten to have him given a grade level equivalent.

Thomas can be a rather moody 5 year old.  He’s either wonderfully cooperative and a fun to have around, or a big grump.  I call him my little Jeckyll and Hyde because he often moves so quickly and sometimes unexpectedly between the two temperaments.  I’m not sure what to do to get rid of the Hyde part yet.  Mostly I just try to ignore him when he acts out and not give into his desires, but I’m not always perfect at that so I might be occasionally encouraging that bad behavior by allowing it to influence what we do.  Sometimes we refer to him as the caboose who thinks he’s an engine.  In fact he’s heard us say it enough that when he sees a caboose, he’ll say “hey, it’s me!”

Despite his occasional moodiness, he’s got generally good social skills.  He continues to be best friends with Sean and plays with Sean several times a week.  They always play together all day on Mondays and Fridays, but they’ll often ask to play together several other days during the week.  Sean is included in almost all of Thomas’s prayers.  Thomas will say things like “Thank thee that I got to play with Sean today and that we played rescue bots.”  Every time Thomas gets a new toy, he wants to have Sean over immediately to show it to him or he comments on what he thinks Sean will think when he sees it.  Yesterday they were referring to each other as “bros.”

Thomas plays well with all his siblings as well.  My children’s interests are heavily influenced by each other.  Charlotte and Ila like to carry around stuffed pets, so Thomas does too.  He draws the line at making them fancy, but he will carry around his stuffed dog (Pippy) even while the others are at school.  He sleeps with a random assortment of stuffed animals including a set of piglets and a frog.  This morning he declared that it was Pippy’s birthday.

Thomas likes to use the computer.  I limit his computer time, but his favorites are usually Cool Math Games and Ryan Toy Videos.  I’m rather annoyed by the last one and should probably block it.  I commented to him that Ryan had too many toys a few times and on Christmas day as Thomas was opening presents he proclaimed “I have as many toys as Ryan!”

Thomas’s favorite things to play with are vehicles of various types.  He still loves his rescue bots, but he’s been spending more time with hot wheels lately. He will join his sisters in their long imaginative scenarios too.  He has also been playing with lightsabers lately.

Thomas hates to dress up in costumes of any type for any reason.  He spent a half an hour crying as we trick or treated without him before reluctantly agreeing to wear part of a costume.  He refused to dress up for our annual Nativity or for any other reason.

Thomas asked for spaghetti and french fries for his birthday meal which seemed like an odd combination, but once he states what he wants, he rarely vacillates.  He likes cheese pizza, sandwiches with no pickles, quesadillas, yogurt, chicken nuggets, and apples.  He still loves to eat ice cream at his grandparent’s house almost every time he goes over.  He seems to like having a pattern to his eating.  At my mom’s house he always asks to eat an apple before he eats ice cream.

Thomas still hugs me a lot and says I love you all the time.  He’s an affectionate and loving boy most of the time.

Thomas is lucky to live close to and have a comfortable relationship with all of his grandparents.  I imagined he’d be my sidekick all day every day this year since it’s his last year at home, but he often asks to hang out with his grandparents rather than run errands with me.  He likes to play games like sorry, battleship, uno, racko, and rummikub with his grandparents, aunts, or uncle.