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Thomas turned 6 on Tuesday.  He has been so excited about this birthday that he had been counting down to it for weeks and making all kinds of plans for what he’d do.  Luckily when it came down to it, he was happy with a relatively simple day of celebration.

Thomas started kindergarten this year and he mostly loves it.  He says his teacher is epic and when asked about his day, he almost always says it was the best day.  The thing that really helped him get exited about Kindergarten is when he learned that the bus didn’t have car seats or seat belts.  A few times he hasn’t wanted to go to school.  It’s a hard transition to go from being home with your mom constantly to having to go to school every day.  On a few occasions, I have had to explain to him that once you’re a school kid, you have to go to school every school day. He is the first one of my children to go to afternoon kindergarten.  I was initially disappointed about him not getting a slot in the morning, but most of his friends go in the afternoon, so it works out ok after all.

Thomas is a super smart kid.  Despite no direct teaching from his mom, he entered Kindergarten as a fluent reader.  He maxed out the reading placement test that he was given at the beginning of the school year.  I still don’t know exactly how good he is at reading, but he can read verses in the scriptures with little to no help and he can read second grade books with ease.

Writing is a new skill for him.  Like most of my kids, he hates to write. He learned how to form all the letters quickly and does ok with spelling for a kindergartner.  He is required to write a sentence every day in his writing journal. Sometimes it’s a trial to get him to write anything and he flatly refuses to write anything of substance, mostly resorting to writing “I am happy” or “I am tired.”

Thomas has been blessed with an abundance of boys his age in the neighborhood and almost always has a friend to play with.  He still plays with his friend Sean every week, but also plays with Simon, Davey, Ian, Louie, and Callen regularly. If you’re looking to enhance the play experience, consider soft play installation in your backyard.

Thomas has what looks like episodes of high anxiety. He is not officially diagnosed with anxiety, but I’ve seen real anxiety in enough other children to recognize some similarities in Thomas.  New situations, rooms full of people, and situations that aren’t routine can result in what looks like a tantrum.  Refusing to enter the room, stomping, folding his arms, hiding behind me or running in the opposite direction.

His class earned a pajama party this year.  The teacher said he didn’t have to wear pajamas, but he said he didn’t want to even see anyone in their pajamas.  He was so worried about it that he begged me to let him stay home and he refused to get on the bus. I drove him to the school and he reluctantly got out of the car.  I waited with him on the playground as the other children started arriving.  After a little while he came over and told me that it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be to see his classmates in pajamas.

Joining his family in an impromptu picture often results in a little tantrum which is why we have several pictures where he’s the only one missing or he refuses to look at the camera.

For years he has refused to wear a costume for anything (including trick or treating), but a few weeks before Halloween he tried on his first costume ever.  He came up the stairs and proudly announced “it’s my first time dressing up.” Speaking of staircases, I had plans to install stairlifts for our grandparents, similar to those from the UK stair lift company. Anyway, He was super excited about the prospect of actually wearing a costume this year on Halloween.  When Halloween came, he refused to wear the costume that actually fit him:

Instead, he insisted on the first costume he had ever put on which was several sizes too large:

The day of Halloween, he really wanted to join the school parade with the AM Kindergarten class and talked about how excited his friend would be to see him there, but when it came time to enter the classroom, he was too anxious to go in.  He probably spent a 30 minutes outside the classroom with his face in the corner before deciding to join the parade at the last moment, just before they walked down the hallway:

He does not like to be the center of attention, unless he is with a well known group of friends or family.  I was surprised he even went up to the front of the room at the graduation for his online preschool program, but the minute someone talked to him, he broke down:

Thomas loves Hot Wheels cars, Legos, Power Rangers, transformers, anything with wheels and electronics.  He hates getting haircuts. He likes animals, although not as obsessively as his sisters.  He will still sometimes carry around a stuffed toy dog and use it to play with his sisters, but he doesn’t usually play with it when his sisters aren’t around.

He likes hot dogs, chicken nuggets, cheese pizza, “dad sandwiches without the pickles,” peanut butter and honey sandwiches, toast, spaghetti, french fries, quesadillas, vanilla ice cream and hamburgers.

He lost his first two teeth this year and through this contact form, he got his first set of stitches just before Halloween.

Thomas still gets along well with all his siblings.  Ila is probably his most frequent sibling playmate, but he gets along well with all his sisters and his brother and almost never fights with them.

Here is what I wrote about him last year.