Thomas at 9
Reading over last year’s post reminds me how much the whole world has been different this last year. We paused his guitar lessons and he’s had less time with friends outside of our family. He’s getting used to the masks, but is very particular about which ones he’ll wear. Thomas has weathered all the changes rather well, probably better than most of my other children, though he might have a harder time when everything goes back to normal and things like church happen in-person every week and last longer.
He’s still very much a quintessential boy full of energy and craziness. He makes friends remarkably well and always has plenty of kids with which to play. The friends he talks about most from school are Kaden, William, and Davey, but he’s also good friends with Nate, Sean, Thomas F, Christian, and Ian.
His aspirations for the ALL (Accelerated Learning Lab) were realized and he joined the class this year. He does well academically, meeting or exceeding expectations in almost every subject. His biggest downfall is his on reticence to read challenging books and to write. His teacher was able to out stubborn him on the writing part, but we’re still trying to get him engaged in some of books from the Mensa list his teacher gave him.
One of Thomas’s best qualities is that he’s efficient and automatic in the morning. He wakes up by himself an hour and a half to two hours before the school bus comes, gets dressed, eats breakfast, packs his own lunch, and usually puts his backpack in the bus line at least an hour early.
I haven’t pushed my children towards independence in the kitchen, so Thomas has surprised me by learning to be more self sufficient on his own. After successfully making his own sandwich one day, he started making his own sandwiches regularly. He perfected the art of cooking frozen corn dogs (48 seconds, turn, 10 seconds) and ate corn dogs for breakfast and lunch for days. For his birthday dessert, he wanted to make his own M&M cookies without my help. His sister, Ila has been practicing baking and was excited to teach him how.
Thomas loves to play on the computer and on his tablet. I think he would probably spend all his time looking at a screen if he didn’t have parents to pull him away and make him do other things. He is competent at coding on scratch and was able to complete all the coding projects for his school coding contest on his own. Some of his favorite computer games are Terraria, Balloons Tower Defense, Valheim, and Cat Quest 2.
I think Ila is still his favorite sibling. They play together often and get along well. They’re the only children of mine who go to the same school this year and they love to see each other in the lunch room or at recess.
Thomas told us that he couldn’t see to read something we casted to the TV one evening, so I told him I’d set up an appointment to get his eyes checked. He was immediately excited and impatient for his appointment. He asked me several times before bed if I had made the appointment yet, then he asked first thing in the morning and the moment he got off the school bus after school (luckily I had called and set up an appointment while he was at school). At school he told his teacher and his whole class that he couldn’t see the board and that he was going to get his eyes checked. Once the appointment was set, he counted down the days till the appointment. After the appointment, they told him to expect his glasses in 3 weeks. We marked the date on the calendar and he kept track of how many days till his glasses would arrive. He even kept his friends updated at school. After I got the text that his glasses were in, I told him as soon as he walked in the door after school. “They’re 6 days early!” he said, “I told all my friends my glasses would come in 6 days, they’ll be so surprised tomorrow!” On the way home from picking them up, he listed the order in which he was going to show off his new glasses; first to all the family that was home, then he’d run to the classmate’s house two doors down to show him, then across the street to show his grandparents. I have never seen a kid so excited to get glasses.
He still hates dressing up in any sort of costume and refuses to wear PJs to school when they have pajama days.
Although not as obsessed with cats as his sister, he loves to pet and play with cats and kittens.
He learned to mow the lawn earlier this year (click here for services). It seems like a random fact to throw in here at the end, but it’s just another evidence that my youngest is growing up. It’s both great and hard to see him do things that are more and more grown up, but it’s all worth it when I see the pride he feels at being able to do something he had never tried before.
I consider myself very lucky to be his mom and look forward to seeing all the great things he’ll do as he continues to grow up!
From an Uncle who only sees/hears about you infrequently, I marvel that I am connected to such a wonderful person. Thomas, you have a family, many of which you haven’t met or even heard of, that root for your successes. In times of adversity remember that “they that be with us are more than they they that be with then.” (2 Kings 6 – 16)
Kathleen I raeally enjoy these neat posts you share. my kids send me some of my own grandkids and wish they were formatted like yours. Daughter-in- law usually does a calendar but missed this year. so thank you for your efforts.