Tommy Spencer

Thomas is growing a lot lately. Not necessarily physically--he weighs himself at least once a week to see if he is 40 lbs yet so he can get into a booster seat--but definitely mentally, socially, and spiritually.

Mentally: Tommy set a goal for Joy School to write his whole name. I found it cute that he chose to write "Tommy Spencer" for his whole name. He's been working on that and getting it looking pretty good. It was nice to have a focus on a goal, because now we can talk about other things that are hard to do and make goals to achieve them. He is excited because he can now snap after working at it for awhile. His whistle though is still a ways away from sounding like a whistle. It's very cute to hear him practicing, and often he will practice while we are on walks in the stroller or while we're driving somewhere.

Nana sent us the Distar book on learning to read. I haven't tried this with any other kids, but Tommy wanted to have "reading yessons" every day, so we've been going through the book. He likes having something to learn that is just his own. He also insists on practicing piano and violin, like his brothers.
Thomas continues to love reading books. I love to watch him pore over the pictures in books. He really enjoyed the Babar collected works book we got from the library a few weeks ago. He and Owen like to be read to at night, and he as been getting after me because I spend so much time with Will and Ry reading Harry Potter. So we've been reading a chapter book with Owen and Tommy as well, and they like that. He always asks for "one more chapter!"

Tommy thinks things through. One morning, when he was struggling with his dishwasher unloading job, he said, "I wish we didn't even have a dishwasher!" I laughed and pointed out that then he would have to wash more dishes by hand in the sink. Quickly he said, "I wish we didn't have a sink then! Or...water! Or bowls and spoons!"

Tommy is really into "Chest" (Chess) these days. He and Owen play lots, and he likes to play with me and James. The other day he said, "we didn't play Chest today!" He is actually getting better at it. When a guy gets captured, he sometimes sighs and says, "Oh, Wats! (Rats)" and other times he laughs and says, "I don't care about that!" He is always a good loser. :-)

James has been working with Tommy on pronouncing his "l" sound. Last night he proudly said quite a few "l" words--"lollipop," "Uncle Lloyd," "laugh." But when he's not thinking about it, he falls back into the habit pretty quickly, and I have to say, I secretly love it. His word for "actually" has also undergone a transformation. He used to say,"ashakee" and now its "ashqwee." Pretty sweet.

Lately I've been trying to turn off the radio while I'm driving with Tommy and George and sing more. I just kind of realized one day that I hardly ever sing any more. So I've been trying to revive that. Often we are driving somewhere in the mornings--to Parent Preschool in Raymond, to the library, swimming pool, or grocery store--so I've started saying, "Let's sing some morning songs!" Now Tommy will request the "morning songs" if I forget. Sometimes I will put the radio on to the classical music station and we will make up a story to match the music. His stories usually involve bad guys and armies. The armies are often animals of some sort.

Going swimming every week has given Thomas more confidence in the water. This last Wednesday when we went, there weren't many children in the small pool, so Tommy was able to practice swimming across the whole pool without touching the bottom. He was pretty excited about it, and practiced for quite a while. James nicknamed him "Tomfish."

The other day we were coming home and I was telling him the names of the streets we were driving on. I said, "This is University Drive." He then needed to know what a university was. Then he said, "that sounds like the word for galaxy." I couldn't figure out what he meant for a while and then finally figured out he meant "universe." He said, "Doesn't universe mean everything?" I said that was a pretty good explanation. Then he was trying to figure out what "university" meant.

Socially: Thomas is quite the little socialite. He is not usually very shy with people. Sometimes he is a bit shy, but it doesn't prevent him from asking questions of strangers. When I took him for his kindergarten booster shot, he had a lot of questions for the nurse. After he was done, he talked so much that it was hard for the nurse to get a word in edgewise. Afterwards, he proudly told his dad, "I didn't cry one tear when I got my stitches (meaning shots)."

When I had Joy School at my house it opened my eyes a bit to Tommy. He is a bit of a show-off/class clown. He likes to make jokes and have people laugh at him. He is very aware of when he is funny to others. He has kind of a sideways look that he gives to see if you are watching him--it's not sly, just cute and engaging. He is very social and friendly with kids his own age. I was noticing the other day how quiet he gets when he is surrounded by his older brothers and their friends. We drove to Raymond and he hardly said one word the whole time, but his whole body was listening to everything they were saying. He soaks things up like a sponge, that is for sure. He and Owen stick together pretty closely on the weekends. I like to see that happen. They made forts under Owen's bed, they read together, listen to Raffi cds while they build lego or color or play dress ups.

Back to how he is with friends--we are working on learning about including everyone. He has one friend who he claims is his "best" friend. Then he has a hard time saying he likes the others, even though it is obvious they are also his friends. Its interesting trying to teach this, because I know that there are certain people that you just click with and there are others that you enjoy being with but they aren't as easy to get along with. So its been good for me to figure friendships out with him.

As friendly as Tommy is, he still sticks to me. When we are at the pool with friends, he will play with them, but he also is happy to play with me. That makes me happy. This past week at the pool, we met a new family that comes pretty regularly on the same day. He noticed there was a girl about his age, and he quietly whispered to me, "How old is she?" He was a little shy to talk to her, but he was very aware of her. He also likes me to take him to his primary class, and he always looks a bit nervous when I leave. He handles the separation really well though.

At our parent preschool in Raymond he is super helpful with George. The first day, when I was leaving him to play while I went to the class, I asked him to keep an eye on George. He put his arm protectively around him and said he would. The next week he said, " I don't want you to go to your class!" When I asked why, he said, "It's hard work taking care of George!" I realized that he had felt that he alone was responsible for making sure George was okay. So after that I talked with the caregivers about that, and they assured me they would be more aware. SO the next week, one of the ladies came up to me after and said that Tommy said to her, "Okay, your turn to take care of George now!" :-)

Spiritually: Tommy says the sweetest prayers. He loves to pray. Owen doesn't like to pray at mealtimes lately, so whenever he is asked and refuses, Tommy volunteers. Thomas' prayers usually include the phrase, "Please bless Mom and Dad to Super Love us." I always appreciate this prayer--maybe I will be blessed with the gift of charity because of Tommy's prayers! His night prayers need work though...he often says, "And Pwease bwess the food..." without thinking about what he is saying.

Tommy's favorite scripture story these days is Samuel the Lamanite. I think it has something to do with the violent nature of the story--the rocks, the arrows, etc. He put on a very accurate representation of the story in FHE a couple of weeks ago. Then when we got to the part in the Book of Mormon about Ammon in our morning scripture study, he became very interested in the bloody nature of that particular story. I guess he is a boy, right? He asks me endless questions about Star Wars--trying to understand how Annikin became Darth Vader--and it provides us with some good opportunity to talk about choices and consequences.

We love this little Tommy plant and the way he is growing up.