3 Year Update
I haven’t done an update since last October, and we’ve been plenty busy since then. We made 2(!) trips over Thanksgiving, one to Pulaski to visit Jason’s mother’s family, and other trip to Smryna, TN (near Nashville) to visit Jason’s father’s family. We were exhausted by the end of the weekend, but we got to see lots of folks we don’t see very often.
For the first time ever, we spent Christmas Day at home - and it was wonderful! We spent the entire day in our pajamas, relaxing while Tucker played with his new train table and other toys. We left for North Carolina the day after that to visit my family in North Carolina. Overall, it was a nice holiday season. Tucker emphatically refused to get near Santa Claus, but he totally racked up on toys from everyone - he got a new bike, more trains, tons of books and puzzles, and some DVDs. He is now old enough to watch some DVD movies all the way through, and his favorites are Toy Story, Pixar’s Cars, Shrek, and…get ready for this one…Herbie, Fully Loaded (yes, the craptacular remake starring Lindsey Lohan! Yuck! He can even sing along with the songs in the movie). We have tons of the movie related merchandise, so Disney is making a mint at our expense.
Tucker has been doing well in his preschool classes for the most part. His teacher asked me recently if we had been working with him on learning his numbers because he is counting well. I told her that he likes to play with the colored balls on our pool table, and he will ask “what number is this?” when he doesn’t recognize it. That’s the extent of our tutoring. He pretty much learned his colors the same way. He can also recognize several letters, and he even surprised me one day when I was browsing through some magazines. The cover of Time was emblonzed with the word IRAQ - and Tucker pointed to it and read each letter to me. It was a really fun moment to see him spontaneously showing off his knowledge.
Although he is doing well with numbers and colors, his behavior is another matter! He is not a quiet or compliant child, and that gets him into trouble at school. He is boistrous and stubborn - he has all the qualities that make him a challenge now, but I think those same qualities will serve him well as an adult. I just laugh when I see other mothers with their children at the grocery store or the mall - and their kids are sitting quietly in a stroller, waiting for mom while she shops. HA! The last time I took Tucker to the grocery store (“buggy store” as he calls it), he noticed a rather bohemian-looking fellow with long dreadlocks pulled back into a ponytail. Right as the man walked past us, Tucker shouted, ”HE LOOKS LIKE A GIRL!!”, as he thinks only girls are supposed to have long hair.
The good news is that although he is a master “fit-thrower”, he can also be a very loving and affectionate child. One evening I was nursing a raging migraine, and I told him that my head really hurt. He took my hand and asked in a sweet little voice, “Do you need a bandaid, Mommy?”. Bandaids can fix all kinds of ailments - and so can hugs from an innocent toddler. :-)
At Tucker’s 3 year checkup he weighed 33 lbs and was 35.5 inches tall. He is still short for his age, but he is meeting all of his developmental milestones. He had a wonderful birthday, and got lots of fun gifts. I also took him to get some 3 year portraits made - which was a real challenge. He HATES to wear dress clothes, so it took major bribery to get him dressed and agreeable to sitting for pictures. So…after the pictures were done, I took him to ‘Donald’s (as he calls it) for lunch, followed by a trip to the “toy story” to purchase a tee ball set.
I hope everyone is enjoying spring. We are all sniffling and sneezing from the pollen, but the warmer weather sure is nice! Enjoy!
Love,
Deanna
