Timmy 3 Years 7 Months

My sweet big boy is another month older and he seemed to grow up a lot in the last month.  His bed time routine stayed the same, but suddenly seems to work, as in, he doesn't try to pop up out of bed or call us back into his room as soon as we leave any more.  He has memorized his favorite bed time books as well as our simple night time prayer, "Good night dear God, we're off to sleep, and in your watch, we know we'll keep, guide us safely through the night, and wake us with the morning light." He's also memorized our rather lengthy "God Bless" list, which is my and Tim's immediate families (and pets) plus Timmy's addition of "... and MandM and Uncle Dale." that he added two Thanksgivings ago.

He usually does even better then these videos show, I guess he was being camera shy.  Camera shy isn't a problem we usually have...

Last week Timmy spent two days telling me, Tim, and Mom, about his buddy at school, "Nate is a little bit nervous, but he'll be okay." When he told me that, I asked him who told him Nate was nervous, and he responded Mrs. B.  I emailed their amazing teacher to let her know that her phrasing of 'nervous' had really stuck with Timmy and he had been telling us about Nate, and asked if there was anything specific that had happened so I could talk to Timmy about it more.  Her response made me so proud, I'll share it here:

Oh, so cute and very mature too.  Timmy has been such a good friend during Nate's sad days.  Which I'm happy to report ended yesterday about 9:40 a.m. -- back to the happy carefree Nate.  Since the new year, Nate's been a bit sad about being away from his mom and family and was nervous about being at school and away from them (that's what we think anyway --it's hard to know exactly a  3 y.o.'s thought processes)

Timmy has been a bit bummed too because Nate was not his normal self and was not playing with him (they have become super good pals) in the same way that he usually does.  Timmy and I talked about it a few times because he was worried about Nate ("why is he sad?" "I think he misses his mom" are some things Timmy said)  --- the empathy is wonderful, esp. verbal --- many kids this age just don't even see how other kids are feeling, they hardly understand their own emotions.   I used the term nervous because of the actions Nate was using (looking sad, finding a safe/quiet place, his eyes were a little weepy, he came in crying, not wanting to play cars with Timmy) --at this age very important to point out the signs of each emotion ---- and then told Timmy "let's wish him well and he'll feel OK soon".  So we did that and so happy it worked after a few days.

We have pictures of many different emotions in class --- but it might be a useful thing to send home to all the parents....I will try and make a copy for conferences.  It's really good for the children to recognize the different way people feel and how they feel themselves.

Thanks for your concern.  I was so happy for both Timmy and Nate yest. ---to see Nate's smiling face and Timmy's support paid off--- it made me realize what a good pair they'd become!

have a great day, Patty

I am so proud of my big boy and what a good, patient, concerned friend he is!  Here is a picture that Patty took of Timmy and Nate last week as well.  It looks like Timmy may have joined Nate in the classrooms "safe place" for some quiet reading.

We had a little snow last week, less then half an inch on the grass only, and Timmy was itching to go play in it!  Mom explained to him that it was too cold for her to bring Tyler outside, so he waited patiently for me to get to Mom's after work.  She took him outside for a little while and they managed to make a snowman out of that little dusting of snow!  I hope we get exactly one good snow storm this year so Timmy can enjoy it!

Disclaimer - this post was written last week, but I waited to get the prayer and blessing videos before posting!