To Tommy on Your 3rd Birthday

Dear Tommy,

Today you are 3 years old. It’s been a while since I wrote one of these letters on the blog. But this past week I looked back at the letters I wrote Maggie and Alex on their 3rd birthdays and couldn’t believe some of the things I would have forgotten if not for writing it down. Or the things that I would have remembered but never would have been able to place with a certain age. So here, my wild little man, are some thoughts on your 3rd birthday….

I’ll start by saying you hold a very sweet spot in this family when it comes to birthdays and growing older. It took me 2 times to realize just how fast time flies. It took me 2 times raising a toddler to learn that the stage, while trying at times (many times) passes and while there are things about toddlers that one gladly waves goodbye to, there are also things that one misses incredibly. On the flip side, you’re not the baby in the family, so I don’t get all sappy at your milestones. On the eve of your baby brother’s 3rd birthday I’ll be a tearful mess as I “no longer have any toddlers”. But you, Tommy, it’s all about celebrating.

YOU are all about celebrating. You celebrate every day. Your daily celebration starts around 5:45AM when you whip your blankie onto our bed as if you are going to use it to climb a mountain. Then you hoist yourself into our bed and you’re raring to go. You follow Daddy around all morning while he gets ready for work. From handing him a towel when he gets out of the shower to walking Jersey at 6:30AM, you are by his side.

Once dad leaves you beg me to go get Miles. You run into the room at 100 mph and hop into his crib. Then you’re off to wake your sisters up. You absolutely love your siblings. You are constantly hugging and kissing them. Sometimes you drive them totally crazy but that’s when you are trying to drive them crazy and think it’s hilarious. You have been missing Alex a lot while she’s at school this year as it’s her first year of full day school and she was always the one hanging with you all morning before nap time. You constantly ask me when we can go “get Maggie and Ali at school”.

This past year you have taught me how different little boys are from little girls. Sometimes I say that I thought Maggie and Alex were wild and crazy toddlers and then God gave me Tommy to teach me what a wild and crazy toddler actually is. You have no fear and never stop moving. You run, jump, climb, flip, tumble, slide your way around the house and yard. Speaking of the yard: that is your favorite place. You are usually working on some sort of construction project that you will explain in detail.

You want to be a “worker man” when you grow up. You are fascinated with all construction vehicles, tools and Home Depot. Your favorite thing to play with are sticks. You almost always have one in your hand and collect them everywhere we go. It’s been an interesting favorite because when you say it, you replace the “st” with a “d”, which gets extra interesting when you describe the size of the stick. Anyway… they are your favorite!

My favorite thing about you at two: that you call me your love bug. It sounds more like lub bug and you call me that every day. You say “we are love bugs” and it’s the best. You are still my snuggly  little love bug. You’re my buddy, by my side, all day long, talking to me each and every minute you are awake.

In your sisters “3rd birthday letters” I boasted about their new potty using skills. We’re not quite there and that’s ok. You also still love your bottle and binkys and that’s cool too. I’ve loosened up quite a bit over the years with this parenting thing.

Some of your favorites:

The letter T, hammers, lawnmowers and weed wackers.

You love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Mickey and the Roadster Racers. Your favorite things to drink are milk and orange juice. Your favorite things to eat are eggs and Oreos.

You love to swim, read Halloween books and dance to Jojo Siwa’s Boomerang.

You go by T, Big T, Beast and as Miles calls you: Mimi. You do not like when your sisters refer to you by your full name: Thomas Joseph. You reply “I not Jo-fis”.

You are a complete joy. You may be a wild animal at times, but a happy, joyful wild animal. And when the little old lady at the grocery store check out tells me “you’ll miss this someday” when I’m cleaning up the groceries you’ve tossed out of the cart…. I smile and agree with her. I know all too well that time flies and before I know it you’ll be in school all day, every day and not accompanying me to the grocery store any more. I’m enjoying the wild and crazy times with you buddy.  Time sure does fly my little Tommy.

You are a gift to our family and we all can’t wait to celebrate your 3rd birthday with you.

Love, Mom