Adventures in Red Flannel

Now, I know that I said pink and purple are my favor colors 

(and they still are),

but I have this Red dress (Mommy says it's a nighty, but it's NOT)

and I just love it!

I would wear it all the time if Mommy would let me.

 Don't I look great in it?

Soooo beautiful!

 It's roomy enough to hide in.

 It's perfect for running and jumping.

(Important if you plan on keeping up with MY brothers)

 And it matches Bradley's favorite shoes

(which I am forever "borrowing" while he's not around.)

Most important of all…

It looks good even when I'm having a rip-roaring temper fit!

Yep nothing beats the Red Flannel dress.

Except maybe my fancy purple dress…

or the sparkly pink tutu…

or my Princess shirt…

That Baby

Okay, so it's not that I hate Robby or anything.

I don't.

I love him very, very much!

It's just that sometimes he gets in the way.

See, I'm not a baby anymore, and I'm okay with that,

but that doesn't mean I don't want snuggles with Mommy and Daddy.

 That baby is always in someone's lap when I want to be there.

Even if I have a royal fit, they don't put him down!

And if they do pick me up, I have to SHARE!

I know Mommy and Daddy love me.

I love Robby with all my heart.

But I don't want to share with him any more. 

I want to be with Mommy or Daddy all the time.

At home.

No more Nursery at church.

No more babysitters.

I don't even want to leave the house for too long.

Hopefully, when he gets bigger, I won't have to share so much.

Right?

Right??

The Dress-up Box

In one corner of our playroom, "my brudders" and I have a big box full of dress-up clothes.

In that box are costumes for everyone!

The boys have costumes to help them be pirates, or super heroes, or builders, or jedi. 

I have clothes that turn me into a fairy, or a ghost, or a mouse.

 But our favorite costumes of all turn us into knights and a princess. 

Don't I make a pretty princess?

And aren't my brudders super strong knights?

The boys charge around the house fighting dragons and zombies (and sometimes each other), 

or they go to knight school and learn how to use their swords and shields. 

I wander along after them doing magic with my wand 

(I'm great at killing zombies with a wand!) 

and twirling my skirt.

Isn't it fun to pretend?!

Well, Tommy is calling me, so I have to go be a purple dinosaur now. 

Bye!

Chillin' with Grandma Bradshaw

A few weeks ago we drove ALL DAY to visit Grandma and Grandpa Bradshaw. 

They are Grandma Gayle's Mommy and Daddy.

I love them.

Grandpa Bradshaw told lots of stories and he let us play with his blocks. 

Grandma Bradshaw doesn't get out of her chair very often. 

Her legs are tired and cold. 

Since she couldn't play with me, I decided to hang out with her.

She gave me hugs and said she loves me.

But she also said she didn't like my haircut. 

She said I looked like a little boy!

She said "You little stinker!" lots of times too. 

Humph! 

 I forgave her when she let me play with her 'bike'.

It was awesome. 

 She also let me use her fuzzy socks as a blanket for my baby.

They were so pink and soft!

Mommy laughed and laughed at me for using socks, 

but I don't see what was so funny. 

They really were just the right thing.

I loved chillin' with Grandma Bradshaw. 

We're footrest buddies.

Waiting...

Okay, let's get this out of the way. 

Yes, I cut my hair. And, yes, it is very short.

 Trust me I am very well aware of it. After all, I'm the one who did it.

See, I was getting tired of watching my brothers get haircuts all the time, when I never got one at all. Ugh, I hate waiting.

And all that hair was always in my eyes.

AND it was always getting tangled, so Mommy had to wash it and comb it out--OUCH!

That hair had to go!

 When I first cut it, I got a lot of attention for it. Mostly unwelcome attention, really. 

I know I can be silly and at home I like to be a ham, but the truth is I don't like attention as much as Bradley does. He'd do anything to get people to notice him.

 I like a little attention (who doesn't?), but after a while I like everyone leave me alone. 

Like with the whole hair-cut thing.

After a few days of constant 'oohing' 'aahing' and head-rubbing, I started losing my temper.

 Well, at first I tried ignoring people, but that only works for so long. 

And people just kept asking if I liked my hair, over and over and over again. 

How do you ignore that?

 So, then I tried shouting people down. 

"Don' look at me!" or "Stop it! Go away!" or just plain "NO!"

These were effective, but Mommy didn't like it. She said I was being rude.

So, random people touching your head ISN'T rude?

She also said if I waited long enough, people would stop talking about it.

Ugh. I hate waiting.

 Of course, deep down, I'm glad everyone likes my hair. 

I like being told how pretty I am and how great my hair looks.

But all things in moderation!

 And, in the end, Mommy was right. People are calming down about it now, 

so I can relax and enjoy my awesome new Do.

Well…actually, I've been thinking. I really miss my "big hair" and I want it back. 

Mommy says I'll have to wait. 

More waiting? Sigh.

Story of my life.

Farewell Toddlerhood

Well, I am almost five now and think it's time I let go of this blog. 

Seriously, you can only be a toddler for so long. 

Anyway, Audrey is the only toddler around here now. She'd better take over.

I was going to start a blog of my own, but I really don't have time with school coming up and all the play dates I have going on. I'm a busy guy. Mom says she will put my stories on her blog until I get big enough for one, but she also says I need to update this one before I sign off. 

 Okay, okay. But I am so out of here when this is over!

(This is me in the overhead bin on a plane that was turned into a museum. The tour guide thought it would be funny to put me in there. It WAS funny, but also kind of scary!)

I started my last year of preschool this year. Next year I'll be in Kindergarten!!!

 These are my 'buddies' at school. They help me with projects and get me snacks and hang out with me when I feel shy. The one in the blue and red jacket is my favorite. Her name is Lexi. The other one is nice, I guess, but she doesn't come all the time and I can't remember her name.

Lexi is super cool and nice. She gave me a dragon lovey for Christmas and I gave her candy. She's going to be my buddy again when I start school in a few weeks. 

 I played soccer this year. It was my first time, so I'm just learning all the rules. 

Turns out I'm very competitive and HATE losing (you know, like when I don't get to make any goals). 

 I'm getting better though. You watch! I'm going to be there best there is!

(Bradley didn't get to play soccer this year, but I don't get to play T-ball, so it's fair. Mom says next year we both get to play soccer and we both get to play baseball! Can't wait!)

 This is our new baby, Robby. 

("I can't believe we have a baby of our very own! I just can't believe it!")

I absolutely adore Robby and he loves me too. Whenever he sees me, he smiles so big and laughs. 

We are special buddies already, I can tell. I can't wait for him to get big enough to play with. 

 Bradley likes to say he loves to read and calls himself an 'egg-head', but I am NOT. 

I'm very active. I love running, jumping, tumbling, and moving my body as fast as I can.

Maybe that will change when I learn to read, but for now--look out! Here I come!

 Yeah, I'm pretty tough.

 I'm especially too tough to just smile at the camera. 

Real men make silly faces. 

Duh.

(This is true, but for the record NEVER call me silly, funny, weird, goofball, or anything like that…it hurts my tender feelings and my dignity.)

 Sometimes, though, I like to be still. 

I love building quietly--blocks, legos, paper projects--I love them all. 

I also love being read to and cuddling with Mom and Daddy.

So, there you go and here I go! Look out world, here comes the Big Boy Tommy!

Growing Fast and Slow

Mama says I am going through a growth spurt. 

I'm four now and four is much bigger than three. 

And I know I'm growing--every time I stretch my body I grow!

 Mama says she knows I'm growing because I eat and sleep so much. 

I like growing. 

I can reach things I couldn't before, and I'm allowed to play with things I couldn't before. 

But I don't think I'm growing fast enough. 

I still can't go to kindergarten, or little league, and I'm not allowed to play Brady's computer games. 

I'm not old enough for piano lessons, I have a hard time putting my shirts on the right way, and I'm not allowed to cook by myself.

Sigh.

Of course, the real reason I want to grow up faster is so I can get married. 

I want to find a pretty girl to be my girlfriend and then marry her. 

Unfortunately, I don't know any girls I want to marry and Mama says have to wait until I grow up big.

Really, though, I like being four. 

I have a lot of fun with games and friends. I love playing with Brady and Audrey. 

I guess I can wait for the rest.

Busy Playing

Well, it's new year (I know because Grandma and Grandpa told me so--they were at our house when the new year happened), but I'm still the same boy I ever was. 

I stay busy playing pretend with Brady and Audrey. Sometimes we do fun things, like when we turned the kitchen into a campsite. Ah, good times!

 Or when I was Mayor for a whole afternoon!

 Brady played too...he was the Sheriff. 

It was very cool, and very serious work.

 I spend so much time pretending, that it's only now and then that I turn back into the little boy named Tommy. But I am myself sometimes (especially when I need a hug or cuddles from Mama).

 Brady goes to school now, so I spend most of my mornings with Audrey. She's a good little buddy and she's finally old enough to play along with my pretending. 

She's all right, my little sis.

I really am a very busy little man and sometimes it's hard for anyone to keep up with me, so sometimes we all just chill together. 

But it's never long before I'm back on my feet and running.

Catch me if you can!

A Perfect Day!

If there's one thing I like, it's a snow day! 

So I was super happy when we jumped in the car and spent the whole day playing in the snow.

 We got to the snow still wearing pajamas, 

but as soon as we got there Mama put us in our snow clothes. 

Don't we look warm?

Daddy thought we should do our ski school first, so we did. 

I was a little shaky on the ski's at first. (I had never skied before, you know.)

 I fell a few times, but my teacher was so nice and he always helped me up. 

 He also showed me how to stay up. 

I learned "Pizza" to stop...

 ...and French fries to go.

 In no time I was zooming down the hill by myself! 

I also loved riding on the "magic carpet" to get to the top of the hill!

 After lessons we all took a break for sandwiches, hot chocolate, and a little tasty snow!

After lunch, I got to ride a tube merry-go-round...

 ...and then I found another use for snowballs!

 ...and don't worry. Daddy liked getting hit in the head...I know he did!

 We took a quick break to ski with Daddy (awesome!!!)

 ...then we slid down the snow hills...

...and took one last slide around the tube-go-round before jumping in the car to go home!

What a fantastic day!!!