Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Tobin at 80 months

tobin lee, self-portrait

This morning, while playing Duplos with Evan and Lauren, I made a simple structure with a distinct rainbow-color pattern. I put it up on the mantle to save it until Tobin got home, thinking he might like it. Within five minutes of walking through the door, he noticed it and said, "Wow! Mom did you make that? It's so cool!" In less than another five minutes, my creation got caught in the crossfire of some enthusiastic play by Evan and broke. Tobin cried and asked for my help reconstructing it. I reminded him of the pattern at just a couple points and he otherwise rebuilt it with ease.

puzzler

While he's quite good a figuring out our challenging Perplexus puzzles, Tobin also still loves simple activities like building with Duplos and drawing. His favorite thing to do with Duplos is something he's been doing for a couple years now: creating an Angry Birds game, replete with birds and piggies and structures to knock down. Evan, well-versed in the video game like his big brother, is an admirer of Tobin's games. In fact, he regularly warns Lauren and me not to break Tobin's birds when we're playing with Duplos. This past weekend, Tobin used the Duplos to create a large dice and game pieces, and used some wooden blocks to make a game board. He had us all rolling the dice to advance on the board. I was busy with something in the kitchen and neither younger sibling was focused on the game, so Tobin ended up playing for each of us and would excitedly update us on our respective progressions around the board. Classic.

tobin as calvin

Last Thursday, Tobin dressed up as a favorite storybook character for school. We settled on Calvin from Calvin & Hobbes. Though Calvin is more a comic book character, we figured that since he's finished Matt's entire three-volume collection, it was "literary" enough.

reading to lala

We are especially thankful for Tobin's brotherly patience and reading skills, and encourage his younger siblings to snuggle up with him for some reading. He loves it. He's always had an extra tender relationship with Lauren, although that's changing a tad as she asserts herself and grabs cars and knocks down football helmet formations. Still he's her favorite non-Mama snuggle buddy, especially first thing in the morning. With Evan, I think that Tobin's longer days at school have made their hearts grow a bit fonder. Plus they seem to just be at an age when playing together is more fun than contentious. We sometimes stop by a park on the way home from school, and I've been struck by how much the boys play together almost the entire time on the playground--almost oblivious to other kids around them. And it's usually Tobin leading the way, encouraging Evan to join him or keep up. I was so charmed on a recent visit by their brotherly play that I found myself letting them do all manner of crazy things on a slide, even as I fretted just a tad about their safety. They would climb up then figure out silly ways to slide down holding on to each other--sometimes on their bellies, sometimes headfirst, whatever. I just kind of stood there and took it all in: enjoying my boys enjoying each other. When they're not tackling or racing or otherwise keeping score, they're the best of friends.

best bros.

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