Mr. T is 8!

Well, my little cherub has turned eight!  How are you so big now, Tuck Tuck?!  You are such a delight to us all.  Yesterday we went to the dermatologist to look at something on your foot- you completely charmed every single person in the office.  You look people in the eye, smile, laugh, answer their questions happily- it's just a treat to be with you.

You walked in and nervously said, "Gulp."   I think it's from reading Calvin and Hobbes. 

When the doctor asked you what the coldest planet was you said, "Oh, are you thinking about Pluto?  That's now declared a dwarf planet."

When we were talking about the hottest planet and you said it was Venus, I said to the doctor, "yes, because even though Mercury is closer to the sun, it has no atmosphere and doesn't get as hot." 

You said, "Actually Mommy, Mercury does have an atmosphere!  It's just not very much.  Venus's atmosphere is has 91 times the pressure of earth's!"  :)   Always learning from my little spaceman. 

We still haven't told you that you and Daddy are going to Space Camp in the spring!

You are doing great with your school work.  You almost NEVER sit still, but if I let you squirm, bounce and stand you get it done.  :)  You still have a huge vocabulary and love of words.  You are the only one who stops me every few sentences to ask me the meaning of a word when I read aloud.  I tell you the definition, put it in a new sentence and then I know you will be using it soon.  You also want to see the words- you are great with spelling and fonts.  You are just an old soul.  I tell people you are like a gentleman from the 1940s in the way you speak.  You also write in an old fashioned way.  I don't know why but you write your ones with a base and slanted top and you put a hyphen in your 7s. And you told Daddy to "give it the old heave ho!"  When you are happy you say "Hooray!"

You love God and have deep thoughts and prayer requests.  I was reading the Bible to you the other day about Cain and Abel.  You said, "let's get a red book mark for this section; it's sad and deals with bloodshed."  Then when we got to the covenant with Abraham you said, "oh I think a white bookmark is best for the part of God's covenant."  I love hearing your little thoughts as we prepare you for your first communion in the spring.

This is a picture of your "refrain"- "The Lord is kind and merciful."

You are a bit more emotional than the rest of our crew.  You can be more extreme in your emotions and much more aware of what's going on around you.  You notice every facial expression we make and interpret it.  It's takes you a bit to get over things if you feel slighted in the least.

Remember when my shepherd couldn't get happy because you could see still see his pants, which he felt reduced the authenticity of his performance?

 I've heard you say, "I knew it- you are all laughing yourselves to death at my expense,"  and  "what you are doing right now is neither loving nor kind!"  But your moods don't usually last that long and we can get you turned around.  All your life I've had to say "fix your eyes, Tucker" when you are temperamental.  Usually we can turn them into happy eyes and get that dimple back out.  :)

You love being outside- you still climb trees everywhere we go.  You love hiking in the woods have often times been the only one who went with Daddy for a hike.  You LOVE gymnastics.  A few days ago I woke up with you standing by the bed saying, "Mommy, first of all Happy New Year, also I wanted you to know that I just did 100 flips on my gymnastics bar!"  All before breakfast. 

We have a lot of extracurricular activities this afternoon so we went ahead and let you open your presents this morning.  You were so excited! 

First you got a blanket with flags!

You said, "oh here is Brazil, Bahrain, Malaysia......"

And a microscope (you've always wanted one)!

Aunt Amber sent you a virtual reality space viewer- be still my heart!

And because our old planetarium finally broke last spring, we got a new one!

 You said, "Look- I've got planets on the brain!"

"These planets have more subtle colors than our old one had."  :)

"Wow!"  (He was listening to the distances from the sun)

We love you so much Tuckerman.  I always ask you, "What's inside Mommy's heart?"  And you say (rolling your eyes because I ask it too much), "A little curly haired Tucker boy."  It's true!  Daddy and I love our mad scientist comedian who's EIGHT!

Happy Birthday sweet boy!