Thomas at 3½-4 years old

Holiday in Gran Canaria: March 2010

See pictures from our vacation to Gran Canaria here.

Feb 2010

Some pictures of the boys' room, still a work in progress but gradually taking shape during this transition time until James is ready to graduate from crib to bunk bed.   At that time we may try to incorporate the colours from the beautiful dinosaur cushions created by Renata's sister in CZ, as a thank you for letting Isabella stay with us while her parents were at the hospital delivering baby sister Selma.  James and Thomas are now beginning to do more things together, from leaning on each other, to rolling a ball or a toy car back and forth, to jumping on the sofa while giggling uncontrollably...

Social butterfly: Thomas on various play dates: sometimes we pick up Isabella on our way home, the two big kids sharing the step while James sleeps in the pram!  Visiting friends in Lund, Sweden, where little Melker had a fantastic playroom with lots to entertain both Thomas and James.  And Matias, who had such a great time playing with Thomas that he asks at every opportunity, when he next can come over!  

Thomas likes to play with the pop-up bed which we sometimes use as a baby bed when travelling.  It's no longer practical for rolling-climbing-James, but it does make a fun boat...

 Jan-Feb 2010

The start of February brought yet another transitional project: another room reorganisation, as James' crib moves into Thomas' room.  Thomas enjoyed helping to build the new flatpack wardrobes, and seems quite pleased to be joined by his little brother.  We suspect that we may even find a change in his currently frustrating very early-morning wakeups; it seems that around 5am he wonders what he might be missing in the rest of the house, especially if James is squeaking around that time.  Perhaps having company in his room will help, or at least keep them both occupied and allow the parents a little more rest!

Lots of new toys keeping us all busy: Thomas is actually able to participate in many of the Wii Fit Plus games, wiggling back and forth on the balance board to head off soccer balls or ski down a slalom course.  A baby walker with lots of flashing lights and sounds, on loan from friends, is also of interest to big boys...

January 2010

Thomas is now a big 3½ year old preschooler!  He no longer uses a soother, having given it up on New Year's Day in the Danish tradition of sending it to Santa to help make toys for all the children next year, and is fully toilet-trained.  He has also started to form firm friendships in the day care, having had a couple of friends over to play and been to their homes as well; in particular Matias is very keen to have him visit and meet his little puppy dog.  Thomas loves the idea of dogs in theory, but becomes very frightened when they approach him in person, so Matias kindly closed the door to his room and invited Thomas to look at some books with him instead.  On another occasion, Ingeborg and family came to visit; having "redecorated" Thomas' room, Ingeborg then helped test out his new hockey sticks from Canada.  The following weekend Thomas attended his first birthday party without his parents being there, and shortly after that, mothergroup friend Isabella spent the night while her parents were in hospital having little sister Selma delivered.

Thomas also plays on his own quite a bit more, often chattering away to himself in Danish, apparently following the usual storylines of the preschool games: "this fireman is the daddy and this one is the mummy and this one is the big brother..."  "the doggy has to go outside for a pee.." Often quite entertaining to listen to!  He still likes us to contribute when playing with puzzles or building toys such as the train tracks, Lego or his Brio Builder set, with which he and his dad constructed this rather impressive "snowplow".

And it's not surprising that snowplows are a recurring theme at the moment, as Denmark has had more snow this winter than in the past 14 years.  Normally we get no more than 2-3 days worth of snow on the ground at a time, and that only 3-4 times over the winter.  This year Copenhagen looks positively Canadian, blanketed in snow, slushy streets, and the familiar sound of cars trying to pull out of snowed-in parking spots from which they havn't appropriately dug themselves out.

Updated 18.3.10