Tucker

A while back, I wrote a blog entry about Cooper. Well, tonight is Tucker's turn.

Tucker is one of the happiest kids in the world. He is happy when he is happy, when he is mad and when he is sick.  He has the most wonderful, from the belly laugh you have ever heard (okay, this IS MY blog). It fills the room and all you can do is laugh yourself. His smile is takes up his whole face and his eyes sparkle and dance.

Tucker is an active kid.  He started moving pretty early on. He never crawled, but scootched. Those of you who knew him then, know what that was like. It was hysterical! I tried to do it and couldn't! It takes incredible abdominal strength.  So from scootching he went right to walking and running and climbing. There was no slow development- no take your time, Tucker. No need to walk right away. None of that.  He will climb anything and has little fear. We recently started a Kindergym class and he has tried everything (including shooting a basket) and when he "fails" in some way, he gets right back up and tries again and again until he does it "right" in his mind.  He runs everywhere. He will be playing in the living room and decide he needs something from the bedroom and off he goes running at full Tucker speed to his room and back with the object he wanted in hand.

Tucker LOVES books.  He takes our hand, leads us to his room, sits down in front of his bookshelf where he chooses a book and then does the back-into-your-lap move.  Or sometimes he will bring a book to one of us, sit down and pat the floor next to him and say, "Nest" which means "next" or "sit next to me."  He will sit for 8 to 10 books if given the chance. Often I will find him sitting down looking at a book on his own. He especially loves books that are a song- Skip to My Lou, Frosty the Snowman and Wheels on the Bus are just a few favorites.

Sounds. Tucker can imitate almost any sound. Most of the sounds he makes are sounds that Cooper makes. Among them are fire engines, trains, fire alarms, the Octo alert and Pug sounds. He also is able to imitate a Magpie and a Cockatoo quite well.

Tucker is a great sleeper. He literally dives onto his pillow at bedtime. He has to have everything arranged in a particular way- his blankets, his stuffed dog, Ruff Ruff and he MUST have a sippy cup with ice or he won't go to bed. I sang, "Ice, ice baby," to him a few times when he asked for ice and now he sings, "Ice. baby. Ice. baby."

Tucker LOVES music. I must have done something right because both my boys get such joy from music. I attribute part of that to Melissa and her wonderful Kindermusik classes, but will also take a bit of credit myself. :)  Tucker sings all sorts of songs. None of them are more than one line or a few words from the song, but they are so wonderful to hear.  He sings "Wheels on the Bus" and says, "Wheels. Bus. Round." and does the hand motions.  He sings "Burra, Burra" when singing the "Kookaburra Song."  He even knows the song "Price Tag" and sings, "Money, Money." There are more, but these are my favourites.  We have recently started music class with teacher Ruth.  Tucker is in love with Ruth.  We take the bus to class each week and everyday when we walk by a bus he says, "Ruth. Bus. Peas."  He cries himself to sleep at least 3 times a week saying, "Ruth. Bus. Peas, Mama!"  Of course when he gets to class he won't say a word to her. He simply admires her from a far.

Tucker loves his big brother, Bu-per.  He looks at him with such awe.  They are finally beginning to play together.  Well Cooper decides what they play and how they play, but they do it together.  Cooper calls Tucker, Tyrone, when they play. Still have no idea why.... They love to run and jump together. They dig in the park side by side and love bath time together. And lately, they love making trouble together....

Tucker loves the dogs too. He calls Manzie, "Zie-zie" and Tofie, "Toe-toe."  He tells people everywhere about Zie zie.  They have no clue what he is saying, but it so sweet. He loves to pet the dogs and is really quite gentle with them.

But the thing that strikes me most about Tucker is his ability to communicate without many words at all.  Cooper was an early talker and we rarely struggled to understand him.  Tucker is still only speaking a few words at a time, but somehow we know exactly what he is trying to say. We did not intend to teach him Sign Language, but it happened anyway. I made the sign for "more" once. Yes, just once, and he immediately began using the sign correctly.  He probably has used a total of 8 or 9 signs,  but by now most have faded away and have been replace by words.  His latest two signs are "taxi" and "airplane."  When he sees a taxi on the street, he "snaps" his fingers and says taxi (in his own way). One of his blankets has airplanes on it and each night when I put him to bed he makes the sign for airplane to be sure I do not forget to put that blanket on him.  He shrugs.  The shrug can mean a few different things-- "Hmm." or "I don't know." or "Where?" and it is in full use right now.  When wondering where I am he says, "Mama?" and then shrugs. It is great!  The fire alarm keeps going off in our apartment (freaks the heck out of him) and he will look up at the alarm and shrug as if to say, "What the heck is that?" and then he crosses his arms and puts a pouty look on his face letting us know that he DOES NOT like that sound. Then he points to it and say, No! No! No!"

I could write about Tucker all night long. He amazes me daily and his smile warms my heart.  He is like a fresh breeze on a hot summer day. His laugh brings joy and light to the world. His hugs are delightful, sweet and even a little humorous.  His heart is filled with love and acceptance.  He is amazing.   

Every night before saying the last goodnight, I say these lines from Mem Fox's book, Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes.  He completely stops moving and almost holds his breath and listens to the words as they flow from my mouth and during that instance we are totally connected. And when I am done, he smiles one of his brilliant smiles and is ready to sleep.

And the last baby born was truly divine. And that little baby is mine all mine. And that little baby as everyone knows, has ten little fingers and ten little toes and three little kisses on the tip of his nose."