Who is that Baby?

You can't have boys without spending a great deal of time on the floor.  One of our favorite games was "Stand on My Hands".  I would lay on the floor and the boys would stand on my hands, and then I would lift them in the air.  I would also flip them over my head and send them reeling into the living room.  This could explain why they were pretty independent early on when they were hurt.  I don't think they trusted that I would make it better!

Tommy was an expert at this game and would stand up forever if I would let him.  You can tell by the picture that I was much more into floor time than doing silly alternatives....like cleaning the house.  I'm not sure why we had a pile of laundry on the table but I'm only hoping it was clean. 

Now, Tommy was not a pretty baby.  He knows this.  I'm not being unkind...it's the truth.  He was born with red hair that grew into an old-man comb over in a matter of weeks.  His skin was milky-white (very concerning to his Hispanic father) and he was chubby in all the wrong places.  He had beautiful blue eyes that tended to have a "hey, how did I get here?" look to them.  Fortunately, this was just his awkward stage...he was just going through it about 12 years too early.  After a year, he grew into an absolutely striking toddler that could have become a professional people handler.  Everyone he had contact with was enthralled with him.

As a toddler, he was a complete tow-head.  Blond hair that bleached in the summer to almost white.  Skin that darkened just enough to look tan and a smile that could warm the coldest heart.  He brought one of my best friends to me.  She was teaching Sunday School and he became her constant companion.  Loree met me first as Tommy's mother.  She later became my saving grace when looking for day care for Christopher when he was starting Kindergarten. 

He also started his night owl tendencies very early.  We were living with my best friend from high school, Cheri and her husband Ron.  All four of us were sleeping in her living room of a one bedroom apartment.  All four of us would go to bed at the same time...and when the rest of us were asleep, Tommy would toddle into Cheri and Ron's bedroom to crawl into bed with them.  They liked to stay up late watching TV and Tommy loved the individual time that brought. 

This could explain why getting him to take Naps during the day didn't seem to be a problem!