Thatcher James
I wanted to blog a little about Thatcher because he is turning 4 next week! This kid is one of a kind. He is hilarious, so cute, so smart... I was looking at the videos Mat took of him on his last day of preschool and realized how glad I was that he actually made it to the last day. If I was a good blogger, I would have already written about some of his preschool shenanigans, but alas I am not.
Basically for the last two or three months of school, every time I would pick him up his teacher would have that look on her face and start the conversation with... Thatcher made some not so good choices today. I would of course look shocked, because Thatcher is perfect every minute of every day at home... I had to give the obligatory, Oh no, what happened today? And then she would proceed to rattle off a list a mile long of things like.... well, he hit someone, he stepped on someones toes, he pulled a chair out from someone, he said he didn't like one of the girls, he smashed another kids fingers in the door, he bit someone ... and on and on. What?? Who's child is this??
His teacher is actually really cute and for some reason really loved Thatcher and kept saying how he had a special place in her heart, and it just made her so sad when he does stuff like this. She even welled up with tears a couple of times, and if this had to do with her thinking we beat him at home or that he was a lost cause I have no idea. We talked to Thatcher until we were blue in the face about what kinds of things are allowed at school but nothing seemed to get through to him. We told him that they were not going to let him come back to school if it kept happening, and eventually I think it sunk in because one day his teacher threatened to call me and have me come and pick him up. He said that he was sorry for whatever he was doing at the moment, and was good from then on.
I don't know what got into him at school those last few months, but truly this is not the cute child we have raised to be so loving and kind. All I have to say is that maybe boys will be boys and they just go through phases, not that he didn't get in trouble for these things, but he seems to have grown out of this phase and is once again fun and cute and nice.
One night after my surgery a couple weeks ago, Mat was gone and I was laying on my bed in pain and Thatcher came up and gave me a kiss on my forhead and said, "don't worry mom, I'll take care of you while Daddy's gone". Wow, I love this kid! He has such a big heart and is a great big brother and takes care of everyone. He is too smart for his own good sometimes, but he makes us laugh constantly. We are so happy that he is a part of our family!