Tobias Andrew is our third born child, flanked by Aidan (#2) and Avery (#4). When Toby was yanked out, I looked at him, turned calmly to my wife, and said, "Oh, look. Another boy."
Toby is our warm-hearted, open-armed funny man. My colleague Anita coined the term "facesake" to describe Toby's relationship with me... we look similar in a lot of ways and usually enjoy each other immensely. And so when he turned three this week, we just knew that we had to celebrate. Three years of Toby.
You should know that Toby has developed an early fascination with tools and manipulative toys. When I was redoing the house exterior last summer, Toby was the one who helped me scrape. Toby was always ready at the bottom of the ladder to hand me more tools or whatever. Toby loves the mechanical side of life and being a helper!!
So I suggested that we buy him some tools for his birthday, and we both agreed that he would not want "play tools". They would have to be real tools that do real tasks.
So Tara went to Menards (can you tell that we like Menards?) and picked out a selection of hand tools and also got a few lengths of galvanized pipe from the plumbing department. These Toby can screw together, unscrew, and make different shapes out of them.
Well, he loves them!! He absolutely screamed when he opened the package. "Tools! Wrenches and... a screwdriver.... and OTHER STUFF!!!"
The other present that really made a hit with all the boys was a digger big enough for a three year old to sit on and operate. This present was from Grandpa, who did it in signature style: He bought the slightly broken toy at Saver's and repaired it with the sort of non-matching materials that you just wouldn't expect on a plastic child's toy. I could probably name 6-7 other things that he's fixed in this way over the years.
God, thank you for Toby and for all he has added to our family!
1 comment:
Duluth Trading Company has an excellent working, real tool kit sized especially for little hands, and also a kid-sized leather tool belt. We know this because Santa brought one to Jamethan a couple of years ago. It comes complete with kid-sized hammer, phillip's head screw driver, flat head screw driver, C clamp, tape measure, safety goggles, level (with magnets on one side and a hammer holster do-hickey to hang on a tool belt. I think Santa got it for less than $20, and the belt is $15... Just thought I'd mention this as a possible idea for Christmas down the line...
As always, I enjoy reading your and Tara's blogs. (I laughed at the poop stories on her blog, too!)
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