Tom

Sophia has a favorite relative, and it is not her mom or dad. You would think that since we provide her with food, shelter, and lots of love that we would be her favorites. You would be wrong!

It's Tom. Uncle Tom.

Sophia talks about Tom constantly. When I say that Grammy is coming over, she responds with "Tom?"

I tell her we are going to church . . . "Tom?"

John asks if she wants to go for a walk . . . "Tom?"

Grammy Libby came over to watch Sophia for the morning last Saturday, and as soon as she walked in the door Sophia came over to her, looked past her, and said "Tom?"

"Tom" is apparently a response to every question, and as much as we love Tom, boy would I like to be as popular as he is! Of course, the really difficult part is that Tom is very busy, and lives an hour and a half away. So Sophia does not get a Tom fix very often.

But!

Yesterday Uncle Tom called to see about visiting in the afternoon. Of course I said yes, please come! And I wasn't going to tell Sophia, because I didn't want her to get so excited she wouldn't take a nap, but I wanted to make her happy and so of course she had to know. And I was right. She did take a nap, but just barely.

Before Uncle Tom arrived, we walked over to my sister's house to show her a new barrette of Sophia's. In the five minutes we were there all four of older her kids managed to enter/exit the house at least a dozen times. (That might be a slight exaggeration, I admit.) And despite the fact that we were not even at our house, each time the door opened and closed Sophia looked over and asked "Tom?!"

Tom finally arrived (Unfortunately just after I had accidentally slammed Sophia's finger in the door and she got a huge blood blister!), and Sophia got to have her Tom fix. A quick visit is better than no visit, that's for sure. By the end of half an hour, Sophia had loosened right up and was letting Uncle Tom read to her.

Sophia even brought out the strange leg-kick dance, just for Uncle Tom!

The visit came to an end, and Tom had to leave. Sophia said good-bye, and then had only one word to say when the door closed behind him.

Tom? No, it seems that Sophia has moved on.

"Patsy?!"