Toby is six (and a half) years old

I usually write these update posts right after the boys’ birthdays but somehow I’ve ended up being rather late with this one! Toby’s birthday back in July, and his Forest School party, seems an age ago now. We’ve had a whole summer holiday and a full term at school since then, but I couldn’t let a year go by without writing one of these updates that I’ve been doing since Toby was four months old!

Toby blowing out his candle

I last wrote about a post all about Toby just after his fifth birthday and he has changed a lot since then. The transition from Reception to Year 1 wasn’t an easy one for him and at times he’s struggled with the expectations that come with moving up the school.

But more of that in a minute. I always start these updates with a little bit about the physical changes since the last one. So, Toby is now 128 cm tall, he weighs 3 st 7 lb, and now has size 1 feet! He’s lost 7 of his baby teeth (but only grown 4 new ones so far) and he has got all his 6 year molars too.

A boy looking at a pine cone

He’s still tall for his age but some of his friends seem to be catching him up a bit now so he’s not head and shoulders taller than the rest of his class anymore. Apart from the usual colds, and one tummy bug that floored us all last winter, Toby is fit and healthy which we are always grateful for.

So what is Toby like as a six year old? Just like last year his favourite colour is still purple and his favourite food is still Swedish meatballs. He still likes Lego, and dinosaurs, but his most recent obsession is Minecraft. He loves playing it on the PlayStation, and when he’s not playing it all he wants to do is watch videos of other people playing.

I don’t know if it’s just a child thing but Toby always seems to get obsessed with something to the extent that it’s all he wants to do. These obsessions can last anything from a few weeks to a few months, until he moves on to the next thing. This Minecraft obsession has been going on for at least six months now though and shows no sign of waning. I think we might be in for the long haul with this one!

Toby is still super smart, especially when it comes to maths, and he’s doing really well at school. As I mentioned before he did find the transition to Year 1 quite hard. We had a fair few tears about not wanting to go to school, and struggles with homework – particularly when it involved a lot of writing.

I’m relieved to say we seem to have but that behind us for now. Toby’s teachers have been really good and working with him, and us, to put strategies in place to help him. A lot of his troubles seem to come from anxiety about getting things wrong, or not being able to get his thoughts from his head onto the page. We’ve definitely seen improvements in Year 2 so far though, and I feel like we have turned a corner with his school related anxiety at least.

Toby started going to Beavers just after the October half term, and after a few wobbles in the early weeks he has settled in really well. After his meeting last night he was telling me how much he enjoyed it and was talking all about how he’s going to be a leader when he’s 18!

Boy in beaver uniform holding a teddy bear

Both my parents were leaders when I was growing up and are still massively involved with Scouting. I was a leader in my late teens too, and my brother has also been a both a cub and scout leader… so I’m very glad Toby is enjoying it, I can’t imagine a life without Scouting in some form or other. I’m sure it won’t be too long before I end up being a leader again too!

Now Toby and Gabe are both getting older we are finally entering a phase where they enjoy playing together and can do so in harmony, most of the time! They still have their fights and squabbles of course but they really are each others best friends. Toby is actually really good at calming Gabe down these days, and he does really well to compromise (or to convince Gabe he is so that he can get his own way!) a lot of the time.

A boy in school uniform lying on the ground with legs in the air

On the whole Toby’s behaviour is very good at the moment. We had some trouble last summer with a lot of not listening, not doing things he’d been asked to do, and deliberately winding Gabe up. But things seem to have settled down in the last few months and he’s showing that he’s kind, and helpful, and thoughtful, and funny… Of course he’s no angel, but what six year old is?!

A blonde boy cheering with arms in the air

I’m sure there’s so much more to say but the only other thing I can think of for now is to say thank you to the boy who made me a mother. I love you to the moon and back Toby-T, don’t ever stop being you.

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