Tommy's interests..do not confuse him with a baby!

Today he wanted to ride up the hill in the double stroller, but in sight of children up the road, he yanked himself out and started to walk up the hill. As he was heading up the hill, he said to me, "I don't want to look like a baby." " I don't want them to think I'm a baby." Obviously he thinks he looks like a baby in the stroller. He so wants to be the big boy these days. He's jumping off the lifeguard chair, which is pretty incredible to see. I did not imagine a four year old doing such a brave stunt. I myself have yet to jump from the big chair over at The Firs and probably won't in this lifetime. He is swimming in the deep end but we still stay right with him as he's still needing to get stronger. He loves to dive into the water, both in the lake and in the hot water buckets that we have as hot tubs for the kids. Last night he strapped on John's water bottle belt and took off for his "marathon". John thinks he went up and around Punkie's house and then back down, all the while running like his dad. He's really into Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and his face lit up when I told him I would buy him an Indiana Jones shirt to wear. He is quite proud of dressing himself. It is so cute to see him come out with his shorts on backwards with the zipper in back. Yesterday while at the park he insisted on going into the restroom by himself, and I heard him yelp in surprise when he turned on the air dryer and it was super loud. He then laughed and said out loud, "That was SO awesome." I could hear him giggle just a bit as he came out the door. We are just now starting to curtail Tommy's use of his dubbies. I'm wondering if some of his drama and baby behavior goes along with sucking these things. I truly appreciate my dear friends and family for not openly criticizing us for allowing him to use these and more importantly for not making it an issue to him when they see him with them. I know it's not such a great thing, but when I think about it, everyone around us has been so wonderful to us in regards to this. Hopefully we can begin to work on it and wean them away. We'll let Cooper take over the dubbie fixation. After all, Cooper has already discovered the joys of a hand dubbie.