Kid Update- April 2008

I'll go in order of age:

I guess the big thing for Jake is that he is going to a daycare in our neighborhood for the remainder of the year. Kindergarten was getting to be a little too much for him and he was exhausted each day. We tried shortening his day, but he just needed a little more play time and less structured learning time. Hopefully I haven't scarred him for life by having him in Kindergarten a little early. Hopefully he learned that he is capable and also that mom and dad listen when he earnestly tells us "it is too much". He did great- made some really nice friends, became more artistic and creative, building and constructing all sorts of things out of discarded materials; discovered the joy of science, started learning how to read, and became a "writer" that LOVES creative writing due to their Writers Workshop program. I don't regret putting him at Foothills, but am very glad that he is going to get to play more for the remainder of the school year and that he will just have 3 hours/day of K next year. The picture was done on the computer recently, after Brian picked him up from Theresa's house early one day.

Despite the last post (The Hockey Stick Tantrum of 2008) he is overall a great kid and fun to be around. He is loving (most of the time!) to his brother and sister (although the other day he did tell me that he wished he only had one sibling. I reminded him how sad he would be if Faith wasn't in our family and he said, "No, Mom. I want to keep Faith. It's TANNER I want to send back!".) He is so excited about T-Ball starting. The first practice is tomorrow. He continues to love sports of all kinds and takes to them naturally.

Tanner is potty training. Everyday after school he reports on how many times he "peed in urnal". He is very aware of pooping- especially when his sister is trying to poop. He tells us, "Mom, Bobby (that's "Baby" in TJ's words...) pooping. Trying hard. UGHHHHHHHHH (simulated pooping)". Very funny stuff. They are obviously trying to teach the kids at the daycare how to handle the situation if another person does something to hurt you. Lately Tanner has been very vocal whenever one of us (on purpose, or more frequently, accidentally) hits him (or taps him in an uncomfortable way!). This is what he says: "NO HIT ME! NO LIKE IT! NO THANK YOU!" And he will repeat it and repeat it like it has been recorded and is running on a loop.

He loves to play baseball and hits the balls clear across the living room often times almost knocking over knickknacks and such. I think our playing ball in the house rules may need to be adapted soon due to his sheer hitting strength. There was an extra TBall uniform for him and even though the shirt goes down past his knees, he loves to put it on along with his Pirates hat and act just like his big brother. He loves to snuggle at bedtime and puts his head on my head and arms around me. He is getting interested in letters of the alphabet and can recognize many of them, which he loves to show us. He also loves to count and frequently counts the stairs as he walks up/down them. He continues to test, test, test. That little twinkle in his eye appears and you just know you are in trouble!

Faith is starting to walk. Brian said that she took three steps the other day - I missed it!! She loves to stand up, but then often just sits back down with a plop instead of trying to move forward. Her brothers are her biggest cheerleaders. She is now addicted to Sprinkles (her giraffe) and we have to literally pry her chubby little fingers from around his neck each morning.

She loves to eat and her face lights up when she sees one of her favorite foods. She is saying "nana" for "banana", mama, dada, all done, and thank you. I can't wait for spring time warm weather so I can start to dress her in all the cute little outfits that she has.