Yep, Folks, he's FIVE

Tanner turned five years old on June 28, 2016. Hard to believe for some, but I have been calling him five for a couple of months already, shame on me! So it seemed to me like it took forever for him to finally be five in real life. 

His birthday landed in-between two huge trips for our family, so we did most of our celebrations before the trips on June 18. On this day, we were very fortunate to join a group with our town Chamber to visit a dairy farm! The whole thing was free for us, and we all had a blast!! The day began with a school bus ride out to the farm. We were surprised at how much the boys loved the bus ride, but then we quickly remembered of our first times on a school bus as a kid. They are pretty awesome! Tanner kept hollering "We're up so high!" and Dallin would yell "We're going super fast!!!" Tanner liked how there were no seat belts and how the windows open by sliding down, and on and on about all the little details of how a school bus is different from other buses he's been on. The ride was about 20 minutes both ways, and a definite highlight of the day!

"Mommy, this is my first time ever being on a REAL school bus!!!" 

At the farm, we enjoyed a pancake breakfast, bounce house, games, tractors, petting zoo, hayrides and more!

Dallin loved petting every animal, talked to them, tried to feed them and nuzzle them. We would have spent much longer in the petting zoo if it weren't for Tanner stressing out about the possibility that Dallin might get bit or scratched. Despite our reassurances to Tanner, he kept his distance from the animals, watching worriedly from a distance. We had to pry Dallin away from the baby chicks. He LOVED them! Still cracking up about how different our two kids are when it comes to animals.

Here's a big play area of corn to dig in!

Can you see the boys "driving" the huge combine?

After a fun filled morning, we came home and rested. Later, we had a simple dinner with just the four of us.

Tan Man chose to open presents before cake. This didn't surprise me, as we have figured out that gift giving/receiving is one of Tanner's love languages. (The book called Love Languages for children has been very helpful for me!) Knowing this, I did several things for Tanner this birthday that I don't normally do- like wrapping the presents. Hey, don't judge. Presents have never been that important to me, and I personally hate the suspense involved when the gifts are wrapped!

He chose an ice cream cake from DQ, and it was so yummy! We'll have to do this again, it's a perfect way to do a summer birthday cake. And I was shocked that it was Jeremy's first time ever eating an ice cream cake. Glad we got that taken care of!

I cannot get enough of Tanner's smile! 

Tanner licked his candles, and Dallin thought this meant you can eat the candles. We didn't realize until too late that Dallin had chewed and swallowed a big chuck of this candle!

On Tanner's actual birthday, we worked on his birthday service project. He chose to make more gift bags for the homeless, which is something we started at Christmas. If your family is looking for a simple way to help others in your community, this is a good one to try because all ages can do it. 

Here's how it works: Tanner and I went to the dollar store to get items to fill four small bags (old purses and lunch bags). A lot of what Tanner wanted to buy involved having a house to use the items, so I think he learned a little more about what it actually means to be homeless. Items that we settled on included tissues, pen, paper, granola bars, crackers, water bottles, fruit snacks, Spider man wash cloth, and hand sanitizer. Later, as a family, we filled the bags with the items. Then, we stashed the bags in our car. When we see people asking for money on the streets, we get really excited because we have something for them! We hand the person one of the gift bags. Tanner was really happy to give away the first bag from his birthday project! So far, every experience giving these away has been extremely positive because the recipients have been so grateful. I hope this helps the boys learn the joy of helping others.

Also, on his real birthday, we babysat one of Tanner's good friends and enjoyed free school lunch!

That evening, we took Tanner to Apple-bee's for his official birthday dinner.

Dallin wanted to make sure everyone knew he was three and Tanner was five.

Oh, what an amazing little human being we have as our oldest son! Tanner is inquisitive, silly and smart. Tanner loves sports, especially running. He says he can run as fast as a cheetah! He also really likes baseball, and keeps up with his soccer, football and basketball skills, too. He is fast on his training wheel bike and might start learning how to ride as a real two wheeler soon. T can sound out words to write messages and signs to us. He likes making up songs and rhymes all the time. He improvises on the piano and guitar and will chant made-up rhymes while playing alone or going potty. 

Our Tan Man loves giving and receiving gifts and talking with us one on one. As Tanner would put it, he is very "talkful." He makes us laugh with all the thoughtful questions and inquisitive statements and ideas that he has! He has an unusually great memory, pays close attention to detail, loves planning ahead, and is really good at describing things. 

Tanner loves making and creating things, drawing, painting, and building- always busy on a project, working hard to make it "perfect." There is no need to hesitate with this label, Tanner is a perfectionist, it is a constant struggle for him to accept his work to be finished under-par.

I love how his independence is growing. Recently, he gets himself ready for the day, helps his little brother get ready, gets both him and Dallin a bowl of cereal for breakfast, and turns on a show for the two of them to watch. (He's been able to get dressed and turn on the TV for a year or two, but the breakfast skill is recent.) He also figured out how to unbuckle his own seat belt and Dallin's seat-belt, so I have one less step to do with getting out of the car. (It's the little things!) He is also getting good at reading calendars, and loves checking off each day and making future plans.

He is doing better and better with having playmates over (sometimes allowing the friend to have a say in what happens as they play) and he is increasing his social circle. He continues to get mad at Dallin and punches him a lot (for which our current consequence is making him swallow vinegar), but Tanner is getting better at helping DJ and playing more cooperatively with him. The two of them are best buds, and on good days can play for hours without any arguments. 

At Tanner's 5 year old check up, he finally bounced up to the 50th percentile for height (he's always hovered around 25th and 30th percentile). He is a pretty healthy boy, too. I don't recall any major illnesses this year, only the common cold a couple of times, and didn't get them as bad as others did. Two things I've noticed changing with Tanner's features are more dimples and lighter eye color- there's green and hazel in them these days, along with the beautiful brown. And I'm so happy he still has curly hair! 

We are continuing to find ways to help T with his many anxieties. As a result, we have made the decision to enroll him in a second year of preschool this fall instead of starting kindergarten. We think it will help him be more prepared emotionally for grade school, and in the long run just be better for him overall.

Although there are days where I pull my hair out trying to understand and help this kid, I am so happy to have Tanner David in my life. I hope he knows how much we love him!! Happy Birthday, my Little One.