Age: 4

Tanner, Tanner, Tanner…..so slow to adjust to change. He really does like the new house but he refuses to admit it:). He loves to show everyone his ducky bathroom though so I am glad I made that change – apparently that pleased him. We are about to hit a paradigm shift here….for the last 2 years my “cutie pie” stories were centered on Tanner. The ages of two to four really provide some goodies. Tanner is starting to mature though and Ty is about to upstage in the funny department:). I still get plenty of giggles out of my Tanner boy though.

School

Tanner has decided that he is anxious for school. For the longest time he wanted nothing to do with learning. No counting, alphabet, colors…nada. No though he begs me to do “school” with him. Heidi and Susie both suggested early learning books from Walmart so Tanner and I have been INFORMALLY working on them. I let him lead the way on this. We only pull them out to work on them at his request AND we only work on them while he is showing interest. If he gets frustrated we quit. Having said that, I am very impressed with his progress. He can write Ty’s name now and can write the letters of his own but doesn’t understand the order yet. This week I watched him draw the following letters on the sidewalk: A, I, T, L, M, N, O, E, R, and Y. I think that is pretty good for a starter. I am just trying to teach him his letters, their associated sounds, and how to write them as he is interested. I am really impressed with how well he is doing with it.

Playtime

There is always room for more playtime though:). Before we moved I was feeling overwhelmed with tasks. Tanner wanted me to play in the backyard and I told him that I had to clean the kitchen. Here was the conversation:

Tanner: Mommy do you want to play outside?

Me: I have to clean the kitchen Tanner.

Tanner: Don’t worry bout that! You can just help me watch Ty! You can get your book and read outside. Just try it!

Wow! Is he getting good at tempation? He really knew how to stack the deck in his favorite – especially throwing in a suggestion about mommy’s favorite pastime – reading:). I got a good giggle out of that.

Playtime II

Jenna came over to play with Tanner this weekend while Uncle Dave and Jim were working on the dryer. (Have I mentioned that Jim is amazing and can do anything? He is and he can – just impresses me all the time). Anyhow, I had the unfortunate experience of having to call Aunt Beck to tattle on 11 year old Jenna. Tanner was quite upset with her and I felt that his issue needed to be relayed to her mother – it was quite valid. Here is what he told me:

“Mommy. Jenna is not being kind to me. I asked her to be spider man and I’ll be the hulk and she said no.”

Can you imagine? An 11 year old young lady who would refuse to be spider man? How dare she do that to my little son. Simply shameful! LOL.

So Strong
This morning Tanner put a grin on mama’s face when he said: “Mommy. I’m getting bigger with my strong. See those big muscles!”

His grammar is less than adequate and I love it! The English Major in me can show up on the scene later but age 4 is the time to enjoy it not correct it:) (Which is why he still asks me if he can stay up early…:)

I’ll end Tanner’s journal for the day because I need to leave time in my schedule to make sugar cookies that he can cut out with cookie cutters – he isn’t going to let me forget about that one!