Tanner Turns Three!

After the holidays and so many birthdays last fall, Tanner could not wait until his birthday. He'd been talking about his rocket cake for months. Every time, he'd change the colors or design of it. It was fun that he was so excited for his day.

His birthday was on a Wednesday but due to family schedules and travel plans, we celebrated the next day. We ventured out to playgroup and had a fun time with friends. That night, Joseph's parents were visiting so they joined us for birthday celebrations. Tanner also wanted two neighbor kids to come over so they made it as well. Tanner quickly remembered that Ashton had a pinata at her birthday so he got one too. Pinatas are huge in the Spanish branch parties so our kids think it's cool to have them too. Good thing we had some leftover Halloween candy to put in it.

Tanner received lots of rocket ship stuff, which he loves. He also got some roller skates that fit over shoes that he likes. I think he had a good birthday.

A mini air hockey table. He loves playing air hockey at the YMCA but they recently changed the age limit for kids to go back by the big games. So Tanner can't play back there anymore. He was so happy to play air hockey at home.

At three, Tanner is definitely talking more. He tells stories, asks lots of questions, and argues just fine with his sisters. He still have some articulation issues but hopefully those will fade as he develops. He did fail a hearing test so we're working on getting the fluid out of his ears in hopes that he passes that soon.

Tanner continues to be very developed in the gross motor skill area. He rocks the balance bike now and I anticipate him riding a pedal bike yet this year. He rides our scooter just fine and loves to kick and throw a ball. He has been working on fine motor skills with coloring and using scissors. He can draw a few letters and a few shapes. He knows most of the letters and has started asking what words are in a book or for me to write T-A-N-N-E-R. He's becoming a fun kid who understands rules of games and can join in the family fun.

Tanner loves going to church and attending nursery. He has a great nursery teacher who understands Tanner and what helps him most. Tanner is working on reverence during prayers and scripture study. This year so far, we've been working on memorizing a few scriptures and he is doing very well at that. That surprised me. I'm grateful he has another year in nursery as I just can't picture him in a Sunbeams class.

Here's some of his favorites:

Book- Dinosaur Rocket or any space/rocket/robot book
Show- He loves YouTube rocket launching shows. There is one channel with a bunch of rockets blasting off and they're short ones so he watches that sometimes.
Activity- Playing outside. This kid loves to be outside and playing with the neighbors. He also loves playing hide and seek inside.
Food- probably pizza still. His favorite meal if he doesn't eat the dinner I made is peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

His daily schedule is pretty typical:
7-8am wakes up. His clock turns on at 7:30 and he can come downstairs then.
1:30-4ish is naptime. This kid runs all day long but still naps like a champ.
8pm-ish- Goes to bed

Tanner is still a risk-taking little boy who constantly needs to be in my line of sight. While he is getting better at moving away from moving vehicles, he still likes to test the limits. Just when I get comfortable and think he will listen to my directions, he throws me for a loop. We are enjoying Tanner being three and look forward to seeing his growth this year.