The Miskin Family

Tanner is six! We celebrated his non-existent birthday this weekend (since he is a leap year baby). Before I blog about all the fun things we did, I thought I would do my “all about Tanner” post.

I think the thing that most impresses me about Tanner right now is is attitude about school. Granted he is only in kindergarten, but he loves learning and loves coming home to tell me all about the things he learned and show me all his worksheets or projects. He is excited to go to school almost everyday, and he throws himself into all the activities and extra things that go along with it. It helps that he adores his teacher and has made some good friends in his class. I love watching him get better and better with reading, flourish with numbers and math, and improve his comprehension skills. Tanner is very good with numbers When I went to his parent teacher conferences, his teacher told me he did over and above all the testing when it came to numbers, as far as counting, writing, and recognizing. With reading, writing and everything else he was right where he needed to be, or a little ahead in some cases. I was a very proud mom. His behavior is also something to be proud of. While he is not perfect, he is very well behaved in class, and only occasionally has to be “redirected” (as his teacher called it).

Along with the number thing, Tanner loves anything with numbers. He loves to do color by number or paint by numbers and dot to dots. He also likes patterns and colors. He plays with graph paper, and loves the colors of the rainbow and even knows the order of the colors (I think he learned it from mickey mouse clubhouse). So, he enjoys anything where he can create pictures with patterns or numbers and colors. He also loves money. He enjoys earning it all by himself, and will often save up for things he wants. He is excited to do more lemonade stands this summer, so he can earn “hundreds of dollars”. He told me the other day that someday he will get a job and earn lots of money, and then quit and open a store and make everything free. Then, when he runs out of money he will get a job again, and start over just like a pattern.

At home Tanner is usually a joy to be around. He really has been good about playing in his room by himself, but also enjoys playing with his sisters. Natalya and Tanner have developed a good brother/sister relationship. I love it when Tanner leaves for the bus stop and he gives both his sisters a big hug and kiss. He even asks Natalya about her day when he gets home from school. They also share very well, and Tanner always shares his treats with Natalya IF he has extras. They still fight and pick on each other, but they have so many fun and cute moments. Several times the kids will have a “kids club” and they will lock themselves in Tanner’s room and hang out. This is especially nice when they also include Nadia. Tanner is the older brother though, and likes to act like it by bossing his sisters around. Tanner also has been very diligent with his chores, and is always willing to help out. However, it is very hard to get him to bathe. I am lucky if i can get him to take a shower twice a week, and I usually have to bribe him.

Tanner’s favorite activities: playing with his star wars galactics, legos, coloring or creating, and listening to books on tape. Tanner loves books in general, and is really into the Magic Tree House, Star Wars books, and any non-fiction books. He also loves playing Super Mario Wii with me, or playing Lego Star Wars or Indiana Jones. He also loves to play lego Star Wars on the DS. Tanner loves being outside, and has been pleased with our mild winter. He loves to ride his bike or play games outside. Tanner is also really into board games right now. He loves candyland, connect four, battleship, and his new favorite star wars guess who. Tanner’s favorite tv shows are Max and Ruby and Team Umizoomi. He also loves watching the Star Wars movies, or checking out The Magic School Bus videos from the library. He will also watch movies with Natalya, like her Barbi princess movies or their new obsession: Mulan.

One thing Tanner does that I love is role-play or pretend play. He is constantly dressing up with things hooked to his belts like holsters with guns, swords, light sabers. He is always some kind of Jedi, Ninja, or cowboy. He has a very active imagination, and it is fun that he dresses up and acts it out. Tanner also loves singing, and learns songs very quickly. He learns a lot of songs at school, and it is fun to hear him singing them to himself.

As Tanner gets older his memory astounds me. He remembers things that Trent and I have forgotten. He has a very good visual memory, just like his dad. Tanner also still talks a lot and asks a lot of questions about everything. This is where my patience gets tested everyday. I can hardly talk or do anything without him asking me questions about it. Tanner also listens to adult conversations now, so when we are talking about something (like death for example), he brings it up and asks a million questions about it.

Tanners favorite foods: bread, especially fancy bread, seafood (shrimp, salmon and clam chowder are his favorite), pizza, mac and cheese, chicken strips or nuggets, chips, root beer, fruit punch, chocolate milk, regular milk, doughnuts, chocolate chip cookies, cereal, and pretty much any fruit. He also claims he loves broccoli and asparagus. He hates carrots, raw broccoli, and anything that has green in it.

We love our Tanner, and cannot believe we have a six year old already!