A boy who loves his sandals.....

I am finding more and more joy in my precious gift Tanner! He still pushes his limits, tests the waters, and of course can drive me crazy, but I feel like he is starting to finally "get it" Instead of saying "don't do that" or something smilar i am able to say "Is that nice" or "safe" or whatever pertains to the situation and he will respond "no, i'm sorry" then I can go on to reproof him and show him forgiveness and love in spite of the fact that he will continue to make mistakes and sin and struggle. Example, today I was at my dear friend M's house and he ran the car he was playing with into the dog, I asked him if that was how we treat animals and then asked him how we show animals that we love them and he pet her nicely. Of course I would rather him not have done it at all in the first place, but this is definite growth from having to give discipline for blatant disobedience--I told him not to do that again or he would be given discipline and asked if he understood---its just so rewarding when I look back over the last 4 years of his life and how far we have come with him and how much he has grown and how consistent discipline has paid off, even when his daddy was deployed for a total of 14 months (between his 2 deployments). One thing I can say for him is that he has learned to adapt, being a Marine's son he has to deal with daddy being gone for extended lengths of time (like now) and then coming back home and being head in command again, he has to go from a dad that throws him around and gets rough to a silly mom that wants to dance around and read to him--both enjoyable of course, but hard to miss out on that special dad part.
Tanner is so compassionate and caring, smart--I learned today that he can do what we call "school time" on the computere all by himself. We used starfall to read books, for him to learn the sounds of the alphabet, the difference between upper case and lower case and I was doing all the button pushing for him until today when i learned he is capable of using a lap top mouse and quite well I might add.

66. Seeing T do something that I didn't think he could do and realizing I need to stop limiting him and let him just do.

He is one tough cookie, he gets hurt and I immediately respond with the big air suck in and are you okay-fully expecting him to cry-instead he tells me he is okay--wow he is so grown up now--too fast. He is so helpful with his sister and cleaning up if I ask him to. Today he dressed himself successfully. He came out to the living room in his underwear and asked if he could wear his space ship shirt, of course he could, some time went by and I began to wonder what in the world he was doing. He emerges in his dark blue jeans and grey space ship shirt and his new "cool" sandals from his friend Biz. I was so proud I told him good job you match and he excitedly exclaims "yah that is what I said" I love it! P.S. he is so so excited about his sandals! Thanks so much G for giving them to us, I think he loves the so much because they are from one of "his boys." Funny story about those sandals. Last night I was clearing out the van to fit a chest in it and then I cleaned the inside of the windows. I had the dog with me for fear he would whine or bark and wake the kids--I do all stuff like this once they are asleep--hence 11pm no longer feels like its past bedtime. A girl was outside on her crazy skateboard thing and wanted to pet Hank. Next thing I know Tanner has his bedroom window open and is asking who that is and what is she doing? I tell him she is just petting hankey and to close his window and go to sleep. I continue with my activities of the night and when I go to bed I check on him as usual--good thing I do this still (not sure what age you stop checking on your kids before you go to bed) because his window was open and his room was cold and he didn't have his covers on and was curled all up in a ball and I went to put his covers on and noticed that over his jammies (in this case were his airplance onsie style jammies with the attatched feet-i love that they make them big enough for 4 year olds still) are his "cool sandals" he is so proudly adorning every day now. Normally he doesn't wear his shoes during the day at home, but he rarely takes them off and he keeps them in his room instead of by the door with the rest of our shoes. When he woke up today (I took them off of course), he told me how he put his sandals over his jammies and said "that's silly huh" I agreed and told him he probably should keep them out of his bed though so his sheets stay clean. So later today he took his afternoon nap and he leaves his door open for naps so I can hear him he says :) and I poked my head in to see if he was asleep and low and behold he was conked out and had his feet hanging over the side of his bed with those precious sandals on his feet (even after having taken them off to start his naptime)....

67. The way kids don't understand the cost of anything yet, that the covet a free pair of sandals or a cheap tank toy over the expensive toys. That Tanner finds more joy in a pair of sweetly handed down sandals than being able to put his feet on his bed while he naps. Smile. I sure love that boy!

68. Finding a good deal on craigslist and being able to do something special for someone using one of my few skills--crafting.

69. The GPS telling me I have reached my destination when I clearly have not (and should update my GPS), but then it turning into a driving adventure and expedition with my two favorite kids :)

70. Primer--makes a prject that would seem impossible--possible :)
71. Joshua Raddin music--esp. the songs "winter" and "only you"--on my playlist so enjoy
72. Jesus guiding my mom through a car accident so she ended up banged up instead of dead-Thank you dear Jesus for guiding my mom's hands and taking care of her and my aunt!
73. Mornings while drinking coffee and reading The Word
74. Night when the kids are in bed

75. Tuesdays!--meeting with my ladies, and two of my fav shows this night (biggest loser and parenthood)


76. Tanner's smile and laugh.
77. Tanner's baby in his belly :)