Taft is 5!

Taft turned 5 over a month ago but a lot has happened in that month!

 A day or so after Taft's birthday he climbed up a part of the jungle gym that's he always been too nervous to do. He came running to tell me he had done it and when I asked why he decided to try it he said, "Because now that I'm five, I'm not afraid of heights anymore!" He was really proud of himself.

Taft's birthday celebrations were a little lower key than in years past. I wasn't really feeling up to throwing a huge invite-his-whole-class-and-everyone-from-church-plus-everyone-else-we-know-and-their-parents-and-siblings party this year. I pitched the idea of going to Chuck E Cheese with two friends of his choice for his birthday instead. He was sold from the start! He loved it and didn't ever mention not having a big party. He decided to invite his friends Anthony and Lenox from his preschool class. We took them to Chuck E Cheese to play games for about an hour or so, then headed back home for pizza, cake, and presents. The boys were so adorable together!

Taft's actual birthday fell on a Sunday but we still tried to have it be a good day for him. His birthday breakfast request were German pancakes (or Hootenannies) and for birthday dinner "Noodles with Green Sauce" aka pasta with a pesto sauce.

(I did this same video last year)

Taft is at a very sweet age. He loves to help me out, play with Seth, and be a great big brother to Luke and especially to Jonah. Any chance Taft gets he's kissing or hugging or trying to soothe Jonah. Taft is very giving with his compliments to others. Taft is still our social butterfly and will talk to anyone endlessly (I often have to cut off his conversations with random strangers). Since the move we've met several of our neighbors. One lady in particular has been great with humoring Taft and listening to his many stories. Taft is always wanting to make new friends and introduces himself to any kids we see at the playground or anywhere else really. It breaks my heart when some kids aren't very interested in playing with him. Right now he seems pretty oblivious to the fact when someone isn't interested in playing, but he's only truly had his feelings hurt by other kids one or two times. I'm dreading him starting kindergarten in some ways and that is one of them, that one day, someone will be mean at school or make fun of him and or hurt his feelings somehow. I totally get that it's part of growing up and it's important to have those experiences, but the mom in me just wants to be able to protect him from all that. Speaking of kindergarten, he is pretty excited to go. Although, he started saying he didn't want to go because Seth had told him he'd be gone all day, every day. What Seth meant was just a longer full school day, M-F, as opposed to his half day T/TH preschool. Taft thought he'd never see us! Poor thing. We cleared that up and he's excited about going again. Taft loves to learn new things and most recently has learned to read. He also really, REALLY loves learning about different animals, bugs, etc. He always spouting off random animal facts to us.

I often get comments by other adults about what a good kid Taft is. I know I'm biased, but I have to agree! Like all of us, he has his moments, but he is a very easy kid to have around. Seth and I really lucked out on having Taft as our  kid.