Ryan: 5 Years Old

Birthday pancake!

Age: 5 Years
Favorite Breakfast: Chocolate Chip Pancakes or PB&J
Favorite Foods: Salad with Ranch dressing, cheese, sunflower seeds and croutons, macaroni and cheese, meatballs, Bronco Pizza, broccoli with cheese, apples, chocolate milk
Favorite CDs: Farmyard Tales, Jesus Storybook Bible
Favorite TV shows: Wild Kratts, Curious George, animal shows, animated movies
Favorite Outside Toys: Plasma car, chalk, remote control car
Favorite Indoor Activities: coloring, science experiments, Angry Birds (ipad and set-up games with little characters), wrestling, building forts
Attends: preschool, daycare, Children & Worship at church
Favorite Books: Animal or science books from the library, especially sharks, dinosaurs, bugs, outer space, fish
Favorite Outfit: slick pants and a hoodie sweatshirt
Responsibilities: setting the table, emptying the silverware, picking up toys, letting Nika in, getting dressed, brushing teeth
Gets Excited About: seeing grandparents and cousins, Sunday Ford (Sioux County Nature Conservationist) visiting the preschool, playing games on pbskids.org (he spells it all out for you when he asks) or ipad, catching bugs,

Picture Day on his birthday!

It's hard to believe our first-born is 5 years old already! Many people ask if Ryan ever runs out of energy and the answer is "not really."  He loves running around, tackling, playing with friends and cousins, using his imagination, going to the farm, exploring, and learning new things! We appreciate his curiosity (the questions never end) and more than once have to consult "Siri" or some other reference to find an answer to a burning question.  He talks...a lot...and is always inserting new words into his vocabulary. He has an amazing memory and can recall so many details...he can even tell you things from when he was a "little 3" or a "big 3" or a "medium 4". He understands basic math and story problems and recognizes letters and their sounds, but not sure he could write every letter and number without seeing something to copy for some of them and we haven't started reading beyond a few simple sounding-out activities. He is pretty tall for his age, has blondish hair that's turning darker in the middle, and is usually cut short to keep control over all the cowlicks.

Going to daycare after preschool

Ryan's birthday fell on a preschool day this year (picture day!) so he enjoyed getting to bring treats (Angry Birds cheese crackers) and wear the birthday crown. His daycare provider also made it special by putting up some balloons, making a balloon craft, and serving cupcakes (they usually just have healthy snacks). At night, Adam took him to the movie "The Boxtrolls" and they were the only ones in the theater!  He had such a full day that he fell asleep before I even finished his first book at night. It was a great birthday and he didn't even open any presents! He's looking forward to his family birthday party on the weekend, but thoroughly enjoyed his day of turning 5.