Tav Turns 4!

Yesterday, the 17th, was Tavin's Fourth Birthday!  I can't believe he's four.  These children grow up way too quickly!  Unlike our prior experience with a child turning 2 to 3, Tav managed it with ease and consistency in his personality and demeanor.  He has been such a pleasure and joy throughout this year as he's grown from toddler to little boy.  This year hasn't been without its challenges though most notably this new journey of speech therapy that we embarked on almost exactly a year ago with his 3 year well-visit.  I'm happy to report though that after almost 8 months in therapy (and finally being matched in the private therapy environment with someone who is knowledgeable both with his needs and his age group), Tavin is beginning to really show improvement and progress and I have been so encouraged in recent therapy sessions watching him connect with his new therapist, enjoy the sessions more and succeed in the exercises they are doing.  Praise the Lord and thank you all for your prayers.  Now, that is not all that Tavin has been learning and working on this year.  Tav's accomplished a lot as a 3 year old.  In the beginning of 2013 he potty-trained in a matter of days which was a huge blessing for this mama!!  Tavin's relationship with Penn has changed dramatically this year as he has learned to include Penn in some of his play and engage him in activities.  They particularly enjoy racing cars and trucks, playing crawling chase and making huge messes together (ha!).  In the summer, Tavin progressed so much on his water skills showing his courage and independence in a new way.  He also is quite the little athlete and we loved watching him score soccer goals on Daddy and hitting wiffle balls with so much ease.  This Fall Tavin started preschool and he loves it!  He comes home and talks about his "preschool buddies."  He loves all the outdoor time at the playground (complete with diggers) and at grassy park (where they have cars and trikes to ride), but he also enjoys "Creative Movement" class because he can be "silly" there.  In the past two months, I have enjoyed seeing Tavin grow by leaps and bounds in his interest in learning and his aptitude for new things.  He is loving working on his uppercase and lowercase letter matching, number recognition and early math.  It is so fun to watch him process new things, get it and enjoy that accomplishment.  So, as you can see, this is a busy time for a little guy.  So much to learn, experience and enjoy and Tavin has embraced so much this past year.  Great job, Tavin.  You are bright, talented and a joy.  I will miss so many aspects of this past year, but I know I have even more to look forward to as you grow and develop more and more into the person the Lord has designed you to be.  I love you so much!!

Now, time for a quick recap of Tav's actual birthday (since we technically celebrated it already on Saturday).  And the recap actually starts on Sunday because we were stuck at home since both Tav and Koen were ill from the cold that just keeps on giving (fever for Tav on Saturday, Koen went back to fevers on Sunday...seriously frustrating virus!).  Gramma and Grampa, in NH, happened to be stuck home from church as well, but their reason was 10 inches of snow!  When I found out they were home, I figured we should all have a Skype date.  It was the highlight of the morning for the boys and I (home church is good, but not that good).  Tavin's gift from my parents had arrived in the mail already so I asked if he could open it via Skype.  They, of course, said yes and Tav was thrilled. 

Tav got a Lightning McQueen long-sleeve T-shirt and he was super excited about it.  So much so that he wore it to show off to Miss Christal, his speech therapist, on Monday.  Miss Christal had a little surprise for Tav too.  I told you she was a good match.

Ok, so on to the actual birthday, Tuesday, December 17th, 2013.  Well, unfortunately, Tav had fully made it into this odd cold/virus thing.  It dawned on me that 3 out of the 4 birthdays that Tav has even had he's been under the weather.  Poor kid!!  Not without its meaning though.  Tavin is the definition of a trooper through and through.  He still enjoyed his birthday (well, at least until naptime when he went out of commission).  We had a special breakfast of banana muffins and scrambled eggs.  We sang to him at breakfast since it was a school day for Koen and a work day for Doug.  He was super pleased with the attention!

We actually let him open his few family presents after breakfast so he could enjoy his new toys all day.  His first presents was a Pirates sweatshirt.  Koen has a bunch of Pittsburgh sports paraphernalia and Tav has been asking for a Pirate shirt specifically.  

Koen happened to be wearing a Pens sweatshirt that morning so we had to get a pic of the little Pittsburgh fans.

Doug found this interesting toy for Tav.  It's a crane designed for a preschooler to assemble and repair.  It comes halfway put together and then it has a battery-operated drill to assemble all the pieces with nuts and bolts.  Tavin is really enjoying it.  Kind of like a 3-D toolman puzzle!

Then on to the "big" present for this year.  

This is the garbage truck that Tav could just not get enough of when we were at my friend's Sarah's house in DC over Thanksgiving break.  We were racking our brains for a special gift for Tav and Doug remembered how much Tav enjoyed this toy (especially since Tav is already super enamored with garbage trucks).  

While Tav took off with the garbage truck, Penn got acquainted with the crane.  Oops.  

So at this point I didn't really know how not great Tav was feeling and how bad his cold would get with the day.  So after 2 hours of playing with his new toys I dragged the boys out for some pre-Christmas errands, but with a fun stop at Chick-fil-A for lunch.  Tav is still quite the animal lover and has been asking about a Chick-fil-A cow stuffed animal the last few visits to Chick-fil-A over the last few months.  Since I knew we were going there today, I had already thought that it would be the perfect opportunity to surprise him with a new pal.  How surprised was I when our friend from church was the manager on duty and ended up giving Tav the cow when he found out it was his birthday!!  Wow!  Happy Birthday to Tavin, love Chick-fil-A!  Now, at lunch Tav was definitely fading as evidenced in these tired photos I got when I was trying to get a pose with his lunch buddy.

When I turned to put the camera away, look who I found posing with a "cheese" face for the camera.  Oh my goodness, this kid cracks me up.

Well, we got home in the nick of time for naps and the boys went down after just a few minutes of play.  Tavin was coughing up a storm, but finally fell asleep.  When I finally woke him up at 5pm he was feverish and a complete wreck.  I let him watch Winnie the Pooh and eat crackers, apple slices and apple juice for dinner in front of the TV.  Poor birthday boy!!  He was a real trooper as usual though with no complaints and went right to sleep that night.  
Tavin, I'm sorry you were under the weather for your birthday.  But as you know, we have a lot of fun everyday just enjoying being together.  I love the time I have with you and can't wait to see what this year holds for you in learning, growing and laughing.  Love you!