Silly Tanner

Tanner makes me laugh almost daily. He loves to be like his older brothers and do anything they are doing. Here's a couple of silly pics of Tanner.

Getting Tanner to wear a helmet really hasn't been an issue. He loves to wear it because his older brothers wear one whenever they ride bikes. Tanner decided to wear it around the house this day just for fun.

Gage and Landen are playing soccer so of course Tanner wants to play. He insisted on having Mike put on Landen's soccer socks and shoes. I don't know why Tanner wasn't very happy here but he wore them for awhile.

Tanner loves to snuggle with anyone in our big chair especially his "Gandma".

Happy Birthday Mike!

Mike turned 32 today. Wow he's getting old. Just kidding. I like being 2 years younger than him. We had some family over and had Mike's favorite cake made by his parents not me. I guess it's time for me to learn how to make it.

Happy Birthday Merrill!

Binky Yucky

So after our trip to the dentist, I was determined to be done with Tanner's binky. I thought the idea of having the binky taste gross made sense. I would still give the binky to Tanner. It would be his choice to not take it because it tastes nasty. My fear was that Tanner wouldn't mind the yucky taste.

A couple of days ago we put Tanner to bed as usual. I didn't give Tanner his binky until he asked for it. "Binky," he said. I handed him his binky and he immediately put it into his mouth. He started sucking away on it and I feared he might not notice the taste.

Tanner took it out of his mouth and just looked at it.

Tanner put it back into his mouth and then immediately took it back out and said, "Binky yucky." He started crying. I had one spare binky I hadn't ruined and I almost went and got it because of his sad face but I held strong. Tanner just kept saying, "Binky yucky" over and over.

I took the binky from Tanner and placed it next to him on his bed. I wanted it to be his choice that he didn't take it. He fussed a little bit, but then went right to bed. The next day I gave him his binky at nap time and he immediately said, "Binky yucky," and wouldn't take it. He did this for a couple of days. I even asked him once or twice if he wanted his binky and he would shake his head no saying, "binky yucky." I can't believe how easy it was to get rid of this habit. I remember with Gage we took it away over Thanksgiving weekend and it was days of screaming for an hour each night. This was so much easier!

Landen's 2nd 1st Day of Preschool

Landen attended the Syracuse Montessori Preschool last year. Today was the first day of his second year going to this school. He was so excited especially since Gage had been going to school for over a month now. It was finally his turn. Landen knew he was going to be one of the "big" kids this year and would have to help all the new students. Landen had a couple of friends joining him this year that he was excited about helping.

Here's Landen looking handsome in front of our door.

Landen in front of some trees at school.

I know it maybe hard to believe, but Landen is actually 3 months older than his friend Collin that will be attending the school this year.

I am a little nervous about these two best of friends going to school together. Hopefully they will behave themselves.

Landen didn't even say goodbye. He was tired of all the pictures and hurried into school to start working.

Landen learned a lot last year in preschool. I am so proud of how hard he works. I can't wait to see all the fun things he will learn and do this year!

A Trip To The Dentist

Gage and Landen have been to two different pediatric dentists. I haven't been really happy with either one of them. My sister Brandy has always taken her kids to dentists that like to see kids at age 1 while mine don't like to start regular checkups until age 3. I know you aren't going to get much of an exam until age 3, but since I have always had insurance I wanted someone who would start at least getting my children used to checkups so they would be pros by the time they were 3. Well, I recently took my kids to Atlantis Dental in Syracuse and I have finally found my dentist! They said they like to start seeing kids 6 months after they get their first tooth.

I took Landen and Tanner first and then Gage a week later. I was worried about Tanner getting an exam, but I was determined. I had Landen go first and made Tanner watch Landen get his teeth cleaned. Landen did great. No cavities. We just need to work on flossing. I'm not very good at doing that.

Tanner was next and was a little apprehensive. He didn't want to sit on the chair so I sat down first and Tanner sat on my lap. They were so cute with Tanner. They spent time showing Tanner how the spin brush "tickled" on my finger and then his. After doing that, they were able to clean his whole mouth and take x-rays! The dentist then took a look. He said everything looked good, but asked if he still took a binky. I have been holding onto the binky way longer than I did with Gage. I only use it for naps and bedtime because Tanner goes to bed so easily with it. The dentist said it was affecting his bite and I should try to break the habit. He said they had a bottle of nasty tasting stuff I could dip his binkies in so I wouldn't have to go buy a bottle. Nice huh? So when I went back today for Gage's appointment, I took all of Tanner's binkies and painted the yucky liquid on them. We will see how it works tonight. Tanner also has a big gap between his two front teeth. The dentist said there is a piece of his gums that will need to be clipped at some point. He said it could wait until sometime in the future when he might need another procedure so they could be done at the same time.

Gage's teeth looked good. No cavities. However, the dentist said he is a little behind on losing his teeth. Gage has only lost his two bottom front teeth and the two beside those were pulled to make room for the first two to come up. The two that were pulled don't have any room for his permanent teeth to break through and his top teeth should have been out by now. He said he would wait and see what happens within the next 6 months before he starts pulling more teeth. I asked about kids getting braces earlier now a days and he said Gage would probably be a good candidate for that. We will see what the next 6 months brings. Hopefully the tooth fairy will make a few appearances.