Jonathan Daniel - Age 5

Daniel - 1 week old

7 weeks

6 months

18 months

Age 2

2 1/2

Age 3

Age 4

4 1/2

 And today our little man is FIVE!

Age 5

I am often at a loss to know how to describe our little man. He is such a funny, sweet, rambunctious, ornery, sensitive, loveable guy. Let me start by sharing some of the things he's into these days and go from there...

~ Tigers. Daniel LOVES tigers. He has several toy tigers which are some of his favorite toys - what he carries around with him during the day and sleeps with at night. He and Hannah often play act that Daniel is "Daddy Tiger" and she is "Mommy Leopard."

Playing with the toy "Daddy Tiger" and "Mommy Leopard"

Watching the REAL tigers at the Tiger Kingdom in Thailand with one of his little tigers (in his right hand)

~ Dinosaurs. Daniel is also really into dinosaurs right now. He loves learning about the different types of dinosaurs, especially the fierce meat-eaters. One of his favorite things is a children's dinosaur website where he can piece together different dino body parts to make his own dinosaur.

~ Raw fruits and vegetables. Daniel has been a fruit and veggie kid pretty much since he could chew. As a 1-year-old he would get SO excited when his Grandpa Chuck would feed him a banana while I was fixing breakfast. Now, when he has a plate full of food, it's the fruits and vegetables that disappear first - and not because he's saving the best for last. If he finishes a meal and is still hungry, he'll ask, "can I have some vegetables?" His favorites are tomatoes and green pepper, but he also really likes carrots and cucumber. Sometimes when I am cooking and the kids are feeling snackish, I'll set out a dish of cut vegetables. You'd think I had set out a dish of candy the way they attack and devour! I'm not complaining though; I'm thankful for kids that enjoy raw vegetables!

~ Building. Daniel loves to build things, whether with legos, wooden blocks, or small cardboard boxes. He can spend an entire afternoon just constructing!

Our handsome 5-year-old

~ Reading. Daniel has really taken off with reading in the past couple of months. He is quite proud of his newfound ability, especially when he discovers he can read something he didn't realize he could read. He gets discouraged easily when he tries to read something that it too hard for him, but the delight is written all over his face when he succeeds. These days I often find him reading a book to Hannah, something that very obviously makes him feel very big. =)

One of my favorite things - seeing my kids enjoy a book together!

I don't think he would admit it, but Daniel adores his sisters. He's a very sweet brother most of the time. He takes especially good care of Hannah, and she thinks he hung the moon. Generally they are either best friends or worst enemies (though more often than not it's best friends). As I type this, Daniel and Hannah are off playing together, and Daniel is telling her what to do and how to do it (which doesn't always work as Hannah has plenty of her own opinions too)! Daniel's relationship with Rebekah is a bit more tumultuous as she likes to take the lead and tell everyone else what to do, and he's not usually very thrilled with that. He's very sweet about playing what Hannah wants to play a lot of times, although he does usually take the lead in choosing what they play. He draws the line at doing "girly things" or playing with girls' toys. He is a boy and proud of it!

Sibling love

Little sis following big bro

You can see his mixed feelings about these kisses from his sisters!

Daniel is a strong, healthy boy, a fact we do not take for granted given his somewhat difficult first 2 1/2 years. In his first 14 months of life, Daniel had pneumonia three times, resulting in tests and a chest x-ray on the same day we found out I was expecting Hannah (which meant I couldn't be in the room for the x-ray and had to leave my 14-month-old crying with the nurses in the x-ray room). He started complaining of back pain before he turned two, resulting in numerous tests and procedures (little did we or the doctors know that he was simply getting car sick on top of a stomach bug). So we are very thankful for the strong healthy boy that Daniel is.

 Yes, Daniel is ALL BOY. Before I had children I kind of thought that having one boy in a family of girls might make the boy a little... soft. But I'm discovering that often, the opposite is true. A boy among girls seems to feel the need to defend his man-hood, and goes for the "boy things" even more. It is often amusing to see the difference between Daniel and his sisters. The girls have been communicating from birth, while Daniel made car noises and his first word was "ball." =) He is fascinated by spiders, insects, dinosaurs, big cats, bodily functions, and the remote control. He loves cars, balls, big machines, loud noises, superheroes, and rough housing.

 Even with all of his boyishness, it's neat to see his concern for other people. Although he often seems to be lost in his own world, oblivious to what's going on around him, he's the first to notice when someone is sad or hurt, and really sympathizes with them. If he can help, he will do what he can. If he can't help, he will get help as quickly as possible.

Daniel loves to laugh and to make other people laugh. He doesn't like being the center of attention most of the time, but when he's in a comfortable situation he will often make offhand comments that put us in stitches. And when he starts laughing, everyone laughs. He has this awesome belly laugh that could cheer up anyone!

Daniel also has a temper. You don't see it all that often, but it's definitely there. He gets very intense about whatever he's working on, and if it doesn't work, he gets very frustrated. And when his sisters go a little too far... well, you can see the fire in his eyes! (If you've ever seen Daniel's Mom or Grandpa Chuck angry, this is about the same!)

Daniel can be hard to figure out. He has such an expressive face at times, and usually you know exactly how he is feeling. At other times he has a deadpan face and you don't have any idea what he's thinking. I think that sometimes he would prefer to keep his thoughts a mystery to us, and thus uses the deadpan face! Other times his thoughts and emotions are on his sleeve. Such a nutty guy!

Check out these faces... every single look is one we see often around this house!

Daniel loves hanging out with Daddy, perhaps even more so because he is surrounded by females all day! Daddy is his hero, and as Daniel's "love language" certainly seems to be quality time, eats up any time he gets to spend with Daddy. He seems to especially enjoy doing things he considers "boy things" with Daddy, like washing the motorcycle or fixing things around the house.

Daniel has been learning what it means to be a "gentleman." He doesn't always like what that means, but you can tell that he wants to be a gentleman, and tries (at least half of the time). =)

When Daniel was younger his best friend and companion was a stuffed Curious George. That was, and still is very fitting, as Daniel is a very inquisitive little boy. He loves exploring and discovering new things. He is curious about everything, but usually thinks about things some on his own before asking questions - though he still asks plenty of questions!

Checking out an ant in the yard

Trying to "feed" a big spider that built a web between two tomato plants

A month after Daniel's 4th birthday, he told us that he accepted Jesus as his Savior. He had been asking a lot of questions and seemed very concerned about death and what would happen afterward. We've always tried to be careful not to take our young children's spiritual decisions too seriously, while not blowing them off either. So we watched and waited. Nearly a year later, Daniel still goes back to that same time as "when I asked Jesus to be my Savior," and seems to have a growing sensitivity for the things of the Lord. We pray that he would continue to grow in his love for the Lord and desire to honor Him with his life.

 

Daniel is such a joy to us and we are so thankful that God made him a part of our family!