Johanna's 5th Birthday

Johanna had her first birthday in our new house.  We invited family over to celebrate her and Cali's birthday.

On Johanna's actual birthday, she got a special Wonder Woman cake and her favorite dinner (Pesto).  Johanna and Walter enjoyed eating the lasso of truth.  (They both think they like cake but never actually eat it.  They eat the frosting at most but were huge fans of the fondant).

After her birthday, Mom finally gave in to Johanna's many requests to have a shorter haircut.  She is even more so a mini-Michelle.

Some other things about Johanna:

• She likes to be in charge or take the lead and often speaks in a matter of fact manner.
• She is getting to the age where we often have to say "Stop picking on Walter" and fairness is a big topic of discussion.
• Mom is still her all-time favorite person, always wanting to be with Mom and cuddle, preferring Walter stay by Dad.
• Teachers talk about how smart she is and her amazing memory, saying they only need to tell her something once and she remembers it forever.
• Story from  Teacher Amy at school: Teacher Jenna was conducting a lesson and talking about how important it is to listen.  Johanna said to her, "I just said that, weren't you listening?".Amy got a big kick out of it saying, Johanna really got Jenna on that one!
• She enjoys going to the library to reading books but doesn't want to bring any home because "we will forget them".
• She is very inquisitive, especially during football games where Dad need to request question breaks.
• She is beginning to sound out works, successfully spelling out a few words.  She is also excited about math and likes to do simple addition or subtraction.
• She enjoys swinging on the swing set, she can get herself started now but prefers a push.
• She does NOT like independent play, insisting on working/playing together instead.
• Her favorite pastime seems to be coloring and can typically convince Dad to join her since he enjoys it as well.
• A way to get under her skin (which Dad often does) is to say the words to a song or show right before they are sang/spoken.
• She has become an expert scooter and is getting the hang of riding her bike with training wheels.
• She likes to help out around the house and around the classroom and is a good helper.
• She is working on handling disappoinment better (something all of us could work on).
• She has a great vocabulary and often says phrases that make her sound older.  When I said Guster is cool, she responded, "Guster isn't cool, he is totally awesome!"