THE EVANS FAMILY: Reece

REECE TURNS 5!!

We've got a *F*I*V*E* year old on our hands! And we couldn't be more thankful for the 5 years we have been blessed with Reece in them. He is unique and special in his own ways and it is so fun to see him grow and learn daily.

At 5 years old, Reece is 41.5 inches tall and weighs about 35 lbs. He shares a room with Kade and sleeps in a toddler bed. He goes to bed right around 7:30 and wakes up around 6:00-6:30 most days. He still has a quiet time every day and will occasionally take a nap. He is doing two half days of preschool at Mount Calvary.

As far as personality is concerned, Reece is more of a reserved and dependent kid. He is more comfortable following what others are doing than figuring out what to do or leading what to do. He often would rather stay home than go places and enjoys when days are slow. He is usually kind and willing to share although he does, of course, have his selfish moments as well. He loves to laugh and has the best giggle! He is extremely active and always running and jumping and climbing wherever he goes. Because of this, he also seems to fall and get hurt often. He is hesitant to try new things but loves things that he already knows he can do.

One of Reece's most favorite things is to be tickled! He loves being tickled to the point where he cannot talk and can barely breathe. He asks for it multiple times a day. He loves being outside where he can run and jump and be loud. He enjoys riding his bike and scooter and he loves parks! Reece is always looking forward to the next time that he can eat. Some of his favorite foods are: cereal (he eats it pretty much every morning), almond butter, honey, and banana in a tortilla, banana by itself, whole apples (which he eats everything besides the stem and the seeds), granola bars, pizza, hot dogs, chia pudding, and any kind of treat. Reece loves getting to play with friends. His current best friends are Micah and Sam. He enjoys having books read to him and sits very quietly for that usually with his hand on the readers leg or arm and leaning in close. When Dad or Mom get home in the car, he runs out to the garage and wants to give the horn a quick honk. Reece loves when he is able to help Dad or Mom with something. He loves cutting something for dinner, turning the blender or food processor on and off, helping dad with the lawn or with watering, or any other project we are doing that he can find a role in. He also enjoys getting moths or other bugs out of the house for us. He is braver than Mommy. Right now Reece insists on wearing a sleep mask to bed each night. And he still self soothes by putting his bicep up to his lips and making a sort of sucking motion. He also does this to fall asleep and needs a long sleeve shirt on to correctly do it - even in the middle of summer. And he has grown attached to a little bear beanie baby type toy that he calls Bear which also "needs" to fall asleep.

His favorite toys still are all things cars, trucks, and things that go. He loves monster trucks and Hot Wheels cars. He loves anything from the Disney movies Cars and he also really likes Paw Patrol. He loves playing with anyone in the family. He enjoys becoming a part of Ember's imaginative games and taking on the role she has for him. He loves chasing Kade back and forth around the yard or the house. He is really good at Perler beads. He likes coloring and practicing writing with colored pencils and than sharpening them. Reece likes to play Uno, Candy land, and Blokus. He really enjoys hide and seek. He loves going up and down Kade's new slide in the backyard and also running around and playing in the greenbelt. He enjoys playing a soccer game with Ember and just runs around the field giggling. He is also getting really good at hitting a baseball with a bat. One of Reece's favorite at home past times is riding different bikes and scooters from the front yard, to the back yard and then back to the front yard.

There are definitely some things that Reece does not enjoy. He can be very sensitive to Ember joking around with him if he is not in the correct mood. He doesn't like if anything is out of order from what the usual routine is. Reece doesn't like when Kade is trying to touch something that he is doing and he feels helpless about how to stop Kade.

Reece has grown and learned many new things this past year. He learned how to ride his two wheel bike without training wheels. He also learned how to ride his scooter that he got for Christmas this past year. Reece can now write his name and many other letters and numbers. He can identify pretty much all the upper case letters and is starting to work on knowing all the sounds that they make. Reece has always taken to numbers and patterns and can do some simple addition problems. He can get himself ready for the day completely by getting dressed and brushing his teeth and he does a good job and putting his toys and laundry away. He just recently learned how to pump on a swing and enjoys doing that whenever we are at a park. Reece is also able to make his favorite lunch - almond butter, honey, banana tortilla wrap.

We love our sweet Reece and appreciate his personality - both his strengths and weaknesses. He is a good friend, usually a good brother, one who is always looking for a fun time and wants to be hugged, cuddled, and tickled hourly. We love you Reece!

Birthday Fun:

Reece wanted chia pudding for breakfast

He got to open one present in the morning.

We did a small park party with some of his closet friends and Grandma and Grandpa around lunch. We picked up one of his favorites (Chick Fil- A) for everyone.