Nathan is 7 Years Old!

 Nathan, you are seven years old!  This is a pretty exciting birthday for you because you officially surpassed Matthew in height and weight (barely, but it was enough for you to bug him about it for the whole day!).  You weigh 62.8 lb and are 53 3/4" tall.  You comfortably wear size 8 pants and are wearing both size 8 and 10 tops.  You wear size 3.5 shoes.

It's really quite difficult to describe your personality.  You have the capability of being really kind and funny and outgoing, but then you are also capable of being a pest and annoying and unreasonable.  Most of the time you are in a good mood, but when you aren't, every one walks on egg shells, hoping they don't set you "off".  Your favourite person to bug is Matthew.  You also like to not listen to your Dad.  Your favourite person to dote-on is Olivia (and Parker!).

You do well in school.  You are a great reader and eagerly started reading Harry Potter (book one) that we gave you for your birthday.  You are also good at doing math in your head.  Your printing has become so much neater over the last six months since that was a big focus of ours while you were doing "learning at home" during the last few months of grade two, because of covid.

You LOVE playing the Nintendo Switch, particularly Minecraft.  You are obsessed with Preston and Brianna, both YouTubers who do a lot of Minecraft videos.  You have changed career ambitions from being a marine biologist to a YouTuber, thanks to them.

Nathan, you are a big worrier.  Every now and then you can't fall asleep at night because your thoughts are keeping you awake, and so I let you downstairs to lay by me on the couch (or I lay by you on your bed) and we discuss the things you are afraid of: burglars, house fires, kidnappers, etc.  So far, you have been content with my responses!

You still love routine.  You have the same thing for breakfast 90% of the time:  two pieces of toast with peanut butter and hagelslaag, followed by a banana.  You count on having a snack before bed, otherwise you come out hungry.  I try to give you a lot of warnings when you have to switch activities, otherwise you aren't mentally ready for the transition.  You also like to only wear the same clothes, and nothing too "athletic".  Matthew wears all of the Under Armour and you wear everything else.

You are always the first child up - right at 7:00am!  Because you are up first, you have the responsibility of letting Parker out.  You enjoy being up first because you get to pick which screen you want, first.

You like to bake and will be the first to ask me if we can make cookies.  You also like to eat your baking!   

In May we noticed that you were blinking with unusual frequency and a lot of emphasis.  We tried to track when you did it most, based on what activities you were doing/what time of day/your mood.  We think you do it more frequently when you were tired.  We self-diagnosed you with a tic, which I think was likely brought on by Covid because of all of the changes to the way we did life.  School changed, trips were cancelled (our Spring Break Seattle trip, May long weekend camping, etc), and all of a sudden we were home a lot.  Your Dad was more concerned that I was, so I told him that if you still had the tic by the end of summer then we would take you to your family doctor.  Some time in August, it disappeared!

Birthday Interview:

1. What's your name?  Nathan   
2. How old are you?  7   
3. What is your favourite color?  Cyan (It’s like a dark teal, a tourquoise.)
4. What is your favourite toy?  Switch   
5. What is your favourite fruit?  Banana   
6. What is your favourite tv show or movie?  PrestonPlayz (a YouTube channel)   
7. What is your favourite game?  Minecraft   
8. What is your favourite animal?  Seahorse 
9. What is your favourite song?  None   
10. What is your favourite book?  Harry Potter   
11. Who is your best friend?  Micah and Eli   
12. Who are you going to marry?  No one.  I don’t know.   
13. How many kids are you going to have when you are married?  I don’t…none.   
14. What is your favourite thing to eat for breakfast?  Peanut butter hagelslaag toasted.   
15. What is your favourite cereal?  Corn Pops   
16. What is your favourite thing to eat for lunch?  Mr. Noodles   
17. What is your favourite thing to eat for dinner?  Chicken Noodle Soup   
18. What is your favourite thing to do outside?  Run   
19. What is your favourite drink?  Banana Milkshake 
20. What is your favourite snack?  Probably homemade cookies. 
21. When is your bedtime?  7 o’clock, or over.   
22. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  Neptune (seahorse Beanie Boo) and blankie (baby blanket). 
23. What is your favourite holiday?  Halloween because it’s in the month of my birthday. 
24. What do you want to be when you grow up?  YouTuber   
25. Name one thing you do really well?  Be nice at school   
26. What makes you feel sad?  Thinking of scary stuff in bed   
27. What makes you feel happy?  Playing with Buchi and Muchi (his made up friends who live in Slime World)   
28. If you could choose a different name, what would you choose?  Peter Cedra Seahorse 
29. Where do you want to go on vacation?  Australia 
30. What is your favourite thing to do?  Probably play Switch   
31. What is your favourite thing to do with Mom?  Cuddle with you   
32. What is your favourite thing to do with Dad?  Wrestle   
33. What is your favourite thing to do with your siblings?  Play Lego   

Photos in reverse-chronological order: