Jonah Turns 5

Jonah was excited to have an Octonauts birthday. He designed and helped make this cake.

He wanted to invite Scott and Perry to his birthday party at the park.

Also his Grandma, Great-Grandma Marva, and some park day friends came to celebrate with us.

We had a water balloon fight, chalk, lunch, pinata, and cake. The decorations and activities were from people on Buy Nothing, which was a great way to make a simple park party extra fun.

Several weeks before, Jonah asked us if gorillas were real, so on Saturday morning we went to the San Francisco Zoo as his birthday present. We found the penguins just in time for their feeding. The boys were glued to them even after the feeding and we had to peel them away to see other exhibits after over half an hour.

Perry loved running around and briefly looking at animals. Jonah and Scott stopped to watch and read all the signs. The zoo posts what level of endangerment the animal is in and why, which led to some good discussions.

My mom and Amanda came and we had a picnic lunch while the boys ran out lots of energy on the playgrounds. After about an hour, we moved them along again.

Jonah found out gorillas are, in fact, real.

Perry makes a cute peacock.

Riding a bear, which reminded us of our trip to Sacramento, where there's a bear in the Capitol.

My mom brought them chocolate dip with pretzel rods, which were popular.

Our little monkeys lasted at the zoo a lot longer than I anticipated, which was great for getting our money's worth and having plenty of time to see everything.

We drove home and had some pizza and Amanda play time before bed.

A package came for Jonah from Aunt Wendy. He loves stuffed animals and this yellow m&m was no exception.

Sunday morning we had John's sourdough waffles and Jonah opened presents.

Jonah's brothers gave him a new Kylo Ren mask that actually fits and isn't cracked and a book, and we got him some Star Wars sheets and some toys from neighbors like Octonauts characters.

He was a very happy five year old.

Perry trying to figure out two fingers.

Everyone let Jonah pick their church outfit to wear on his birthday. He loves to match.

Even Daddy joined in.

Our final birthday celebration was Jonah's well check. He's a little on the short side, but growing and healthy; 41.5" tall (24%) and 40 lbs (49%) .

At 5 years old, Jonah's favorite:

food is chicken and rice

color is pink

church song is Nephi gets the plates

scripture story is Jonah and the Whale (which he has memorized from our book)

animal is macaroni penguin

hobbies are playing Star Wars Wii, trampoline, riding bikes, and playing tball

and when he grows up he wants to be a construction [worker].

Jonah is sweet and loving, and especially caring toward babies and little kids. He is genuinely happy for other peoples' good fortunes. He's still extremely stubborn, but has really matured a lot lately when not getting his way. Jonah is social and loves people and makes friends easily. He is thoughtful--thanking me for helping him with something and in his prayers he'll mention specific things like he's grateful for the yummy dinner we had, sometimes listing the foods individually. Jonah loves when John comes home, gets upset when John leaves for work before he wakes up, always wants him to jump on the trampoline with them and likes to dress like him for church every week. He's very artistic and will spend a long time finishing one creative masterpiece. He's also very sentimental and has hoarding tendencies toward everything he's ever made, touched, or looked at. He's excited to start kindergarten and do all the fun things Scott has told him about. We know he's going to have a great year!