Dallin turned 7 years old on Monday, May 18, 2020.
With about 8 weeks into shutdowns and Pandemic life, we had to be really creative about celebrating a birthday. Fortunately, we were able to have a great Minecraft birthday for Dallin!
That morning during his school zoom meeting, his teacher and class sang happy birthday to Dallin. It was one of the few times that he got onto the meeting early. I could tell it meant a lot to him.
Our neighbor Jacobo drew this for Dallin!
When I brainstormed ideas with Dallin on what we could do, he really liked the idea of a zoom party with all of his grandparents. He didn’t want any kids or aunts or uncles to be there. We got the whole room set up really nice for the virtual party.
We were able to get all 6 of the grandparents to attend: Nana, Papa, GramZ, GrampZ, Great-Gandpa Davidson and Great-Grandma Sharon. Dallin was really excited, beaming and making silly faces and talking a lot! He showed them his awesome Minecraft banners that he and Tanner had made for the party. All the Minecraft lingo sounded like a different language to the guests, but they loved hearing him explain with so much enthusiasm. They came up with some good questions to ask, and Dallin loved answering them! I’ve never seen him so excited to do a video call with people before or since this special day.
Then it was time to play 2 games that I invented for the zoom party. Game 1 was a Minecraft hide and seek. I sent images of Minecraft jewels for each grandparent to print at their home. For the game, each grandparent took turns hiding the jewels on their body or somewhere in the room in plain sight. Then, Dallin had to find the jewels. Some of them were hidden in silly places, like on Grandpa Davidson’s glasses, and others were hidden in really tricky places that were full on camoflage.
Game 2 was a spin-off from Minecraft called “Grandcraft,” where the grandparents had to design things in Dallin’s new world that he needed, such as a shelter, tools, and torches. During each round, the grandparents had 1 minute to draw the item. Then Dallin got to choose which ones he liked the best. The grandparents would receive points if their designs were chosen. It was really fun to see all the practical and creative ideas that everyone had. Dallin really seemed to like this game, and tried to choose at least one thing from every grandparent.
Our final activity in the party was opening presents. This worked out really well, because most of his presents were from the grandparents anyway. Tanner joined us for this part of the zoom party.
After everyone wished Dallin happy birthday, we waved goodbye and the boys started playing with all the new things. They were really excited about the Minecraft UNO game.
For Dallin’s birthday Service, he wanted to take cookies to 3 of his friends in the neighborhood. He made them with Jeremy and then I helped him deliver them. We gave to Owen, Enzo and Matthew. Dallin was so excited after each delivery. He ding dong doorbell ditched at all 3, and got caught on the 3rd delivery! Which was fun because he hadn’t seen Matthew since school had closed.
Then we picked up his brithday cake from Dairy Queen. They tried to make a Minecraft scene. The lady admitted it didn’t look too much like how she envisioned. I thought it looked enough like a Minecraft tree. But she decided not to charge us for the design.
We invited our neighbors to join us on the back porch for pizza and cake. We kinda winged everything with this, trying to figure out how to serve food without putting people at risk. Our table wasnt big enough and we forgot to buy plastic forks. So it was pretty hodge podge! Although a part of me knew we could do so much better under normal circumstances, I was just so glad that we were doing this at all and that our neighbors showed up to help Dallin have fun. They sang Happy Birthday as I brought out the cake, and I was surprised that so many of them chose the cake and pizza over the individually wrapped ice cream treats that I also served.
Tanner and our friend made a special lego creation for Dallin. They included some neat drawings with it, too. It was a big labor of love that they worked on for several days. Dallin loved it!
Dallin looked so cute perched on this tree later that week with his new birthday binoculars.
Dallin had a great year of being 6! Here’s a few big events and milestones that occurred by the time he turned 7 (from May 2019 to May 2020):
– Finished Kindergarten
– Moved from San Diego to MN
– Lost his 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th teeth (his two front teeth were missing at Christmas 2019!)
– Got a new bike and learned lots of new tricks on it
– Enjoyed playing in his first basketball league, which was at the Y
– Went to his first Padres baseball game and his first Monster Truck Rally
– Saw the first home that he ever lived in as a baby, in HB
– Became a stronger swimmer. Also, got better at diving and flipping into the pool.
– Did boogie boarding for the first time
– Went to San Diego Zoo camp and had his own Zoo pass for the first time
– Visited Colorado during the Brolsma wedding and California for Jomatta’s wedding reception.
– Started 1st grade at Mckinley Elementary School
– Got better at reading and writing. Did really well in school, said that math and writer’s workshop were his favorite. Despite all that, he always said he hates school. When asked why, he would explain because he wants to stay home and cuddle with Mama. He’s not much of a morning person, so waking up for school was rough for him. We finally had him wear his school clothes to bed each night so he could sleep-in a little longer.
– Made new friends, including our neighbor Owen, our basketball friends Noah, Norman, and his classmate Matthew
– Made history by dressing up as a basketball hoop for Halloween
– Helped with the school play, Aladdin
– Took Lego Engineering class and Circus class for after-school enrichment
– Went to Colorado for his great-grandmother’s memorial
– Learned and performed a dance in front of the whole school with just 9 other kids as part of the school Variety Show. We don’t have pictures or video because the evening performance for parents got canceled due to Covid19. Dallin said he was pretty happy about that. Bahaha.
– Became an insatiable reader, choosing to read nearly every moment of down-time available
– Learned how to play Minecraft
– Was among the first kids in the world to be forced to do online zoom school
– Got better at piano, singing and dancing
– Grew 3.5 inches and 1 whole shoe size. Wears the same clothing size as his brother
– Always made us laugh
Our Little Dal Pal
Dallin is kind, clever and whitty. Any chance he can get to make us laugh or to find humor in the current situation, he will take it. His sense of humor has gotten really good during the past year. He likes to do play on words and brings up old punch lines that apply to new situations. In this way, he reminds me of his Great-grandpa Robertson, whom he carries his namesake.
He is also tender and innocent. It doesn’t take much to get him amazed at the simplest of magic tricks or to play imagination with him. He gets spooked really easily, so scary movies and ghost stories aren’t for him. I have to remind myself that a lot of things go over his head and he often needs explanations about what is real and what is not. He is often afraid to go to other rooms in the house because he gets scared.
Dallin is still great with technology. We’ve become masters at keeping all our devices locked because he will hack into them at any chance he can. (I think that’s why he’s gotten into reading so much, because all our devices are finally unattainable for him). He is always showing Tanner how to use the computer or other device. Also, he is really good at solving practical problems around the house and finding simpler ways to do things. He loves to help us with baking and household projects. Anytime we need something Dallin will usually be the first to jump up and grab it or move it for us (unless it’s in a room too far away).
One thing really neat about Dallin is that he is very self sufficient. If he is hungry, he gets himself something to eat. If he gets scraped up, he gets himself a band-aid. Also, he is really good at entertaining himself with a book. At the time of his birthday, he was particularly into Magic Treehouse and Diary of a Minecraft Zombie. He read all 15 books that were given to him in the Minecraft series in a matter of two weeks. He currently loves any type of comic book.
Our Dal Pal is musical and artistic. He sings all around the house and enjoys improvising on the piano, usually very calming songs that he calls lullabies. He tries his hand at drums every now and then, but seems to prefer the piano. Dallin loves to dance and do wild parkour tricks. He has some really unique and goofy dance moves that always make us smile. He just wiggles his body is the funniest ways to the beat. Also in relation to music, he loves to sit in front of the Alexa Show and read along to the lyrics of any song the robot will play for him. He has memorized a lot of songs this way.
At the time of his 7th birthday, his favorite food was pizza and ice cream (and apparently it still is). He has gotten more picky with foods this year, but will often come around to liking new meals when he gives it an honest try. He loved school breakfast and lunch at McKinley and enjoyed the free food we’ve had from the school during the pandemic.
He loves Minecraft, Legos, and any type of STEM activity. He also really enjoys playing with all our stuffed animals. He tags along with Tanner all the time, and will often go along with whatever Tanner wants to do. Together they spent and still spend lots of their free time playing in their outdoor club area that they call Fort TOD. (which stands for Tanner, Owen and Dallin). Even though Dallin is happy to go along with most of Tanner’s ideas, Dallin has gotten braver at standing up to Tanner when he doesn’t want to play Tanner’s way, and pointing out how his own ideas are good, too.
DJ’s favorite shows at the time of his birthday were Odd Squad, Dude Perfect and All Round Champion. He enjoys any and all Disney movies, too, which he didn’t know much about before Covid life. His favorite sport is swimming and basketball and he is always working hard to keep up with Tanner on the court. He also enjoys baseball and football, and really, he has enjoyed every sport that he has tried!
Overall, Dallin is very easy going. He adjusts to change fairly easily. Sometimes he gives us push back and he has meltdowns. We saw more of this during the first few months of Covid, which consisted of running away and not saying anything to us. We’ve worked with him on voicing and naming his emotions, which is really hard for him. He just wants us to read his mind. But even with that rough patch, Dallin he has been my bundle of love during 2020– giving me hugs as often as possible, being my Cuddle Bug every morning, stroking my mole and singing made up tunes to me about how much he loves me. Truly, he has been an anchor for me and our whole family.
This picture is very “Dallin.” He’s just wearing whatever pants were clean in his room. This particular pair doesn’t fit, but he didn’t care. He found this awkward bag in the garage to hold his stuff, and is just making due. He’s dirty and a little sticky from playing at the beach, but not concerned and just enjoying the walk with everyone back to the car.
This kid means so much to our family. We were so glad to celebrate him on his birthday. We love you, Dallin Jerold!!
