Lookit who's a hotshot now!

You've probably all heard by now through that very convenient thing called texting that Tanner passed his Journeyman's test on Saturday! He was, understandably, giddy excited. The last five years of his life have been in preparation for this, crazy enough. Starting with a stint at line school in Idaho, then working as a gas guy over in Lewistown, just as a way to get his foot in the door, as most of their apprentice slots are filled internally. Then as a groundman in Lewistown, before he finally got his apprenticeship over here. And that lasted three and a half years!

Talk about a dedicated guy. I realized during all of this that I've literally never held a job for a full year. The longest one I've had was about ten months, and it wasn't for lack of trying...circumstances are just nuts sometimes. But Tanner has now stuck with a job that wasn't even his full promised pay for five years... just to get to where he is now. I think that's pretty cool.

I'm not sure how much this honestly effects him at work now, though. As a "hot" apprentice, he was able, by company policy, to do all but about five things a journeyman could do, but for the most part, his crew would let him do those things anyway. One thing he did mention looking forward to was not having to drive the bucket truck every day, as is usually demanded of the grunts, because they're big old clunky, loud, obnoxious things that no one really enjoys spending a large portion of their day in. And he's been driving them pretty exclusively for the last three years.

Also, (and this is not intended to get anyone's hopes up, as it's still completely up in the air) Tanner has applied for the Town Manager job in Cascade. It's a small town, which means he'd be working alone, and is what he's wanted to do for years. Cascade is even one of his top three towns, so the fact that it came open (as in the current guy is retiring...this job only comes open every 30+ years or so) right as Tanner topped out is pretty cool.

He turned in his application back in August, but they still haven't started the interview process. He's wondering if they were waiting on the results of the journeyman test to see if he or a friend of his in the same position would actually be contenders. Or it could be that the company just works at a glacial pace. He'll probably know if he even has a chance by next year. Maybe.

In other news, Wade has learned how to wave, but not in the right context. He says "Mama" and "Dada", and has actually used "Mama" to get my attention, so I think he knows what it means now. He also communicates very clearly when he wants his sippy cup, although it does tend to result in a temporary loss of hearing. His favorite toy is currently a hammer, meant to be used on a toy xylophone. He prefers to use it on the rungs of the rocking chair.

Sleeping through the night has been more consistent now as well, since he stopped expecting night feedings and learned how to put himself to sleep at nap time as well as in the middle of the night. The combination has gotten me so much sleep lately that I've started waking up at ridiculous hours with no hope of going back to sleep. That does mean that Tanner is more likely to get breakfast, though, as getting up at 5:30 does tend to give me enough time to do so.

He's also figuring out, slowly, how to walk! He can stand unsupported indefinitely, but it takes a serious amount of bribing and a willing mood to get him to take a step. I'm incredibly glad that he already responds to "No", as it will make life much easier when he takes off. I doubt it'll take a whole lot longer.

By the way...I was always under the impression that milestones were a definite thing, and I'm kind of irked to find out that there's not really a "day" that I can mark down as the first for something. He's been saying Mama for a while, but I'm not sure when it started, as it morphed out of other noises, and he only just started using it correctly a little while ago. Crawling evolved over two or three weeks...I'm not really sure what day that officially happened. And he's taken quite a few steps, but he's still not "walking", as he thinks that crawling is the better option still. Bah. Kids are confusing.