An Interview with a 6-year-old

This year, we took a little vacation for Landon's birthday. Grandma Ev came into town and we escaped to South Padre Island. We stayed at an Airbnb condo and spent as much time as possible at the beach. We celebrated Landon's birthday with some of his favorite things- McDonald's Happy Meal for lunch, pizza for dinner and cupcakes. We took our pictures on the beautiful South Padre Island beach and did our interview in the car on the way home. 

Favorite colors: all of them- no- orange!

Favorite Letter: "L" because first letter of name

Favorite Animal: leopard

Favorite Dinosaur: T-rex

Favorite school subject: Science

Favorite brand: Nike

Favorite number: 6

Favorite sea creature: giant squid

Favorite food: pizza

Favorite dessert: \chocolate chip cookies

Favorite toy: superheroes

Favorite activity: go to beach

Favorite sport to play: soccer

Favorite fruit: apple

Favorite movie: LEGO Batman movie

Favorite place we've been: Korea- "Koreans are so nice"

Favorite thing to do in Texas: go to pool

Favorite Book of Mormon hero: Nephi

Favorite show: Paw Patrol
Favorite song: Book of Mormon Stories

Landon has grown up so much this past year. He started school for the first time and thrived! He was in a kindergarten class with his best friend and loved being back "home" in the Chicago area full-time. He had his own room on the 1st floor on our house and loved his lair far away from the rest of the family. He has always loved toys and was in heaven having all the toys at the same time. We were SURE he would respond very negatively to the news we may be moving, and yet he took it like a champ. Initially, he was very excited, and then sad to leave friends and our house, and then scared about making new friends and living in a new place, but the overwhelming feeling was excitement. I will always be in awe of his resilience and his wisdom for his age. 

Landon is reading so well! He's getting much more comfortable reading early readers and has made a goal to start reading chapter books this school year. He is still most interested in science, specifically sea creatures and dinosaurs. He also loves doing little science experiments with me at home. This year, he has become much more interested in history. It all started with a book about Pearl Harbor, then an expanded interest in all the World Wars, and now he's delving into ancient civilizations and the Revolutionary War. I read him chapter books at bedtime. His favorite series is definitely Hardy Boys, but we switch it up with Roald Dahl, SId Fleischman, and the Encyclopedia Brown series when I get tired of reading Hardy Boys. He's loving school so far this year, after a few days of getting used to being in school all day long.

This summer, Landon learned how to ride a bike without training wheels! It seemed like an impossible feat as he forced me to hold him while he rode around with his training wheels on! He gained confidence and we practiced every day and finally, he took off! Back in Illinois, he took several rounds of swim lessons and then practiced at the community pool over the summer. He's completely water safe and can do strokes, but just needs someone else to tell him to practice strokes. We're hoping to find somewhere to swim year-round here, but we know it will be at least a 30 minute drive as there are no year-round pools in our area.

As a big brother, Landon has improved in his tolerance of Owen. They play together more often and are generally nicer to each other. They play LEGOs, Frank and Joe Hardy, and excavation in the yard often. Even though they still fight and beat each other up at home, Landon is the first to defend and protect his little brother when playing in a group, or when Owen gets in trouble at home. It makes my mommy heart happy. We love Landon and can't believe he's already 6!