Laird

For previous highlights for Laird, look here and here

Laird is now 6 - this is him on his first day of school this year.

School has been a big adjustment, especially since their bus comes at 6:15 am!  Laird goes down at 6:30 pm (if he can make it that long) to get enough rest.  He is so high energy, he needs all the sleep he can get.  He is doing very well at school.  His handwriting has shown tremendous improvement, and he says all his classmates names with a great Spanish accent.

Laird continues to do piano lessons.  School has helped him improve his length of concentration.

Laird really likes weapons.  He likes reading about weapons and war.  I recently read a book called "Latin America's Cold War" and he loved it because it had some revolutionaries on the cover brandishing weapons. I'm sure this phase will wear off, but here is a weapons collage from the last year:

Laird is still a big fan of blankie.  I suppose blankie has helped him through our many moves.  We do now generally restrict blankie to his bed, or at the very least, to the house.

Laird has really taken to playing board games this year.  We have found great success with Ticket to Ride, Power Grid and especially Puerto Rico.  Even though he is well below the recommended ages for these games, he loves them, especially since he can play them with Jeffrey and Dad.

Laird celebrates turning 6 in San Diego with the Monroes

Laird really loves animals and is our resident expert.  While we were in Virginia, a wonderful woman gave us her collection of Wildlife Fact-Files (you know, the animal pages advertised in National Geographic that you coveted as a youth).  So instead of going to kindergarten, he devoured these books.

Reading the books in Virginia with Lucy (and Green Blankie)

Feeding a bird at San Antonio Zoo

At San Diego Zoo

Washington DC Temple Nativity Scene

In a lot of places we have lived, Laird tags along with Jeffrey and Jeffrey's friends.  But in Virginia, he was very lucky to have a very good friend his own age, Anderson.  They shared a love of legos, weapons and playing.  We were very sad to leave such a good friend in Virginia.

Anderson and Laird

We just finished college football season and this was Laird's first season in which he really knew what was going on.  He was a lot of fun to watch games with, even though he always wanted to be cheering for the team that was winning, which often meant changing his allegiance several times a game.  He would often announce during the games, "I'm going to play wide receiver for Georgia Tech" or "I'm going to play cornerback for Miami".

Laird at Colonial Williamsburg

Laird is looking forward to turning 7 in a few months and watching more of the Star Wars movies (he has now watched #4).  He is a bundle of energy, but he has really matured this year, and he is a great kid.