Kid Interviews

Some friends have recently mentioned asking their kids some questions and writing down their unprompted answers. I thought it sounded like fun so we gave it a shot!

Interview with A

With each question I asked A, he answered precisely and in a matter-of-fact tone. I love how logical he is. Here are his answers:

What is your name? 
Aiden Shaughnessy

How old are you? 
3

When is your birthday? 
December 29. Is it my birthday today?!

How old is Mom?
31... wait, 32!

How old is Dad? 
He's just 31

What is your favorite color? 
Tan today. Yesterday it was green, tomorrow it's gonna be pink.

What is your favorite food? 
Mac mac and chicken nuggets

Who is your best friend? 
Ellie and Giraffey (his stuffed animal)

What is your favorite movie or show? 
Rescue Bots (Transformers)

What is your favorite song? 
Follow the Prophet

What is your favorite animal? 
Giraffe

What are you scared of? 
Monsters

Where is your favorite place to go? 
The park

What do you want to be when you grow up? 
An astronaut


Interview with E

Meanwhile, every question I asked E was answered with enthusiasm and included gestures and dancing. Her reactions made me laugh. Here's what she had to say:

What is your name? 
Ellie Shaughnessy

How old are you? 
I 2!! *holds up two fingers and begins dancing around*

When is your birthday? 
July 10! My birthday! My BIRTHDAY!!

How old is Mom?
31 (pronounced firdy-one)

How old is Dad? 
31, like mommy's 31!

What is your favorite color? 
Purple my favorite color!

What is your favorite food?
Grapes. And banas! (banana) I want a bana!!

Who is your best friend? 
Aiden. Actually mommy!

What is your favorite movie or show? 
Einsteins! And George Monkey!

What is your favorite song? 
London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down!!

What is your favorite animal?
Cushion dog

What are you scared of? 
Silly things and *looking at the clock on the wall* ummmm some clocks...

Where is your favorite place to go? 
Costco! And Target!! And M-store!

What do you want to be when you grow up? 
Anna! *begins singing* Let it go, let it goooo!!!!

I love their personalities! They are both so different and fun in their own way. I especially love watching their little friendship and realizing they both contribute so much to each other because of their differences. I love being their mom!

A at 3½

3½ is looking pretty handsome today!

His stats are:

• Weight: 34.2 lbs.
• Height: 40 inches
• Diaper Size:100% potty trained!
• Clothing Size: Almost too tall for a lot of 3T but too skinny to wear 4T.
• Likes: Repeating letters to spell words, counting to 20, playing all sorts of silly games with E.
• Dislikes: Being tired, being hungry, when things aren't his idea.

This little guy is a whirlwind of energy, fun, and naughtiness all rolled into one! In the past few months, he has become more daring and loves to climb on everything, jump off anything, and run around everywhere. He loves going to the park, the beach, and taking walks along the trail by our house.

As much as I'm amazed by his excessive amounts of energy, I'm even more impressed by his cleverness! He can write his name and recently enjoys practicing writing his letters. He also knows the phonetic sounds of most letters and tries to sound out words he sees. He also wants to spell basic words, but still needs a bit of guidance to piece the whole word together.

He also loves numbers! He can count over 100 and quizzes us constantly with basic addition and subtraction. Although most equations we do deal with numbers under ten, I've been surprised at how easily his brain grasps the concept of math.

His memory is also really impressive. We can briefly show him a picture of multiple items and he remembers most of them once we take it away, but also still remembers it hours later! He talks about books or conversations we've had months ago. Unfortunately, his wittiness and his memory contribute to helping him be surprisingly good at lying, especially to avoid getting out of trouble!

Another thing that has been a challenge with his intelligence is keeping him engaged. He loved reading when he was little but has recently seemed bored with it. A couple months ago, I invested in some science-topic books geared for 5-8 year olds, and it's been great to see his interest in reading spark back up. His favorite is what he calls "the brain book" because it talks about all the different parts of the body and their functions, and his favorite of all is the page about the brain.

His love of science jumped another notch when he discovered "The Magic School Bus" on Netflix. I remember watching that show as a kid, several years older than him! It's so cute to watch him loving something I liked as a kid, and it's fun having 3-year-old conversations about how white blood cells fight bacteria or what happens to your food after you eat it.

Speaking of eating, he is constantly hungry! He needs to eat a decent amount of food every two hours or else he gets "hangry" and throws some threenager tantrums! Luckily, he's a good eater and gets less picky as he gets older.

He is a sweet big brother and tells everyone E is his best friend. When they play at the park, he will refuse to play with other kids and only want to play with her. He loves to boss her around and has had some struggles recently as she is becoming more independent. He is also very competitive and doesn't like if she does anything first or faster than him. But she absolutely adores him and they play together all day long.

He has a very tender, kind side to his personality. Although he has recently become energetic and naughtier than usual, I am continually impressed with his awareness and sensitivity. When I have a rough day, he gives the sweetest hugs and tells me cute little things that always help me smile.

When we moved to Michigan this summer, I was very curious how well he would adapt to the change and living in an almost-empty apartment. He has done really well and has made the transition better and more fun for E too. He loves sunbeams here and hasn't been nervous at all about having an entirely new class {although it probably helps that his class is a big group of all boys!} He also loves to shout "hello" to any of the neighbors we pass in the apartment complex and says hi to strangers in the store. It's been fun to watch him blossom socially.

He is such an amazing little guy and I'm so grateful to be his mom. I love watching all the ways he's developing and progressing into a wonderful little person.

Summer Internship in Kalamazoo

Ever since selling our home and livin' the grad school dream (aka tight budget and itty bitty living space!), our life has felt much more like an adventure. And this summer, we're embarking on the biggest adventure we've experienced yet.

M was offered a fantastic internship with Eaton and they are sending us to Kalamazoo, Michigan for the summer. Because it's short term, we are renting a small apartment and only taking what we can fit in our car to take with us (loaded as full as we can pack it in!) This means we'll be sleeping on air mattresses and eating meals at a folding table. It's a 23-ish hour drive. We're calling it our "Summer Adventure" and the kids are ecstatic! Please keep those fingers crossed and wish us luck!

Sunbeam Boy and Nursery Girl

I don't know why they decided to pull faces when I got the camera out... but these two cuties had an exciting Sunday!

We've had at least one sickie the past two Sundays, so today was A's first chance to go to his new Sunbeams church class!! He was so excited and did great! His old Nursery teachers got "upgraded" to stay with the class, so he seemed perfectly comfortable with the transition!

And in other big news, E is now officially a Nursery girl! It was her first day of class today and she did really well!! I was nervous for her because she's never been away from at least one of us for that long—she always has A with her when she's been babysat. I think it was strange for her to be all on her own, but she was really proud of herself when I came to pick her up.

Oh and I actually got to listen to the lessons in my classes! It's been a fantastic day for all of us!