The Best Things About Soren (at almost 6)

1. He really loves the scriptures.  He reads them to himself every afternoon during Rest Time.
2. He knows his own mind and he is not afraid to share it.
3. He talks to me about everything.  I am especially glad that he feels comfortable talking to me about his growing testimony.
4. He has gone through a big growth spurt in the past few months and now he is so tall!
5. He can stick to a job until it is done.
6. He is very good an entertaining himself.  He likes to do his own thing.
7. But he is also learning to get along with others.  It makes me happy when I see him playing with the other 5-year-olds in the neighborhood.  (Most often, they are having a race.)
8. He knows lots of random trivia and he shares it with enthusiasm.  I am glad he knows that knowing stuff is fun!
9. He wants to wash the dishes.  His chore is usually to dry them after breakfast each morning but he often asks if he can wash them too.
10. A lot of the words he knows he encountered first in books.  It is funny to hear his own pronunciations and try to figure out what word he is trying to say.  Scott is better at that than I am.
11. He listens and assimilates what Scott and I try to teach him.  I could shout for joy when he says things like "We learn from our mistakes",
12. "It can't be summer and winter at the same time so we should not interrupt each other",
13. "Not everyone has heard about Michaelmas",
14. or "Is it okay to show and talk about our belly buttons?"  These kinds of comments mean that he has been listening!
15. He is also watching.  He frequently tells me, "I want to do it like you" or "I want to do it like an adult".
16. He has been experimenting with jokes lately.  He tries different variations on jokes he has heard before, trying to figure out exactly what it is that makes a joke funny.  He still hasn't figured it out yet, which is funny in and of itself.
17. He has a soft spot for little, non-verbal girls.  He speaks to them kindly and enjoys entertaining them.
18. They also adore him and listen to his chatter with rapt attention.
19. He is gaining grit and confidence.  More and more, I see him sticking to it when life presents him with difficult challenges.
20. He adores his father and wants to be just like him.