Leander Roxas | 5 1/2 Year Old Update - Kara Abbey Photography

Summer Backyard Half Birthday Portraits in Irwin PA

Every year, for the kids’ “half-birthdays”, I take them out & do some fun (typically “themed”) portraits of them. With Braelynn being born in January and Leander born in December, I knew that we would never be able to do “fun”, warm and glowy, outdoor “birthday” portraits – so I have simply compromised with “half-birthday” portraits every year. And it’s so much fun!

I need to just delete this idea of “half-birthday photos” from my brain, because for as long as I’ve been taking these photos (9 half-birthdays with Braelynn and 5 with Leander), I have never succeeded at taking these photos even remotely close to their “half-birthday”.

Braelynn’s half-birthday is technically in June and Leander’s is in July – and yet I consistently take these photos in: August.

So, I’m taking the liberty (after all, this is my personal project, my space on the internet, and my children) to re-think of these photos as “summer portraits”. The end.
(Because let’s be honest: knowing that I’m “late” every year in taking their “half-birthday” photos just stresses me out.)

Regardless of what we call them, I took my kids’ yearly warm, sunny, glowy portraits last week and let’s just say: this process becomes more and more of a joy every single year (seriously, why do I put them off until August?) I love seeing my children through my camera – they are such beautiful, brilliant, sweet kids and I love them so much!

So, without further ado, here is a little summer update on our sweet Leander Roxas:

If you’ve been around for any length of time, as you look down through Leander’s photos, you’ll notice one (glaringly) missing item. Leander’s precious blankie did not come with us for photos this year. (And, I’ll be honest: I still can’t actually process that fact.) I asked both him and his sister to gather together anything that was special to them that they wanted photos with and when Braelynn ran off to grab all of her stuffed animals, Leander grabbed “Cattail” (more on that in a moment), a few other stuffies, and that was it. I asked him about getting his blankie off his bed, and he said: “Nah.” I said: “You don’t want to bring your blankie for photos?” and he said, “No, not this time.”
Cue all the emotions.
He still sleeps with his blankie, but a few months ago, we noticed that he spontaneously stopped holding it up to his nose and sucking his middle two fingers – like he’s done since he was a tiny baby! I knew it was a habit we were going to have to break sooner, rather than later, but he grew out of it all on his own. I’m so glad (because it spared us the terrible project that is breaking kids of their baby-habits) but also so sad because he’s getting so SO big!
Leander officially started Kindergarten this year and he’s been loving it! So far, we’re still at the beginning of the curriculum which is mostly review, so he thinks he’s all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips because he knows all this stuff already (counting and colors and shapes) – but I love that it’s growing his confidence in learning. I love the Kindergarten curriculum I got for him, there is a lot of practical, real-life application in it (last week, he learned how to fold his own laundry) – so that’s been a lot of fun (for both of us!)
For Leander: anything Braelynn does, he follows right along beside her and does it too. Whether that’s a love of stuffed animals, drawing and art stuff, riding bikes, watching movies, playing games – if Braelynn is doing it, Leander does it. He absolutely ADORES her and would follow her to the ends of the earth. They spend hours every single day creating elaborate blanket forts, building roads and towns out of blocks for their figures, playing in Braelynn’s room with her Calico Critter city, and running around outside. They come up with the most elaborate stories their imaginations just explode with creativity – it’s incredible to witness.
I love how much they love each other.
(But don’t let that fool you into thinking they never fight – they have their share of sibling-disagreements, but they always come back to each other, apologize, ask for forgiveness, and move on.)
Leander’s current obsession is all-things Minions (from Despicable Me). A few weeks ago, we introduced the kids to the Despicable Me movies and we could hardly get Leander to even watch them with us (he was very nervous that they were going to be “scary”). But now, we can’t get him to stop watching the movies! He loves the Minions and if he isn’t asking to watch the movies, he’s probably asking to play the music (and he’s gotten pretty good at humming/singing the different songs – which is hilarious.) I got him a Minion costume off of Amazon and he wore it to the store earlier this week. I think he and Braelynn and going to dress up as Minions for Halloween this year – it will be a riot!
He still loves Mario though and also How To Train Your Dragon.
He lost his 3rd tooth (just in time for me to take these photos!) The tooth had been super wiggly and just barely hanging on for days – and of course, he pulled it out while I was across town at a meeting. Oh well. (He proudly told everyone that he got “$3 and a Minion” under his pillow in exchange for his tooth!)
Last weekend, we were at the Lake and Braelynn was out fishing with her Grandpa, so Leander and I were hanging out together. We hiked back in the woods, chased chipmunks, and then walked down to the lake to throw stones and look for fish. As we were walking back up to the house, he looked at me and said: “Mom, do I talk too much?” which completely caught me off-guard. I told him that he could talk as much as he wanted – and then I asked him where he heard that. He shrugged and said that Braelynn talks a lot, so he figured he talked a lot too. And a more truthful thing has never been stated. My children are TALKERS – they will literally talk your ear off if you’ll let them!
As I mentioned in Braelynn’s update, Leander has suddenly started sleeping in in the morning (sometimes until 9am)! But, while his sister goes to bed and reads until she falls asleep, Leander has taken to playing with toys in his room and even sneaking down the steps to see what Mom and Dad are watching on TV (no worries, we’re working our way through “I Love Lucy”, so it’s safe). His late-night habits have been super hard to break though – and there will be at least one night a week when he’s still awake when Derrick and I come up to go to bed (yikes!) So, while the sleeping in in the mornings has been wonderful – it’s come at a “cost” that we’re still trying to navigate.
As much time as we spend at amusement parks, Leander still has not come around to wanting to ride many “big” rides. We convinced him to try out Jack Rabbit at Kennywood last summer and that ride ended in tears. He’s almost 46″ (which is tall enough for most family coasters), but he absolutely refuses to even try them. He sticks to kiddie coasters (and only the ones he deems “small enough”). But the kicker is: he loves drop towers. Most parks have mini drop towers in their kids’ sections and those are his FAVORITE rides. GO FIGURE.
Last spring when we went to Epcot, he lost his mind riding the Frozen ride, so we’re just doing our best to prep him heading into our upcoming trip (which includes a day at Magic Kingdom!) Fingers crossed he’ll at least ride Buzz Lightyear, Winnie the Pooh, and Pirates of the Caribbean! (I doubt we’ll get him on any of the coasters, even though Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad are both glorified “kiddie coasters”!) So, I guess we’ll see!
Leander remains BEST friends with his cousin Layla – he loves her fiercely and they get along together so well. He has finally come around to loving his little cousin Leo (who’s 3 years younger than him and was firmly “a baby” for a very long time). He also found easy companionship this summer with his cousin Leah – who is just 2 days younger than Leander! He keeps reminding me that he and Leah are “buddies” because their birthdays are very close and they both love Minions.
There are a lot of kids at church his age, but his BFF there remains Orion – they’re pretty hilarious together!
OH and as promised: Cattail. Braelynn gifted Leander this small cat about a year ago, which he lovingly named “Cattail” and it’s remained his favorite stuffie ever since. Like his sister, a lot of other stuffies run through their rotations, but Cattail remains at the top of his list of favorites.
I’ve seen it before, but especially in some of these photos: Leander looks just like Derrick when he was a kid! WHEW, it’s a bit crazy what a close resemblance they have (I mean, duh! But I never really saw it as clearly as when I was taking these photos!)

If you’d like to compare & contrast this summer’s photos with the summers of the past, you can go back & check out Leander’s 4 1/2 Year Update, 3 1/2 Year Update, 2 1/2 Year Update, and his 18-Month Update here!