Ephram at 3: A Birthday Interview

1.    How old are you? 3

2.    What is your favorite color? blue

3.    What is your favorite toy? Lego cars

4.    What is your favorite food? Bananas (and macaroni and cheese, or pasta of any kind.)

5.    What is your favorite TV show? Prep and Landing

6.    What is your favorite game? In the Kitchen with Hap (LeapPad)

7.    What is your favorite animal? zebra

8.    What is your favorite song? Hop, hop, hop

9.    What is your favorite book? If You Give a Moose a Muffin

10.         What is your favorite thing to do inside? Play the Piano

11.         What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my bike

12.         What is your favorite movie? Bolt

13.         Who is your favorite superhero? Batman

14.         What do you like to sleep with at night? Zebie (stuffed zebra)

15.        What makes you happy? With Mama, Dada, May May and Charlie.

16.         What do you want to be when you grow up? A Prep and Landing Elf

17.         Who is your teacher? n/a

18.         Who is your best friend? Mama

19.         What school do you go to? n/a

20.         What grade are you in?   n/a

21.         What was the best thing that happened this year? Snow (We had a weeklong snowstorm in January that he apparently loved.)

Trips I took this year: This year we went to California in October.  As part of the trip we spent four days at a Disneyland hotel – three of the days in the park.  Ephram really loved his time with all of the Disney characters.  Mickey, Goofy and Donald were his favorites.  He also had a great time in the House of Innovention and liked shooting the Zurg on the Buzz AstroBlasters ride.  The carousel continued to be a favorite and he was fascinated by Small World when I told him that was what the inside of a clock looked like.  Ephram loved the chance that he had to meet some new cousins (the Bowers) and get to know some better… especially Dustin Harris.

Teeth I got and/or lost: I don’t believe there was any change in his teeth this year.

Some of my quirks:  I have a significant speech delay which is characterized by my voicing the beginning sounds only of words that I speak.  I have a LOT of words – an appropriate amount for my age – I just can’t form them completely.  I lack most vowel sounds and just started putting on a select few ending sounds right before my birthday.  Because of my communication difficulties, I have learned how to get my point across with some of my own signs.  Mama’s favorite one is when I stretch up really tall to indicate I want something big, or to say that something is big.  I like to do everything myself, especially cook.  This can be a problem because I have a hard time with flexibility when things don’t go my way.  When Mama was in the hospital, this tendency grew more than before.  I have a kind of performance anxiety.  I like seeing something be done and deciding when to join in rather than attempting something new right away.  I do NOT like being the center of attention.

Major accomplishments: I am the best brother ever.  I try to help Charlie and make him happy, and I love my new sister, who I call May May.  I help take care of her and make sure she always has something fun to do.  I made great progress with my words in the last half of the year, started to ride a Stryder bike, and can throw a ball with some pretty awesome accuracy.  When I feel like it I have shown good control of a crayon and can copy letters.  I have also started to learn some songs.  I especially like to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and the Wipe Your Paws song on Disney Junior.

Sleeping habits:  This year I got much better at sleeping.  I no longer take a nap on most days.  Every now and then if I wake up before I’m ready or if we have an especially busy day I will take a 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon.  At night my Daddy puts me to bed.  I am still not good at putting myself to sleep, so Daddy lays down with me until I am asleep.  Sometimes that only takes 20-30 minutes, but sometimes it takes 1-2 hours.  I go to bed at 8:30pm and I usually wake up around 9am.  I still wake in the middle of the night occasionally.  Sometimes I can put myself back to sleep, sometimes I need my Mommy or Daddy to help me feel better, like when I have a nightmare.  Every now and then I get out of bed at 4 or 5 in the morning and have an adventure downstairs.  This usually ends in me doing something that I don’t know how to fix, so I cry hysterically until Mommy and Daddy rescue me.  The best adventure was when I flooded the kitchen with water from the sink this November.

Nicknames:  Mommy calls me Remy.  I am also called Ephram Bephram, Remy Roo, Remy Rooser, Remy Bedemy, Boo and Rem Rem.

Little Miss Moody

Macie had a couple of hard weeks in January, largely due to her nursing strike... which was itself brought on in part by teething and the flu.  (Macie's flu was much lighter than the rest of ours, thank goodness.)  I still need to record the story of her strike... before I forget it.  Maybe soon I will.

Anyway, we saw a lot of something that we rarely see in January.

It was pretty difficult for the two of us.  We no longer had nursing to comfort her and help soothe her tears.  (I missed the comfort it brought me, too.) 

We needed to learn a new way to cope.  But we didn't happen upon one quickly at all.

In fact, Macie was pretty done with her mommy for a little bit.  I will never know if there was a single trigger to cause her protest against breastfeeding or if it was the multiple factors I've identified, but regardless, she did hold it against me.  

It probably didn't help that I was taking pictures of her while she cried so pathetically instead of helping her.  But, in my defense, my attempts to help her were major fails.

Thank goodness for...

Her best friend.  He could cheer her up any time.  And soon we had...

Happy baby again.  

And this cycle continued for about two very long and emotional weeks.

Ephram at Play

Ephram is so much fun to watch.  The older he gets, the more silly and creative he is.  Here are some random pictures of Ephram playing at home during January.

Here he is in his "tunnel".  He has become obsessed with these little passageways he made between the ottoman and the couches.  This particular ottoman is placed at the corner between the couch and the oversized chair, where an end table typically would be.  (Our end table went away one night about a year ago because Ephram was determined to maim himself on it!)  These tunnels are so much fun for him.

He found this little basketball hoop and basketball one day and was running around like crazy for a couple of weeks.

He got these robot gloves for Christmas.  He puts them on backwards, so the robot face is on the inside of his hand, and then talks to them like they are robots.  He also now puts these gloves on to drink ice water, because otherwise it is too cold.  And he has the robots do tasks for him, like picking up.  It's pretty cute.

He also has been busy helping me "vacuum".  Every time I start to vacuum a room, he comes running in to help with his own.

He's become so animated, it cracks me up.  I have no idea what I'd just said or done here, but he looks so very excited.

We gave him a calculator for his birthday because he loved mine so much.  Now he plays with his calculator, and both of mine.  (I had one upstairs and one downstairs, but now they are both downstairs.)  I guess three calculators are much better than one!

On Your First

Dear Macie Drew,

Before I ever saw you,

I heard you.

Your strong, robust timber of a cry filled that operating room

And my heart swelled with happiness

And with pride.

The second that I heard that cry I knew about

Your strength.

They brought you to a little sterile table that I could see over my right shoulder,

(If I turned my head as far as it could go.)

I saw your tiny little body

And it was pink,

As pink as could be.

I watched you struggle with the doctor and the nurses as they took your vitals

And I just knew about

Your determination.

That cry of yours,

So strong yet distinctly feminine,

Carried on through those minutes of examination.

It came with you as they placed you on my shoulder for

Our one minute introduction.

I touched your cheek,

I said

"Hello Macie Drew.  It's okay, mommy's here."

And you stopped.

Your little tiny eyes looked right at me,

And you stared at me as I told you,

For the first of many times,

About my love for you.

In that moment I knew that

All would happen as it should.

I felt peace and happiness in a world that contained you.

I believe you experienced the same.

I nodded to Daddy,

Reaffirming my wish that he accompany you to the NICU that was

Five floors above my head.

And I knew that he'd protect you,

That he'd tell you of his love for you,

That we'd meet again.

During this year you have taught me so much,

You have inspired so many,

By your persistence.

And that initial love, that initial pride I felt upon our meeting

Have grown one hundred fold.

In this year you have shown all of us that

You can accomplish any task in front of you,

Even those apparently insurmountable,

And that you will do so

In your own time.

When you decide a thing is to be done,

You just do it all at once.

Dear Macie Drew,

I join millions of other parents in telling their children

It is a pleasure to watch you grow.

But I admit,

You are unique.

You are special.

And I feel graced by the experience of parenting you.

On your first,

I reflect back on where you've started and

I feel nothing short of amazed.

I love you,

Forever and no matter what will come.

Happy birthday.

Love,

Mommy

Charlie at 7: A Birthday Interview

I am starting a new tradition of conducting an annual interview with my kids.  I think it will be the best way to remember them at that moment.  Following is Charlie's interview this year.

1.    How old are you?   I am seven years old.

2.    What is your favorite color?   Green.  I want to do it in Spanish.  But I don't know how.

3.    What is your favorite toy?  A magic trick toy from my magic kit.

4.    What is your favorite food?  Lasagne.  I’m with Garfield.

5.    What is your favorite TV show?  Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

6.    What is your favorite game?  Candy Land and Operation.

7.    What is your favorite animal?  A Wookie.

8.    What is your favorite song?   Jake and the Neverland Pirate song

9.    What is your favorite book?  Geronimo Stilton The Cheese Pyramid

10.  What is your favorite thing to do inside?  Count my money in my piggy bank, Ham.

11.  What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Ride my mountain bike with my dad.

12.  What is your favorite movie?  Star Wars.

13.  Who is your favorite superhero?  Superman.

14.  What do you like to sleep with at night?  One of my stuffed animals, but I can’t really tell which one because I forget all the names.

15.  What makes you happy?  Drawing pictures.

16.  What do you want to be when you grow up?  I want to be a magician that magically designs Legos without even making them.

17.  Who is your teacher?  Ms. McCormack

18.  Who is your best friend?  Zane

19.  What school do you go to?  Little Cedars Elementary

20.  What grade are you in?  First grade

21.  What was the best thing that happened this year?  Going to Arizona and Disneyland were the best parts.

Trips I took this year: Arizona for Spring Break by myself to visit my cousins, the Harris’.  I flew on the airplane all by myself, both ways, and I talked the entire way.  I really liked the drinks on the planes.  In Arizona I liked the way we made the Easter eggs and I liked to pick oranges and other fruit off of trees.  I also liked to invent facts, such as being allergic to butter.  I really liked the water they had in the pool.  And they let me sleep in my own room in my own bed!  In October we went to California to visit my grandparents, Great Grandma Hayman and met my cousins the Bowers.  My Harris cousins were there too.  We also spent three days at Disneyland and stayed in a Disneyland hotel.  I liked how we got to Disneyland and how we checked in at the hotel.  I also liked it when we went to restaurants in Disneyland because, at the restaurants, the food that we got was so yummy yum.  I really like the roller coasters because they went down really fast.

Teeth I got and/or lost:  I lost four teeth this year and got four new ones.

Some of my quirks:  I have many repetitive habits, like how I wash my hands and how I like to count things before I go to bed.  I really like to say hello, very loudly, to anyone that looks at me.  I am learning how to be more quiet.  I also can talk anyone’s ear off.  I am very good with words and wrote some books this year.  I also really like to draw.

Major accomplishments:  I graduated Kindergarten this year and performed in my first Kindergarten concert.  I got to go to a new school for first grade to participate in an ASD program that my school district calls Connections.  There I have tested at least at a fourth grade reading level.  (They ran out of time before we were able to go on to additional levels.)  I started reading chapter books and can finish a Magic Treehouse book in a couple of hours.  I learned how to print all of my letters and can write very neatly when I take the time.  I was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder this year.

Sleeping habits:  I like to sleep but I don’t like to wake up.  My bedtime is between 8-8:30.  I am working at learning that it is okay to get out of bed without being told to do so.

Nicknames: Charlie, Chuck, Lee Lee, Charlie Barley