Merry Christmas!

Isaiah had a wonderful Christmas with his mom, dad, and baby sister, Anna. He got lots of great gifts and was (typically) very excited and thankful for his gifts. His other grandfather (my ex-husband) and his girlfriend sent him a really cool kite - Darth Vader's attack vehicle. It's really neat.

We got him a K-State hat (he LOVES K-State and wants to go there) and he left it on for most of the day. A lot of his things had to be put together and I'm glad he's got an engineer dad because I sure couldn't do it.

Isaiah had his Christmas program at school last week. We didn't get to go but Amy posted a video of it to Facebook and it was really cute. It was called Cowboy Christmas and they all dressed up as cowboys. Very, very cute. They had to buy him a cowboy hat for the show. He looks so cute!

We also went to see my mom last weekend. Glad to see her as she's been very ill this winter. Sadly, I don't think GG will be around that much longer so the time we spend with her and the pictures we get to take will be memories that we can all hold onto.

Mom thought Anna was beautiful (of course she is!) and told Rex how proud she was of him. He told Mom that he was thrilled to be a dad to Isaiah and Anna. It's wonderful to have him in the family!

Amy took some pictures of the kids to make into Christmas cards. She didn't order enough so I didn't get one, but that's OK. I get the real thing... LOL!

Isaiah is doing so well in school this year! He's only coming out for about 30 minutes each day and during his IEP, Amy and Rex were told that he'll probably not be pulled out at all next year. Although Isaiah has worked very, very hard this year, I give a lot of the credit to Rex being in his life. Ron and I could provide the love and attention that Isaiah needed, but we couldn't be the "DAD" that he needed. Rex has stepped up to the plate and hit a home run.

The official adoption date is 1/12/12! Isaiah will officially be Rex's son and a "shirts" just like his mom and Anna.  He's already using his new name at school but the court date is the 12th. The loser "father" has already called the court and Amy's lawyer saying that he doesn't have to pay child support any more. He's a weed... But, we're all glad that he's dropped off the face of the earth and doesn't want anything to do with anyone but his current wife and her seven (yes, 7) kids. They all call him "daddy" so that's fine by us. (He's got a FB page and doesn't even list that Isaiah exists - he lists his wife and "their" kids' names. No mention of Isaiah at all. In fact, in one piece of correspondence to Amy he asked her if she was sure Isaiah was his. Yeah... he doesn't look anything like him...)

He's such a "sharing kind of guy."

Yesterday, I went shopping with Amy and Isaiah. Since Isaiah was still eating his lunch when it was time to leave so I drove over to their house. Thursday night, his Boy Scout troop was in the homecoming parade and, not sure how but collected some candy from the parade.

I saw the candy on the counter top and I asked him if I could have a little Tootsie roll.

He said, "Sure Grandma. I will always share with you. What ever you want - just ask for it and you've got it."

Now, isn't that just the sweetest thing?

Such a sweetie

Last night, Amy and Rex had their first "birthing class" (we used to call it Lamaze) so we had Isaiah. At about 8:00, I took him home so he could shower and get into bed. On the way to his house, he wanted to know if his mom and dad were home yet. I said no, so he asked me if I was going to leave him there. He didn't want to be left home alone.

I said that he wasn't old enough to stay home alone. Maybe when he was 12, he would want to stay home alone, but not at 8 years old. He insisted that he wouldn't want to stay home alone. He didn't like being alone.

I said I didn't either.

He said, "Aren't you glad you got me?"

Trip to see GiGi

Yesterday, Keith and I took Keith's girlfriend to Kansas City to meet my mom (Isaiah's GiGi). Since I knew that Amy and Rex had planned a day of baby shopping, I volunteered to take Isaiah with us. I knew that he'd have a good time and that Mom would enjoy seeing him.

We took her to lunch at Olive Garden. My sister, her daughter, and her two grandsons also joined us so we had quite the party. Mom had a good time visiting with everyone.

Before we left, she showed Isaiah the Hallmark ornaments she had gotten for him and he exclaimed that they were "amazing!" and that he loved them. They were Star Wars. She also showed him that she has a Darth Vader ornament coming in October for him.

He said, "Is it coming October 2?"
GiGi: I don't know. Sometime in October.
Isaiah: Well, if it comes October 2, that's my dad's birthday.
GiGi: Oh, it is? I should put that on my calendar.
Isaiah: Yes, you really should.

On the drive up, Isaiah discovered that he loves Sea Salt & Vinegar potato chips. He's had them before but had forgotten that he liked them. On the way home, he wanted to stop and get some but he was getting very tired. I promised him that we'd stop at the next rest stop and if he was asleep, I'd wake him up to get him some chips. Good thing I did...

First thing this morning he was hunting his chips (he'd fallen asleep before he had eaten them).

Home alone

Today was the first day of school for the new year. Isaiah is in 2nd grade and is supposed to go to latch-key after school. "Supposed to" is the key here.

Evidently, Isaiah was a bit confused and the person doing the buses was confused. The wrong questions were asked - and answered - so Isaiah was put on the bus home.

No one is home at his house in the afternoon. He knows the code to get into the garage, so he opened up the door and discovered there were no cars in there. He went into the house and didn't find anyone. Isaiah did know exactly what to do, though.

He went to the neighbor's house and told her that no one was home. I'm not sure exactly how it played out, but she took him back to the school to latch-key so Rex could pick him up (and not panic when he didn't find him). The principal called Amy to apologize. The bus barn people called Amy to apologize.

I bet that doesn't happen again.

Amy bought a bulletin board and put it up on the fridge with all the important phone numbers. She had him practice calling for a "just in case" situation.

Riiiinnnnnngggggg.....

Me: Hello.
Isaiah: Hi Grandma, this is pretend. (I thought he said "week 10")
Me: What is week 10?
Isaiah: Pre-tend. I'm pretending...
Me: OK.
Isaiah: Grandma, I'm home alone.
Me: Oh... do you need me to come get you?
Isaiah: Yes.
Me: You know what to do when no one is home? You lock the front door and don't let anyone in except one of us. OK?
Isaiah: OK! Bye!

Sunday...

This past Sunday, I went with Amy and Isaiah to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. I'm working on the baby invitations and I wanted to see if they had some supplies I needed (which they didn't). Isaiah had birthday money to spend and he had a couple of ideas of what he wanted to buy.

Go-Gos. Don't ask me what they are because I can't tell you. They were $1.98 each and he got four of them. That left him a considerable amount of money.

So, he picked out a movie for himself. Rio. I haven't seen it so it will be nice to have him bring it over.

Next, he spied some stuffed "heads" from the game "Angry Birds." Amy had already seen them and decided to buy a small one for Anna's room because it was the perfect color of green.

Isaiah decided that he was going to buy it for Anna, with his own birthday money.

Wasn't that sweet? The stupid little head was almost $10 and he opted to share his money with her.

(Amy will give it back to him in some other form later, but he was insistent that he buy it.)

On the way out to the car, he wanted to show Anna her new toy. (Anna's not due to arrive until November 10.) Amy said he could tell her about it instead.

Cymbalta

Last night, I was at Amy's house because Rex fixed dinner for us. (I had surgery on Tuesday and haven't felt very good so Rex volunteered to fix enough dinner for Ron and I, too.)

We were sitting at the table talking (don't remember what we were talking about) and Isaiah suddenly put his hand on his chest.

Then, he said, "Pressure hurts. Cymbalta helps."

We just about busted a gut. We told him that Cymbalta was for depression.

He said, "But pressure hurts, too."

Isaiah sure brightens our days.

The latest and greatest

Isaiah spent last week with his new family on the farm. He had a great time. One of the other boys was being teased about being some girl's boyfriend. Isaiah piped up and said, "There's no such thing as boyfriends!"

Uncle Scott said, "What about Talyn? What is she?"
Isaiah: "She's my girlfriend."
Uncle Scott: "What does that make you?

Isaiah... "Happy!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amy had a migraine Monday so Ron and I watched Isaiah for a while while Rex had a golf game. I wasn't sure if I was taking him home, or if Rex was coming after him, so I called Amy to ask. She wanted to drink one of Isaiah's Gatorade drinks but didn't want to take his favorite flavor, so she asked me to find out.

Me: Isaiah, mommy wants to drink one of your Gatorades. Which one can she have?
Isaiah: Have her taste all three and find which one the baby likes.
Me: (laughing) Amy, he said try all three and see which one Anna likes best.
Amy: OK, tell him I'll drink an orange one.
Me: Isaiah, mommy is drinking an orange one.
Isaiah: OK, I was going to say lemon-lime, but that works.

So, why didn't he just say lemon-lime to start with?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We had planned to take Isaiah to see Mr. Popper's Penguins but with Ron getting sick and him going to the farm, we just haven't gotten to it. Yesterday, he went to the movies with his day care group from the YMCA.

Isaiah: Grandma, guess what movie we saw?
Me: I don't know, which one?
Isaiah: We saw Mr. Popper's Penguins.
Me: How was it?
Isaiah: It was Amazing!

Too funny... it's hard to write exactly how he said "Amazing," but it was so funny how it came out. More like A-maze-ing!

Passed his swimming test

Isaiah's been taking swimming lessons for the past couple of weeks. It's amazing how far he has come with water activities since last summer. He has even jumped off the high dive board this week! Wonderful!

This time last year, he wouldn't even put his face in the water, let alone go under the water.

He passed the course so will get to go onto the next level next year. He's pretty excited.

Unique Child Study

This blog began as a way to document Isaiah's achievements and how he has overcome the developmental delays in his life. Isaiah was diagnosed with one of the autism-spectrum disorders when he was just three. He turned eight in April and has come a long way.

Yesterday, I received an email from an organization conducting an online survey for the study of unique children. This is the email that I received:

Dear Teresa,

We are researchers at Columbia University's Paul F. Lazarsfeld Center for the Social Sciences studying how children who are unique in some way are identified and developed. We are currently collecting stories from parents with children who have been identified as gifted, children who have unique artistic, scientific, or physical abilities, children on the autism spectrum, and children who have been identified as having attention disorders. We think participation in this study would be of great interest to your readers, and we would like to invite you to write about our survey on your blog.

While all children are unique, the goal of our study is to identify how children with unique developmental abilities or trajectories develop over early childhood. Parents have different experiences and observations of their child's development and they have different personal resources with which they access services or programs. Parents also differ in the type and extent of their support networks and social relations. And finally, parents make different decisions when finding the right academic, extra-curricular, or other placements for their children. We would like to give parents the chance to tell their stories. Survey responses will help us understand the experiences of unique children as well as their development over time.

We are collecting stories of parents of unique children through an online, semi-structured survey: http://uniquechildstudy.org. You could help our research tremendously by encouraging parents to participate in our study.

We thank you in advance for taking the time to read through this invitation and for considering writing about our survey on your blog. Please feel free to contact us via e-mail at uniquechildstudy@columbia.edu or by telephone at 212-854-3440 with any questions that you may have. You can also find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Unique-Child-Study/171533039569039.

Sincerely,

Peter Bearman, Principal Investigator
Cole Professor of the Social Sciences

I have checked out the Web sites mentioned and the Facebook page. I also took the survey (up to the point of submitting it) with Isaiah as the subject. If you know of anyone who would be interested in participating in this survey, please pass this information on. I highly recommend that you check it out and, if so inclined, participate in this study.

Photo Challenge

One of my blogger friends had a link to a photo challenge today and I thought it was neat, so I decided to go look for one of Isaiah having fun. I knew exactly what picture I wanted to use but it took me a while to track it down. I didn't have a copy on my computer but lucky for me, Amy had uploaded it to Snapfish so I was able to snag it there.

This is Isaiah in July 2007 at Disneyland. We (Amy, Isaiah, and I) flew out to San Diego to see Shaun and Jenny and spend a couple of days at Disneyland. Poor Jenny, she was pregnant with Alexander and it was wicked hot. Even so, I think we all managed to have a good time and would love to go back. (I'm just a kid at heart and I would love to spend a whole week at a Disney resort. Some day...)

Here is the picture. Doesn't it look like he's just having the best time of his life?

He was ecstatic. I think this was one of the rides that he wanted to ride over and over again.

Wearing Just His Feet

The other day, Isaiah's neighbor friend, Sophia, was outside playing in the sprinkler. Isaiah asked if he could go out to play with her.

Isaiah:  Can I wear just my feet outside? Sophia is only wearing her feet.
Amy:   Do you mean you want to go barefoot?
Isaiah:  That's what I said. Wear just my feet.

I made a mistake...

Isaiah doesn't want just his day, he wants a business trip. To the farm. Without Amy and Rex.

His theory is that since Amy went on a business trip last month to Atlanta and Rex went on a business trip last week, he should have his own business trip as well.

Last weekend, they were getting ready to go to the farm and Isaiah asked how many days he should pack for. Amy told him they'd be gone four days. He came out of his room with his biggest suitcase, packed full. He was going prepared. When he saw Amy's and Rex's bags he was indignant. "You aren't going to the farm. Only me is going to the farm."

Amy said, "How do you think you're going to get there?" Isaiah thought a minute and then said, fine they could just drop him off but they couldn't stay.

That didn't happen.

He gets his "business trip" next month when his Aunt Christie comes to pick him up.

Adventure Time

Amy was out of town last week on business, so Rex had to take total care of Isaiah. That’s a first for him because he’s the one usually doing the traveling for business. One night after his bath, Isaiah decided to talk to him about one of his favorite television shows, Adventure Time.

Isaiah: Dad, why doesn’t Mom like Adventure Time?
Rex: I don’t know, Isaiah. Why do you think she doesn’t like it?
Isaiah: I don’t know. I can’t understand it. It has realistic fiction, so it “could” happen. Right?

Seriously – realistic fiction? What a crack-up he is.

Grandma, You're Gonna Miss Me...

Me: Where are you going?
Isaiah: Well, mom had her day (Mother's Day) and dad is going to have his day (Father's Day), so I'm going to have my day, too.
Me: Oh... so, what are you going to do on your day?
Isaiah: I'm going to go to Nana's house. You know, my new grandma. She lives on a farm.
Me: Yes, I know. When are you going?
Isaiah: Oh, someday soon. When dad gets back from his trip. You'll miss me while I'm gone.

Yes, I will...

Isaiah’s Mother’s Day Prayer

I admit, the whole scene was all my fault… Rex fixed dinner for us for Mother’s Day and I asked Isaiah if he was going to say grace. He told me it was his dad’s turn. Rex said, “Go ahead, Isaiah. You can say grace.”

Isaiah: “But Dad, it’s your turn.”

Rex: “That’s OK – you go ahead this time.”

(We all held hands around the table; Isaiah, Rex, Kris [my sister], and me.)

Isaiah (after giving me and Rex the “evil eye”): (in my best Isaiah-type of pronunciation)
     “Dear heaveny fader, bless this food which we are about to receive.
      Help it to nourish our bodies.
      Please make my dad to take his turn.”

Me: :::snort:::cough:::snicker (Isaiah glared at me and pulled his hands back.): “I’m sorry, Isaiah. I needed to sneeze.”

Rex (gently coaxing Isaiah to continue): “It’s OK, Isaiah. You can keep going.”

Isaiah:
     “Dear heaveny fader, bless this food which we are about to receive.
      Help it to nourish our bodies.
      Please help me to always win.”

Me: :::snort:::cough:::bust a gut laughing (Isaiah glared at me and pulled his hands back again): “I’m sorry, Isaiah. I need to go to the bathroom. I should have gone before we sat down to eat.” (I exited the table as quickly as I could and continued laughing in the bathroom until I could compose myself. At this point, I really did have to go; I was laughing so hard that I very nearly didn’t make it to the bathroom.)

Before I came back, Rex had a side conversation with Isaiah:

Rex: “Isaiah, remember how we are supposed to pray for nice things, not always asking for stuff like winning or taking turns.”

Isaiah: “OK…”

He starts over…
     “Dear heaveny fader, bless this food which we are about to receive.
      Help it to nourish our bodies.
      Please make my grandma to not laugh.”

Kris had to cover her face and cough.

Isaiah gave her the evil eye, too and finished the prayer before I came back to the table. Kris said she’s not too sure what exactly the rest of the prayer consisted of because she was biting her lip so hard to keep from laughing that the pain was all she could concentrate on.

Happy Birthday!

Wednesday was little man's 8th birthday. It's so hard to believe that it's been eight years since I got the phone call to let me know that he had been born. I know exactly where I was... in a hotel restaurant, in Kentucky, with my sister (Kris) and her two children because her son was graduating from Army boot camp. It was Easter Sunday and a glorious morning.

Isaiah has come so far in the past few years - from being non-verbal, to speaking his own language, to showing affection and receiving affection (letting people other than immediate family touch him). He went through stages where he couldn't stand to be touched by anyone other than Amy, Ron, Keith, and me. Now, he's a hugger and readily accepts affection from GiGi (great-grandma), cousins, aunts, uncles, and other adults who love him. He especially loves getting attention and affection from his new dad. We are so grateful to have Rex in Isaiah's life and so fortunate to be able to call him family.

Amy and Rex went to his school for lunch on his birthday. He had wanted his mom to come and eat with him, so they told him they would both come for his birthday. Amy said he enjoyed it but told them they didn't need to come again; she thinks he missed sitting with his friends. Little man is definitely growing up.

Memories of Isaiah over the years:


March, 2004



1st Birthday



And, now he's 2!

Turning 3 - he'd lived with us for four months

Zoo, Spring 2007. One of my favorite pictures

Turning 5! Wow - getting big!



Halloween, 2009



Turning 7; April 2010



8th Birthday

Each picture that I look at brings back specific memories of a fun time, an event, or something that Isaiah either said or did. As I look back on the years that Amy and Isaiah spent with us, I can only thank God for allowing our lives to be so greatly enriched by the presence of this wonderful little man.

We love you, Isaiah! Happy Birthday!!!

Good thing I was sitting down...

Isaiah asked to speak to me on the telephone! LOL!

Isaiah (in his best deep voice): Teresa? This is Rex.

Me: Rex? Isn't this Isaiah?

Isaiah: No, this is Rex. I have to tell you about Isaiah's week.

Me: Ohhhh.... How was Isaiah's week?

Isaiah: Isaiah had to go to the refocus mat twice.

Me:  That is too bad. Why did Isaiah have to go to the refocus mat?

Isaiah (laughing): It's me, grandma! Fooled ya! I had a good week!!!

He went to the farm this past week for Spring Break. I can't wait to hear how much fun he had with his Nana and Poppa.

Visiting Isaiah

The other evening, after we went to the retirement center to sign the papers, we went to see Isaiah. It’s only 7/10 of a mile from our new driveway to their driveway. That will be very nice!

Ron had on his leg so we “walked” him into the house. Isaiah was in his room playing because Amy was still working. So, we were very quiet until she was finished and then she called him to come see who was there.

He went flying past me without so much as a nod – straight to his “Crampa” and climbed onto his lap. “Crampa! It’s so good to see you. I missed you! How did you get here?”

Duh… me… your other grandparent… the driver…

You know, the chopped liver.

(Seriously, I'm so glad that he has such a great relationship with Ron. The memories of his time with his "Crampa" will go with him all through his life. I know he loves me as much as he loves Ron. They just have a special bond and that is awesome.)

Isaiah and Hershey

Hershey is Isaiah's dog. She is Vizsla and something else, but looks a lot like a Vizsla. She is the color of... yep - chocolate. And, she is really quite beautiful.

She doesn't like to be alone and loves to get on Isaiah's bed. I'm sure she probably thinks that he'll just get in bed next to her and leave her there. She's bigger than he is and takes up most of the bed. Tonight, he had an issue with her being in his room.

Isaiah: Hershey, get out of my room. I keep telling you to stay out and you never listen.
Rex: Isaiah, Hershey is a dog. She doesn't speak English. She doesn't understand.
Isaiah (with his hands on his hips): woof... woof... woof... woof woof woof... woof.... woof... woof!

I guess he decided to speak "dog" to her instead.

It's been awhile

Since Amy got married and moved my boy out, we have less to write about. I have a few things but it's not quite the same as being there.

Big Game Hunting:

One day a couple of weeks ago, Ron called Amy to see how his boy was doing, so she asked Isaiah if he wanted to talk to his Crampa. Isaiah came to the phone and said (in a very deep, solemn voice), "Sorry Crampa, I can't talk right now."

Ron said, "Why?"

Isaiah whispered, "I'm hunting wild game. I have to be very quiet so they don't hear me sneaking up on them."

Then he gave the phone back to his mom, who explained that Isaiah had gotten a Nerf gun and was getting bored with just shooting the darts into the air. So, Rex (new daddy) had hidden the carved bear they had and one of Isaiah's stuffed animals so he could "hunt" them with his new toy.

The hunter:

The wild game...

Bear:

Moose:

I have to say, the hunt was quite successful. He found them both very easily the first time so Rex hid them again and Isaiah had to work a little harder to find them. He found the bear pretty easily and said, "Sorry Charlie, you are dead” as he shot it. The moose was a different story, so Rex played "hot" and "cold" with him until he found it.

Calling Crampa on the phone:

Isaiah misses us as much as we miss him so frequently his mom will let him call us to talk. Mostly, he tells us that he misses us and that he's worried about us since he's not here. One of the most recent calls we got from him went like this:

Riiiinnnnngggg.... Riiiiinnnnnngggggg... (I answer the phone)

Me: Hello?
Isaiah: Hi, Grandma. Can I talk to my Crampa?
Me: Sure, but don't you want to talk to me first since I answered the phone?
Isaiah: I'll think about it. Maybe, but I'm kind of busy right now and need to talk to my Crampa.

(hand the phone to Ron)

Ron: Hi bud, how are you?
Isaiah: I'm fine. I just wanted to call you and see how you are.
Ron: I'm fine. (and they talk a few minutes about school and stuff)
Ron: You want to talk to Grandma now?

He hangs up the phone!!

Said Isaiah told him he was too busy. He would talk to me later.