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.

But Grandma....

Isaiah spent last weekend with him and as we were getting ready to go home Sunday (Halloween morning), he told me that he "wouldn't recommend Hesston."

I said, "Hesston is a nice place to live. It's quiet, the people are nice, and it's not too big."

"But Grandma, you don't understand! (insert expressive hand movement and intense facial expression) There's no Walmart! No movie feeater! Only food!"

As I tried (in vain) to keep from laughing, he said, "I can't do nuffin except get food there!"

Poor, mistreated little guy...

Isaiah updates...

Since Amy and Isaiah have moved on to greener pastures, I don't have as much fodder for my little blog. But, Amy gave me some really good stuff the other day when we were talking on the phone.

Isaiah has a tendency to "flap" his arms when he is excited or concentrating on something. That is somewhat distracting for others around him. It also is something that can be used as a method of teasing. Isaiah is so sweet and naive that he doesn't even realize that he's being teased when kids "imitate" him. But, his teacher is really sharp and she caught on very fast that other kids were making fun of him.

To counteract this, she had Isaiah come to the front of the class and explained to EVERYONE that Isaiah was born "special" and that sometimes he has body movements that he cannot control. His movements do not give the other students permission to make fun of him. That solved a potential problem before it got to the point where Isaiah noticed that others were making fun of him.

In addition, his teacher is constantly looking for ways to encourage and motivate Isaiah. She quickly learned that focusing on his POSITIVE actions instead of his negative actions and she's seeing marked improvement in areas where he had been struggling. This is really BIG.

Isaiah is also very close to earning his first Boy Scout badge. He can nearly say his pledge without any prompting.

One thing the teacher was very right about... He is special. Very special!