rees genre

There is nothing duller than a January house. A December house is full of color and light almost to the point of excess. Suddenly January rolls around and it is all stripped away to gray barrenness. So to spice of our January, I thought we would make some snowflakes to hang from our play room ceiling. We talked about snowflakes as part of our family night lesson and worked on our scissor skills. I told the boys that each snowflake is unique, that there are no two alike. I said that we are like the snowflakes, that Heavenly Father made each of us unique and different. I told Davin that he was the only Davin like him, that there were no other Davins like him in the world. You could see the wheels turn in his head as he thought about this concept (I actually remember when someone told me this when I was little). He then asked if I was the only Mommy, which I affirmed to be true. Suddenly, with a flush of innocence, Davin looked and me and said “Mommy, you are so pretty!” Apparently the le...

I am so charmed by having a four year old. It has its challenges, but it is fascinating to watch Davin emerge into more awareness, sense of self, and sense of responsibility. We have asked a lot of him this year by sending him to a five day per week school program where he rides the bus at 6:20 am, eats breakfast and lunch at school, learns a lot of new things, and is home by 2:30 pm. He has risen to the challenge and flourished. We have noticed a huge improvement in his language and play skills. He knows all of his letters, upper case and lower, and what they sound like, and he can recognize all of his numbers as well. Some of his favorite activities at school include the art station, Legos, and playing on the playground. We recently started using a job chart to formalize the concept of earning an allowance for doing chores around the house. Davin’s three tasks are to do his homework, set the table, and pick up his toys. Davin has been really excited to do his jobs and put the magneti...

Rowan likes to put things into rows. He does it with everything: some rocks in the park, his toy cars, and his broccoli at dinner. The rows are neat and tidy, and every item is carefully placed. He learned how to put things in a row from his therapy sessions where we give him an animal or sound object, make the associated sound, and then it goes into a row. As Rowan is learning more and more about sound, communication, and the listening world around him, he has to organize all of the chaotic noises into meaning, ideas, and ultimately words. Slowly he is working on putting his world into a row, making sense of what must be an overwhelming mess. We are definitely seeing progress as his first little words have started to show up. He loves to say “uh oh” (there are ample opportunities for this one), “bye bye” and “up up up.” He responds appropriately if you ask him if he wants more. Together we are figuring out how to live life with two cochlear implants. His newest implant is turned all t...

On Christmas Eve, we carry on Chris’s family tradition by having a large German dinner with Christmas cookies for dessert. It was my family’s tradition to light a German pyramid, which we now do with our boys. We talked about the Nativity; Davin dressed as a shepherd and Rowan was a king. We sang Christmas carols and before we even asked Davin if he was ready for bed, he bolted up the stairs and started getting himself ready. I thought for sure that it would take awhile to get the boys to settle down but both went to sleep rather quickly. The next morning I woke up around 7:15. I looked at the clock in surprise, wondering where my 5:30 am wake-up crew was. Lying in bed, I waited to hear a thump of little feet hitting the floor and the click of their bedroom door. Waking at 7:15 is a usual wake-up time for the boys for any day, let alone Christmas. Unable to go back to sleep, I listened to the heavy rain outside, hoping some deep and profound Christmas thoughts would come my way, but al...

As I watched the news reports of the Midwest getting slammed with snow and the long lines at the airports as flights were cancelled, I gave a small sigh of relief not to be traveling this year. Although I miss family dearly during the holidays, it has now been three years of not traveling and I haven’t missed that part too much. We are starting to establish our traditions and I noticed it more this year. Davin is old enough to remember what we did last year and notice that we are doing the same thing again this year. He is starting to anticipate what we are supposed to do at Christmas time and it is fun to have him recognize a decoration from last year or that we decorate German cookies on Christmas Eve. It is the first step towards recognizing the meaning behind these traditions and why we do them. Because Davin recognized Christmas and knew what to anticipate, December was the longest month yet in his entire childhood. We even had an advent calendar to help him understand how many...

Salt Lake City is one of my favorite cities to visit. Obviously there is a cultural attachment in addition to many memories, but there are new discoveries too. We have a list of favorite restaurants and places to visit, so we don’t complain too much when we go back to my home for a visit. One of our recent favorites is the Gateway Discovery museum. The boys love this museum, especially the big ball exhibit and the real helicopter. We had a great time escaping here a couple of times for some good little boy fun (and we didn’t mind that they let us in with our reciprocal pass from our museum at home). We finished our trip by going out to dinner to celebrate Amy’s birthday and then paying homage to the lights at Temple Square. The boys loved them despite the late hour and cold weather. Walking around with Chris reminded me of the year that we got engaged and the night I told him yes (no, it wasn’t the same night he asked me, poor boy). It’s a good thing he is patient with me, even still.

Thanksgiving week is a busy week for my family in that we have three birthdays within a week of each other: Dad, Rowan, and Amy. Davin was super excited about all of the birthdays and even wanted his own candle when we did a birthday breakfast for Amy and Rowan. Rowan figured out how to blow out his own candles, so he took care of business this year. Rowan’s birthday was on the day of the BYU vs. Utah game, so we headed to Provo to celebrate and go to the game. We met Karl and his family at Thanksgiving Point to visit the animals but decided it was too cold to stay, so we headed to a park in Provo instead. We met the rest of our group at Brick Oven for lunch where Rowan got his own birthday treat. Rowan had a great time at the game where he cheered loudly, took a nap in the third quarter, and then cheered again for the exciting overtime conclusion. On Sunday we had cake and ice cream for Rowan and Amy, and opened presents. Not a bad weekend for the big number two!