Precious Moments: Micah Observations

Several people have asked over the last several months how Micah is doing with having one hand and one arm.  Mostly I just say it doesn't seem to bother him.  Lately he's been verbalizing some of his observations.

Micah is almost always the center of attention for a couple minutes at the park whenever we go if there are other children around.  Children are curious and Micah is usually pretty good about letting them touch his arm once and then is ready to move on.  I've been trying to encourage him, when kids do come up and start completely focusing on his arm, to say, "Hi, my name is Micah" so they realize he's a person first, not just that he has an anomaly.  (So far he hasn't caught on to that routine yet, but we're still working on it.)  If there is a child that continually comes up and touches and asks him about it, he has started saying rather emphatically, "Leave me alone!"  That, honestly, is the most negative reaction we have observed from him around others.

(I say that's the most negative he is around others because at home he likes to try pull the "I can't!" whiny routine when he doesn't want to do something we've asked him to do.  If we see he's honestly trying, we'll help him, but more often then not he's just not wanting to try so then we are firm about him trying on his own first if it's something we know he can do.)

A couple weeks ago the boys were talking about the baby in mommy's tummy, and what the baby will look like.  Micah's observation was, "Maybe baby will have one arm just like me!"  He seemed a little disappointed when I told him we thought the baby probably had two hands.

One of my favorite Micah-isms that has come out in several different situations at church, story hour and at home, is his phrase "Don't forget my arm!"  Several times over the last couple weeks we've had to trace hands for one project or another and he has been asked if he just wanted to trace his hand twice, but every time he has been insistent on tracing his hand and his arm. 

This morning was the most astonishing observation I've heard out of him yet.  Yesterday the boys went to play at Grandma's house and they were allowed to watch a couple minutes of Winnie the Pooh.  At breakfast this morning Micah piped up with this:  "Mommy, Winnie the Pooh has two arms and Piglet has two arms.  That's just kinda like me with one hand and one arm."

So that's how our Micah is doing with having one hand and one arm.  We are loving watching him grow, develop and become confident in who he is and his abilities.

Salem Weekend-- Part 3

Celebrating the graduate...

Snuggles to end a long, fun and exciting day.

Blessings

Salem Weekend- Part 2

Mother's Day was a long anticipated Graduation Day for Cheryl!  We are so proud of you Cheryl!

Sheer excitement doesn't look any better then this!

The hooding...

 

Pointing to a family friend and her mentor through grad school.

After the ceremony we headed back to Andrew and Cheryl's for a reception.

Salem Weekend--Part 1

Mother's Day two years ago we were all sitting around Andrew and Cheryl's table wondering when Cheryl's graduation would be.  She said it would be Mother's Day weekend in 2013 and we all looked at each other and said, "Alright, we'll be here again that weekend, Lord willing."

Thursday, May 9th, Bumpa, Bryan the boys and I all flew down to Salem in the bowanza (bonanza).  (Grandma had driven down earlier in the week on Monday.)  It was a weekend full of fun memories and a weekend full of pride in the hard work Cheryl had accomplished in the past four years.

God blessed us with some beautifully sunny days to start with so we enjoyed a garden, swimming and generally playing outside. 

The boys thought feeding the chickens was great fun!

Friday we visited an Oregonian garden whose name is escaping me right now.  There were some beautiful flowers blooming!

The children's garden had these bushes all shaped into different shapes--bears, fish, flowers, etc.  Pretty amazing artistry.

Brandon has recently discovered dinosaurs and was interested in excavating this "cementasaurus rex".  :)

But the train was the highlight for the boys!

We went swimming every afternoon!  The boys were incredibly bummed when it was too cold and dreary to swim Sunday though.  Brandon went so far and to tell me we had to stay extra days so we could go swimming again.

Brandon was once again extremely anxious about going down the slide and after some strong coaxing and encouragement from everyone, we finally got him to go down and then he enjoyed it again.

Micah hung on the tube and kicked all over the pool!

Saturday was preparation day as well as more swimming and playing outside.

And the party started to arrive!

Up next...Cheryl's big day.