Ages and Stages

For the 4^th of July weekend this year we did not go to see fireworks. Instead, we spent some family time. My wife and I took the Ethan and Isaiah with us down to NJ on Friday afternoon so they could have some quality “cousin time” with Aryon, Tiernan, and Ilyanna and have a sleepover. Then on Saturday Kim and Matthew and their other two boys joined us so we had the entire family together for the day.

As I thought about this day while we were driving back home on Saturday night I realized how important family is to me. When our two children were smaller I admit that I put too much emphasis on “work” and that is what defined me. I had also started teaching two evenings a week about that same time. So while I loved my children, they didn’t have the priority in my life that they should have. This time around, with having our grandchildren so much a part of our lives I’m much more appreciative of them and observant of the changes in their lives as they grow up.

Here are a few snippets of the weekend that illustrate the various ages and stages that our grandchildren are going through.

When we got to NJ, Aryon was engaged in rolling his tent very tightly so it would fit in the nylon bag that would then go in his backpack. He is now in Boy Scouts and is going to camp with them for a week. At the age of 10, he is taking more and more responsibility for his own life and rolling his own tent is one such way. Of course, later that afternoon he was found in the playroom having a good time with Legos along with the other three boys, so he still knows how to have fun too.

On Saturday afternoon, we all had watermelon. All the kids were sent out on the deck to have their so they wouldn’t be dripping juice all over the house and I was elected to go out with them. Tiernan was having a good time with his since while it had seeds in it they were small ones that you could consume. He enjoyed it so much that he went back for a second piece.

Ilyanna had a favorite book titled “The Seventh Unicorn”. Grammy had read it to her earlier but she was still carrying it around. I had her sit next to me and we had a good discussion about unicorns – what colors they could be, etc. Although the book had all white unicorns in it, she said that her favorite one was pink.

Although he is several months younger than Ilyanna, Ethan is several inches taller than she is. He relates much better to Tiernan who is nearly four years older than he. Although it will be a big change in our daily routine when Ethan goes off to school this fall, he is more than ready for it. He’s started not wanting to watch the educational TV programs that we allow them to watch each day as he’d rather be involved in building things in the kitchen instead (Peg + Cat (math); Super Why (letters, words and reading); Sid the Science Kid (science)).

Isaiah is a bundle of energy. Getting him to slow down for a minute to talk to him is a challenge. The only time he would take time out from playing was when he had a couple of Lego pieces which were stuck together and he needed an adult to pry them apart for him. At age 3 he’s already as tall as Ilyanna who is over two years older than he.

Caleb has recently started getting interested in letters. He loves to climb on my lap (facing me) as I often wear a t-shirt which has letters on it. He’ll point to the ones that he knows, say their name, then look for others like them. For example I have a shirt from AFS which says on the front, “Connecting Lives, Sharing Cultures”. He’ll point to the “G”, say “G”, then point to the other “G” and say “Two,” combining letter recognition and counting. He knows about 20 of the 26 letters (J, Q, X, Y, Z are not there yet), and can count to 10. If you say, “6, 7, 8”, he’ll respond with “9” for example. My shirt with a web address on it is one of his favorites since the letter W (along with E and O) are his favorite.

Asher is almost walking. He can stand without holding on to anything quite easily, and if you give him a finger he’ll take a few steps. He requires constant watching as there are things in the living room that he knows he’s not supposed to get into but he’ll go right toward them if he thinks he can get away with it. He’ll have his first birthday in 10 days and we’re waiting to see if he starts walking before then. His older brothers love playing with him and he has a great belly laugh (and he’s ticklish too).

Since I spend more of my time giving child care to these last four than to anything else these days, I’ve learned a lot about how children (boys anyway) grow up and learn new things on a regular basis. Ethan has been full of questions for quite some time now and continues to amaze us on what he remembers. And Isaiah is now reaching that stage as well. It’s as much an education for me as it is for them.