Remembering Grandma

As much as this blog is usually for celebrations, milestones, cute stories and overall fun, I also want to include parts of life that may sad but still memorable.  This past weekend, Grrandma/GeeGee passed away and we said goodbye to her in California.  While it is a very sad time and I will miss her every day, it is also important to remember the good times that we had with her and the lasting memories that have been made.

I am so lucky to have had such a strong bond with all of my grandparents, and one that I got to foster years and years beyond those of many of my peers.  Not many people can say that they had all 4 of their grandparents until they were 24, but I am truly blessed to be able to say this.

My relationship with Grandma was amazing and so what the relationship that GeeGee had with her boys.  I am so sad that Riley and Asher will not have the opportunity to grow up with her influence as I did, but I'd like to think that she was able to make a lasting impression on Riley.  At 4 1/2, I think the interactions that they had may make it to the long-term memory bank.  Asher, sadly, will not have the same, but from pictures and stories, he will know GeeGee as well.

These pictures, just a handful of precious memories, show what a loving, caring, devoted GeeGee Grandma was to the boys.  I hope that they do their namesake proud and live a life that Grandpa would be proud to share his name with, and that Grandma will be a part of their memories.

4 and 1/2

Yesterday, I explained to Riley that since it was going to be March 9, it would be his half birthday!  He said he was turning 5 and didn't quite get the idea of halves, but I guess they are not learning fractions yet at school.  So he asked if he was getting cupcakes and we settled on a celebratory pie.

This morning, he came running into our room and said "It's my birthday!  I'm bringing cupcakes to school!"  Once we explained again that it was his half birthday and avoided the cupcake question, we sent him on his way to get ready for school.  Meanwhile, I felt guilt daggers starting to stab - who am I to put a damper on his fun?  If my son wants to celebrate his half birthday with treats, who am I to stop him?  So at 7:15 am, I hopped into the kitchen and got some cookies into the oven.  15 minutes later we had a batch of chocolate chip cookies cut into half in order to celebrate Riley's half birthday at school!

Then at home, we celebrated again - with a half of a (mini) pie and a dinosaur candle each.  We sang "happy half birthday to us" as a duet and blew out the candles together!

And one more very important part of acknowledging the fact that he is older is the fact that he is growing too!  Each month Riley gets bigger and bigger and I still can not believe how tall, mature, well spoken and smart this kid is.  He was telling me today about the planets and the solar system and meteors and how he loves just about everything that is space related.  

People try to tell you how quickly time flies and sometimes you just don't believe them when you are caught up in the minutia of cooking dinner, doing bath time, getting ready for bed, washing dishes, doing laundry, walking the dog, packing up school bags and starting all over again the next day.  But days are long - years are short, and before I know it, we will have a 5 year old on our hands!

Asher's first graduation

This morning, Asher officially graduated from physical therapy!  

When he was born 5 weeks early, a set of events was put into motion.  His muscles were not fully developed which lead to him not having full range of motion in his neck.  Because the muscles were tight, he couldn't turn his head the whole way which lead to a flat spot on his head.  That lead to a helmet and some muscle weakness in his shoulders.  Weakness lead to army crawling rather than getting up on all fours, but at the end of the day, he has made tremendous progress and has now completed physical therapy.

We used to have the physical therapist come every week and then moved to every other week.  Mary was always excited to see his progress and was proud of the new tricks we got to show off.  Today, Asher was walking around the room and crawling up blocks and trying to throw a ball.  All of these tricks show what great strides he has made and he has caught up to the skills that kids his age should be able to master.  

Of course there are still always new things to learn and practice, so our work here is far from over, but Asher has done a great job and you can see how proud he is of himself when he gets up and walks across the room!