Ellen and Kevin Williamson's Family Blog: May Update: Walking, International Dinner and Blessing of Students,MomMom

The problem with going a few months between posts is that so much happens that catching up takes some work. Here's a ~~brief(ish)~~ epic novel update on what's new with us:

Rebecca

Rebecca is 15 months old now and full of adventure. She started walking around 13 1/2 months and now enjoys running away from Mommy and Daddy laughing as she goes. She's also fond of climbing onto any piece of furniture she can. This stage of toddlerhood is a scary one because abilities far surpass judgment. If Daniel wakes up early we can turn on a movie for him downstairs, go back to bed, and trust that he won't get into anything dangerous. But Rebecca, you turn your back for a minute she's up on the couch teetering precariously.

She's not talking much yet but she says "baby" and "mama" pretty often. She gestures and makes noises to express what she wants though so she is communicating, just not yet with words much.

She's a little pickier of an eater than Daniel was as a toddler but eats pretty well when she wants to. Sweet potatoes, oatmeal, eggs and pancakes are favorites. She likes to self-feed finger foods and tries to feed herself with the spoon, though her technique has room for improvement.

In a bittersweet development for me she self-weaned not long after her birthday. She got a cold, then a double ear infection (which I was slow to recognize because she was still a pretty cheerful baby). She went on a nursing strike during the cold and never nursed again. I kept offering and pumping to maintain supply for 3 months to keep the option open for her but despite my best efforts she wasn't interested. I nursed Daniel for 17 months and had hoped to nurse Rebecca at least that long too but my goal was to nurse as long as she wanted and that was what happened, albeit not on the timeframe I imagined. Nursing was one of my favorite parts of the infant stage for both kids so it's sad to realize I'll never do it again. I guess any end to that stage was going to be sad for me so maybe it's best I didn't realize at the time that it was our last time to nurse.

Rebecca's personality is really starting to come out now. She's got a silly streak and likes to flop onto the floor and roll around if we're there to watch. She's a cuddler too and will happily bring me a book and climb into my lap to read it with me. She also loves the pink Croc sandals I got her and will carry those over to me too to put on her, even if all she's wearing is a diaper. She loves stuffed animals and gives them hugs and when we read books she kisses the animals on the page.

Last week she had her 15 month checkup. As expected she's on the light end of the growth chart at just shy of 18lb, but standing 30.5" tall she's in the 50th percentile for height. Long and lean. She's a healthy, happy girl and right on track with her developmental milestones.

Daniel

Daniel's had an eventful spring too. A few months ago when Rebecca was ready to move into his convertible car seat we got Daniel a new forward facing harness/booster combo seat. For all the talk about how kids can't wait to forward face, Daniel wasn't that enthused about the change. He likes the new seat well enough but anytime he's in the car by himself he asks to ride in his old seat. He can still fit if I raise the shoulder straps for him. Guess he still likes to feel like the baby sometimes ;)

For the longest time he went through a phase where he named everything Silas. His monkey was Silas Monkey, his teddy bear was Silas Bear, etc. (Where did Silas come from? Who knows?) Lately we've gone a different way on names. The stuffed snake toy one of his teachers gave him as an end of the year present is named "Tookie" and other animals have gotten variants on that. Interesting choices!

He's a very energetic little boy but can also be a cuddler sometimes. At night we do storytime with both kids together then Kevin puts Rebecca to bed while I lie down with Daniel for a few minutes. He really enjoys that snuggle time (I do too!) and he's so sweet. He'll hug me then ask "How was your day? How was your night? How was your trip?" If I say my day was busy he replies "busy is good!" Hmm, we'll have to be careful about that.

He can write his name pretty well now (still has some trouble with lowercase "e", he wants to write it backwards) and many letters. He also counts well up to 20. He's doing a better job of coloring now too. He used to scribble randomly and now he colors the shapes. He's had a good year in school.

Last Friday was the last day of the school year for him and his last day in Ms. Susie's class. He'll still be there during the summer but he'll move up to the primary (pre-K) classroom with Ms. Susan. I know he loved Ms. Susie and classroom assistant teacher Ms. Amanda but I'm sure soon he'll be bonded with his new teacher and settled into the new classroom. It's a small enough school that he's already familiar with his new teacher so I think it'll be an easy transition for him. Friday was the blessing of the students and graduation for the kids moving on to kindergarten.

It was sad for me to see that some of the kids I've gotten to know over the years are moving on. To be a parent is to forever feel like I'm trying to hold running water in my hands as it drips through. I just want time to stand still for awhile so these kids will stay little. Hard to believe we'll be in that position of moving on from Apostles too in a year...or two. One idea we're strongly considering right now is keeping him at Apostles for private kindergarten. I think he would benefit from the personal attention and familiar surroundings, he and Rebecca would get to be at the same school for a year (easy for Mom and Dad!), and it lets us postpone the "start on time and be the youngest in the class or redshirt to be the oldest" decision one more year. But there's time yet to make that decision.

After the blessing of the students we went back to his classroom where the teacher presented each kid with a handmade photo memory book, a bag of treats, and an award. Daniel was named "Most Imaginative" for his creative storytelling and liberties with the facts, as well as his charming ways of trying to avoid trouble. When the teachers would have to take him aside to talk to him about "bad choices" or send him to the thinking chair he'd say "you're really pretty" and "I like your necklace/blouse/hair/earrings." This skill can either serve him well or get him into lots of trouble when he gets older!

The week before was International Dinner at school. The kids dressed up in traditional dress from their heritage and brought food and each class presented several songs and dances. For reasons I'll discuss later in the post I wasn't able to make the dinner, but Kevin took several videos. The kids were adorable, of course and they obviously worked hard to learn their routines. Apparently when Daniel's class started their routine he looked out into the crowd, realized I wasn't there, and told his teacher, wanting them to wait till I got there. I had a good reason for missing it but felt horrible about not being there, and him noticing and being worried :(

The kids sang a song:

Then did some country dancing:

Daniel wore the lederhosen outfit we got in Munich on our Europe trip in 2008.

Rebecca got into the spirit too with a homemade dirndl my friend's grandmother made for her.

Sandy Lake Amusement Park

Through the school year Daniel did Soccer Shots and TOT basketball classes at his school. Last weekend was the end of year "Shine Time" celebration when kids from many of the local TOT programs got to come together for a performance. The performance was at Sandy Lake Amusement Park, a neat little carnival ride-style amusement park that, despite being only about 10 minutes from the house, we had never been to. The kids loved when my parents took them to a similar amusement park in Austin, Kiddie Acres, that I had grown up going to so we figured they'd enjoy Sandy Lake too and they did. My cousin Debbie and her husband Gary live nearby so we invited them to join us and the kids enjoyed seeing them too.

Some of the rides were a little fast for Rebecca (some for Daniel too) but they both enjoyed the merry go round and the boat ride.

Daniel had fun performing and showed off his skills.

I'm sure more visits to Sandy Lake are in our future!

MomMom

This year we've said goodbye to several loved ones including Kevin's dad, our cat Todd and, about 2 weeks ago, my paternal grandmother, my last living grandparent and my children's last living great-grandparent. MomMom passed away peacefully in her home at the age of 92.

The funeral was on the Saturday morning after the Friday night International Dinner. I was in College Station Friday, having accepted the opportunity to speak at the Texas A&M Foundation's Women, Wealth & Wisdom conference that morning. I had planned to leave College Station early enough to get to the dinner on time but with the funeral in south Texas early the next morning I just couldn't see a way to drive 3 1/2 hours back to Dallas for the dinner then get up and drive 5 hours to the funeral, then drive back to Dallas. It was my first school event to miss and I hated to miss it, even as I knew I had a good reason for it. My heart sank that afternoon as I drove south when I looked at the time and realized even if I turned around and drove as fast as I could, I couldn't make it to the dinner. Instead, I continued south to my grandmother's visitation. He'll understand someday but it was a tough moment as a mom. I did enjoy seeing lots of family at the visitation and funeral. We're a pretty tightly knit extended family and even when it's for a sad reason it's nice to see everyone.

I had the honor of sharing some words about my grandmother at her funeral service on behalf of all of the grandchildren. Here's what I shared, give or take an ad lib or two:

I have the honor of speaking on behalf of the grandchildren to share a few memories about our grandmother. Of all the names and jobs she had in her life I think she loved answering to Grandma or MomMom best of all.

MomMom loved her family, and she loved being a grandma. She kept up with all 7 of us and always knew what was going on in each of our lives. She never forgot a birthday, and if one of us was getting married, graduating, or performing in a school play she was there cheering us on proudly. The details of our lives were important to her and she didn’t miss a chance to let us know. Her Christmas newsletters were testament to both her busy schedule of attending our events and her pride in our accomplishments and new stages of life. I'm sure there are people here today who have never met me but you know a lot about me from her newsletters.

She was thrilled to be a great-grandmother and was so excited to be looking forward to greeting two more great-grandbabies this summer. She was also a proud great-aunt to all of her great-nieces and nephews, and she kept up with their lives too. She loved being part of a big extended family. I know she would be pleased to know how many of you honored her with your presence today and she'd be glad to bring her family together one last time.

Even when her health made it hard for her to travel she still made the effort to be part of our lives. She always enjoyed our visits and when we couldn’t physically be there with her she was happy to take advantage of modern technology to bridge the distance. When my cousin Meredith got married a few years ago and MomMom was in the hospital she wanted so much to be part of the big day that she watched the ceremony through video conference from her bed so she could celebrate with them. She also enjoyed videochats with my 3 year old son Daniel and loved when he would give her kisses through the screen. Even though she didn’t get to spend much time with them she loved being part of my children’s lives.

When we were little and all of the grandkids were together at the ranch, if anyone was left out of a game MomMom would notice and find a way to make that person feel special. It’s funny, one of the memories that came to mind this week was of a time when she and DadDad joined my family for a trip to Padre Island. My little brother David was just learning to swim and was standing on the diving board of the pool working up the courage to jump in. I was impatient for my turn so being the helpful big sister that I am I gave him an encouraging nudge right off the diving board and into the pool. My helpful encouragement landed me a trip to time-out, but I didn’t have to sit in the corner alone. MomMom came over to keep me company. She didn’t want me to be alone so she sat there in time out with me.

She was never happier than when the whole family was together at the ranch for a holiday. She loved being the matriarch of the family and serving as head chef for the meals. And if you ever got to eat one of her meals then you know she was a wonderful cook. Her stuffed cabbage was a holiday treat (you know you’re a good cook when you can get people excited about eating cabbage) and she was so pleased that my cousin Mary Blake inherited her culinary skills and learned to make her recipe.

Sometimes when we were all there together with so many people in the house that we filled up the dining room table, a card table, and even the barstools I’d look over and she and DadDad looked so happy just enjoying everyone’s company. Sometimes they’d just sit back and take it all in, no doubt counting their blessings.

As much as she loved her grandchildren, the shining star in her life was DadDad. The other day my husband Kevin reminded me of the first time he met my grandparents. A few months after we started dating I brought him with me to MomMom and DadDad’s 60th wedding anniversary celebration. At one point we were all sitting together in the living room listening to MomMom and DadDad talk about the early years of their marriage and she was just beaming up at him holding his hand. They just enjoyed each other’s company, even after all those years.

Living out in the country was never her dream but after they sold the Mercury dealership and moved out to the ranch she traded city life for a job she described as “DadDad’s cheapest and best ranchhand.” Even after he passed away she spoke about him as if he were still there because in her mind he was. The two of them enjoyed 67 years of marriage and set a great example for the younger generations to follow.

MomMom loved her family and she loved being a grandma. She was the heart of our family, the one who made sure everyone was included, that everyone felt special. I’m grateful that longevity runs in the family so we could enjoy her company for so many years. I think I speak for all of the grandchildren when I say that whether we called her MomMom or Grandma, we definitely considered ourselves lucky to call her ours.