Home

We are home for the weekend (I mean my parent's home in RH). Lisa's family and friends are all holding vigil with their sick mommy in the center, and I've spent a good amount of time there. I'm feeling glad to be able to see her and tell her goodbye but so sad and wearied by the terribleness of having to watch your loved one die. I'm grateful I haven't had to do this before. I'd wish it on no one.
We head back to Athens tonight.
-Shirin

Chillaxin

I had a quiet weekend last week, after working Saturday morning.  Then, this Wednesday, the only thing we did was go to Cyrus' gymnastic's class and then play at the park.   So, we've been pretty low key lately, but I can't complain.  We're happy just chillaxin' together.

-Shirin

Playing with Tinker Toys and snuggling this weekend.

Kai is clearly the artistic type..almost to a fault!

His doctor said he has the fine motor skills with a pen/marker as a 3-4 year old, but I don't think a 4 year old would write all over his face.  

Earl, Gabriel, Cyrus, and Satin, watching something on Sunday, probably Shrek 3.

Gabriel told Cyrus he needed some snuggles and this is what he got.

Kai is getting more independent and demanding in his older age.  Here he is mad that I won't give him my camera.

Satin and Earl love each other.

But, they always end up biting each other.

Uh oh...look who came to visit!

The boys go nuts when they see him walk in.

Just riding their Brendan horse.

A pile of Beal boys.

So funny.

Now it's Gabriel's turn to tickle Cyrus while Kai and Brendan chat.

Today I cut Cyrus' hair.  It needed to be done.

It's not perfect, but you can't tell when it's dry.  Notice all the purple marker on Kai's belly?  What am I going to do with him?

25 Questions (by Cyrus)

What is your favorite color? Green

What is your favorite toy? Elephant at Nama and Baba's

What is your favorite fruit? Grapes

What is your favorite TV show? Shrek 1

What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Cookies....corn

What is your favorite outfit? Monster drummer shirt from Pap pap

What is your favorite game? (Asked to go into Gabriel's closet and picked up so he could point to his favorite, he immediately pointed to Settlers of Catan!)

What is your favorite snack? Barbars

What is your favorite animal? Sock monkey

What is your favorite song? Twinkle twinkle little star

What is your favorite book? Dora goes to the library

What are you thankful for? You (Mommy/Shirin)

What is your favorite cereal? Clifford Crunch

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Run

What is your favorite drink? Lemonade and water

What is your favorite holiday? Halloween

What do you like to take with you to bed at night? Glow worm

What do you want for dinner on your next birthday? "I don't know, corn?"

What do you want to be when you grow up? A big witch with poison apples to throw, "real" ones.

What's your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Run around and play

What's your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Play with her

What's your favorite thing to do with Baba and Nama? Make muffins

What's your favorite thing to do with Pap Pap and Grandma? Go outside and see Mickey Mouse.

Losing my second mom

Irysse, Lisa's mom, has been like a second mom to me since I was 5 years old. Lisa was my kindergarten bestie and continued to be my best friend until this day.  When we were kids, Lisa's mom came to our soccer games, had us over for sleep-overs, and made me yummy sandwiches.  When we were older, she hired me as her dog sitter, had us over for family game nights, watched me try on wedding dresses, and tried to sneak spaghetti with meat sauce onto my plate to give me a little protein.  She called me "my Shirin."  I love her.
She's been battling a disease called ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) now for several years.  It's a terrible disease.  A disease with no hope of cure and no real treatment, other than trying to delay the slow degeneration of nerves over time and help with movement, swallowing, and breathing.  I've watched this vibrant, talkative, and vivacious woman slowly lose her ability to do many things she loved, like talking and eating (especially chocolate).  Throughout it all, her attitude has been positive and she's done as much do enjoy her remaining months and years as anyone could. As much as it sucked, she's handled it with such grace and her close and loving family has been with her throughout it all.
I've dreaded this time when it finally got to be too much, for we all knew it would come eventually, but it has finally happened that she is not going to accept any more treatment.  What a brave decision she has made and I understand it, but I am also just so wracked with sadness and grief for her and her family.  I'm heading home to RH to be what little help I can over the weekend.  Please keep the Crimmins family in your thoughts.  It's a really hard time for them right now.
-Shirin

A few more videos of the boys

Cyrus and the other kids warming up at gymnastics this Wed.




As I was sitting with the kids this morning, I realized that Kai was "reading" me this book.




Kai loves football. He calls it "bu-ball." And, now he can catch it.

Talking to third graders at the elementary school

The public elementary school in Toccoa had me come talk to their 80 third-graders this morning about veterinary medicine.  It was a daunting task, but I had such a blast talking to them about a topic I am passionate about and a topic they were very enthusiastic about too: animals.
I did a 25 minute presentation on different types of vets, animal welfare/care, and how to become a vet with lots of pictures.  Then we did a Q and A session and they asked questions like, "My sister's dog has one ball," "Do you know a dog named Mary Jane," and "What if a dog lost all four of its legs?"  I actually felt pretty prepared for that kind of thought-process after living with Cyrus these last few years and took it in stride.
I was very impressed with the school for doing this series on animal health and welfare.  The kids had already had several talks about how to care for, feed, and shelter animals properly.  The kids also seemed to already know a little about fleas, heartworms, and spay/neuter stuff.  They were sharp little kids and missed nothing.  The teachers did their best to keep them at a quiet roar and on their bottoms, but it was OK that there was constant chatter, because I was constantly asking them questions and quizzing them on what they knew.
At the end, I did a little animal/zoology quiz and gave out prizes.  They got really stumped on the "What is the most intelligent animal in the world?" questions (humans, of course).  They answered every animal in the world, including "ape," "gorilla," "chimpanzee," and "orangutan."  They just couldn't seem to make the jump to "human" until I gave them clues.
I think I'd love to do this sort of thing again.  I'm not sure how much they'll remember, but I hope I left them with an impression that animals need healthcare and should be well taken care of.  It's great to have a chance to influence these kids positively at such a young age and I am so glad it went well.  Here are a few pictures.
-Shirin

As you can see, I was in a big auditorium with a lot of kids.

They had their hands up a lot, as you are witnessing here.

I talked about pets' needs...

...and what kind of stuff they go to the vet for...

...and why they need to be dewormed.

I talked a lot about parasites, internal and external, and got lots of "eeeeewwwwwssss."

I probably see fleas every day of my work life and they are something we know how to prevent, so I really wanted to drive home the point.  (Essentially, don't go buy a flea collar at Wal-mart because it DOESN'T WORK).

I also talked about overpopulation and spaying and neutering, a topic they all seemed to have heard about, to my delight.

I also calculated that they would take 15+ years to be able to earn their DVM from this point in school.  I don't know if they really understood how long that was (almost double their age right now).

 My tech, Susan's, dog came to be a living exhibit of a great little dog.

Stella, a bull terrier, LOVED all the attention.  She was perfect for the visit.

Thanks to Susan for bringing her and for taking pictures.  :)

Zach brought his dog, Jasmine, too, but she was too nervous to mingle with the kids.  She was plenty cute, though.

A good Cyrus-phase and thoughts on parenting

Anyone who knows us well knows that we absolutely love our first son but that we have definitely struggled with him since he was born.  How so, you may ask?  Well, in the first year of his life, the main trouble was with sleep resistance and being excessively demanding with nursing and attention.  In the second year, it was all about resisting our authority, demanding his independence, and not wanting to sleep in his bed.  In his third year, we have struggled to have him behave well in all circumstances and to obey our commands.
I feel sure many parents of young children might say this all sounds normal, and maybe it is, but we have always felt that Cyrus has been more discerning, demanding, and defiant than average.  On the up side, I know that at least some of this stems from his intelligence and confidence, both traits that will make him a successful person some day.  However, when one's three-year old tells his mother he plans to disobey her again no matter what she says, that kid's mother feels that something must change.
Upon the advice of my dad and some reading we've done, we have learned a lot about parenting in the last 3 years.  Kai may never be quite as challenging to us, since we have weathered our first storm already.  As Kai approaches age two, we are seeing tell-tale signs that he is no longer our perfect little chilled-out baby.  He hits us when he's frustrated, he says "no" and shakes him head over and over, and he will throw food when he doesn't want it.  But, that stuff is a walk in the park; we feel ready for it this time around.
As Cyrus has gotten older and we've continued working with him, we have seen a slow but consistent trend towards better and better behavior.  He often stops himself from having a tantrum and informs us, "See, I'm not going to whine.  I'm going to say 'Oh well."'  We even practice things like telling him to go to the bathroom, give us his toy, or saying no to something he wants.  He likes doing it because we compliment his good-behavior afterwards...so simple, yet it took us long enough to get to this point.
My greatest feeling of success has come from watching him teach Kai how to behave.  Gabriel and I both know that if we want Kai to do something he doesn't want to do, all we have to do is tell Cyrus to ask him to do it.  If Cyrus will do it, then that's what Kai wants to do as well.  It gets him into trouble sometimes, but it's an invaluable tool in teaching Kai how to behave (like when the older dog shows the younger dog how to potty outside).
I wish I could download all my knowledge into the brains of my friends who are all starting to have babies now, but I'm pretty sure every kid is different and they will just have to learn it all themselves the hard way.  However, if anyone ever feels they have a defiant child, they will know who to talk to.
-Shirin

Kai's 18 month well-baby visit

**This is a THREE post day, so be sure to see the other two below**

Kai turned 19 months old today.  He's saying SO many words, some of which I'll try to record below, more for my own benefit than yours.  He's using spoons and forks for eating and running and climbing everywhere.  He seems almost certainly right-handed.  One of his favorite activities is throwing any and all balls.  He also LOVES to draw and color, much more than Cyrus ever has.  He even holds the pen/pencil with a perfect grasp and can color in the lines.  Dr Martin saw him doing it today at his doctor appointment and said, "Wow, he's got amazing fine motor skills at this age.  Even some four-year olds can't do that." (He was filling in tiny circles I had drawn for him).
We also wondered how he matched up to his peers size-wise, since he's remained pretty ginormous in all categories so far.  We were not disappointed.  His weight was 31.4 lbs (>95th percentile), his height was 34 inches (90th percentile), and his head circumference was 20.5 inches (>95th percentile).  Maybe there are Viking genes in my family and I just don't know it.
-Shirin

Some of Kai's cuter words. (First written phonetically how he says them and then translated).

Mamoo= Mommy
Yut = Yuk
Yot= Socks
Yaya= Cyrus
Ty= Kai
Dow= Cow
Da da da doooo= Cock a doodle doo
Bady= Belly
Pap (whispered)= Pap pap
BaBA (emphasis on last ba)= Baba
Bat= Back
Butt= Butt (he likes that word :))
Mow= Meow/cat


There are many more, but those are the ones that come to mind.  He's much better at following commands than Cyrus was at this age, primarily due to us being better parents, I think.  We don't take no for an answer, which he is now saying ALL the time.  He has started to hit us when frustrated as well, but we're working on teaching him to be gentle like we did with Cyrus.  Poor Cyrus.  He was our guinea pig.  We definitely know more about how to mold a baby into a real human being the second time around.

Cyrus' gymnastics class and a busy day

Today was a fun and busy day.  We went to gymnastics class, which Cyrus still LOVES, headed to the library for storytime, went home for lunch and a nap, headed to Kai's doctor's appointment for his 18 month visit (even though he just turned 19 months), and then went to another storytime class and the park before heading to the Grit to meet Gabriel for dinner.  Whew!  What a day.

-Shirin

Cyrus on his mat during warm up.

Cyrus "looking" at his teacher like she told him to.

Waiting in line with one of the girls from his class.

Cyrus swinging on the bar.

Kai watching with envy.

Swinging before jumping into the tub.

Visits with the Henrys

Remember our friends, Denise and Nowell, who we knew from vet school?  Denise was my classmate for 4 years and is now a vet and her husband, Nowell, is a computer guy who sacrificed his career for 4 years to live with her in Athens.  She had Cailyn on May 12, 2008, just three days after Cyrus was born and both kids went to Tamala's together for over 2 years.  We have a lot in common with them and really were sad when they decided to move to Orlando for an excellent job opportunity for Nowell.  

But, luckily, they live not too far from Gabriel's parent's house, so we've gone up there twice now during the last two Christmases to visit with them and this past weekend Denise and Cailyn were in Athens for a house-related task and came over to play and visit.  It was great to see them.

I should mention that they have since had another baby too, a little girl named Loralei.  However, I was totally crazy and didn't take any pictures of her cute 6 month self when were in Orlando, so I will try to steal on off of Facebook.

-Shirin

At Chuckie Cheese's in Orlando.

They loved this picture game where they were drawn.

 Then we headed over to a restaurant for dinner and chatting.

Cyrus and Cailyn chatted too.

Mostly really silly stuff that made Cailyn giggle and giggle.

This little girl was there too, but I was distracted and didn't photograph her.  Denise says she's a chubby Cailyn. :)

In Athens on Sunday, we had Denise and Cailyn over for dinner. 

The kids picked right back up where they left off...this time with lots of snakes and lizards.

Of course Kai had to be in the mix too.

Running around.

Cyrus almost always wins the race because he goes before I say "go."

It's always nice to visit with good friends.

Since Denise and business to deal with on Monday, we had her drop off Cailyn in the morning (MLK Day) to hang out with Gabriel and the boys.  I was at work, of course.

Gabriel builds the best tents and we had promised Cyrus we would build him a tent.

Is he King Aurthur in his tomb?

I wonder what was so funny.

Gabriel sent me these pictures while I was working and they made me happy.  Each of the following is of Cyrus setting the silly-face standard and the others complying.

I like Kai's versions the best.

Next silly face.

Nice tongues.

Nice goggles, kids!  Hope to see them again soon.