gregory at six months

Weight: 18 lb 12.5 oz
Height: 26.54"

missing front tooth

 

halloween 2012

Captain Hook, Frog and Cowboy

gregory at four months

Height: 25.25"
Weight: 16 lbs 4 oz

latin alphabet

Daddy (during a Latin lesson with Elijah): We borrowed our alphabet from Latin.
Elijah: When are we going to give it back?

lights 2.0

 Ephrem discovered that he can reach the light switches, so he is now a travelling light show.

curious ephrem

This is Ephrem checking out Gregory our first day at home.

cookie monsters

This is Elijah's composition.  He wanted to take a picture like this.

 

gregory owen

Born: May 31, 2012 at 5:17 am
Weight: 7 lbs 13 oz
Height: 21 inches

Gregory came a week early.  We were almost ready for him.  We still needed to buy a pack and play for him to sleep in until Ephrem would vacate the crib, and pack a hospital bag.  Fortunately, we have a bassinet that he will fit in for a few weeks, and the hospital bag was frantically packed at 2 am as we were rushing out of the door to the hospital.  We brought all the things we ended up not needing (like a heating pad and a water bottle) but forgot clothes for the baby.  He came home wrapped in mommy's sweatshirt.

master bullfrog on the phone

Elijah copies two lines of text every day for his school work.  Whenever he finishes a poem, he gets to draw a picture of what the poem was about.  Today he copied the last two lines of the following:

Twenty froggies went to school,
Down beside the rushy pool.
Twenty little coats of green,
Twenty vests all white and clean.

"We must be on time," said they,

"First we study, then we play.
This is how we keep the rule,
When we froggies go to school."

Master bullfrog grave and stern,

Called his classes in their turn.
Taught them how to nobly strive,
Likewise how to leap and dive.

Taught them how to dodge a blow,

From the sticks that bad boys throw.
Twenty froggies grew up fast,
Bullfrogs they became at last.

Polished in a high degree,

As each froggy ought to be.
Now they sit on other logs,
Teaching other little frogs.

Daddy: "You can draw a picture of the froggies today."
Elijah: "Hm, twenty frogs is a lot to draw.  I'll draw the bullfrog, too!  He'll be on the phone."
Daddy: "Why does he need a phone?"
Elijah: "Because it says, 'Master bullfrog grave and stern, called his classes in their turn'."
Daddy: "I don't think that's what it means."
Elijah: "No, I think he called the froggies while they were at home."

Here's the final result:

flying Peter Pan

 

overalls

Elijah: "Mommy, I figured out why overalls are called overalls.  It's because they go OVER your shoulders, and that's ALL!"

 

first missing tooth

 

brothers reading together

 

first steps

Ladies and Gentlemen... we have a walker!

I saw Ephrem take a step from one couch to another this morning, and then again about three steps in the evening on two separate occasions.

off to kindergarten

Here is Elijah, waiting for his first bus ride to school. There were two older kids at the bus stop, a 2nd and 4th grader. The bus was a little late, but not too bad.

Ephrem was patiently waiting, too. He'd go to school with Elijah I bet if only he could walk. :)

When the bus finally arrived, Elijah just walked off. He didn't even look back. There were no hugs and no kisses. :)

He only turned around because Ryan yelled "Good-Bye" or "Have fun" or something of the sort. I didn't hear what it was. I was busy taking a picture of Elijah's back and accidentally caught his face. :)

hi

Before Ephrem starting crawling he was experimenting with saying "ma-ma", "ba-ba" (Russian for "grandma"), "da-da" and "pa-pa" (Russian for "daddy"). However, as soon as he started crawling he put speech development on hold. He does say one word a lot though: "Hi!"

The doctor said that this often indicates a very social personality. That is rather evident. He loves being around people, is very interactive, and is not (unlike his brother) afraid of loud noises. When Ryan was drilling holes in the cabinets to put in child locks, Ephrem came over to check out what was going on. Whenever I make smoothies in a loud blender, he always wants to be there as well.

Ephrem says "Hi" to everybody: the doctor, people sitting (all right, standing :)) around us at church, and even an occasional fly flying by.

Ephrem's year old stats

Weight: 22.93 lbs (52%)
Height: 31.3 in (89%)
Head Circumference: 18.03 in (32%)

one year old

Ephrem is one! The proof is in the cupcake!

ding-ding-ding

At breakfast on August 1st:

Elijah: "Mommy, what date is it today?"
Mommy: "August 1st."
E: "So, tomorrow is August 2nd, then 3rd, then 4th, and then - DING-DING-DING - it's Ephrem's birthday!" (Pause.) "Wait, when is Grandma Shannon coming?"
M: "On August 4th."
E: "Hey, that DINGs, too!"