My reflection on my sons, in no particular order...
In the past year, he continued to develop his skill with chess. He has also gotten into playing other games too. Somehow he ended up with some Pokemon cards. He would take them out and look at them periodically. I asked him one day if he wanted to learn how to play the game, and he was excited about this idea. So I bought him two duel decks, the most basic one I could find, and we got to it. Ollie caught on quickly. Every other time I got him more decks, he was really excited to get into the game and play it. I would sometimes find Ollie playing a Pokemon against himself to practice and get to know the decks better.
On our trip to Seattle over the summer, one of the things that we did was play board games. So, I suggested that he play chess with my dad. My dad was a little apprehensive at first since he hadn’t played the game in a while. However, my dad quickly found his groove. Then I suggested that my dad teach Ollie Chinese Chess.
Watching Ollie learn Chinese Chess from my dad was really special. It was more than a board game. This is part of Ollie’s heritage and a way that my dad and my son could bond. In full teaching mode, my dad helped Ollie understand the strategy and nuances of the game, and Ollie paid attention well and worked hard at playing the game.
Through Ollie’s talent with games, he learned about dad and himself, and through sharing the game of Chinese Chess crossed over that generational and cultural barrier.
Ethan is a lot of things.
He is exuberant, opinionated, and loud. However, he is also creative, focused, and determined. We first saw this early in the pandemic because he did puzzles. This little child, whose energy at times was almost too much for our house to contain, would work quietly at a puzzle designed for children twice his age.
This evolved into workbooks in 2021. At first, it was these Color Wonder coloring books. These markers revealed color on the special paper but otherwise came off on normal paper as white. As Ethan worked on these, he started coloring specific shapes instead of just coloring all over the page, which he previously did. As a result, he colored through almost every Color Wonder book I found. He easily did upwards of fifty of these coloring pages.
Next was color by sticker books. Most of these books had stickers that you would peel off had numbers next to them, and you would put the stickers on a page space with corresponding numbers. Only recently is Ethan able to use the numbers to do these books. He just went by the shape and figured it out that way. He’s done at least ten of these books. Then I got him workbooks with letter practice, cut and paste activities, and matching work. H has done about a dozen of these. Now he’s only color-by-number work, and it unique his accuracy with coloring in the lines and the care at which he works.
Ethan has a set of markers. I have a backup set, so I can replace it for him whenever he uses up a marker. Ollie used his markers, but he never used them up the way Ethan does. It’s remarkable.
I love the moments when Ethan is concentrating and working. This year he really blossomed with this type of work. I am excited to see how this continues to evolve and the wonderful work he will do next year.
This year, Lucas began to reply.
When you have a baby, you communicate with them for the day they are born, but initially, you don’t get much back. Then, after a couple of months, they start to smile when you make a funny sound, and eventually, little baby sounds come out when you talk to them. In addition to words, we use hand motions to respond to babies, and over time they start doing them back. It’s a wonderful moment when they start to wave because it’s an exchange, a wonderful moment of connection.
For Lucas, 2021 was the year,so many connections came clear.
Lucas comes over when I ask him to. Even though he can’t say many words clearly, he knows many, which is clear when I ask him if he wants a banana and gets excited. In addition, he shows that he knows other directions and gets excited when I understand what he asks when he gestures towards something.
When my mom would say goodbye to Lucas on FaceTime, she would blow him kisses for months. At first, I held his arm and made him make the motion in response. This changed to Lucas responding to my mom on his own when she blows him kisses. Just two days ago, when Lucas saw mom on FaceTime, he started blowing kisses to my mom on his own. It was adorable.
Lucas is starting to come up with names for everyone in his family and is working really hard at talking. All of the learning he did around language his whole life is now being expressed more actively through his speech.
A couple of days ago, I started teaching him the baby sign language for “I love you.” With a huge smile on his face, he copied the motions. Like my other two sons, I know it’s only a short time before he signs “I love you” back to me.
I’m so proud of my Lucas-bear. He is wonderful beyond description.
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