first haircut

last friday, simon had his first haircut.

admittedly it wasn’t his first first haircut, but it was his first with us.

toby got his hair cut, too, but alas, no certificate.

toby came home and, looking in the mirror, said he didn’t like how he looked.

well, long hair or short, we think he’s gorgeous.

here are another two flashback photos for you to enjoy...

…toby’s first haircut back in april 2009 (age 1.5 years).

what a little munchkin he was!

gee, toby, you may not like the cut you just got,

but i prefer it to your original ‘50s look!

(what was that stylist thinking?)

medical updates…and a fun gift

simon had his orthopedist visit this monday.  the orthopedist suggested no surgery at this time, which was music to sy’s mama’s ears.  simon’s x-ray explained: see how on the left (right side of image) the head of simon’s femur (long bone) articulates with his hip in a ball-and-socket joint?  now look on his right side – nothing in the socket!  that’s right, simon has no hip joint to speak of.  see that little nubbin on the right that you’d think would correspond to the top of sy’s femur on the left?  well, guess what – that little itty bitty thing is his entire right femur!  (in this case, the name “long bone” is obviously a misnomer.)  so, what appears on the right as a long bone is actually sy’s tibia, or shin bone, i.e., one of two bones supposedly in his lower leg.  his fibula, the other lower leg bone, is non-existent.  and that is the anatomy of simon’s right leg revealed!

poor simon, with only a day’s breather, today he visited the prosthetist to have an impression made for his first prosthesis.  as the photo suggests, he was not a huge fan of the process, but the appointment lasted less than an hour and earned him two (mini) packets of M&Ms.  better yet (if not to simon, then certainly to his parents), in just a couple weeks’ time, simon will have his leg.

casting simon’s leg was a bit like doing papier-mache.  when the plaster hardened, it was cut off and will be used to make sy’s socket.  in a week or so, we’ll have a clear plastic prototype of the leg, which sy will be re-fitted into.  the advantage of the particular plastic used is that it is heat moldable so that revisions can be made as necessary.  a week later, the finished leg will be available for simon to take home and learn to walk on in what i’m sure will be a real acclimation process.

 

so that y’all don’t get the impression this kid is only ever subjected to terrible things like blood draws, x-rays and castings, i include here a photo of sy and big brother toby enjoying their brand new personalized tote bags, compliments of their great aunt lesley.  don’t you just want to pick up the handles and carry them both away?

purim 2011

today was the purim service/carnival at our temple, which is known for its revelry this time of year.  (the rabbis came dressed as woody and jessie from “toy story,” which was this year’s surprise theme.) 

the lower photo of toby as elmo shows the mac ‘n’ cheese box that each attendee brought to temple to use as a ‘grogger’ (noise-maker).  when the service was over, the pasta was donated.

the carnival didn’t exactly go as planned, as it poured on the bounce houses the temple had rented.  however, fun was had even indoors, where we ate hot dog (kids) and falafel (adults) lunches, polished off with generous portions of hamantaschen (all).

simon wasn’t particularly keen on wearing his winnie the pooh hood at temple, but we pulled it on as we exited the car at home, ostensibly to protect him from the rain.

we had debated whether to bring simon to this admittedly overstimulating event (we had similar misgivings when we brought toby to his first purim at the tender age of 6 months, dressed as a hamantaschen – see below for flashback photo), but the noise and costumes didn’t seem to faze him, and we were happy to attend as a family.  (last year, rick was stuck at home with a broken leg, but toby and i made it, dressed as thomas and sir topham hatt – see second flashback photo.  incidentally, we skipped purim in 2009, because the service that year started after toby’s bedtime.)

 

(2008)                                 (2010)   

particularly rewarding was the fact that as we pulled out of the temple parking lot today, totally out of the blue toby thanked us for taking them to temple for purim.  what a sweetie (and not only when dressed as an oversized baked good!).

DAY FIVE meeting grandpa

this is my grandpa – he lives in los angeles but visited with us today – we had lots of fun – we played at the park, visited the animals at mommy’s barn and ate lunch together at a chinese restaurant – thanks for visiting, grandpa!

DAY FOUR together

 

DAY FOUR: this morning before school (toby’s), the boys rode "thomas” together in the basement…

…then (successfully) climbed the stairs together.

 

after school, they rode bikes together – it was toby’s first time on a two-wheeler (admittedly with training wheels) and simon’s first time on any kind of bike with us (he propelled it rather effectively avoiding the pedals and using just one foot).

 

it’s really cool to already see toby and simon share so many experiences, though unfortunately, when one is defiant or cantankerous, the other usually is, too.  that’s why last night, neither would go to bed until nearly 10 pm and why, when toby came in our room just shy of 3 am, he and simon both stayed awake.  (maybe imitation isn’t such a great thing?)

DAY THREE together

NIGHT THREE: simon is already starting to get more comfortable with the pets; here he is stroking sunny’s back and looks quite pleased with himself; unfortunately, as he gets more comfortable, he also gets recklessly bold, since he hasn’t learned what not to do with animals (ie, poke their faces, pull their tails, etc); sunny has nipped him once (not gravely), so he will probably learn quickly; the first two nights, he balked at the thought of the pets being anywhere near our room, whereas last night he actually demanded they accompany us in bed; yes, that’s right, simon wound up sleeping with us last night, despite his having gone down in the room he shares with toby (and despite our having had our fingers tightly crossed); around 11 pm, simon emerged from their room and it was clear what he wanted, so we slept together until jet lag got the better of us three at 4 am

DAY THREE: poor simon is having a ton of lab work done (diagnostic stuff like HepB, HIV, syphilis, etc., as well as titers for all the vaccines he has supposedly already been given), so that meant he needed to surrender a fair amount of blood today; the phlebotomists were great, but even so, it required three sticks; the poor kid sat in my lap screaming; he’s so strong, too, that it was pretty tough to restrain him; i’d given him M&Ms to calm him, and at one point he actually drooled blue food coloring; it looked horrendous and undoubtedly sounded miserable (and scary!) to the patients in the waiting room; he did great, though; they got the 7 vials of blood they needed, and once it was over, it was as if it hadn’t happened; in fact, he didn’t even wince when rick removed the very sticky gauze tape tonight; what a trooper!

from these pictures, you’d think that i was always the photographer and only rick actually got face time with the boys, but not so today, since rick went back to work; after dropping toby off at school this morning, simon and i spent a very nice day together, starting with a trial class at a nearby kids’ gym, the blood draw (admittedly not a high point), a quick stop at our temple to show him off, lunch on the road, a return visit to his pediatrician’s office, second lunch at home (simon had two of every meal today, beginning with the “oatna” (oatmeal) he had me make him at 4 am!), then a nice long nap together; highlights from the boys today were toby telling us “the bad trains had visited him in his sleep…but so had the good ones” (what a relief, toby!) and simon quite intelligibly imitating toby saying “punchbuggy yellow!” (the kid can hardly utter an english-sounding word, but the words “punchbuggy” and “yellow” were somehow clear as day – go figure)

our first days together as a family

NIGHT ONE: this is us the night we got back from china; simon isn’t looking at the camera because he’s too distracted by the scary, scary doggies; we’re so tired it’s all we can do to smile for the camera

 

DAY ONE: initial play is largely independent, not too much interaction; simon proves he enjoys squeezing into tight spaces; toby proves simon is not alone in that preference and ability

 

 

simon and toby start interacting more and more; here, they’re responding to toby’s remote controlled train; simon thinks it’s just hysterical the train seems to have a mind of its own; he squeals with delight as it comes after him

seeing toby and simon side-by-side at the train table really highlights the difference in their sizes; as shown in the growth chart above, toby (black line) is a full 6 inches taller than simon (red line) despite being only 8 months older (he’s also 12 pounds, or about 50%, heavier than simon right now); a visit to the pediatrician monday morning (DAY TWO) reveals that simon is small even by chinese standards (<1st percentile for ht/wt on the chinese boys normed growth curve); it is expected he’ll do a lot of growing this year (kids catch up when they’re well fed and well loved), though even his head circumference is small, which might suggest he’s just genetically a little guy

    

yeah, you can tell that with rick as his daddy, simon is pretty well covered in the well loved and well fed categories!

    

DAY TWO: perhaps remembering the chill in the air saturday night as we returned from the airport, simon clad only in a long-sleeved t-shirt, he did not fight rick this morning as he prepped him to go out in the winter cold; we’re lucky to have inherited lots of clothes for toby, which we’re now able to hand down to simon (renew, reuse, recycle!); in this photo, simon is wearing only one of his chinese squeaky shoes (yes, it really does squeak!) and is carrying his “pleasant goat” telephone (“pleasant goat” is the chinese equivalent of "mickey mouse” – it’s a disney character featured in the very popular children’s TV show, “pleasant goat and big bad wolf,” or alternately “happy sheep and grey wolf” – the kids are all over it)

 

the day concluded with the boys’ first bath together (which was actually toby’s first bath at home in the full tub, as we’d bathed him these past 3.5+ years in a much smaller plastic tub from IKEA which he had long outgrown); as you can tell, the boys had a blast together; simon didn’t even mind (actually seemed to enjoy?) toby squirting him in the face with water from his “dorothy the goldfish”; in the interest of full disclosure, the last few days have been very difficult vis a vis sleep; on NIGHTS ONE and TWO, we put simon down in a toddler bed in toby’s old nursery, and both nights, simon woke up screaming for several hours until finally we took him to our bed (much to our chagrin); for both his DAY TWO nap and NIGHT THREE sleep, we put him in the “james” bed we created to complement toby’s “thomas” bed, such that the boys are now officially sharing a room; that is, if simon sleeps through the night (fingers crossed), it’s a done deal; the nap went well (we actually had to wake both boys after 2.5 hrs), so we’re hopeful the nighttime sleep goes equally well; there’s one force that’s operating against us: jet lag