Nov. 2012

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Daddy David Cullum

Lately I have been calling Isaac by his full name "Isaac Russell Cullum" quite frequently as his challenging 2 year old behavior tests us often. Isaac confirmed this morning that I have been using it a bit too often.

Isaac brought a regular size football into our bed. Kyle took it away and put it up where Isaac couldn't reach it until Isaac got down from the bed. As Kyle left for work, Isaac said "Daddy David Cullum where did you put that football?" Isaac knows he is not allowed to call his dad Kyle. wow...he is really smart.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Cute Pics

Isaac, Daddy and Grandpa Cullum entertaining us

Isaac posing like Uncle Sam

Uncle Sam with cuddling with the boys

Thanksgiving


We had a really good Thanksgiving. We started the day waking at 5:30 a.m. for the Turkey Trot in Clearwater. Kyle, his mom, and his brother ran the 5K (3 mile) race and Kyle's dad with the boys and Prema and I completed the 1 mile race. There were droves of people. It was fun seeing some crazy outfits (turkey's, pilgrims, etc) and hearing some live music as we ran. Prema tripped twice, once at the start when a boy clipped her heels, and as we approached the finish line in the stadium as she turned to see her Grandma Cullum cheering her on. She loved running with all the people. We are definitely thinking of making it a tradition.
After the race we came back to our house for a breakfast of champions: pancakes, eggs, bacon and coffee. Then our kids and I took naps while Kyle and his brother Sam went bike riding. We finished the day with a great turkey dinner at Kyle's parents house with a little bit of football and Discovery channel for entertainment.
On Friday we went to Kyle's Grandma Cullum's house for another Thanksgiving meal. Isaac loved playing football with the big boys and following around his buddy Isaiah.
This thanksgiving we had a lot to be thankful for:
1. Friends and Family near and far that continue to support us in raising Prema and the boys with prayers, words of encouragment, a listenting ear, time, and help around the house.
2. our therapist for all of her parenting and attachment ideas that are helping Prema and our family heal. and her persistance with us even in our despair and negativity at times.
3. Physically health
4. Isaac and all the ways he makes us laugh nd Eli for upliftung us with his sweetness and cuddles
5. A successful beginning to a new school year for Prema. We are greatful to the teachers and staff for all of their accomodations. We are also thankful for the Family Center on Deafness and all their support in helping Prema learn lanaguage.
6. Prema continuing to allow us to love her a little bit more one day/ week/ moment at a time. For teaching us more about unconditional love.
7. All the resources we have come across to help us on the road to healing.
8. A trip to Wisconsin in Sept, Miami in November and Thanksgiving celebrations with little to no setbacks with Prema's behavior.
9. Healthy, strong, and smart boys
10. Each other for lifting each other up when the other is down and continuing to help one another fight for our dreams of a happy, healthy, family.
11. and everything else I could mention...

Sunday, November 18, 2007

"You Can't Play Football...


...you're a girl." Isaac has now begun to make gender seperations. Last week he was playing football with his Grandma Cullum in our backyard. Generally he is the one man show when it comes to pretending to be at a football game. He will start off playing the game as a football player, switch to being the mascot and cheerleader, perform the halftime show as a musician and color guard member and then finish it off as a football player again. However, this particular afternoon Isaac and Grandma began both playing the game tackling each other. Then they performed the half-time show together. But once the show was over Isaac told Grandma she needed to stay in the band and couldn't be a football player again because she was a girl.

Since this incident he has also made the distinction that Prema is not allowed to play with his toy helicopter because she is a girl. However his logic only applies to others when he wants to do something and doesn't want the girl to do it also or instead. Isaac the boy is allowed to play and do anything whenever he wants to (according to him) whether its playing with dolls, wearing nailpolish, etc. Its interesting that these distinctions are made so early in life. I had read before that children know gender, race, and religious distinctions before they are 3 years old. Even having read that it is still suprising to me that our son has already decided what are girl things and boy things when we have allowed him to do so many "feminine" things.

It has been a lot of fun watching Isaac "play football." Ever since he attended his first University of Southern Florida football game he has been in love with the game. He runs around the house with or without a football in his hand and falls on the ground pretending to be tackled, making passes and scoring touchdowns. He also loves and is terrified of mascots all at the same time. He likes to pretend to cheer for his favorite teams (Largo Packers- high school, USF Bulls, Florida Gators, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers) as if he were their mascot. I try to make him be a Badger fan singing "If you wanna be a badger" and "varsity", having him watch Bucky Badger video clips on You Tube, having him and Eli wear Badger gear, and having the Badgers at least tie or win any of his favorite teams when we pretend. However Isaac will only sing "If you wanna be a badger then come along with me". He hasn't started shouting "Go Badgers Go" like he does for all his other favorite teams.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Way to Go Sam


This weekend we traveled to Miami to watch Kyle's brother Sam compete in the Miami Man half Iron Man Triathlon. For those of you who might not know, the triathlon starts with a 1.2 mile swim, followed by a 56 mile bike and ends with a 13.1 mile run. Sam completed the race in 4 hours 56 min. He finished 2nd in his age bracket and believes he has qualified for the national championships and possibly the world championships. He finished 41st overall.
It was quite inspiring to watch all the participants. Kyle, his dad, the kids and I were able to see Sam twice during the running portion in the Miami Metro Zoo. Sandy and Sam's girl Amber were at the start and transition points watching him. Way to go Sam!!! You can see some bike pics by linking to the web above and checking out results.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Happy Birthday Kyle!!


Today, November 6 is Kyle's 29th birthday. Happy Birthday bebe! Thanks for being such a good husband and dad. We love you!

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Move Over Bob...


...The Sound of Music is Isaac's favorite thing now. SInce his first viewing of the musical movie last week his Bob the Builder machines have not been ona long break. His pretend play has become replays of his favorite movie scenes. With Isaac as Liesl, Eli as Gretel and myself as Maria we have marched on the hills singing "Do a Deer" . I think I, "Maria", have been married a dozen times. We continue to put on the puppet show over and over again. And Isaac has "carried" Eli to bed many times in the renactment of the party scene singing "So Long Farewell". When Prema pretends with us she prefers the boat scene when everone falls into the water and Captain pulls off one of he kid"s head scarves. Its fun having Isaac enjoy something that I have always loved. Now are car sing a longs are music I enjoy instead of "Bob the Builder, Can he Fix it". I am sure it won't be long before Bob comes out retirement again once the Sound of Music goes back to blockbuster. Isaac is wearing his Bob outfit today and requested that we rent another Bob movie this morning.

Eli 6 months old


On October 30 Eli turned 6 months old. At his doctor's appointment on Friday he was 23 lbs 8 oz. Dr. Gadea called him "the bank" since his last incident with the penny. At six months he is already scooting all around the house backwards. He will often get stuck under a chair or bed. He is also already rocking back and forth on his hands and knees. At his doctor's appointment he rolled over on the table and showed Dr. Gadea his new skill with a huge smile. He is very proud of himself.
Last night we moved him to his crib. Being extremely tired parents we never transitioned him to a crib like we did with Isaac. Now that he his waking up in the middle of the night "practicing" his new skills and kicking Kyle so much its time to move out of our bed. And now that he is eating solid foods at least twice a day we are also trying to get him to at least go 8 hours in the middle of the night before feeding. But I can already tell Eli is not going to give up easily. He loves to nurse far more than Isaac did. He will literally try and "tackle" me until he gets his fill. So we'll see how it goes.