{"id":1266,"date":"2015-09-30T11:51:41","date_gmt":"2015-09-30T16:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/?p=1266"},"modified":"2015-09-30T11:51:41","modified_gmt":"2015-09-30T16:51:41","slug":"on-the-night-you-were-born","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/2015\/09\/30\/on-the-night-you-were-born\/","title":{"rendered":"On The Night You Were Born"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the night you were born,<\/strong><\/em>
\nThe moon smiled with such wonder<\/strong><\/em>
\nThat the stars peeked in to see you<\/strong><\/em>
\nAnd the night wind whispered,<\/strong><\/em>
\n\u201cLife will never be the same.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(by Nancy Tillman)<\/em><\/p>\n

Life truly has never been the same since the night Elias was born.\u00a0A birth-day of unspeakable pain, joy, and love. And now that little bundle, who kept me on my toes kicking and moving in the womb, is 2 years old! \u00a0And still keeps me on my toes with the same energy.<\/p>\n

Happy 2nd<\/sup> birthday, Elias Michael!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The handsome birthday boy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In honor of his first 24 months of life outside the womb, here are 24 of his all-time favorite things:<\/p>\n

Food<\/strong>. He still loves to eat, be messy, enjoy, and repeat the whole process often (without gaining an ounce of weight). Favorites: applesauce, watermelon, strawberries, ice cream.<\/p>\n

\"That's<\/a>
That’s my foodie. Not one apple but TWO.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Enjoying<\/a>
Enjoying some lemons with his German food<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cSaurier\u201d = dinosaurs. <\/strong>Just today, he hijacked my eyelash curler and pretended it was a dinosaur eating his finger.<\/p>\n

Laughing<\/strong>. He laughs easily, often, and straight from his little heart.<\/p>\n

\":)\"<\/a>
\ud83d\ude42<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Catechisms.<\/strong> Whatever we ask, he always has the same answer, \u201cGod the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Hooooly Spirit.\u201d Precious.<\/p>\n

Coloring.<\/strong> He\u2019s grown to love drawing and coloring and is starting to copy his big brother in coloring actual animals and objects (he drew a beaver and a snake, which pretty much looked like an oversized pear next to a squiggly line).<\/p>\n

\"Coloring<\/a>
Coloring Party with the kiddos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Older kids.<\/strong> He\u2019s quite fond of all the older kids he gets to hang out with every day here in Oklahoma and is often heard to yell their names (or his version of their names)\u2026 \u201cDeeeeeesy! Sheeeea! Wuuuuuby!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The boys with their friend Kaine (who looks like he could be an Anyan boy!)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Applesauce<\/strong>. Lately, his first words (literally his first!) out of his mouth in the morning are, \u201cBitte Apfelmus,\u201d followed by several bowls of cereal and applesauce.<\/p>\n

Puzzles<\/strong>. That kid LOVES to do puzzles! He\u2019s fairly random at how he does them and tries to force pieces together that shouldn\u2019t fit together, but he\u2019s determined and focused.<\/p>\n

\"Puzzle<\/a>
Puzzle boy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Balls<\/strong>. He\u2019s taking after Daddy in his love for any sport and is quite a natural at kicking, dribbling, and throwing. Bouncy balls are also pretty cool in his eyes and provide hours of entertainment.<\/p>\n

Judah<\/strong>. \u201cDuuuuuuuuuudah!\u201d is a commonly heard call in our home. Elias admires his brother and wants to do everything he does.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>
My boys<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Praying.<\/strong> His breakfast prayer last week: \u201cDanke Nani, danke Maus, danke Kaffee\u201d = Thank you for the food, thank you for the mouse, thank you for coffee. He sure knows what Mommy and Daddy need in the morning! And I really don\u2019t know where he came up with the mouse.<\/p>\n

Drooling.<\/strong> Not sure if he enjoys it, but he\u2019s been pretty much doing it ever since he was born. No outfit is complete without his cowboy bibs (that are drenched within minutes).<\/p>\n

\"IMG_6308\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Books.<\/strong> He used to not care for books too much but I am very thankful that he has learned to love them. His favorites are \u201cHow do Dinosaurs Clean Up Their Rooms\u201d and our German \u201cTier-Woerterbuch.\u201d Every night he comes into the room with an armful of books to read before bed.<\/p>\n

Doing school with his bro<\/strong>\u2026. and yelling out \u201cB!\u201d and \u201cTriangle!\u201d at random times.<\/p>\n

Worms<\/strong>. He\u2019s quite fearless when it comes to slimy bugs and other crawling things. He loves them so much he tends to squish them a little too hard.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_6579\"<\/a>
Yes, that’s a lot of worms. And yes, it’s totally gross.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His baby hippo animal toy.<\/strong> For some reason, he\u2019s very attached to that little plastic thing and asks for it daily.<\/p>\n

His blanket and paci.<\/strong>\u00a0Preferably the blue one with the cars on it. No bed time without them.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_5936\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Talking. <\/strong>I did not expect the second born to be as verbal as the first born, but he sure holds his own! \u00a0He sticks out his tongue when saying \u201cs,\u201d rounds his lips like crazy and spits when making \u201cf\u201d or \u201cpf\u201d sounds, makes whole sentences, and mostly speaks German. Some of his favorite words: \u201cRitterburg\u201d (knight\u2019s castle), \u201choppoper\u201d (his attempt at saying grasshopper), and \u201cBaubeere\u201d (blueberry).<\/p>\n

Making funny faces while eating<\/strong>. He likes to close his eyes, flutter his eyelids and shake his head. I think it\u2019s his way of showing that he\u2019s enjoying his food.<\/p>\n

Babies<\/strong>. He wants to play with all the babies on campus here and is mostly (and very surprisingly) sweet and gentle with them (he occasionally tries to sit on them or push their heads out of the way, but that\u2019s rare. It helps that he’s pretty much the same size as the 10-month-olds here).<\/p>\n

\"Loving<\/a>
Loving on his baby cousin Ben<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Movies<\/strong>. His brother\u2019s love for movie has infected Elias as well and \u201cBitte Foovie\u201d often comes out of his mouth. His favorite: Planes.<\/p>\n

Climbing<\/strong>. On stuff and people and chairs and out of his pack n\u2019 play.<\/p>\n

\"Up<\/a>
Up the tree<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cuddling<\/strong>. As much as he\u2019s a MOVER, he is also a cuddly little boy.<\/p>\n

Being extremely cute. <\/strong>His silly faces, his tiny little body running and climbing, his laugh, his melt-your-heart smile, his \u201cpleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase Mama\u201d face\u2026 \u00a0as exhausting as Elias can be, he makes up for it in out-of-this-world-cuteness. And I\u2019m not biased at all, of course.<\/p>\n

\"FS_Kusuma_150606-1264\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We love our energetic, joyful, stubborn little Elias!<\/p>\n

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the night you were born, The moon smiled with such wonder That the stars peeked in to see you And the night wind whispered, \u201cLife will never be the same.\u201d (by Nancy Tillman) Life truly has never been the same since the night Elias was born.\u00a0A birth-day of unspeakable pain, joy, and love. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1077,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1266","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1077"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}