The Bem Boy

Since I wrote an entry about Hannah it’s only right that I write one about Emmett too – there’s so much to write about this little fellow! Hannah has come up with a number of names for him over the last 3 years. It started off with “Little Em” then went to “Moyer the Destroyer” and “Baylaylooz is a baylaylooz” (his Tajik name is Behruz) and more recently she’s been calling him “The Bem Boy.” He’s such a cute little guy. One of my favorite things that he does these days is start cracking up for apparently no reason and then he says, “mommy you so funny!” I’m glad I’m making him laugh, I just wish I knew how I was doing that. After a year of on-again-off-again-potty-trainedness he’s finally consistently using the potty for pee pee AND poo poo (which was the difficult one for the last year). I think he must have had a painful experience on the potty at some point because now he sits there and says, “It no hurt to go poo poo in the potty! It feels juuuuuuust right!” His voice is so adorable and the seriousness with which he talks with us is something I wish I could adequately record because we don’t want to forget it. Those big blue eyes earnestly looking at us. He’s been such a snuggler from birth – something that we love. He was such a great sleeper from birth that his first year and a half I rarely held him or rocked him to sleep – just nursed him, burped him, swaddled him and put him down. He’d just look around for a while until he fell asleep – 90% of the time w/o a peep. I know – pretty unbelievable, huh?  Since he is our second child, we knew it had far more to do with his temperament than anything we were doing. I think if he had been our first we would have thought that we had this whole baby thing pretty well figured out J Sometime before he turned two I began to feel like I was missing out on the going-to-sleep snuggle so for the last year and a half I’ve been laying down with him at naptime for a cuddle and it’s one of my favorite parts of the day. Emmett is really sweet but he’s also got a temper. He’s more compliant by nature than Hannah but he can be really naughty too. He can play cars or trains by himself for quite a while – seeming like the most easy-going guy around but he’s also pretty particular in some quirky ways. He loves to build and try to figure out how things work and he may love books just as much as his big sister. He’s always running from one activity or place to another and he kind of reminds us of the little penguin in the movie Happy Feet – he does these little stutter steps as he goes along. One day he walks outside and walks up to a complete stranger and greets them, shaking their hand (which is customary here). Another day he walks outside and slugs the first 4 or 5 boys he finds. The neighbors love it. They say, “Tajik shud!” (“He’s become Tajik!”). He adores his sister and every night when he goes to sleep he eventually kicks Rees and me out and says, “I want to snuggle wit sister.” (They sleep right next to each other on mats on the floor – we all do, actually).  This guy has brought so much joy into our family. I remember when he was a little baby and we were getting ready to move here. I loved to rub my cheek against his fuzzy head and know that I could do that anywhere – in the U.S. and in Central Asia. It was something that was going to remain constant for a while. I still love to rub my cheek on his fuzzy head (particularly fuzzy now since we recently shaved his head) and think about how far we’ve come. I can’t wait for everyone to see our Bem Boy’s smile and get to know him better. I think you’ll really like him – he’s just such an enjoyable little guy to be around.

Dad’s turn to write an entry: Emmett is so fun and loving.  Of course one of his favorite things to do with me is rough house but he also is the sweetest little snuggler. The latest thing he is doing that melts my heart is if I am laying down on the couch, he sneeks up on me, or at least thinks he is and whispers in my ear, “Daddy do you love me?” of course I grab him and look him in the eye and say “I sure do! With all my heart” he smiles and giggles and says he loves me too and then he is off to something more interesting.  Often tears of Joy follow as I reflect on the blessing that my children are.  When we say our goodnight prayers. His go-to prayer right now is, “Lord, touch Troy’s knee cuz you are so mighteeeeeeeeee!!!” sometimes if he is not done praying he will just repeat that prayer 2 or 3 times. For those of you who do not know Troy he is my best friend who has significant and chronic knee pain right now and when my faith is weak to continue to pray, when hundreds of my prayers have gone unanswered, it is my 3 year old son whose persistence inspires me. Thank you Emmett. If you read this some day, I love you so so much. Keep showing your daddy how to pray and believe.

Rees

Opening a present from Nanu on his 3rd birthday. 

Helping daddy wash a friend's car. This is the Tajikistan version of the drivethrough carwash.

No visit to the indoor play place is complete without some lego building.

Super excited about the first grapes of the season.

Going to our Tajik family's house in the village is always a good time.  Alternating playing with water and dirt and drinking a bit of tea in between is a favorite past-time of our kids.