Monday, June 30, 2008

Update on my boy


We went down to BYU and sprang Ryan from Chinese Camp for a couple of hours yesterday. It was SO good to see him! Grace has been having a really hard time being without him...Friday night about 10 minutes after we tucked her in, we heard her sobbing. She was missing him. So we called him on the phone, but she was crying too hard to talk to him. We held the phone to her ear and he talked and talked trying to get her to snap out of it, but it didn't work. It was tragic : ) So we told her that we would go visit him on Sunday, and it helped having that to look forward to.
She picked peas from their garden and filled a gallon bag to take to him...he loves them so. He took her up to see his room so she has a better idea of where he is. I think it'll help.
I think I've taken his sweetness with her for granted. I don't think any of us realized just how much time he spends making up games for her, hanging with her and just being there for her.
The Slurpee Incident sums it up: a few weeks ago the kids got slurpees. Grace took hers upstairs to my BED to watch tv. A few minutes later we hear her panicked voice SCREAM out "RYAN!!!" The rest of us were busily going about our stuff...it didn't occur to me that the hysteria in her voice could be Slurpee-related. It sounded kind of "I see a spider" freaked out to me. But I see Ry casually going into their bathroom..."hmmm hmmm...just getting a towel..." Yeah. Slurpee coated bed. The point is, her first instinct was to yell "RYAN!!!"....And his first instinct was to RUN to her as fast as he could! Ry will fix it, reach it, clean it, make it, cook it, pour it; make everything good for her. He's her go-to guy.
Now his absence is making this glaringly apparent!
We spent 2 hours with him. It was amazing to hear about his experiences in the short week he's been there! They've packed so much education in 7 days. He's aced all of his assignments and tests. He says that he's learned more Chinese in this week than in 2 years of school.
I love him so much. He is amazing. This was such a scary thing to do, but he went, and conquered.

3 comments:

The Red Hen said...

What an amazing boy you have. Although I always knew he was something special by the way he treated McKenna. They were the best of friends - she LOVED him and talked about him constantly. If you didn't know better you would think he was her sibling. What a lucky Mama you are!

Love,
--Jana

Karalee said...

You know Jana, I will always wonder if having McKenna in our home is part of the reason he is this way...he was 3 when we started babysitting her, 6 when she went on to preschool,and he loved her so. He always loved helping take care of her and playing with her.
We were so lucky to spend those years with her. : )

Front Porch Friend. said...

Keep this whole experience in mind when you send Jillian off to college. It will be hard, you will miss her like crazy at first, but you both can do it! By the way, he is awesome! I'm almost certain his mensa brain started early in life, with a few after-school brain-building treats at Hart's with Miss Joy!