Well Past Two Years Old!
Post date: Mar 1, 2013 2:55:56 AM
February 28, 2013 ~ Almost nine months have passed since we posted an update on Grady Jeremiah's progress. It's amazing how much harder it is to find time to blog with two little ones and as Grady is trying to complete his dissertation for his Ph.D. wile maintaining a normal work/ministry schedule! Mid-February two years ago would have been his due date, so he is a little over two years "corrected age" and around 27 months actual age. So here is a quick two year update. Grady Jeremiah continues to amaze us with his development. For those of you who have seen him recently, you know what we are talking about:(1) VERBAL DEVELOPMENT
Grady Jeremiah loves to talk. He got it honestly :-) Back in August, UAB sent their developmental specialist to assess his progress and to close out his files. They were hoping for him to have eight vocabulary words to be normal for a premature baby who was as little as he was. They quit counting at 100 words, and that was almost 6 months ago! The developmental specialist said she had never had a preemie as little as Grady Jeremiah with the verbal development he has. He continues to amaze us with how well he can communicate memories, likes, fears, and so many other things.
(2) MEMORY We continue to be amazed at Grady Jeremiah's memory. He is learning people's names and can point them out in a crowd at church. If you play a guitar, he definitely will remember you :-) When we go places, he talks about previous conversations at that place.
(3) LOVE FOR CHURCH
Grady Jeremiah loves to go to church, which is a huge answer to one of our prayers for the boys. Not only does he love the people and the music, but he loves helping Grady with ministry. The International students in English classes are growing accustomed to having Grady Jeremiah open the class door, walk in, and tell them either "break time" (to dismiss them to their breaks) or "Good night, load the vans" (to dismiss them at the end of the night). It is so sweet to see him excited about helping daddy with his ministry.
(4) LOVE FOR MUSIC
Grady Jeremiah is inseparable from his little guitar. He drags it all over the house, takes it with us when we travel, and even takes it to church to play along during orchestra practice on some Wednesday evenings. He constantly is asking us to sing to him, even if it means he wants us to make up songs from books we are reading! So if you have any recommendation of good learning songs, please, please, please contact us to let us know :-) (4) INTO EVERYTHING!
Watching Grady Jeremiah play, you would never realize he was an extreme premature baby. He is energetic and into everything, much as you would expect a two year old boy to be :-) He loves getting dirty, making a mess, and learning how everything is put together and works. He loves mechanical things, and of course trucks and planes and trains (that includes the real ones and his Thomas the Train creations!). Just take a look at the pictures at the end to see what we mean.HOW TO PRAY
We appreciate your prayers for him on this journey and ask that you continue to do so. If you want a simple thing to pray for him (and for Richard Josiah as well!), pray that God would give these boys a love for Him, a love for His Word, and a love for His Church. As you pray that, pray for us to have great wisdom to know how to raise these precious little ones in the way of the Lord. We need grace to not only keep the Gospel before them, but to daily live it out in our own lives.
We appreciate you continuing to walk alongside us in this journey!
Grady, Julia, Grady Jeremiah, and Richard Josiah
