You turned 8 years old on July 28th! I usually try to get these birthday posts written within two months of your birthday, but I missed it by just a couple days this year. :)
You are still our energetic, social, chatty, cup-half-full kid. Not much keeps your spirits down. If something upsets you or doesn't go your way, you very well might cry, but the tears are usually short-lived and you're laughing and cracking jokes again before long. I described you with the following words in the past two years' posts (6 years old and 7 years old), and they are still 100% true, which is pretty neat to see: "happy, joyful, goofy, excited, outgoing, determined, social, and energetic. You always look forward to every day, finding something in it that you expect to be fun or exciting. Every night during prayers you say, 'Dear God, thank you for today and thank you that it was so much fun...and please let us have a fun day tomorrow.' You cry easily when you have expectations and they aren't met, but you get over it quickly and are grinning again before long. Really, nothing keeps you down; you are always making lemonade out of lemons." These words still perfectly describe you. You even still pray that same prayer every night.
You are doing very well in school and have managed the at-home virtual schooling quite easily. You are signed up to do all of this year (second grade) at home due to the pandemic. You sure do miss seeing your friends and teachers though. We have a couple friends you do get to see in person, and I know you are so thankful for that. You really crave social interaction.
You continue to love all sports, but this has been a rough year for sports due to the pandemic. So far, two soccer seasons and a swim season have been cancelled. We will have to wait and see what happens with basketball in the winter. In the meantime, you have developed a strong interest in disc golf and have been playing it with your daddy very regularly. (We're very thankful to have found an outdoor socially-distanced sport for both you AND your dad. ;) ) Almost daily, I see you in the backyard practicing putting discs into our disc golf basket (thanks to our awesome neighbors who gave it to us!), and you have begun gathering quite the collection of discs.
You honestly haven't been playing with a ton of toys over the past six months, but when you do it's usually Pokemon cards, Bey Blades, or a game. You mostly spend your free time playing sports or doing something active in the playroom or outside. It's really strange to see you and Krew phasing out of having a lot of toys.
You are still doing weekly voice lessons and piano lessons, which we've fortunately been able to continue via Zoom. You sing around the house constantly (whenever you're not talking), and you switch among a ton of different songs and tunes. We'll even hear you singing the notes to songs that Krew has written on the piano. Oddly, despite your singing talent, love of attention, and desire to belt out a tune 24/7 at home, you do not like singing for other people. This is something we are trying to work on, to help you to be willing to perform. You did sing "You Had A Bad Day" at a mini showcase this past February and did so great, but you've been resistent since then to participate in any of the virtual showcases. Hopefully you'll give performing another try soon!
We are realizing more and more that you are not a very sensitive person, in contrast to some of the other people in your family. ;) For example, you rarely, if ever, get emotional or upset by a movie, and you typically show little reaction to bad or sad news. You're also not very sensitive to being cold or hot, to bright lights, etc. (We notice these things because we other three people in your family all have extreme sensitivities to either movies (me and Krew), materials (me, Krew, and Daddy), sounds (me, Krew, and Daddy), lights (Krew and Daddy), smells (me and Krew), temperatures (me), etc.) Not you. You have been known to wear shoes that give you blisters without complaint, rarely claim to be cold or tired, don't care whether there's bright light or darkness in your eyes, and can handle lots of chaos and sound. The other day we caught you wearing two different size sandals on your feet. When we pointed it out, you admitted you'd had no idea. Things just don't really bother you. I guess your one area of sensitivity is your food (and this makes sense, given your history with food allergies and so many food restrictions and diets). You do not like food that is too hot, even remotely spicy, or the wrong texture. You really do not like cinnamon (you says it's "spicy") or black pepper or too much garlic. There are also certain foods that you have an incredibly hard time swallowing and we will occasionally allow you to spit a bite in the trash when we realize it's going to be very hard for you to swallow. You are an incredibly slow eater, and 99% of the time you are the last one done at dinnertime. The rest of us often leave the table before you finish, otherwise we'd be sitting there for what seems like all night.
You love to talk nonstop and we often laugh about it. (This is sometimes part of the reason you are the last one done eating.) If there isn't much to talk about, you will narrarate what is happening around you. We found out recently that Krew has been having a hard time falling asleep at night because you talk to him and ask him so many questions after we put you two to bed. One morning Krew seemed more energetic, and your daddy commented on it. Krew replied, "Oh yeah, that's because Greyden stuck to my 'one question' rule last night." Lol.
You are busting with energy and excitement and hate to sleep (hence the keeping Krew awake at night with talking and questions). You still go through weeks where you'll come out of your room almost every night after we think we've gotten you tucked in. Your reasons for coming out of your room vary...sometimes you say your brain is racing, sometimes you tell us you have an ailment such as a toe cramp. (Yes, you claimed to have a toe cramp a couple weeks ago.) Just tonight after dinner you pronounced, "I wish we didn't need to sleep." When I asked you why, you replied, "Because it's boring!" Then Krew piped in, "Oh, but it makes you feel so refreshed!" Lol that's our boys in a nutshell. So opposite.
Speaking of Krew, you guys are still best buds. It really makes my heart so incredibly happy and grateful. You rarely fight with each other despite your differences. (And you have more differences than similarities, that's for sure!) Somehow, at least for now, you get along great and play together all the time. It is such a blessing. I don't know how long it will last, but your daddy and I will enjoy it as long as we can.
You have now lost six teeth (four on bottom, two on top) and you have another one that is very loose. You still appear to be about average for height and weight, but we'll find out at your 8-year checkup which is a week from now. Another thing I want to remember about you is that, for apparently more than two years now, you've done the same thing every night when I tell you goodnight: you always hug me tight around the neck, wait for me to kiss your cheek or forehead, then turn your face and put a kiss in the center of my cheek. Every. Single. Night. (Sometimes multiple times in a night if you're really trying to delay bedtime.) It brings so much happiness to my heart!
I always like to give a small update in these yearly posts regarding where we stand with your EoE. Right now we are in a holding pattern - you are not well enough to reintroduce any new foods, but you are not unhealthy enough to require us to remove any additional foods from your diet or to try new medications. In the last year, we first found out that rice did NOT trigger your EoE and you got to keep it in your diet, which was SO exciting! We now eat rice all the time. We also discovered that you do for sure react to green beans, so those are on your official allergen list. A follow-up endoscopy the end of this August showed that your esophagus didn't look visually great despite following a diet and treatment regimen that had it completely healthy back in December 2019. Fortunately, your biopsy numbers from the scope were not horrible, and so your GI said that we can wait a year before doing any more follow-up or food removals from your diet (assuming you do not become symptomatic). So that is a big relief! Right now you cannot have gluten, soy, dairy, eggs, beef, pork, or green beans, with pork and green beans being your two endoscopy-confirmed allergies. Just as was the case last year, you have not had any of your cyclic vomiting episodes in the past year. That means you have made it over two years without an episode!! This is such a relief. Maybe the cyclic vomiting syndrome is really in the past.
Alright Roy Boy, I think that's all for this year! We love you so much!!
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