Happy Birthday Si!!! I love  you tons!!
(posted February 18, 2003) |
- Whit (Eldest Sister)
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One time I will never forget is when Simon was about 2. We were all in Dad's bedroom, and Dad was reading to us. Simon, who was in the bathroom had somehow gotten Max's toothbrush and was rubbing it in his hair, he then reached between his legs and was rubbing his behind with it when Dad looked over and asked, "Who's toothbrush is that?" We all looked up and Max said, "Ahhhhhhh, that's mine!" He jumped up and took the toothbrush from Simon, held it under tap water and said, "There, all better." (Max never actually used that toothbrush again) It was so funny.
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- Whitney (Eldest Sister)
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He will always be four. We will never see him grow up to be 9 or 12 or 20, to read or go on a mission or play basketball or soccer. He was signed up for soccer in the fall and swimming just next week and he would have had so much fun. He went to his first friend's birthday party last week and had so much fun. We went to Kmart and he chose two little presents and we came home and wrapped them. They were little kits with several things in them such as spurs, handcuffs, a badge, and keys. He had it all planned that his friend (named Max, not his brother Max) would open his present and share one handcuff, and one key and one spur with him. When they didn't open the presents at the party we had to make sure and go to the store and buy him his own set. He had Greg put the spurs on his boots and he wore them all around and played with the things and the "lockers" (his name for the handcuffs) for days. He badgered and badgered me all day about going to the store to get his present. We finally went after the ward party. Sometimes he wore me out. He liked to sit on my lap just when Miranda was there and I would hold him and feel his little body against my big stomach. I would kiss his little cheek. He had small pockmarks from where he had severe infant acne which I could see when I kissed him.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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When Simon and Miranda slept together would be all snuggled together in the morning. He was a sound sleeper, but if I had to wake him up to go to school I could pick him up and carry him to the table and he would get in his chair and eat without complaining at all. Since he was the youngest we always let him say the prayer on the food and he was never silly, but always measured and solemn. He always threw his vitamins on the floor.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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For Max's birthday we went to laser tag. Samantha, 6 years old, was barely old enough to play but when it came time for everyone to go in Simon threw an absolute fit because he wanted to play too. I finally had Greg take him in to ask if he could play. Greg thought he was way too small for the vest and gun, but he took him. Samantha came out crying because it was dark, but Si put the stuff on and played away. He played all three games and had such a good time. He even got a better score than some of the big kids even though the vest came down to his knees and weighed about as much as he did. I didn't get to see him in it and I wish we could have had the chance to take him there again.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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Sometimes Miranda would want a toy that he would have. He always had a few little toys he would be carrying around in a backpack or little box. If you pressed him he would usually offer it to her to play with. He was a good sharer if you gave him a few minutes to think about it. I can picture him in his boots walking down the street with his little lunch box full of toys or with his backpack on his back with both arms through it (I sometimes had to help with this) and his little blue baseball hat. Just the week before he died, Miranda decided she wanted to sit in his car seat and so I adjusted the straps for her size and told Si he could start to sit in Alex's seat. Sometimes he was so good about hopping right in the car and putting on his seat belt. Other times I would look back there to see his chair belt not on and have to threaten to stop the car and spank him so he would put the seat belt on.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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For his fourth birthday we happened to be at the Burlington Coat Factory getting coats for the big kids to wear to the Olympics and Si saw a fireman bed. He wanted it so much so I got it for his birthday. He probably only slept in it a few times, because he usually slept with us. I tried a little to read to him in his own bed, but he liked to go to sleep with Mom or Dad and if we moved him he usually came down in the night which we never discouraged. Who could turn away such a sweet little body?
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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Several people in our ward have commented on how he would climb under the pews and try to run out of the door. Several times he did run out and I would have to send one of the kids after him. I told him he would get a spank if he did it again and so with a look lately I could usually discourage him from doing this. When he was younger a couple of times he escaped and ran up to the front to play in the curtains and I was pregnant with Miranda and would have to waddle up to the front to catch him, since Whit was too little to pick him up and bring him back. The Bishop would always say – We love you Sister Kofford- while I was doing this and I would roll my eyes. Simon was so busy and quick and active.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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He fell down at the Manti Festival and got scrapes on both his hands and we went through about 8 band aids because he wanted to keep taking them off and repositioning them and then Miranda had to have them too! About a month ago he got a hold of my camera and took several pictures with it of the barn, the mantle, and Sharon (nanny). I scolded him about this, but I saved the pictures – crooked and from his level. After we lost him, Greg's family was here and being very kind and playing all day with the kids. They brought upstairs the broken cord to the old Nintendo and Greg and John fixed it. About a year before Si had happened upon a pair of scissors in the TV room and had cut several of the cords to the Nintendo and the paddles right in half. That was just Si.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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He loved to go to the movies and got so excited about "popcorn soda" Popcorn soda mom, popcorn soda mom. He was getting pretty good about sitting still for cartoons there but if I went out with Miranda he liked to come and run around outside the theater on the fountain and concrete out there. A few times he ran right out of the movie to the arcade. He loved the arcade and ran around standing and sitting and looking at all of the games.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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He had just begun in January or so (maybe this coincided with starting school) to want to be read to and to like the whole reading process. When it was time for bed he would choose several books and we would read to him lying in the bed all snuggled together. He liked Green Eggs and Ham and could pretty well recite it himself. He also could do this with Old Hat New Hat. For a time he would only read Little Critter books and we got a giant Little Critter book from the library that we kept for several weeks and we would read the whole thing every night so for his birthday I bought him one on the Internet. Later he only really liked the last story in the book about sleeping over at a friend's house and he would point to all of the friend's toys and say he wanted them – the big train set, and the big builder set and the big bear. He also liked Clifford books. Greg could read anything to him and he was happy sitting and reading with Dad.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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At Christmas we had been shopping at Media Play for a return and he saw a Thomas the Tank Engine CD game with a big plastic train that hooked on the keyboard and he wanted it so badly. He carried it all around the store. I got it for him for Christmas and he was so cute playing it. He also had a Tonka Construction CD he liked to play and he could type in his own name. He got so he could pretty much play any game without help and he was really glad when Kathy wasn't here so he could play on the game computer.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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When Grandma Pat came for Mothers' Day we went to Costco to get Whit a bathing suit because somehow she had lost hers on our trip to Nauvoo. Samantha got one as well. When Si saw Samantha's suit he wanted one for himself and wore it all around for several days. He was such a sweet short haired little girl in that suit. It was so bright and colorful. When we had to take back one of Whit's suits I got Samantha another one so he could have one for his own.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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He was such a boy – even when he wanted to wear Samantha's swimsuit because it was so pretty and colorful. He enjoyed camping which we were able to do a few days before we lost him. He could dress himself very well, but sometimes he wanted Mom to come up and help him. He liked to watch TV with his feet up in the rocker in my room. He really liked popcorn, but somehow it would always get spilled in the basement. He liked "popcorn soda" at the movies and he liked to go to the park. He was so eager to begin soccer in the fall and he frequently wore his soccer shoes which he had on the wrong feet when he was lost. He really wanted to do scout achievements like his older brothers and sisters and he had an orange shirt with some badges on it that he loved to wear until it was filthy. I had just sewn a family camp patch on it and he was so happy. I had also fixed the collar and that made him happy too. He didn't like to eat with us and would always rush in before dinner and eat some yogurt and rush off. He was just starting to enjoy playing Nintendo. He had been going to school since he was potty trained in January and he was always so eager to run in and begin playing (unlike Samantha) which was such a relief and a treat for me to watch. He had great hair that never stood up. He liked to read Little Critter books and was hard to get to sleep unless you laid down with him and shut off all of the lights. The night before we lost him he slept between Greg and me and he kept swiping me with his arm thrown out and I kept putting it back. The day we lost him he ran away from his primary class and came to the Nursery where I was. He held onto the gate and I had to pry his hands off so his teacher could pick him up and take him back kicking and screaming, but when I collected him later he was happy and ran out with his treat bag. In Sharing time, he would just jump up and run out. That day he actually stayed in Sacrament meeting the whole time (much of it spent laying on the floor). He liked the Hot Wheels fruit snacks, especially red and would go through several packages looking for red ones to play with. He was my Onee Bee a Snuggle Love – derived from Si Bee Nizer. He did like Nursery better than Primary. He called his teachers at school – "hey teacher, hey teacher, hey teacher', and the other kids "hey kid, hey kid". He was so friendly and outgoing. He did like to play with eggs and sit on the counter and hand them to me when I was baking. He had a small phase he went through where he got into some eggs and threw them on the floor and outside in the yard, and in the garage. We still have dried egg in the garage under the car. He also went through a phase where he took the light bulbs from the lamps downstairs and threw them in the fireplace because they shattered so well. That kid. He liked to carry stuff around with him like backpacks and baseball hats and lunch boxes. He liked "fish" (goldfish crackers). He liked pretzels. He also liked string cheese pulled off into strips and would say – cheese like this – and demonstrate pulling with his hand. I probably never had as much time for him as he deserved and I cried about it. He had just graduated to a booster seat in the car. Greg promised him freezie pops in Church and he never got them. He got dressed after Whit and Alex that day (I dressed him), but he really wanted to ride in the front and ran right out there to get in the seat and after much duress I finally convinced Alex to let him. He had just had his hair cut on Saturday.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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At the campground I saw him with his pants down above us on a rock pottying in the open. What a kid. He was only gone a few minutes with Samantha and Alex. He was so proud to roast two marshmallows at a time. We went to the Manti Pageant and he was so wild on the blanket jumping on the kids and trying to wrestle with them. I had to drag him onto my lap several times. What I wouldn't give to have him on my fat lap again and put my arms around him and hold him close to my heart. He was a good talker and always had lots of fun. He liked to play computer games and could type his name. I heard him spelling "SIMON" in the car and he was learning to sing Zippity Doo Dah with the hand motions at Challenger. Simon threw his Sunday clothes on the floor immediately when he got home so he could change his clothes which he left right by the couch ready from before Church. He was talking about his scout patches on the way up to the campground – he helped on the fire starting. I loved him so much and yet sometimes I was so harsh with him and I did spank him when he went to the "outyard" at Anderson's house. He rode his bike on the new road on Saturday and he liked Woofie which he named when she came to us.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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He liked to sit in my lap at the bank and take the deposits in and out of the plastic sender thing and push the button and get the candy they sent. My lap was getting too small for this, but I still let him do it. He always liked to be the first one out of the car and I had to make him stay in his seat until the car stopped or else he would have jumped out while I was backing up. If there were toys in a box, he liked to either dump out the box, or go through it throwing toys out while looking for one he wanted. He called Sharon (nanny) – Sharana so we all did. He got really mad when Sharon was sick and Wendy (another nanny) came and told her to leave. He really liked to play in the basement with Sharon.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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When we went to Aspen Grove a few weeks ago on the first day he ran away from his group and ran all the way back to the cabin, Greg had to take him back. All of a sudden he would just take off running and he was hard to catch. They were giving bags of candy to the family reunion groups and he wanted some candy so bad he ran into the little store and took a bag and ran out. I had to take it back. He liked to mow with Dad following behind with his little mower. He really liked to watch the road construction and the day they dug up the street he sat at the neighbor's house behind the fence watching and watching. He was so happy to be able to drive the diggerup when the worker let him. He always liked to take a bag of food with him in the car. I had bought a big bag of different candy for him as treats to stay dry at night which he left.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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Greg got really sad when he went out to the garden and realized that Si had planted a whole row of peas he would never be able to eat. He said that Si was so careful and cute planting them. He liked to play in the barn and climb on the wood and a few times he and Miranda would go out and play. I was always relieved when I went looking for him and he was either watching TV or in the barn or the backyard, and not off down the street. Once I went to one of the kid's soccer games and left Whit home with the other kids. When I came back she said Si was gone and some guy with an earring said he had hopped over the fence to their house. I went out to look for him and met him and the guy coming back. Out of the blue he had climbed the fence to the house to the side to play with their grandkids.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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Two days before we lost him we were able to go to the zoo and they had an exhibit on "Outback Adventure" which included about 300 little birds. You could buy seeds on a stick and the birds would land on you and on the stick to eat the seeds. Si had such a good time doing this. We also went to Seven Peaks and he ran right into the kiddie pool and played and played. Then he went to the big kiddie pool and did all of the slides – he had to yell at me to make sure I would watch him.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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Once he saw Sponge Bob Square Pants Mac and Cheese on TV and so I had to go to the store and buy it especially for him. He liked to play naked in the sink and get water all over and then run around without clothes for a while.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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When he was getting potty trained earlier this year he got the Martinellis or soda or popcorn for going potty, but for the poopie he got to go to "Donalds"!!! However, somehow he had gotten the idea that there was an ideal McDonalds with a "hamburger airplane telephone". We would drive around from McDonalds to McDonalds to Arctic Circle in frustration trying to find the right one. He finally settled on "star McDonalds". We ate quite a bit of fast food that month.
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- Cynthia (Mother)
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When Grandma and I came to visit Utah in the motor home Simon liked to sleep at least the first night in the motor home with us and he would go back to sleeping with his family on subsequent nights. He liked to play with a number of toys we keep in a special closet for all of our 15 (soon to be 17) grandchildren. His favorite was a small slot track which could be arranged in over 200 configurations (so says the box) and has a small race car which is only about one inch long and could be easily wound by his small fingers. On the mornings Simon slept in the house we were awakened by a small insistent knocking accompanied by his little voice squealing "Grandma Grandpa Grandma Grandpa Grandma Grandpa" until one of us would open the door which was too high for him to reach to open. After gaining entrance he would go directly to the closet and get the box with the track and assemble it without any help and play until he was tired of it and he was always willing upon my suggestion to put the parts back in the box and in its place in the closet.
We were able to arrive at Greg and Cynthia's home from California in the motor home on the second evening after Simon was missing and after his yellow shirt was found in the river. That night we didn't sleep well but dropped off eventually due to the exhaustion of the 13 hour drive from Hayward California where we were attending the baptism of our grandson, Gavin Hanna.
As we slept to about 7:30 I was awakened by a small insistent knocking at the front of the motor home and it sounded as if it were Simon at the door. The knocking became louder and I decided the knocking was a large magpie bird hopping with his claws on our fiberglass roof. The bird circled over our rear bedroom one time and then flew away. Shortly after that, the bird landed in a tree adjacent to the open window on the passenger side next to my bed where I sleep. The bird then started to make a shrill chattering noise at approximately the same cadence that Simon used to use in the past. I felt a happy feeling because I interpreted the event to be the Spirit telling me that Simon was OK and he had been accepted into the presence of Our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. As I read later in Moroni Chapter 8 and Doctrine and Covenants 137 verse 10 it was confirmed to me that indeed Simon was going to the Celestial Kingdom.
After four days more of Simon waiting in the river for his family to find him and since I don't have the stamina to search like the younger members of the family I felt that I could at least prepare some of the details of the funeral by going to the funeral home and checking out prices of caskets, cemetery plots, and services. After discussing my findings to Mom Cynthia I went on Saturday morning to buy four cemetery plots on a limited time preneed special of get one free if you buy three. As I went alone to check out the exact location of the plots I had bought, a magpie flew in a single circle around my head chattering as before. It then landed in a nearby tree and silently looked at me. I interpreted this to signify that Simon approved of the location which was in the area where he used to escape from church and run around the cemetery just adjacent to the parking lot of the church. When I returned to the house Lew Kofford and Marilyn were there and we received a call from Greg that Simon had been found!! We immediately jumped into Lew's car and drove the short distance to the campground. We were able to be there when Greg carried Simon into the camping area from where they had found him about a thousand yards from where he was lost.
I would like to bear my testimony that Simon is a special Spirit who has already started his mission on earth even in his absence. Simon's Bishop, Layne Sybrowsky, recounted that a young man in the area who had seen the numerous stories in the news and on TV about Simon asked if he could attend Church to find out more about our teachings. I bear this testimony in the Name of Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
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- Leo Hanna (Grandfather)
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