"A Little Man" is Born
Jared was born on a warm day, September 23rd 1985, at The Good Samaritan
Hospital in Phoenix Arizona by C-Section at 12:14 PM. Jared was 8
lb. 14 oz and with little rolls around his face, he was the largest
of all his older brother and sisters.
| When his aunt Lisa saw him next to his mother she said, "That isn't
a baby, that's a little man!"
His grandfather Stevens remarked, "I want the football rights!" |
 |
At a very early age, before Jared could walk, he could do a one arm pushup,
surprising all who watched. He learned to walk using a
bungie cord baby seat. Jared would jump up and down with great
enthusiasm, side to side, forward and backward, stretching the bungie cord
to its limits until it pulled him back. Jared learned that having
fun was moving in every direction and watching the reaction of amazed witnesses
to his antics.
Spider Boy
While still in diapers, Jared lifted the edge of the kitchen table
up while Jacob, his 40 lb. brother, was sitting on it and trying to weigh
it down.
Jared had the acrobatic abilities of a monkey at 18 months. He
could climb the door frame using his fingertips and toes. He seemed
to "suction cup" himself to the top and would just hang there, and hang
there, until we would give him the awes and oohs he desired and then he
would climb down or jump into our, mom’s or dad’s, arms.
Jared was active in the L.D.S. church all his life, attending with his
family. Like all toddlers, Jared would sometimes get fussy or wiggly
during a meeting so dad, in order to keep him entertained, would take him
into the Cultural Hall, at the back of the church and play with him.
Jared’s favorite place to play was on the stage, which was about three
and a half feet from the ground. Dad would stand him on the stage and then
Jared would jump off into his dad's waiting arms.
Sometimes dad would tease Jared by standing back too far, thinking he
certainly wouldn't attempt a jump that far out, but Jared would jump nevertheless
and, ready or not, dad would have to stretch himself to catch him.
Remember those "No Fear" tea shirts? Jared understood that concept at a
very young age, beside having complete trust in his father.
As many babies in Arizona do, Jared learned to swim almost before he
could walk. He loved the water and while learning to swim Jared would
swim back and forth to his mom and dad in the pool, sometimes underwater.
Again, his dad loved to challenge Jared by backing up, just a little, to
make him stretch. Sometimes dad let him go under before pulling him
up, but Jared seemed to love the challenge, never crying, and always trusted
that he would be rescued by his father or mothers hand.
Hanging From a Van
One day while beginning to drive home from church, Jared, who was about
two years old, got out of his car seat and moved behind the back seat of
our Van and opened the back door. The door swung open with Jared
hanging and swinging on to the door, having a good ol’ time, as we drove
down the road at about 30 miles per hour. We began hearing horns
honking and people were pointing with terrorized faces. This gave us a
hint that something wasn't right. We stopped slowly, as mom ran to the
back of the Van to investigate… and there Jared was, hanging on to the
door, smiling. Jared was having a great time but mom and dad were
"freaked".
Eating Bugs
Jared, had an unusual appetite as a toddler. We really had to watch
him carefully when he was hungry because he was really fascinated with
creepy crawly bugs as mealtime delicacies. In Arizona, crickets were easy
to find, inside or outside of the house, because they made a "creek-kit"
sound. Jared caught a cricket and before mom could stop him he popped it
in his mouth. Jared's older brother and sisters were pretty excited about
this bug tasting event, but mom made him spit the crunchy critter out of
his mouth. We are not sure, but are very hopeful, that Jared never
caught a roach. Most of those disgusting creatures, in Arizona, were
about an inch long and nearly indestructible. If Jared had eaten
a roach, it probably wouldn't of died until he'd chewed it to dust, which
was pretty hard to do when you don't have all your teeth.
A Trip to the Hospital
Around April, 1988, mom was at the State Capital building in downtown
Phoenix and Grandma Stevens was keeping an eye on Jared at her home. One
eye must of lost track of Jared for a moment and Jared found grandma's
lomoto. This is a pill that effectively stops up the (#2) bowel movements.
When mom got back from her political activities grandma mentioned that
she wasn't sure whether Jared had eaten any pills. We called Poison
Control just in case, and they told us to watch for certain behavior. Almost
before we were done talking to Poison Control, Sonja, Jared's sister, brought
Jared to mom because Jared was acting "weird" like he was drunk. Mom noticed
that Jared's eyes were dilated, huge, so off mom and dad went taking Jared
to the Hospital.
Scottsdale Memorial got some black charcoal inside him and called an
ambulance to take him to St. Joseph's in Phoenix because of insurance reasons.
Then when we got to St. Joseph's they had Jared's ambulance drivers take
him to Good Samaritan Hospital because they were better equip for babies.
The ambulance drivers were so worried by this time they were blasting their
sirens as they rushed to Good Sam. Jared was OK, but he expelled
black, runny, poop for a week after his pill eating adventure. Jared
learned never to eat grandma's funny looking pills ever again.
Find out why Jared went to High School
at age three.
