Happy Birthday, Elijah!

As of 10:54 am this morning, our sweet little boy is officially one year old! The time has seemed to fly by and yet feel like forever at the same time - it's hard to remember what our world felt like without Elijah in it to love. Being parents to little Eli has been the hardest thing either of us has ever done, and by far the most rewarding. Seeing our son learn and grow is truly a joy that we can't even begin to describe. Hopefully he'll see from our journal here and the everyday life that we share just how much he is loved and how much joy he has brought into our lives. We love you Elijah! Happy birthday!

Sick . . . again

Eli ran a slight fever last week at daycare - enough that they called and told us about it - but then seemed to be pretty okay over the weekend. This week though he's been running a fever again and had a nasty cough and lots of mucousy sneezes. Yesterday with Grandma he had a not-so-great morning, but then in the afternoon and evening seemed to be feeling a lot better. But around 1 in the morning he started crying, and had a fever and cough. This morning he's been sneezing out really long strings of mucous that hang from his nose. It's gross, plus, when it happens, Eli looks at me with a scared little look like, "What's happening to me, Mom?" Hopefully he'll be back to feeling a little better in time to enjoy his birthday and birthday party - it's not fun being sick on your birthday!

Step Aerobics the Eli Way!

Elijah discovered that he can “walk” over the step from the kitchen into the tv room a few days ago. We’ll be holding his hands while he walks and he just keeps wanting to go up the step and then turn around and go right back down the step. Then up the step. Then down the step. Then up the . . . well, you get the picture. He thinks this is just the greatest thing. And today, while he was with Grandma he discovered that’s its fun to push your walker over the edge of the step too! Grandma said he made it down fine, with her right nearby, but he couldn’t quite figure out how to make the walker go back up - he kept trying to lift it but it just wouldn’t work. Guess we’ll just have to keep walking him up . . . and down . . . and up . . . and down . . . ourselves!

Look who can turn all by himself!

Elijah has been doing great cruising around the house with his walking toy, but has always needed help turning when he runs into things. Not anymore! Eli figured out Tuesday how to back the toy up and turn it to make it go the direction he wants. He made two complete laps around the island in the kitchen without needing my help at all. And Grandma noted that on Wednesday Eli only needed help a few times, when he got into corners, but besides that was able to turn and get back to cruising around all by himself!

Like Nails on a Chalkboard

Elijah’s developed a nasty habit, which Jon and I (and Grandma Amanda) really want him to stop – he grinds his front teeth together. Over and over. The sound goes right through you, like little tiny nails going down a chalkboard. My skin is crawling just typing about it! We keep saying, “Eh eh eh” and “Icky” and “Don’t grind your teeth” while placing our hand on his jaw, but he’s not getting with the program yet. We’ll keep trying, because, not that our little angel could ever be annoying, but that sound is getting on my nerves!

Careful, your face might freeze that way, Elijah.

We were eating dinner together a few nights ago, with Elijah happily feeding himself while Jon and I were talking, when Eli started closing his eyes, tipping his head back and scrunching up his nose, with a big grin on his face. He’s done this silly face a few times before for Mom, so I (Missy) said, “Show Daddy your scrunchy face!” Eli looked at me and then looked at Jon – and then did it! We of course started laughing, which prompted Eli to go into a laughing fit, punctuated by him turning to each of us, repeatedly, and scrunching up his nose. It was so adorable to see him trying to make us laugh with his silly face. I think our little family is going to have some fun times together! Especially since all three of us are just big goofs. :)

Walking with mommy and daddy, and feeding myself!

Eli's less than two weeks from his first bithday now, and he's continuing to do new things all the time!

Today Eli had his first meal where he fed himself essentially the entire meal. For a while now, Eli's meals have a been a combination of finger food (typically Cheerios or small pieces of fruit) and spoon-fed food (fruit or veggies usually mixed with baby cereal). Today, though, Eli ate lunch with Missy, Mom Koorndyk, and I at the table, and fed himself his whole meal (all finger food)! We were eating "Chicken with Rice", one of Missy's and my favorite recipies. Eli had small bits of chicken, clumps of rice, broccoli, and bits of sweet potato. It was really nice to have lunch with Eli and not have to spend as much time feeding him as I was feeding myself!

Eli's also now into walking around with Missy or I, holding one of our fingers in each hand. He can easily stand up now with just a flat surface (like a wall) to use for balance. I wonder how long until he tries to free-stand?

Missy had her wisdom teeth out this past Friday morning, and she's still in the process of recovering. Mom K. stayed with us for the whole 3-day weekend to help with Eli and around the house, while I took care of Missy. She was such a huge help! Thanks so much, Mom! :-)

Pull My Finger.

This weekend, Eli got the knack of walking while holding on to your fingers – and now he loves getting around that way. Before this weekend we would try to walk with him that way, but he didn’t seem to understand that you can just pick up your feet and walk without leaning your upper body forward. So he’d just try and walk leaning way forward, which didn’t work so well. This weekend though Jon was walking him around the deck while I was doing some yard work (role reversal – Jon on child care, Missy on yard work!), and Elijah really got it down. I think it helped that he had something to try and get to (me!). Once inside he liked doing the circuit around the house too - when he’s holding our hands he doesn’t bump in to things like he does with his walker, and can just go and go without stopping!

Discipline like a dog?

A couple of years ago, Eli's Uncle Jeremy got a dog, Camper. Jeremy has done a great job of teaching Camper discipline. In particular, when Camper is doing something that she's not supposed to be, Jeremy says "AAHT AAHT AAHT!" to Camper, and she knows to stop right away! (Jer doesn't really pronounce the "T" at the end, but it gives you a better idea of the sharpness of the sound.)

Missy and I have started doing the same kind of thing with Eli! If Eli is doing something that he knows he's not supposed to be doing -- like trying to grab the glasses off my face when I'm holding him -- Missy and I say "AAHT AAHT AAHT!" It really grabs Eli's attention and he knows to stop what he's doing. It works surprisingly well!

We also make sure to explain to Eli why what he was doing was wrong, and give him praise and hugs when he is behaving well again. But on a superficial level, it is kind of funny that we discipline Eli like Jeremy disciplines his dog. :-)

If I bang it, they will come.

Eli has a theory about things that get in his way while walking with his walker or pushing his highchair or toys around – if he hits it hard enough, loud enough, and repeatedly, eventually the obstacle will either 1.) move out of his way on it’s own, or 2.) Mom or Dad will come and move it for him to get the loud noise to stop. Either way he wins in the end.

And if option 1 or option 2 doesn’t happen quickly enough for him, he unleashes this deep, loud, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh sound. Not a scream, not a cry, not a tantrum, just a “get-out-of-my-way-I’ve-got-places-to-be” command sound. He only uses it when he’s happy, yet wanting to get a different toy or keep moving, and Mom and Dad are not responding fast enough. He sure knows how to get our attention!

Daddy's boy once again!

For the last two weeks, ever since Jon was sick for a few days and out-of-commission, Eli has been a little more distant with Daddy and more attached to Mommy. Jon’s been spending time with him, but Eli was being stubborn in feeling the love for Daddy (take that, Dad!). Well, Mommy had a few headaches this week which necessitated Daddy exclusively taking care of Eli quite a bit. And now Eli’s is crazy about Mommy AND Daddy again!

When Jon mowed the grass this Saturday, Eli kept going to the slider to watch, and would hit the glass to try and get Jon’s attention. I would help out a bit with the banging a bit, and Jon would come and say hi, which Eli loved! But when Jon had to finish the lawn work Eli just stood at the slider and cried and cried for Daddy. I’d take him to play with some toys and he’d be happy again - until he’d catch sight of Dad in the backyard. Then it was back to the slider, bang bang bang to get Daddy’s attention, and then more crying when daddy had to leave.

It’s amazing how much just being less involved on a day-to-day basis for just a few days can make in Eli’s life. Jon didn’t intentionally not participate, he was just sick, but still it’s taken almost two weeks for Eli to completely reattach emotionally with Jon. Just goes to show you how important it is to be actively involved everyday with our little one!

You're Hiccuping Just for Me? What a Great Mommy!

It was getting close to bedtime on Friday night, so we let Eli crawl up the stairs to his room, with Jon at the top of the stairs and me behind Eli. Eli got up to the top and was playing with the gate, so we started a game of Mommy being “behind bars” (still on the stairs behind the gate) while Dad and Eli were on the other side. Jon and I were just talking about our day while Eli crawled around, stood up by the gate, sat back down, reached through the bars to touch me, repeat, repeat, repeat.

One of the times Eli reached through to get me I happened to get the hiccups. Apparently Eli thought this was the most hilarious thing he’d ever heard, and was certain I was doing it just for him. He stood there laughing and laughing when I would hiccup, and would reach through the bars to touch my mouth, and then keep laughing. After a minute the hiccups slowed down a bit, but Eli was impatient for them to keep up – so he started supplying the sound effect himself. He would make the big hiccup noise and then laugh at himself, then stop and look at me, and if I still hadn’t hiccupped by the that time, he would make the sound himself again. Jon and I could barely stop laughing, it was so cute. Eli is such a silly little guy! Don’t know where he could have gotten that from! :)