We are TWO!

Dan and I took Elijah out for a birthday dinner last night. He loved his grilled cheese, as usual, and his chocolate oreo mousse, too. Then Elijah had a nice present for us...the biggest, poopiest diaper we've seen in a long time. When I set him down in the living room, I noticed some chunky looking things on the sleeve of my coat. Hmmmmm....it looked like throw-up, but there was no evidence that that had happened. I shrugged it off, and then I heard Dan say, "OOOoohhhhhh!! That's what it is!" Elijah had pooped up his back and shared it all with us! Thanks, little man! :) We threw him into the tub and then opened presents. He got some fun things and played with them for a bit and then it was time for bed. It had been an almost full week of daycare, and that always wears him down.


Enjoying the chocolate mousse dessert

Today we had some family and close friends over for a little celebration. It was fun! Elijah wasn't so sure of his cake at first, but he ate a little bit of it. He loved the ice cream. At times he was a bit overwhelmed by all of the attention, but he did well. By the time everyone had left, he was an exhausted boy. He got such nice gifts....he is such a lucky boy!


LOVING the train set from Grammie P and Gramps...thanks guys!

Yesterday was E's 2-year well visit, and it went really well. His weight was in the 30th-ish percentile and his height was just under that. This is great news! His height had been at a plateau for a while, so this spurt eased some worries. Medically, he is doing great. He is progressing in many ways, although obviously "behind." I asked Dr. Judy about autism because of his seriously delayed speech and she thought NO. Yay! She thought that as long as he communicated somehow (pointing, signing, grunting, etc.) that he was probably ok. We will re-evaluate in six months. There were no other major issues. We have cardiology, urology and pulmonology in two months. Dr. J thought it would be a good idea to get in to see his geneticist soon to make sure there isn't something genetic going on with all the anomalies he has.


Bath toys, hmmmmm, look at my sweet double chin...

We love our boy so much. He brings such amazing joy to our lives. We are so happy and thankful for these two years. He has changed our lives immensely. Thanks for checking in. We are so appreciative of our amazing family and friends. xooxxo


New magnets!


Hanging out with sweet cousin Bella


Opening presents, yay!




I'm going in for a kiss with soft cuddly monkey (he even took him to bed tonight..)


Reading a new book


I know it's blurry, but I love this sweet face


BLOW!


Hmmmm, not so sure about this..


Try some!


Really?


Yummmm


Who put the hat on me?


What....


What is this?


Mmmmmm, I love my cousin Emma..

Two amazing years!

Before we had Elijah, I wondered if having a baby would interfere with life in a way that would make me want my baby-less life back. Dan and I love to travel and we love to get out and do fun things and I wondered if those things would come to a dead halt and make me sad. For a few months after Elijah was born our life was certainly put on hold, but that was to be expected. Turns out, once the newborn fog lifted, we were still able to travel and we still find time to get out and do things that we enjoy. And I must say, it is all much much sweeter now because we know to appreciate it in a way that we never knew before. Vacation before was fun. Vacation now is AMAZING. We have had to give up a lot of our spontaneity, but that is such a small price to pay for the new wonderful things that have spilled into our lives.

I'm so happy that we decided and were able to become parents. I could never have fathomed the weight of the following words before we had our little Elijah: The things I have learned! It's like I was roaming around the world half-blind before February 20, 2007, with half a heart and half a brain. I just wish I would have met Dan sooner so we could have twelve kids! I'm kidding.

Elijah, thank you for changing my life in the best way I could have ever imagined. Thank you for making me a better person. Thank you for showing me how fulfilling it is to live life with someone else's best interest as my first priority. I love you like crazy. Happy second birthday, sweet boy!

Ups and downs amidst the balance

It has been a weird day for me emotionally. Lots of things running through my head. Little Ellie isn't doing very well, and her family is under a lot of stress. Every time I think about them I start to cry. Please keep them all in your prayers.

Then thoughts of Elijah's birthday (tomorrow!) pop into my head and my mood swings to pure happiness and I get butterflies in my tummy. I start to cry again, but this time for happy reasons.

Then I think of something else that has been weighing on my heart that I'm having a hard time understanding, and I get sad again.

So it's been an emotional day. Tomorrow will be better, much better. I can't believe we will be celebrating our little boy's SECOND birthday! Time has gone so fast, yet we feel like we've lived a decade in that amount of time. We wrapped up some fun gifts for Elijah, so he will get to open those tomorrow night. I think we will take him out to eat after work as a little treat. Saturday we are having a few close friends and family over for a little celebration (that I haven't even begun to plan or clean for yet...yikes!).

Elijah has still been doing a lot of coughing. He isn't sleeping well still, so he's been pretty tired and whiny and clingy. He's still the cutest, sweetest little thing, though. And he is still MADLY IN LOVE with his new truck/cars. Like, obsessed.

Aside from today's ups and downs, we have felt really balanced as a family lately. Dan and I have decided to start eating well and exercising regularly, and the good emotional changes that have come from these things have positively affected other areas of our lives, as well. We just seem to be more motivated and spiritual and consistent and positive and our moods have been better in general. I feel like I have the perfect balance of things in my daily life. Well, I'd replace some work time with Elijah time if I could, but that's not an option. Other than that, everything feels really good for us right now. Thank you, God!

Check back in this weekend for birthday pics!!

True love

A very generous new friend of ours who follows this blog, recently sent Elijah some really thoughtful birthday gifts in the mail. She gave him some very nice clothes and two toy trucks. His birthday isn't until Friday, but we let him open one of the trucks last night. Some sort of magic transpired the moment Elijah laid eyes on this thing. He was instantly IN LOVE. It's a truck that transports cars, so it has a ramp that opens up in two spots. It also came with three little cars that fit on top and inside of the transporter. With all those wheels and with the ramps acting as doors that can be opened and closed repeatedly, he was just in heaven last night. He even ignored Sid the Science Kid to play with it.



I knew there would be a scene at bedtime because I don't let Elijah take toys into bed with him because he won't sleep. When I told him it was time for bed, he scooped up one of the little cars discreetly and held it to his side like maybe I wouldn't see it. I tried to make a game of it and told him to put it inside of the transporter. He did it willingly, but then scooped it right back out and held it very tightly to his chest. I finally just had to take it from him and put it away, and of course he cried gigantic tears. Minutes later, well into Book #2, in a different room on a different floor of our house, he was still sporadically crying for his little car. He would be ok for a minute and then he would remember and let out a whiny, sad little cry. Mama is so mean!



Dan was home with him today and he said he thought Elijah might need rehab for his new addiction. It's fun to see him enjoying something so much. Thank you so much, Cecilia! You have been very generous with your gifts and as you can tell, you sent the perfect things. I'm excited to see how much he will love the other truck you sent to him!


We've been working on eating with a spoon and he is doing pretty well. Wow, things get messy, but that's ok...


Major slumping after standing for a while


Yummy Valentine cookie

Elijah's gross motor progress report.. He climbed a stair all by himself! We didn't see it happen. Dan was half way up the stairs and I was in the living room when I looked over and saw him playing in a kneeling position one stair up from the floor. He has accomplished one significant feat every week for the past couple months, so we're still on a roll. Our amazing kid!

His cough is pretty icky still. I just hate that every time he gets sick it lingers in his lungs like this. There is never anything to do except lots of nebs and patience, so that's what we are doing!

Coughy

On Friday afternoon, the lady who watches Elijah during the day called me at work. She was slightly worried about the fact that he kept crawling under the chair to take naps. This is definitely not like him, so I left work early to see him with my own eyes and make sure everything was ok. Turns out, he was just tired from all the coughing and all the non-sleeping, but it felt good to be with him when he was feeling so yucky.

Elijah spent the weekend doing much of the same...coughing and not sleeping very well. But! Dan and I were still able to get out on Friday night while my friend Debra stayed with the little man. Aaahhhhh, it was so nice. Saturday night Dan made us a yummy Valentine's Day dinner that we enjoyed in candlelight after Elijah was in bed: steak, salmon, baked potato and salad. We actually made it to church yesterday because the speaker was the person who married us almost three years ago.

A quick, super funny story.. When I picked Elijah up at daycare on Friday, one of the little girls who also goes there who is probably around four years old came up to me as I was putting his coat and shoes on. She said, "Are you Elijah's grandma?" UHHhhhh! Whoa! One day I'm told I look like I'm 18 and the next day I'm called a grandma!

I have some cute Elijah pics on our camera but I haven't downloaded them yet and the camera is just so far away. Sorry, I'm a slacker. Soon, I promise. Until then, here are some really ancient, really funny ones..


Dan at 6 months old. Check out the neck rolls! I wonder if he tripped over those things while trying to crawl.


Little Dan at 2 1/2...sooo cute!


Apparently Dan was much more cooperative with the hair cuts than Elijah is. Wow, that is some nice wallpaper.


Little me, doing my favorite thing...eating!


My dad holding me (I wish his face hadn't been clipped out) when I was probably about 2. I think my smile and eyes in this pic look identical to Elijah's (see second pic from top in previous post).


I must have been writing an important letter to Santa.


This is one of my favorite photos of all time. That's my dad, stepmom, little brother and me when I was in high school. I love the repulsed and disgusted look on my face in contrast with my brother's carefree, happy one...and GEEZ MEGAN, roll those pants up just a little higher.


WHOA.

Piggy man

The good thing about giving Elijah steroids is that eating is suddenly not an issue. At all. Last night I put a tortilla with cream cheese "appetizer" in front of him while I was getting his dinner ready and when I looked over a minute later the whole thing was GONE. I'm thinking this is my opportunity to put spinach and brussel sprouts on his plate.

He is a cough monster right now, but this round isn't nearly as bad as it has been in the past. Unless something strange happens today, Dan and I are ON for date night tonight. I'm super excited! We have been really diligent about eating well and exercising for the past two weeks, so eating out sounds extra fun and yummy to me. THANK YOU SO MUCH, DEBRA, for offering to watch our munchkin! We appreciate this mucho.

I STILL haven't taken any new Elijah pics, so here are a few more from his younger days. Because he is so old now.


Before surgery #1...waiting for the anesthesiologist to come take my baby. :(


The cutest dragon I've ever seen. That smile melts my heart.


Eight months old. He was not fond of the pumpkin.


Ten months old. Reading a book at Grammie and Gramps' house in NC.


Story time with Grandpa before bed


Fishy face


One of my favorites


Couldn't you just kiss that face all over?

Mama knows

I spent the evening with Elijah last night while Dan was at his sister's house. When Dan got home I said, "High alert for croup!" I just knew it would happen. Sure enough, at 9:00 we heard the stridor through the baby monitor. It was a mild episode compared to previous ones, but it was still something to be concerned about. We got him into a steamy bathroom, gave him a racemic epi neb (LOVE this stuff!) and a dose of oral steroids. After all this, his breathing was just fine. He still has croup remnants, a cough and sniffles, but those things are manageable. We are following his pulmonologist's directions to the T because we want to make sure it goes away quickly. He will be taking oral steroids for the next few days (yuck) and high dose pulmicort nebs. So! Round 4 of croup for the '08-'09 cold season!

My friend Debra has very generously offered to come over and babysit Elijah tomorrow night so Dan and I can get out of the house for a bit, so hopefully the little man will be feeling better by then. Aside from our Asheville getaway, we haven't had a date night in a very long time. How sad.

Teeth and crusts

For a few months now, I've been waiting for Elijah's last four back molars to come in. I keep looking in his mouth wondering where they could be. I think I have been searching for them since the end of last summer, so it has been a while. The other day I did a quick tooth count, and...hmmmm, 20 teeth?! He already has all of his teeth?? I counted again and again, and sure enough! They are all there, and they have been there since at least August. E's pediatrician has always told us not to be surprised if he got his teeth later than usual considering all the other stuff his body has had to work through. Obviously this is not the case! And aside from maybe the first two teeth he ever sprouted, he has never shown a single sign of being bothered by teething. Those molars must have been a piece of cake for him. Tough kid!

Last night Elijah ate another wide array of foods....more chicken pot pie, pizza, veggies, bananas.. and he ate two entire HUGE pizza crusts.

Still no new pics, so here are some more oldies...


One of my favorite pics, taken at three months old. I just love that chubby neck.


Four months old


Five months old


Mmmmmmmm....I love smooching that soft, chubby neck..


Six months old, catching up on news..


Seven months old, another one of my favorites..


Remember Helmy? I feel Elijah's lopsided head every day and wonder if he'll be upset with us someday for not sticking it out with the evil helmet.


One year old. This is still his trademark sad face.

Apparently all I have to do is express worry

Since my eating revelation last week, we have been putting an alternate and usually undesirable (to Elijah) food item on his plate next to the rest of his meal. We want him to get used to having a variety of foods offered to him in hopes that he will eventually try them. Last night's alternate item was some leftover chicken pot pie that we had made on Sunday. I thought for sure he would crinkle up his nose, but he dug right in! Dan and I stared at each other in total disbelief. He ate a good chunk of it, which included CHICKEN (!!), carrots (no surprise there), peas, celery and crust. WOW! Then he ate all of his spaghettios, veggies and yogurt that was meant for his main dish. We had some friends over, so we had ordered pizza and the adults were sitting around the table eating that. Elijah pointed at the pizza with passion, so we gave him a few bites. Two seconds later, he was asking for more and more and more, and he preferred pieces with pepperoni chunks on them. Apparently it pays off to offer all kinds of food on a regular basis and to relax a little bit.. :) I should write a book! I'll title it "BACK OFF!"


I still haven't taken any new pics, so I'll share some very old ones since I've been nostalgic lately in anticipation of the big second birthday..


Minutes after birth, at a tiny little 4 lb 14 oz


A few days old, resting in the NICU


One month old! My little fuzzy-haired monkey man.


Two months old


Three months old. This was taken just after he was extubated after his first surgery.


Four months old and two weeks after open heart surgery.


Seven months old, wearing an old outfit of Dan's..


Nine months old, donning a speedo..

Backing off

I have some really fun things to report! Elijah started getting into a standing position ALL ON HIS OWN this weekend. Yesterday he stood up by himself and stayed holding onto the couch for a good 30 minutes as he listened to his favorite CD. So now he can pull himself up to standing, scoot along the couch, and get himself down, too! His progress has seriously been amazing. At first Dan and I thought that he might be walking by the middle of the summer, but at this rate, I bet it could be sooner than that.

I had a really good chat with Elijah's speech therapist last Thursday. Since it is very obvious that Elijah doesn't like being told when to do/say things, she suggested completely letting him take the lead. Instead of saying, "Elijah, show me where the lion is, and what does the lion say.." to say, "Look, there's a lion! Roar!" We have been using this approach with him, and it seems to be working. I am 95% sure he was saying "Elmo" yesterday. I pointed at Elmo and said, "Awwwww, there's Elmo..." Elijah pointed at him and said something that sounded like "Hemma." I said the same thing a few more times with the same result. Then I tried to show Dan and he stopped saying it.

The eating has also become easier because I have learned to BACK OFF. His desire for food is still sporadic, but if he refuses a meal, then that's that! We're done and we leave the table. Sooo much less stress for everyone involved. There will always be some worry in the back of my mind about non-eating being related to heart issues, but that doesn't change the fact that I can't force my kid to eat.

I have been such a slacker picture taker lately. We have a pretty busy week, but hopefully I'll find time to take and post some pics soon. Dan and I have both been exercising every day (ugh, I'm so out of shape), so now we have even less time for extra things.

I'll close with some cuteness.. Yesterday we celebrated Dan's niece's (Miya) first birthday with her. Elijah was in a good mood, so he seemed open to being a bit social. At one point he and Miya were sitting facing each other on the floor and I asked him if he wanted to give her a birthday kiss. He leaned in, lips puckered, ready to seal the deal, when Miya backed up and crawled away. He looked around like, HUH? Poor guy got shot down for the first time! Then when we were getting ready to leave, his Auntie Christine got close to him and said, "Bye Elijah! Thanks for coming!" He leaned in and planted a big ol' puckered-up kiss right on her lips. :)

Cute videos

Honest scrap

I don't normally do these awards things, but this one is fun and I just love Amber so much and she is the one who gave this to me and I have been a blabbermouth anyway lately, so..

The rules: Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with "Honest Scrap." Well, there's no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. Then, list at least 10 honest things about yourself.


I'll start out with 10 things about Elijah since he is way more interesting than I am..

1. He likes to put his finger to his puckered lips and say HMMmmmmmmmm, like he's thinking really hard about something. He knows this is funny for us, so he does it a lot and I love it.

2. He is and has always been a poster child for good nighttime sleeping. Naps are another story.

3. He has made more progress with gross motor skills in the last 4 months than in the 20 months prior to that.

4. He has a funny toe. It's the one next to his pinky toe on his left foot. It sticks out at a weird angle and looks like it got put on the wrong person. I think it's cute.

5. He gets super excited when we tell him "last bite!" This is so exciting to him that sometimes it's hard to get the aim right and his last bite ends up on his sleeve.

6. He does not like people touching his feet. Ever! I think this is most likely the pulse oximeter's fault.

7. He likes to sit on the floor in the bathroom and open and shut the door. Every time it opens, he says HIIIiiiiii! and every time it closes he says BYYyyyyee! Repeat a thousand times. It never gets old.

8. He thinks Dan's belly button is fascinating. He plays peek-a-boo with it.

9. He has had two open heart surgeries, five heart caths, one bronchoscopy and one hypospadias repair, and we're praying hard for an entire year of no surgeries.

10. He yells HIIiiiiii! from his crib in the morning when he thinks it's time to get up. Even at 5:20, I think this is the cutest thing and I always let out a giggle.

11. I have to add one extra...He is LOVED.


My blog choices are all heart mama blogs (of course)..

Hollie's blog Walking the Fine Line...
This woman is AMAZING. I'm pretty sure I don't know a single human being who has had to endure more than she has. She works extremely hard for her two children. Her youngest has been in a hospital or care facility for her entire first year of life! Her blog will make you laugh and cry and hug your family more tightly.

Kathy's blog, Rollers in Vegas...
I love Kathy. She happens to be the kindest, most genuine person on the planet. We got to meet her and her family last summer in person and they are just an amazing little family. Little baby Isaac, her youngest, is just the cutest, sweetest thing. Kathy's blog will make your head spin. Their lives are full of lots of action!

Jennifer's blog, Home of the Four Trans...
I always love reading Jennifer's blog because she is such an eloquent writer. She forms perfect sentences out of jumbled thoughts from my brain that I am unable to form into coherence. Her little Justin is such a cute little chubby baby! I admire the love that Jennifer has for her family and the way that she expresses it.

Amber's blog, What's New With the Baker Family?...
Amber has little heart baby Grace, among three other cuties. She and her husband also foster children and open their hearts up to any child in need. Amber has a heart spilling with love. Her blog always has depth that I just love. It always pushes me to live a better life. Plus, seeing photos of that sweet little Grace face always makes me smile.

Krista's blog, The Layman Scoop...
I've been following Krista's blog since her little angel Kate fought for her life and eventually went up to heaven. Despite their struggles, she and her husband and son have continued to live faithful, fulfilled lives and not many people have inspired me more than they have.

Janes's blog, Ramona Mae...
Jane is another one who takes thoughts out of my brain and puts them into lovely typed words on a computer screen for me to read. Her little Ramona is such a special little girl, filled with so much sweetness! I love the simplicity and the strength I feel while reading Jane's blog.

Andrea's blog, Heart to Heart...
Andrea has little heart kiddo Drew and spunky little Ava. Drew has had a few long hospital stays but he is such an energetic little man now. I love reading about this family's adventures. They are such a motivated, energetic family, always on the go and always helping out others in need. Andrea has a huge heart and her blog is so honest...and FUN.

p.s. to two posts ago...

I should have explained the underlying reason for my worry, especially in regards to Elijah's recent lack of interest in food. When you have a baby with health problems, things like poor eating can be very stressful and worrisome. Loss of appetite can be one of the first signs that something is wrong with the heart. Almost every heart baby experiences this at some point.

In fact, most heart kids have or have had a tube that goes straight into their tummies to feed them. My good heart mommy friend Samantha's Baby Micah has a heart defect and he just stopped eating one day. He went months and months with eating very little food. He actually was starting to starve and stopped growing. He ended up getting a g-tube so he could be fed without having to consume food. Thankfully, Elijah has never had this issue, but the fact that he's one of the few heart kids who has not had a g-tube reminds me that he's not immune to the possibility. When he refuses food for an entire day, my mind drifts in that direction.

The state of his heart always lingers in the back of my head, with every little variance from the norm we see in him. Am I alone in this? Moms with heart healthy babies AND heart babies, do you worry more about your heart babies?

I feel like it's not quite as easy to follow the standard guidelines on parenting when a heart kid is involved.

Just being stubborn?**

At almost two years old, Elijah is unable to communicate to others much of what he is feeling. More than anything, this just really confuses me. There are so many things that we have seen or heard him do (signs, words, actions, sounds), some of these things very long ago, that he just hasn't done consistently. Or ever again. Example: We have seen him do the sign for MORE, appropriately, on more than one occasion over the past year. If I did the sign in front of him right now and asked him to do it, he would push my hands apart so I would stop making the sign, and he certainly wouldn't do it himself.

I am starting to think that a big reason for his lack of progress in expressing himself is stubbornness. He has had constant physical/speech/occupational therapy for most of his life. People, including us, are constantly asking him to do this, do that, make this sound.. Maybe he is saying, "No thank you, I'll do it when I'm ready!" Could it be? It would be one thing if we knew he wasn't retaining information, but that is definitely not the case. Through pointing, he shows us that he has very good retention.

Sometimes his therapists (and other people, too) treat him as if his comprehension isn't nearly as good as it is. I think they assume that because he doesn't express himself with speech, that must mean he doesn't comprehend. The other day his speech therapist asked him to show her where the clock was and he whipped around and pointed up at the clock on the wall. She said, "Wow! Did you see that?" Me: "Uhhhhhh, he knows what a pterodactyl is, not so impressed with the clock.." His speech therapist works so hard with him on things that I have heard him say or seen him do long ago. He cooperates very little with her. I sometimes think speech therapy is harming more than hurting right now, but pulling him out seems so wrong when he is so delayed in this area.

All in his own time, is what I keep reminding myself. This is the kid who has fought bearing weight on his legs for his whole life, just because. I used to think he refused to do things because he was a leisurely fella, but I'm starting to think it has always had more to do with his strong will and letting us know that he'll do things when he is ready.

I am not super fretful, worrying that he will never communicate with us. I know he will. We're just in a frustrating stage right now and after the third tantrum of the day I want my baby to communicate!


** Based on the posts I've made recently, you would think we have a monster living in our home who does nothing but beat us with broomsticks. I have been writing about the negative behavior because it is new to us and we are learning how to deal with the new phase. If you spent a day with us in our home, you would see that it isn't all screaming and tear-filled. The majority of our time is very enjoyable. Elijah is a loving, sweet, tender-hearted little boy, and I don't just say that because I'm his mama. He's the best.

If you find a manual for ELIJAH PORTA please send it our way!

I feel so stupid sometimes when it comes to parenting. I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time. Now that we have a strong-willed and very stubborn toddler, being a parent suddenly requires a lot more thinking and planning. I find myself doing or saying things and then I think, Wait! Was that right?

Elijah still isn't saying many words (just HI and BYE, which he says ALL THE TIME) and he only knows a couple signs, so he has a hard time communicating with us. I imagine this is very frustrating for him because it is definitely very frustrating for us. Because of his frustration, I think, he has started hitting Dan and me in order to get our attention or to let us know when he is upset with us. We have been consistent in letting him know that hitting is not ok. We have even designated a little time-out spot for him to sit in for a few minutes when he does this. I feel a little bit of guilt about punishing him for not knowing how to communicate, but he has to learn that hitting people is never appropriate. I just hope that time will bring better communication skills, which will bring a lot less frustration.

Another point of stress for us lately is eating. It seems like overnight, Elijah suddenly won't eat food that he has loved for his whole life. And sometimes he will refuse a meal altogether. Last night I prepared his favorite meal for him, a piece of lasagna with yummy cheesy gooey-ness. He wouldn't take a single bite. I got frustrated and put a lot of pressure on him to eat. That just made him more upset and then we were both upset and had a lousy rest of the evening.

I felt really unsettled about how I handled the dinner situation, so I did some thinking and realized that Dan and I needed a plan. We know what eating habits we want Elijah to have and which ones we don't want him to have, so we needed to set some standards on how to handle meal times. We chatted about it, and I feel really good about the ideas we came up with. It always feels good once I have my head somewhat wrapped around something.

Every day, I'm amazed at how much I don't know about being a mom. Something new happens and I have to think about the best way to handle it, usually after I've already handled it poorly. I want a pet fairy who whispers all the correct answers into my ear in moments of parental distress.

Plunge!

First of all, let me say that Elijah was a MONSTER today. I've never had a more abnormal day with my little boy. He whined constantly if I was more than two feet away from him. He had about nineteen tantrums. He sat in his timeout spot about eleven times. He hit mommy and/or daddy on the face about....eleven times. UGHGHghh! I don't know if he is just tired, or what, but he went to bed early and we hope it is just sleep deprivation??

Yesterday Dan and I joined some good friends of ours, Mike and Julie, in plunging into the freezing cold lake to support a good cause, the Special Olympics of Minnesota. It was something we will never forget. Brrr! The pain only lasted a few seconds.


Mentally preparing for plunging....


WHAT are we doing?


We could run away now. No one would ever know....




HI! Here we go!!


Running to the plunge..


There go Mike and Julie!


Here we go....


WWWowooooooowowwhwoooowowwwww!!!!!


That was CCCCCCCOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLDDLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Attitude

Last night I took Elijah to his Thursday physical/speech therapy. The past few times have really been breakthrough sessions for him. No more tears when the PT tries to move him ONE INCH out of his comfort zone. No more crawling over to Mama every 15 seconds. He really has seemed like a big boy to me lately, and he has been making a ton of progress, too. Last night they got him to take sideways steps ON HIS OWN, while holding onto the edge of a table. This is a first! Of course, there had to be incentive. What could possibly appeal to him so much that he would take steps without being forced? TRUCKS, of course!

They had this really cool toy truck track with three trucks that drove around inside of it and it was love at first sight! When he first saw them, I happened to be standing behind him holding onto his hands. He immediately tried to RUN over to them, but that didn't work out well so we tripped over each other and fell to the floor. Honestly, I've never seen him so smitten before. During the session, I was sitting there watching him, amazed at the progress that was unfolding before my eyes. Then I had the thought...Hmmmmm, anything he loves enough to willingly take steps for is going to be hard to tear him away from. Uh oh.

And I was right. When we were finished and he knew it was time to leave the beloved trucks, an instant MAJOR tantrum erupted. So far, it was my most embarrassing public parenting moment. The tantrum was so bad that I had absolutely no idea what to do. I'm pretty sure I disengaged from reality and became comatose for a few moments. His physical therapist, speech therapist, speech therapist assistant and I all stood there watching it. After what seemed like forever, I picked Elijah up and told him it was time to go home. He arched his back so violently and quickly that he flopped over my arm and hit his head on a stool. He continued to flop around on the floor and scream and kick and hit. I sat him up again and put his coat on.

He calmed down immediately when his very nice PT found a truck that he could take home with him. I kind of wish she wouldn't have done this, but I certainly wasn't going to start fresh with Meltdown #2 by taking it away. He grabbed the truck from her, smiled instantly, and looked at me like, HI Mama! We're having fun, right?! The front half of the car was quiet on the drive home.

Later we went to Dan's sister's house to celebrate his mom's birthday and Elijah swatted his little 1-yr-old cousin because I was holding her in my lap. Mr. Attitude has some things to learn about "pecking order," as Dan says.