Easter 2011

Please forgive me for not having any Sam photos from the weekend. He is always either blurry or I'm chasing him and unable to take pictures.

We had a busy busy weekend. We went to a wedding on Saturday and spent time with family yesterday to celebrate Easter. Here's Elijah on the way home from Grandma's house last night, candy in each hand and totally passed out.



Elijah thoroughly enjoyed the time he got to spend with his cousins this weekend (aside from the few times he struggled with sharing). He loves being amidst a big group of kids. He even ran around with them a bit in the yard. Last Easter he didn't even want to stand on the grass because it was too bumpy!

Remember?



A big puzzle piece clicked into place for me this weekend surrounding Elijah's tendency to not want to play with other children. The times I saw him distance himself from the group yesterday was when the other kids were being physical in a way he was not comfortable with. If they were anywhere near the hammock, he would go play by himself somewhere else. He still is not comfortable being unsteady or unbalanced and he always wants to be in control of his surroundings (I wrote this post last summer about his gravitational insecurity).

For a while he was playing by himself with a wagon. He kept crawling in and out of it and pretending he was driving to the store. At one point, one of his cousins thought it would be fun to pull him. What kid wouldn't like that, right? Well. Elijah wouldn't like that. That would mean he's not in control anymore. So I watched him start to panic. He tried to get out, but it was too late. The wagon was already moving. So he sat down and cried for help.

A couple different times it was just me lying on the hammock (ahhhh) and he would allow me to pick him up and put him on it with me. If anyone came within five feet of us, he would immediately get off and go find something to do by himself.

The SOLE reason Elijah distances himself from other children is because it is very easy for him to feel physically uneasy and unsafe around them. It makes me a little bit sad, but he always appears to be confident in his decision to remove himself from the group and he never seems upset about it. I just pray he finds a special friend(s) in school who will stick with him and understand that he likes having his two feet planted firmly on the ground. :) I know that special little friend is out there!

For the first time, Sammy didn't seem totally overwhelmed by his cousins. He enjoyed checking everyone and everything out. He tried to eat the dried leaves on the ground (yum!) and he tried to climb down the steps (face first) all by himself. He's definitely our fearless child. And he's starting to giggle so much more. I have to get it on video. It's the absolute cutest thing.

It's warm today! But I heard it's supposed to snow. Better go enjoy the nice weather while it lasts..

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!