Junction on its way out? Could it be?

I'm recycling photos again.



Do you know how some weeks just stink? Last week was one of those weeks for me. Elijah was sick and coughing and none of us were sleeping. I was busy at work and trying to get Christmas gifts in order and dealing with very cold weather and snowy commutes. The whole week had an overall feel of gloom. Well, this week has been much better. Elijah slept through the entire night last night without coughing or making a single peep!! (I rarely use two exclamation points in a row!) And since we are all sleeping better, everything else seems to be going more smoothly.

We have even made progress with the Jungle Junction weaning! I've gotten Elijah to watch entire non-Junction shows within the past few days, which is a miracle. He seems to have a renewed passion for Veggie Tales, which is sweet music to our ears. There is a Silly Song on one of our Veggie Tales dvds that involves a giant squash sitting on Larry the Cucumber's hat and "squashing" it (ha!). Elijah has seen this Silly Song about a zillion times in his little life, but is suddenly unable to get Big Squash out of his mind. He had me draw about fifty pictures of "Big Gosh" last night and it was the first thing he asked for when I got him out of bed this morning ("Daw Big Gosh pease, Mama!" "You want me to draw Big Squash for you?" "Yes, Mom." I'm not kidding, these are the conversations we have these days! I love it!). And we love YOU, Big Squash, because you are not a character from Jungle Junction! Welcome to our home!

I really wish I could get some of Elijah's walking (he is doing soooo well with this lately!) and talking on video to share with everyone, but every time he sees the camera all he wants to do is watch himself on the display screen. We will have to try to get sneaky. But yes, he has the ability to take quite a few steps on his own now! He doesn't quite have the confidence yet, so Dan and I really have to encourage him before he will try it. And for security, he always needs to have an object or a person nearby before he will attempt it.

We have Elijah's ECSE assessment results meeting tomorrow! I can't wait! More then..

Planning an intervention

I'm starting to plan this sick (yet happy) boy's intervention for his Jungle Junction addiction, so let me know if you can attend so I can prepare enough snacks.



Never before has he been so infatuated with anything. We will be in the produce aisle at the grocery store and he'll say, "Watch Dushin'? Peeease?" Ummm, no sweetie, that's not possible right now.

He will hardly tolerate watching any other show on television. Sometimes Dan and I will try to trick him into watching Little Einsteins or Sesame Street, but a few minutes in, he will say, "Watch Dushin' Mama? Peeeease?" Ugh, ok, fine. We don't let him go overboard with watching it. Maybe one show in the morning and one before bed. Still, he knows every line to every episode, and I'm not kidding. We'll be watching it (as Dan and I are gouging out our eyeballs) and Elijah will say, "Hep! Stuck wocks!" Five seconds later, Zooter the Pig will say on tv, "Help, I'm stuck in the rocks!" Kinda freaky.

He even has us take pictures of the tv while Junction is on. Then, throughout the day, when we say, "No, we are not going to watch Jungle Junction right now," for the 500th time, he will say, "See pishure Bungo Bunny?" as he hands us the camera. He then will sit and stare at the photos of all of the characters as he swoons and wishes he could be watching them in action on tv.

At night before bed and after prayers, Elijah always asks me to "Talk Dushin'?" So we sit and talk about the characters and what kinds of animals they are and so on. Sometimes I try to stump him with really hard questions like, "What color is the pond that Toadhog dips into?" or "What does Ellevan touch that makes him start shrinking?" and he gets the answer right every time.

So, please give me a head count for the intervention!