Installment 1: The Dirty Face Brothers

This first photo is an exception to the title. Elijah and I went to his cousin Kaleigh's birthday party last weekend. That boy was in HEAVEN, getting all kinds of love from his cousins and aunties. He had tons of fun in the bounce-house, too!



I have about 50 Dirty Face Brothers photos to share, so I will start with this first batch of Sam. Who is his Mother, anyway, and why doesn't she wash off his face?!



I'll start with sharing some words Sam is saying...
up (UMP)
Yo Gabba Gabba (oo-GLLAHLLA-GLLAHLLA...still with tongue sticking out of mouth)
Elijah (uh-ya-ya or uh-da-da)
magnet (da-de)
raisins, blueberries and cereal (BRRrr...???)
cheese (deez)
shoes and hat (iss...add a cute lisp to the "s")
airplane and car (brrrm brrrrm)
puppy (uff uff)
cow (booooo)
Dada
Mama
go (GGgooooooo)
play (bay...and he simultaneously does the sign for it, which is so stinkin' cute because he just wiggles his fingers all around)
eat (he says this when he is hungry OR thirsty)
all done (ah-duh)
peek-a-boo (uh-boo)



Sam started doing a funny dance the other day. He leans his head over to touch his right shoulder, and then smiles. That's it. It's simple, but hilarious.



And Elijah...oh, our strong-willed little Elijah. Some weeks it seems like we are making Potty progress. Other weeks, we regress. He knows when to go and what needs to be done. He just doesn't do it. But he's great at telling me, "Mom, I pooped mine pants!" It is sooo hard not to get frustrated, especially when I KNOW that he knows. Ever since Kaleigh's birthday party on Saturday, Elijah has been obsessed with the idea of having a Barbie doll. He asked me a thousand times on the way home if he could get a Ken doll. So we are using that as incentive. If he goes pee in the potty, he gets one quarter. If he goes poop in the potty, he gets two quarters. If he has an accident in his pants, one quarter gets taken away. If he gets TEN quarters, we will go shopping for a Ken doll.



School is going really well for Elijah so far this year. He has made many leaps with social skills. The other day his teacher wrote that he spontaneously was asking other kids questions, which is just huge for him. I noticed at Kaleigh's birthday party that he was doing the same. I heard him ask her, "Kiwi, what's your teacher's name?" and then, "Kiwi, what's your favorite color?"



The other night I was in the kitchen making cookies and Elijah was helping. I was having him put M&M's on a few of the cookies. I heard him say, "One pwus one equals two! One pwus two equals fwee!" I said, "Elijah, are you doing MATH?! What is one plus three?" He said, "Four!" I called over to Dan and said, "DO YOU HEAR THIS? Our four-year-old is doing math!" What the heck!



Skydiving season is getting slower and slower with each passing week. Things for me have been, well, nutty. I won't get into that or my brain will explode.



Elijah has an IEP meeting next week and a cardiology appointment coming up in early November. All will go great, we pray!



Installment 2: The Dirty Face Brothers coming soon!

I love you, Friday.

Because I'm a slacker (or maybe just because this week has been crazy), here is an old photo of Elijah, taken in May 2008, a few weeks after open heart surgery #2.



This first paragraph is for my dad..

A few weeks ago, Dan had a baseball game on tv and Elijah nonchalantly looked at the screen and said, "baseball." Uhh, how in the world..? Last week basketball was on and we heard Elijah say, "bashetball." Again, what?? Then last night, football was on and he said what sounded exactly like, "Super Bowl!" ???? I certainly haven't been schooling him in the different sports, and Dan claims he hasn't been either, so I have no idea how he acquired this knowledge. I think my dad and brother have been secretly chatting with him. I'm onto you guys.

We have always known that Elijah is a strong-willed (otherwise known as "stubborn") little man. I believe that his strong will has gotten him through his surgeries and recoveries and hospitalizations, so you won't find me complaining about it much. Except maybe a little bit recently. This kid has seriously STRONG WILL. The other day he was being naughty and swiped at me (he knows that this is very uncool), so Dan told him, "Please say 'sorry' to Mama." Elijah, knowing how to say "sorry," made the sign language sign for it and refused to speak it to me. Dan asked again and he continued to refuse. FIVE TIMEOUTS LATER, I got a "Sorry, Mama," and a hug.

A quick funny thing from our week.. I discovered two indicators that let me know one of our cars is very old and noisy: 1) The driver's door no longer latches when it's cold, so I have to hold it closed with one hand as I drive with the other. (Super safe, I know. At least it latches once it warms up.) 2) Elijah sits in the back seat and yells, "SQQQuuuuuueeeeeeeeeaaaaAAAKKKKkkkkk!" as he tries to copy the noise the car is making.

His cold got a tiny bit worse this week, but I think it's already turning around. Nothing to worry about, thankfully! This weekend involves NO PLANS for us, which is sweet sweet music to my ears. This week was the busiest week (work and otherwise) I have had in a very long time, so nothingness is extremely welcome. I don't mind fast-paced, but I'm too old for crazy-paced!

More later...and pics, too! Have a great weekend!

Ninja moves

Our camera has been revived, but I haven't taken any new photos. Here is a fun oldie, taken exactly one year ago.



Do you ever have moments where you just know an angel was sitting next to you, waiting to give you a hand? I had one of those moments last night, and I can't stop thinking about it. I set Elijah on one of the chairs at our dining room table so he could watch the iTunes visualizer on the computer while he listened to his music (he loves doing this). I went to scootch (how in the world do you spell that? scooch?) him in toward the table when one of the chair legs caught the edge of one of the tiles on the floor and he started falling sideways, head first toward the floor. I was able to catch the tiniest bit of his shirt between two of my fingers, which slowed him down enough for me to reach my other arm out and grab his neck and pull him back up. It startled him and he gave me his grumpy face for a few seconds. After a big mama hug, all was well.

I am certain that Elijah's guardian angel(s ?) was there helping me. Thank you, Angel! That was shaping up to be an ugly fall and I was grateful to have my boy safely in my arms. I held him a little bit extra tight for the rest of the night.

Aside from that, we are having a nice tame week. Elijah continues to say all kinds of words. This is so much fun! We have waited so long for this explosion and it has been worth the wait. I'm eating up every minute of it!

Dan and I are really excited about a class we will be attending, along with Elijah, for 10 weeks this fall/winter. It is offered through the Early Intervention Program (through the school district) that we have been a part of pretty much since Elijah was born. He has gotten some of his OT, PT and ST through this program. The class they are offering is called It Takes Two, and it will focus on how we as parents can encourage Elijah to communication well with us. I am also excited to meet other parents who have children who are experiencing similar delays as Elijah. I imagine this will be very refreshing for me.

Another beautiful September weekend

I can't get my camera to work and if you know me, this is upsetting! So, sorry, I have no photos from our weekend to share. It must get boring hearing me basically say the same things every weekend (Dan is working, Elijah and I are chillin', blah blah), so I'll do this post in a different format.

Funny
Elijah thinks it's hilarious to act like he's my tiny little baby. He says "BABY!" and then crawls into my arms so I can rock him and talk baby talk to him. Silly boy.

I realized this weekend that most of the time when Elijah is reading a book, he reads it upside down in his lap as if he is reading it to an audience.

Sad
I decided we would go swimming this morning. Elijah was so excited about it that he yelled "POOL!!!!" repeatedly the entire way to the community center. We got there to find out that the pool didn't open for another two hours. The look on his face as we walked back out was absolutely heartbreaking. I sat down on a bench outside with him and cried sad tears into his little shoulder as he cried into mine. I adore seeing him excited and happy more than anything, and it was more heart-wrenching than I could have ever imagined to see him so sad and let down. I decided to go back in and find something else for us to do. We settled for playing in the toddler play area for an hour and a half. It didn't quite fill the spot of the pool, but it was better than heading straight back home.

Exciting
Listening to our Sounds Like Fun cd this morning, I realized that Elijah was singing along with the songs and saying a lot of the words correctly. Even the "uno, dos y tres!" song. :) Who knew?!

His language is absolutely exploding right now. He is saying words today that he literally wasn't saying on Friday. Some of his new words/phrases from the weekend: silly boy (see boy), candy bar (key bar), smoke alarm (soke ahm), dropzone (opzo), bye bye store (bye bye door), square (share), circle (cirshle), clean up (een up). THIS IS SO EXCITING!!

Clean-Up time is fun for Elijah. We'll see how long this lasts!

I got a good amount of cleaning done this weekend. Laundry is all caught up and Dan's and my room, which was previously a war zone, now looks semi-livable.


Another low-key week lies ahead of us. I plan to soak it all in because October is going to be a busy month. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!

A couple cute moments to remember

In anticipation of my dad's side of the family's Family Reunion this coming weekend, I was looking through last year's photos from the same reunion and found this beautiful boy..




A couple quick stories from last night..

Elijah was "working" at his work bench outside, sawing things with his "aw," as I sat in a chair on the patio watching him play. He looked up at me suddenly and said, "Dada?" and then he offered me his hand and said, "Ock!" This is translated to: "Where is Daddy? Here, help me walk (ock!) so we can go find him." So I grabbed his hands and helped him walk over to the front door. He peered into the living room and called "Dada?" again, but Dan didn't answer. Elijah said, "Dada? Odge! (garage)" so we headed over to the gate at the edge of the patio so he could peek around into the garage. Dan wasn't there either, so I suggested maybe he was somewhere inside. Elijah told me "ock!" again, so we walked into the house as he continued to call for Dan. I said, "I think he might be in the kitchen!" so Elijah walked quickly toward the kitchen and started to giggle because he was so excited to find Dan. And in standard Elijah fashion, he was so happy upon seeing Dan (even though he had spent most of the day with him) that he erupted into silly excited squeals and giggles.

It was the cutest thing. The communication thing is very new for us, so it is exciting when Elijah tells us who or what he wants. Yesterday's quest for Dan was so sweet. His sweet little voice calling Daddy's name, his unbalanced steps scurrying around, his eagerness to see his daddy..

Then later, after Elijah's bath, I asked him if he wanted to go downstairs and watch a little Thomas the Train on tv before bed. Of course he got excited and started to sign PLEASE repeatedly. To make this sign, you rub the palm of your hand in a circular motion on your chest. So when I picked Elijah up to go downstairs he was still signing please, and then he reached over and signed it on my chest. I guess that must have meant pretty please?

Communication is here!

While Dan was taking a picture of Elijah after his first proper bath in a long long time, he got very upset about not being allowed to play with the camera. Look at that face!

I have been meaning to write a post about Elijah's communication explosion in the past few weeks. He is saying and signing so many new things, and it has been very encouraging. He is still having a hard time getting a lot of air to move through his mouth, so he still says only the ends of words and many of them still are very nasal-sounding. He has an appointment with his ENT doctor next Tuesday to rule out palate deformities that could be causing some of these issues.

New signs: please, thank you, cracker, puppy, flower, car, airplane, boat.

New words: bug (he appears to like bugs and he does not get this from Mama), plant, dirt, light, car, cow, dog, walk, stuck, cat, map, mop, cup, slide, chalk, yak and the list goes on.. New words pop up every day.


Ohhhh pizza, I must eat you.

Yesterday I put Elijah in the wagon after dinner so we could go get the mail. It's our little thing we do every evening. When we walk down our driveway and turn to the left, we are heading toward the mailbox. When we turn to the right, we are heading toward the park. So when I turned left last night, he immediately got a grumpy-sad look on his face. He pointed behind him and said, "K0ck!" (I misspelled that on purpose to avoid icky google searches, and yes, that is exactly how he pronounces the word "park," and yes, it is a little weird when people in public stare at you because your child is saying that word repeatedly and very excitedly.) We eventually made it to the park and fulfilled his desire for swings and rocks and slides. Our boy is a true lover of the outdoors, and especially of parks.

We have had a really low-key and normal week, which has been nice! Dan works again this coming weekend, which is very good for our checkbook. Elijah and I have a few fun things planned, including possibly spending our first night at the dropzone this summer! We will see what other adventures lie ahead.

Thanks for checking in on our munchkin. We hope you all are having a great week!

The sweetest

The weather has been beautiful this week (above 40 degrees, that is), so every evening we have taken Elijah for a wagon ride after dinner. Only one night was warm enough for a longer ride, so the other nights we just walked around the block and got the mail. Two nights ago, after a short wagon ride, as Dan was pulling the wagon into the garage, Elijah gave me a sideways glance of disapproval. A second later he was a heaping mess. We have heard a lot of fake crying lately, but this was the real thing. He laid his head on Dan's shoulder for a solid couple of minutes and just sobbed. Apparently the wagon rides and being outdoors are a hit! Then last night after our short walk (because it was a bit windy and chilly), he looked sad when we pulled into the garage, but he didn't cry. I picked him up and carried him inside and I saw his bottom lip starting to come out. I used my mama distraction skills and with a huge smile on my face and my eyebrows raised high, I said, "DO YOU WANT TO TAKE A BATH?!" He adores his bath time, so he instantly forgot about being outside. After his bath, I put his jammies on and we were sitting in the living room playing. He crawled over to the banister and starting reeeeeeeaching up for his jacket. I took it off and handed it to him, and he handed it right back to me like, Put this thing on me, woman! I told him we were done with being outside for the night, but he could wear his jacket inside if he wanted to. I put it on over his jammies but didn't zip it up. He kept trying to close the front of it with his hands in hopes of magically fusing the zipper together. Then he pointed outside and looked at me hopefully. He wanted to go back outside so badly and Mommy was saying no. Mean Mama! It was really sweet, though, because he handled the emotions in such a big boy way. He did everything he could think of to appropriately let me know what he wanted, and when I said no, he didn't freak out. He just slumped his shoulders and looked down at the ground with disappointment. That made my heart ache enough to cuddle up with him while we watched an episode of Veggie Tales! Bob and Larry cure everything.

All night last night he repeatedly pointed at Dan and me and each of the Veggie Tales characters and said, "Dada!" Ummmmmm, no, Bob the Tomato is not your father. I think it's a good sign that he is finally pointing to people/characters and verbally labeling them, even if the labeling is wrong. Baby steps!

Oh, and when I got home from work Elijah was munching on a rice cake (what 2-yr-old likes rice cakes?). I brought him upstairs with me while I changed out of my work clothes and I turned around to see him trying to stick the rice cake into his belly button. Since that didn't work, he set the rice cake down and tried putting the corner of a piece of paper into it instead. That boy and his belly button.

p.s. His cough and snot flow are improving. PLEASE GOD, no more sickness for my little boy this winter!

I like low-key

We have had a pretty low-key week. Elijah's cough gets a little bit better every day. He still coughs in the night here and there, but it's just something we've gotten used to (sadly). One of the things E's pediatrician said last week was that he is probably just going to be one of these kids who gets croup and the coughies constantly until he's five years old. Wonderful! It could be worse.. so, we'll take it without too much complaining..

Yesterday's crazy snow storm kept us from going to PT/speech. He did get his home PT visit on Wednesday, and that went well. They are always so amazed at how much information is in his little head that he just isn't able to express yet. They had some really good ideas for us to get him to communicate better that I'm excited to try.

We have a super fun weekend ahead of us. Tonight Dan and I have a babysitter coming over to sit with Elijah while he sleeps so we can go meet some skydiving friends for dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. It's been quite a while since we've seen some of them, so it will be fun to catch up. Tomorrow we are bringing the little man down to my sister's in the afternoon so we can go skiing for a couple hours. Back before I was a mama I used to ski all the time, so this is really exciting for me. It has been THREE YEARS since I've been on the slopes. That is way too long! I'm going to be all wobbly-legged and sloppy. Sunday will be a day of rest (since my old, weak legs will surely be sore), spent with my wonderful little family.. I hope you all have a great weekend!

p.s. My friend Cara's niece, Ellie, passed away this week after battling brain cancer for ten months. Please send up a little prayer for her family.. :(

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.