Our passionate red head is growing up fast! We are celebrating our third year with him and his entertaining ways. He’s as loving and as feisty as ever but his talents and abilities are multiplying quickly. Elijah is not doing anything new in particular, but he’s further developed things I reported on in his last update. He constantly has a song in his heart and is always busy “working”. He’s also the biggest three year old talker you’ve ever met.
Elijah continues to be very empathetic and loving. He often says the sweetest things to tell us how much he loves us. I got a splinter out of his hand the other day, then he told me I was the best! If you ever make a statement such as “I’m tired” then he’ll sweetly and with concern tell you you should fix the problem, saying, “then you should go to bed.” Little does he know he’s one of the reasons I can’t!
Speaking of problem solving, there are a few cartoons that he loves and they all revolve around problem solving. I guess he’s a Mr. Fix It like his Daddy. His new favorite is “Peg + Cat”, or at least he’s always singing the theme, “We’ve got a problem, problem solved.” I try not to let him watch too much t.v. in the mornings while Josiah’s at school, Joshua naps, and I am busy, but it’s been a rough few months for all of us with illness, fatigue, and too much to do, so he’s definitely watched his fair share, though he prefers learning time.
Elijah loves learning time. I try to follow a little routine with him that involves letters, numbers, colors, Bible verses, weather, free time to write/scribble on the dry erase board, and some other activity like flash cards or sticker books, but even though he loves it, we don’t do it as much as we should. One of his favorite things to draw on the board is snakes :) He seems to be very smart and picks up on things quickly. He thrives on the interaction.
While we were outside, Elijah picked several leaves from the magnolia tree and had me take a picture of him with each of them. I’ll spare you and only show two of them :)
But learning is not all about academics. Elijah also learns a ton of life skills for kids from Josiah. Josiah teaches him about play and all things important to boys. Sometimes he teaches quality stuff, sometimes it is just silliness and that gets them into trouble. The other day Jacob and I were looking out the window watching Josiah play on the swing set. He’d run round and round to get up speed and then “fly” when he pitched himself onto the swing with his belly. We commented about how he was turning into “boy” instead of preschooler and his play was becoming more imaginative, daring, and active. Jacob commented on how next he’d be teaching Elijah to do it but he’d bet that Elijah would over shoot it and face plant (said jokingly with a laugh). Within seconds we saw Elijah starting to run and looked as if he was going to give it a try. We cringed and held our breaths as he attempted lift off. Sure enough, he landed on the swing with his hips rather than his belly, face planted, and came up with a mouthful of dirt and a cry. The tough kid that rarely cries because of pain was stunned and looked towards the house with tears. We had to swallow our laughter as we exited the house and went to be sure he didn’t loose any teeth or bust a lip. He was fine, but he lost his interest in flying.
The sun was bright behind Mommy!
Elijah still has a terrible appetite. I forgot to mention in the last update that he’d finally tried, then willingly ate a few cooked carrots. I was elated! In the weeks that followed, he was proud of himself for trying a little potato and scrambled eggs. We go round and round with him at meal time to get him to eat what we eat and occasionally try new things. Have you ever met a kid that won’t eat mac n’ cheese? It’s SO FRUSTRATING! The worst part is that he’s so prone to gagging and vomiting, that if we push the issue too much then he’s sure to get rid of everything he’s eaten. We walk a fine line trying to make it a decent experience while encouraging a good diet and insisting on obedience.
On the health front, like the rest of us, Elijah has spent the last three months fighting minor illnesses, mostly upper respiratory, almost continually. This has resulted in lost sleep and a couple doctor visits followed by antibiotics. The boys have shared a few bouts of pink eye, too. True to his heightened gag reflex, I’ve also cleaned up after a few random vomiting episodes, too.
One last thing about our little live wire. He never stops talking! He talks incessantly and requires a response so you can’t just half listen or tone him out. It’s impossible to keep a train of thought with him around. But it’s pretty endearing, too. When he’s not talking, he’s singing. He sings songs he knows and he makes songs up about things going on around him and when he’s done he says, “was that a good song, Mama?”. Along with his singing, he continues to work on his instrumental skills.
Elijah is just so funny! We laugh at him all the time. It’s been a fun three years and he’s stretched our parenting skills in ways that raising Josiah has never required. It’s funny how siblings can be so different. We are proud of who he is already becoming and we look forward to seeing who he becomes, though we can’t believe he is already three years into his journey.
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