Thursday Night – 10/13/2011

For longer than I can remember, I’ve heard that being a parent changes you. It’s true and it isn’t a surprise. What has been a surprise has been how it has changed me. I sort of expected that it’d be something large and dramatic, but it isn’t like that at all. I’ve always been rather reflective, but it seems to be magnified now that I have Eli. He is a joy in every sense of the word. I’m sorry that we waited as long as we did to have him.

Elijah continues to grow into a bigger and bigger person every day.

At his 24 month checkup (2 years for those that are keeping score), the doctor said that he’s was in the 50th percentile for a 30 month old. Not too bad for a boy that came out 2 months early.

His vocabulary is progressing famously. Before his 24 month appointment, Martha was concerned that he was babbling, but not making words. The day before the doctor’s appointment, he, out of the blue became a chatterbox making words and sounds for lots and lots of things.

The words come out in rather interesting ways. “Please” comes out “Pa-Chee.” In the past week, we started to develop sentences of 2 words.

A favorite word and thing to recognize is “plane.” He sees or hears them and he’ll point it out to you.

A close second is “train.”

Other favorites include star, car, blanket, and kitty. Though, there are many more.

We went to Walt Disney Wold in Florida in September and Eli loved all the characters. We were wondering if he’d shy away from them, but our fears were unfounded.

He’s pretty fearless. Sometimes he’ll be unsure of things, but loud noises don’t bother him. He loved the fireworks. “More” was a common word while they were going off. Several balloons popped in his presence, and they didn’t phase him.

Eli is also and explorer. At Disney, he wasn’t fond of hand-holding, but, in the past week or so, that’s changed. He’ll now ask for a hand if he needs an assist on the stairs. He’ll come and get Martha or myself and take us by the hand if he needs something.

Bedtime is sometimes an issue, but less so if we wear him out with some extra exercise. I’ve got a Nintendo 3DS that, when I play, he likes to sit in my lap and watch. (I turn the 3D effect off. It doesn’t do much for me.)

When we read, he still prefers books that have flaps that reveal things.

The only real concern has been night terrors. They were much more pronounced for a while with him waking up crying/screaming several times a night. Lately, it might be once or twice a night, but not every night. Sometimes, I’ve had to wake him up and ask him questions about words he knows and loves. “Is there a train?” “What color is the car?” “Is there a star?” That seems to calm him and he falls back asleep quickly.

I’ve been reading (among other books) Brain Rules for Baby by John Medina. (He’s a Seattle resident and works at the University of Washington.) Fabulous book!

http://brainrules.net/brain-rules-for-baby

Also on my reading list is Ellen Galinsky’s Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs. http://mindinthemaking.org/learn_more/about_the_book/

That’s what I’ve got for now. Sorry for the huge lag in updates. The career change has really taken up my time. I’ll work at being better.

Until next time, share the love!

Wednesday Night- 2/2/11

How has it been over a month since my last update? So much for my pre New Year’s Resolution to keep everyone informed about his progress.

Before Christmas, Eli started walking. Not a lot of steps, but significant progress, just the same. At the time, he was crawling as much as he was walking (more or less) but it was really good to see his progress. For some reason, he tended to walk more for me than anyone else, but baby steps are still steps.

Every week since then, we’ve seen great progress in his walking and his confidence. Around Christmas, he was taking a few steps at a time. The first week of the New Year, he was walking a little more, but starting to slide to the left and right at an angle to move ahead. It was almost as if he was avoiding direct forward motion to maintain his balance. The second week in January, he started taking more steps, and his crawling to walking ratio moved to more walking and less crawling. (Though, if there was something to climb, he was on top of it.) Third week in January, he gained a huge boost of confidence (mostly at home) and would navigate walking around his toys. Then, last week, he actually started walking through the house stepping over small items in his way.

Elijah is eating well. Peach favored yogurt is the one thing he seems to not care for. His gag reflex still kicks in when he has a texture he hasn’t yet experienced and can’t quite chew. Some solid foods, he has no real interest in, so we’ve got to work on that. Solid fruits like pears and peaches he’ll just play with. Bananas are no problem though.

He likes “dad’s cereal.” I enjoy the Malt-O-Meal Lucky Charms clone, so when I have a bowl, I’ll give him the dry cereal minus the freeze dried marshmallows. It’s to the point that he won’t eat his own puffs if my cereal is around. For a while, he’d eat one at a time and bite them into small pieces. Now he’ll put a whole one into his mouth and chew it without issue.

Another favorite food seems to be the goldfish cracker. (The cheddar cheese flavored ones.) At first, Martha broke them up for him, but not any more. Martha was a little freaked out the first time he started to put multiple crackers in his mouth, but he did fine.

He drinks milk out of the bottle, but sippy cups, not so much. We’ve tried several varieties, but had little success. He’ll drink a little, especially if someone holds it for him, but on his own one or two sips and he’s usually done.

At 33 inches, he’s over half of Martha’s height. and he’s still growing fast. I’ve looked at some of his baby pictures from the past 18 months and have marveled at how much he’s grown. It seems like yesterday that he was in the NICU and so very tiny. (Not that he was that small in the NICU compared to others that were around him.) Time really flies and I never feel like I have enough time with him.

Comprehension has also been fascinating to watch. We continue to use sign language and he babbles at us. However, if was ask him to do things, he responds with an appropriate action. For so long asking him to do something has been an exercise in talking to oneself, now he’ll start to do what you say. Now he’ll drink, or follow you, help you if you ask him. It is amazing.

That’s the buzz for now. Martha’s taking him for a follow up visit to a feeding/speech therapist. I doubt there will be much to report, but we’ll see what they say.

Happy Belated New Year!

Thursday Night – 12/23/10

The question of the week… “Guess who’s walking?”

Yup! After a number of test steps over the past few weeks where he’d take a step and sit down and a great number of things he’s tried to climb, Elijah has celebrated his 17th month of life by walking.

On Monday, he was taking 5 or 6 steps and then sitting down with a thump and a large sigh. Tuesday and Wednesday he was showing off his skills to Uncle Chris and Aunt Becky and then again during a visit to Diane and Marlyn Hagemann. (Where their daughter, Dakota, apparently expressed a desire for Elijah to talk so that she could know why he was pointing at everything.)

Today, during a visit to Grandma Janice and Grandpa Bob, he took a few steps for them too.

Given the choice, he still seems to prefer crawling, but he’s doing very well walking. (And we’re quick to praise him for his steps.)

One funny thing is that he sometimes will only sidestep. It’s as if he doesn’t want to risk forward motion.

The week’s other big event was that Eli got his very first haircut today. It started out okay, but, like so many other first haircuts, Elijah was just not enjoying it at all. I’ve got pictures that I’ll try to post here in the next week or so. I’ve got a before and after shot as well as some close-ups of some teary eyes.

The positive note about the crying was that it gave us a chance to see Eli’s new teeth. He’s less than thrilled to let us touch them, but they look pretty good. (And I got a picture.)

On Monday, I tried giving Elijah some refried beans for the first time. It went pretty well… for a while. Eventually he got a bean that wasn’t fully pureed. The result was less than pretty, but he didn’t share ALL of what I’d given him and has shown no real signs of abnormal gastrointestinal issues.

Other news is that he is starting to use sign language in a meaningful way. He can say “more” and “all done.” He can also point out certain things and identify us in real life as well as photos. I say “certain things” as he knows thing like “kitty” pretty easily and he can also find Mickey Mouse without issue. At one point, we asked “where’s Mickey Mouse?” and he pointed at Martha. Turns out, under her sweatshirt was a t-shirt from Disney World that had Mickey Mouse on it. Wow.

Tomorrow night, we’re headed to church (for an early family-oriented Christmas Eve service), then we’ll spend the night with Uncle Chris and Aunt Becky and cousins Zander and Ezekial so that we can enjoy Christmas day with the extended family. I can’t wait.

If you celebrate such things, Merry Christmas! (If you don’t, enjoy some Chinese food and some skiing.)

Thursday Night – 12/16/10

I’d really wanted to keep up with regular blog posts about Elijah. Trouble is, free time is scarce these days. I’m starting to get into a routine, so that really helps.

Let’s see… what’s happening with Elijah. He’s had a few “first steps” but not a lot of freestanding walking. He’ll pull himself up and he’ll walk along the couch while holding/touching it, but the moment he steps away from it, he’ll sit down and start to crawl.

Every day, he understands more and more words. About a week ago (or so) I told him. “If you want me to pick you up, then stand up.” Sure enough, he grabbed my pant legs and pulled himself into a standing position. Pretty neat.

When Elijah gets near the cats and he starts getting rough with them, all we have to do is say “gentle” and he’ll calm down and pet the nicely. This has had the also beneficial action of when he starts flailing his arms around our faces we can say “gentle” and he’ll stop. (Of course, he’ll also start petting us like we’re cats, but still, it’s a win.)

We’re also having some luck teaching Elijah some sign language. “Up” was the first one. He now knows “all done” as well as “more.” Sometimes he forgets, but other days he’s right on the money. I think, up next, is “please.”

We’ve not weighed him or measured him for a while. Martha and I are talking about a Disney trip to Florida to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary in September and she said something like “8 more inches to Splash Mountain.” (I seriously doubt that he’s going to grow that much, but it’s funny to hear her talk of milestones in terms of Disney park height requirements.

I’m much more cavalier about introducing new foods to Elijah’s diet. Though, I’m usually smart enough to try new things before he gets a bottle of milk or his regular solids.

(I can’t remember if I mentioned before… Elijah is off formula completely and no longer taking the medications for reflux. It’s like a $250/month pay raise.)

Last week, I found some ravioli like things from Gerber that I picked up at the store. Martha wasn’t going to even try them for a while, but this week I gave it a shot. No problems at all. Not to say that all new foods are going to be easy, but we’re making progress with chewing and swallowing. It’s pretty exciting.

Eli’s had his front teeth for a while now, four on top and four on the bottom. Right now, he’s got a number of 1st year molars coming in behind them. For a while, it seemed that the teeth were ready to erupt but his jaw/gums were growing faster than the teeth were moving. Now, that trend has stopped and you can see the little white nubs poking through. Of course, he’s not happy with this, but it seems to be less problematic than the first teeth.

As far as talking goes, Eli will be in full “babble mode” where he is incredibly vocal or he’ll just sit and be quiet. I’m not sure what turns his urge to talk on or off. He’ll parrot some words. He’ll vocalize the word “hi” from time to time, but we don’t know if he’s really saying hello, of if he’s just repeating the word like a voice recorder. I suspect that, very soon, he’s going to use a word correctly and knock Martha and me out of our chairs. I’ll let you know when that happens.

Sometime in the next week or two, we think Elijah’s going to get his first haircut. We’ll see how that goes.

We’re also going to look into some parenting classes. One of the “side effects” of being an older first-time parent is that I’m willing to get help in an area of which I know very little. 20 years ago I would have probably said “if my Dad could do it, so can I.” Today, I sometimes wonder how my dad lived through not 1 child, but 3.

That’s my update for today. (Made possible by today being my last day of teaching for the quarter and I have no homework on a weekday for the first time in 3 months. Whew.)

More soon and season’s blessings to you and your families!

Friday Night – 10/29/10

Martha is off doing one of her Scentsy parties so Elijah and I are chilling at home.

Funny thing that I’ve learned… the boy seem to like to poop in clean diapers. After he had his yogurt and applesauce, I took him to change his very wet diaper. 10 minutes later, he was standing by the couch on his tiptoes with a certain gleam in his eye. (Then, not long after, a scent of his own.)

Before yogurt, I opted to give him some puffs. Martha has stopped feeding them to him because he’d start to choke on them and then share the contents of his stomach with who ever was is closest. My thought, give them to him on an empty stomach and then “worst case” becomes partially digested airborne puffs. My gamble paid off and he had seconds.

I think I forgot to mention in an earlier blog that all we have to do with Elijah’s bottle is, when he’s sitting his his highchair, put it in front of him. He’ll take it and feed himself. It helps that we use the “Drop-Ins” bottles. They’re the ones with the plastic liner so, when he sucks on it, it acts like one of those juice drinks that come in plastic pouches.

If I had one concern right now about Elijah, I’d have to say that I’m worried about his sleep. Quite regularly, he’ll wake up in the middle of the night with a full fledged cry and then go back to sleep. I don’t know if he’s having nightmares or was awakened by something else and simply upset.

Eli has never really been into his pacifier. Right now, he’s using one as a teething ring and chewing on the backside of it.

Still no walking. He’ll pull himself up and he’ll stand free and clear of whatever he’s next to, but no steps. He’ll pull himself along the couch , crib, or pack-and-play without issue. Sometimes, he’ll even look at me as if to say “Look what I did!”

We’re getting adjusted to life in Washington. The move was draining, but God has been smiling on us nearly every step of the way. It’s nearly impossible to list all the things that could have gone wrong with everything, only to have them work out. This is not to say that it has been easy. My take-home pay has been cut by $10K a year, so that smarts and until we get settled and pay back everyone we owe, we’re going to budget down to the last penny.

We’re also not forgetting to budget for some R&R. We’ve been to a few square dances (though not as many as we’d like as there are lots of people to see) and next September marks our 5th wedding anniversary, so I’d like to plan a trip to celebrate. Hmmmm… I wonder where we might go.

Still, it’s great to be back in Washington. I absolutely love being a full time teacher. It’s a lot of work. Teacher prep, test prep, student issues, tenure issues, and homework considerations seem constant. (I’ve been told that the second year is easier. You not only get into a rhythm, you can recycle some of those materials from the first year.)

I can’t believe that Thanksgiving is a month away. Next thing you know, it’ll be Christmas and then 2011. Christmas will be on the small side, and that’s okay with me. These days I’m much more about “experiences” than “stuff.” I’m sure we’ll find some small toys for Elijah. My guess is that he’ll be happy playing in a large cardboard box.

Though, I do wish I could get him a large wooden rocking chair. My parents had one that they rocked me and my siblings in. We don’t have tons of room for one, but I’d keep it in Eli’s room and rock him when he needs it. Were we in PA, I’d head down to Amish country and find a craftsman to make me a handmade one. (Made by hand always trumps made by machine. In China.)

Well, it is 8:20 and someone looks really tired. I’m going to change his diaper, put a 12 hour one on him and then sit with him until he falls asleep.

Have a great weekend and Happy Halloween!

Thursday Night – 10/28/10

First off, a happy birthday shout out to my nephew, Zander, on his birthday. Happy Birthday to you young man!

Being a parent, is a gift that manifests itself in many ways. One of those ways, if you choose to let it, is that you can relearn some of life’s lessons that you may (or may not) have forgotten on the way to becoming an adult. This past week’s lesson had little to do with me as his mother and I learned…

Elijah does not like clowns.

This, is an understatement. Elijah likes clowns as much as cats like to go swimming or dogs enjoy visits from the local mail carrier.

Last Friday night, we gathered up the family to visit our friends at the Samena Squares in Kirkland for their Halloween student-dance. Elijah has cute dinosaur costume this year (pictures will be forthcoming) and we went to support our friend Susan Morris who was calling the dance. Susan’s costume was one of the best clown creations ever. (I wouldn’t have recognized her had I not know it was her.) Eli burst into tears when she came within 5 feet of him. She could be in the same room, but he would scan for her and the moment she got too close, there was a powerful cry to be had.

On Saturday, we took him to our church’s Halloween party, which was fun. It’s really interesting to watch him play and interact with other kids. (Some of which are much older than he is.) He’s got a pretty low key disposition. (Especially if he’s been fed and has a dry diaper.)

Sunday, Elijah and I enjoyed a little Father/Son time while Martha helped host a Scentsy party. (Scentsy is flameless candle type of thing that allows you to have the scents of a candle without an open flame. Think aroma-therapy without the added of the pyrotechnics.) It was a nice quiet day. I try to spend as much time with Elijah as I can. Between work at work, work at home, and trying to get caught up in square dance land, there’s not much time left over. So, I enjoy all the one-on-one time that I get.

Tomorrow, Friday, I’ll get another Father/Son day with Eli. Saturday, we’ll help Zander celebrate his big 5.0 birthday. Sunday, Martha and Eli are headed north to visit Aunt Rosalie and Uncle Bill to give them a “baby fix.” I’ll miss them, but I don’t mind sharing.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Tuesday Night – 10/19/10

First a thought about bedtime… Yes, there will come a day when Elijah can cry himself to sleep. Today is not that day. The other night, I put him to bed thinking that he’d get tired of crying and just settle down. It just didn’t happen. He was miserable and overheated and I felt horrible. So, the day will come. When it does, I’ll be strong.

Today, Elijah is 15 months old and, as luck would have it, he had his 15 month appointment at the pediatrician. One of the things the doctor said was, “Good news, he’s not autistic.” Really? Like that was the fear in the back of my head? (It was never a concern.)

At 15 months, Elijah weighs 27 pounds, 12 ounces. (For my metric speaking friends, that’s 12.59 kilograms.) He’s 31 and 1/4 inches tall. (79 centimeters.)

Compared to his peers (do babies really have peers???) he’s in the 87th percentile for weight, 56th percentile for length/height, and 99th percentile for head circumference.

He got a flu shot, and a couple of vaccinations. (I’d list them, but I can’t spell them.)

We’re going to see a speech/language therapist about some of his eating habits as well as communication concerns. Apparently, Elijah is at the age where he should be at least pointing at what he wants. Granted, he does get excited when he sees something he wants (like mom and dad, food, the kitties, or a toy) but the issue is that he should be letting us know that he wants those things.

The eating habit issue is that new foods (especially more solid ones, like cereal) frequently trigger a gag reflex that is particularly strong. (I can relate to it but hope to minimize it.) He doesn’t currently drink milk due to the fact that the last milk he drank came up as fast as it went down. So, we’ll introduce it a little slower (and warmer) and get him weaned from his formula.

I’m in no hurry to cut him off from his bottle. As long as he’s growing and is healthy, it’s all good.

According to the doctor, he has very good social interactions. Like his dad, he’s not shy at all.

It was a good visit. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be there to meet his doctor. Martha liked him, so that’s a great start.

A short note, I know, but I’m going to try to get back on track with regular updates.)

Blessings to you and yours!

Sunday Night – 10/17/2010

Has it really been over 3 months since my last Elijah update? Egads, I didn’t realize I’d been so lax. Sorry about that.

The job change, the subsequent move (and it’s related complications), and the work involved with a career change have prevented me from getting in front of my computer and delivering timely updates. Time to fix that.

For those that don’t know, Martha, Elijah, and I have moved back to Washington state from Arizona, and I’ve taken a job as an instructor at the Renton Technical College. It’s an amazing opportunity. Sort of a career change without a career change. The trip back has been an amazing adventure full of amazing blessings. (Words still fail me when I think about it and all the help we got. However, I put my thanks in prayer every day.) I am not super comfortable simply publishing my address in this blog, so, if you’d like our new address, drop me a line at stephenjcole@msn.com and I’ll get it to you. Be patient as that email address gets more than its fair share of junk mail.

The good news about Elijah is that no news has been good news. Elijah is growing stronger every day. He’s taller, stronger, and louder than he’s ever been.

His eating habits haven’t changed much. He’s eating stage 3 foods without any major reactions. Over the past couple of weeks, it seem that introducing new foods has resulted in a type of adverse reaction. Meaning that foods with new textures tend to come back up rather quickly. There’s no other reaction, so we’re discounting an allergy, but we’re hesitant to make changes very rapidly. Before we left AZ, the doctors there wanted us to wean him from his bottle, but, in a case of “parents know best” that’s something that is happening, but slowly.

Also, we were advised to migrate from formula to whole milk, but that too is on the back burner. Granted, Elijah had a full blown head-cold when we tried before, but the results of the milk were… Let’s just call it “explosive.” I think, at the time, the milk might have been a tad on the cold side, so “brain freeze” might have played a part in it.

Still, doing what we’re doing is working, so “staying the course” is the plan for now.

Bedtime has been a challenge lately. Elijah has rarely gone down for a nap or bedtime without a fight. That kid has some strong lungs, that is for sure. Today, for the first time, I resolved to put him down for his nap and not go in to soothe him no matter what. Egads, that was hard. Tonight, we’re going to attempt the same thing. (Wish us luck.)

Still no walking. However, Eli’s getting closer and closer. He will pull himself along the length of the couch or walk behind some object that is moving. (For example, he’ll push a box across the floor.) Occasionally, he’ll stand free of handholds. Once he realizes he’s not holding onto anything, he’ll sit down promptly. Tonight, there was a glimmer in his eye as he spied something across the room and he almost took a step but it didn’t happen.

Also, he’s got some first year molars coming in. I’ve felt 1, but there are probably 1 or 2 others that are nearly ready to erupt.

So, that’s the update for today. On Tuesday, Elijah will be 15 months old. It is hard for me to believe. Still, it is amazing to watch him grow and learn.

Blessings to you and yours!

Monday Night – 7/26/10

Somehow, it happened. I have a 1 year old son.

Elijah spent his first birthday on a whirlwind tour of western Pennsylvania. I have hundreds of photos. I’ll try to pick out a few to share over the next week or so.

We flew out of Phoenix on Saturday evening. We got lucky as the flight was not full and Elijah got a seat of his own. If a flight is not full, many airlines will let you have a seat for an infant. This was one of those times. He still enjoys flying. So far, he’s not like his dad in that his ears don’t give him troubles as they pressurize the cabin. He also flirts with nearly every woman that walks by. Men are hit or miss but he sure smiles at the ladies.

We were met at the airport by my brother and his family. My favorite sister-in-law, Becky, met us at baggage claim telling us that the rented van was larger than expected but the hotel room was much smaller. (As sizes go, this was preferred.) Once our baggage arrived, we met Chris and the boys, Zander and Ezekial (who, quite frequently, refer to each other as brother) for the trip back to the hotel.

Sunday was a day of relaxation and acclimation to the time zone change. Ugh. After shaking off the sleepiness, we headed over to PNC Park to enjoy a Pirates game. (They played the Astros.) PNC Park is beautiful. It is much more elegant than Three Rivers Stadium ever was. However, the HUGE downside is that there is nearly ZERO shade. This is great if you only go to evening games, but knowing this, if I lived in Pittsburgh, it is reason to stay away. I was very, very disappointed.

Needless to say, it was a hot day. Thankfully, the Pirates played a spectacular game and won. With one home run, we even got to see some fireworks.

Monday, we headed the city where Chris and I grew up, Titusville. It is a city in the legal sense of the word. It got it’s charter in the mid 1800s during the oil discovery boom and, once a place becomes a city, it doesn’t lose the designation. It’s not the smallest city in Pennsylvania, but it is working its way there. In many ways, it was the same city that I remember. However, in more ways, it has changed, and not for the better.

This was Elijah’s actual birthday, so we chose to celebrate… at Perkins Family Restaurant. (Don’t laugh. Okay, you can laugh. It is one of the nicest restaurants in town.) We were met for dinner by one of our former neighbors Tammy Bryan (nee Kaster) and her husband, Bruce. It was FANTASTIC seeing them. They were also incredibly thoughtful and brought gifts for all three boys. Thank you so much for the Build-a-Bears. There were three bears, named by Tammy/Bruce’s son. The bears names’ are Nutter, Butter, and Cocoa. Quite clever, I must say.

Tuesday, we went to Clarion to visit my dad and step-mother. They both looked good. (Though, Norma, my step-mother, has been through more than her fair share of health scares lately.) We had a fabulous visit and dad got to meet not only Elijah for the first time, but also Zander and Ezekial.

Wednesday, we took Elijah and his cousins (and our spouses) to Cook Forest to be somewhat touristy. It was full of memories. (Titusville was full of memories too, mind you, but these were different.) So much of the park seems unchanged. (In an age of budget cuts, it is surprising.)

Thursday, we took the long way back to Pittsburgh. We took the family to State College to see where my brother, Chris, went to school. (We took time to have ice cream at The Creamery. It was fabulous!) I also got to see one of my fellow (I don’t like to use the word “old”) IUP alumni friends that is teaching at Penn State. (Hi Julie!) I’m glad I caught her, she’d just given her 2 week notice to the university.

Speaking of IUP, we then traveled to Indiana, PA to visit my alma mater. It’s not that I’m not proud of where I went to school, I am. I’m also quite proud that I graduated. It’s just so hard to explain to people that I didn’t go to school in the state of Indiana. I went to school in the city of Indiana which is in Pennsylvania. (Seriously, did NO ONE think of this when they named the school?)

We got back to Pittsburgh late Thursday night.

Friday, we went to the zoo. It was fun. Elijah took in most of the sights with wide eyes.

Saturday, we bid Pittsburgh, the City of Champions (as well as the Pirates) farewell.

So, that was our week. Elijah was a trooper through all of it. He really enjoyed spending time with his cousins. They played with him and made him laugh. A lot.

It was funny, after this week, Elijah has a new facial expression that I think he learned from one (or both) of his cousins. He get’s this big toothy grin (if you can call 8 teeth, “toothy”) and just beams.

This week, Martha is taking Eli to his pediatrician for his 1 year checkup. I’ll probably not make that one, as much as I’d like to. However, when it is time to revisit the barrage of doctors that saw him in the NICU for his annual checkup, I’ll probably be there for them. (Mostly just to be a proud papa.)

We’re probably going to look into having some family photos taken (or at least some portraits of Eli) to commemorate his first trip around the sun. Wow. It still amazes me to think that I’ve got a 12 month old child.

It was a busy week, but things should quiet down a bit now. My next update will be more Eli-centric, I promise.

Blessings to you and your loved ones!

Sunday Afternoon – 7/11/10

Last weekend, over the 4th of July holiday weekend, Martha and I went to see Toy Story 3. (4 out of 4 stars, I think.) For Eli, it meant that he was going to spend a couple of hours with friends of ours, Jessica, Josh, and their son Joshua. It is a weird feeling, leaving your child with someone else. Hard to describe. In a way it was the same feeling I get when I leave for work in the the morning but magnified ten times because Martha was with me. We enjoyed the movie, but I have to admit that I was happy to be home and with him again.

There’s a sense of security, I think, being at home. It’s increased more so by having one or both of us watching Eli. I expect it is an imagined feeling. It’s as if I can will the bad things away.

Eight days from today Elijah will have his first birthday. We’re headed to Pennsylvania to visit Grandpa Doug and Grandma Norma. (His paternal grandparents, for those that don’t know.) They live in Clarion, but we’ll be making some day trips to my hometown of Titusville, State College, and Indiana. (Yes, there’s a city in Pennsylvania named Indiana. It’s where I went to college.) I’m not sure of our plans each day. It will be nice to see some old sights as well as some old friends. (So, I better let people know we’re coming.)

Not much to report, development-wise. Eli is growing stronger every day. He is crawling faster and faster and has been figuring out how to go under, over, and around things. It is an amazing thing to watch him look at something, consider the options and then move. Chronologically, he’s almost a year old, but we still adjust for being premature when we look at the window of his development. He’s either on or in front of all his targets.

He’s also been perfecting his standing actions. Not only standing, but also moving from standing to sitting. He’s figured out that it’s not enough to stand up, but one he’s up he needs to learn to get down. It isn’t always graceful, but he’s fun to watch.

Every now and again, he’ll also take a step or two while holding on to something. (Sometimes, his parents.) Someone told me that, as learners, girls, in general, will be a little more fearless than boys. That girls will take a step to try it while boys (again, in general) will wait until they’re sure they ready.

We’re introducing more and more foods into his diet. We’re up to “Stage 3” foods which have lots of combinations as well as textures. We let him feed himself these rice “puffs.” It’s like a dry rice cereal that has some extra flavors. He’s working at the whole chewing action, but slowly but surely, he’s getting it.

Finally, concerning my own development as a parent, I don’t really listen to pop radio much any more. The truth is, for me, there’s not much that really worth listening to. Elijah’s room has public radio (a classical music station) playing nearly 24/7. When he came home from the hospital, we wanted something that would, in its own way, mimic the sounds of the NICU. Other than that, the only reason I listen to the radio is when I’m trying to get an update on traffic or trying to wake up in the a.m.

This week, when the alarm went off, I don’t know what the song that was playing when I hit snooze, but the lyrics I heard were “you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.” The reason that statement is true, I think, is because in the middle of something, of nearly any event, it is hard to find perspective. It is hard put things into context. One of the funny things about being a parent is that it is putting my own childhood into perspective. It’s an odd thing, really.

It puts my own behavior as well as the behavior of my parents into a new light. I’ve not always understood my folks, but I do appreciate more of what they went through. Martha was an only child, my parents had three kids to corral. I expect it was like herding cats.