Updates on Elijah James Cole

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.