Updates on Elijah James Cole

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.)

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!