first apology

Allie is not only famous for being the first living being to be called by her given name, she is also the first to receive an apology. Elijah likes to push his umbrella stroller around the driveway, and Allie likes to lie down wherever there are people. Unfortunately, Elijah also likes to make her move by pushing things into her. So yesterday he pushed his umbrella stroller right into Allie as she was lying there, minding her own business (which usually consists of licking herself). She jumped a little and moved out of the way. Elijah didn't hit her hard (he doesn't have the strength yet), but we still don't like it when he is mean to the dog. And now that he is willing to repeat things, we made him say "Sorry, doggie." Which he did quite readily ("Fahyee, goggie") and went on his way. He, of course, had no idea what he had just said or what it meant, but at least it's a start.

Arizona '08

We visited Grandma Shannon and Grandpa Mike in Arizona in early April. It was quite a change for us as far as the weather goes. It snowed in MI less than a week before our departure, and it was warm enough to play in an outdoor pool in Arizona. Which we did, as you can see. We only ventured into the pool once, but Elijah played in the water quite a few times.

At some point we went and bought bubbles, and it immediately became one of his favorite things to do outside. We had to have three adults involved in this play, however. One to blow bubbles, one to stand guard by the pool so he doesn't fall in, and one to follow him around to make sure he didn't run into any cacti (for his and the cacti sakes) in the excitement of chasing the bubbles, or "babu" as he called them.

We had some fun activities along the way, too. One morning we visited the desert museum. We saw all kinds of snakes, lizards, scorpions, and believe it or not, even fish (go figure!) The was a skunk sleeping behind glass.

Elijah looked at it and inquired, "Goggie?"
"No, baby, that's not a doggie."
"Wa-hoo?" (That's his word for "rabbit," one of his earliest.)
"No, not a rabbit, either. It's a skunk."
"Ka!" he said and walked away. If it's not a doggie or a rabbit, it's not worth his time and attention.

We also had a chance to visit grandma's Chipotle restaurant, of which she is a manager. Elijah usually gets a large quesadilla when we go to Chipotle, and eats every bite of it. Or at least every bite that is neatly cut. He rejects any that are not even or have cheese hanging out on the sides. Zealous workers of the restaurant loaded his quesadilla with almost double the cheese, and I didn't think he'd finish it. Amazingly enough, he did, thanks to grandma who cut it into perfect squares for him.

We found a great little park next to a school across the street, and spent an evening there, going down the slides (grandma got seriously zapped by static electricity!) and playing in the sand. When we were walking back to the car, I couldn't resist taking a picture of Ryan and Elijah walking hand in hand.

Travelling with a young child can be difficult, especially when it comes to sleeping. Once again, our super tent saved the day. I love that thing! We didn't skip a single nap and bed time was never a problem, and that's with a 3 hour difference between Tucson and Detroit. Even still, the trip wore Elijah out enough to take a two hour nap on the plane during our flight home.

Every trip has been marked by a noticeable jump in Elijah's development, and this one was not an exception. All of a sudden he finally started repeating words and even short sentences after us. Before, all our attempts to encourage him to speak were met with a stare. Not quite blank, not exactly defiant, but no words came out. Now he'll happily repeat anything we ask of him, or at least make an attempt, and sometimes he picks out random words from our conversations. One of the first was "metaphor" and "groggy," and the latter has evolved into "gwoggy goggie" (meaning "groggy doggie").

first hair cut

On April 16th, 2008, at the age of 2 years, 4 months and 5 days, Elijah had his very first haircut. It's not that he needed it badly, but there were a few stray hairs getting in his eyes and some others looking funny around his ears. So Daddy put him in his high chair on the deck, grabbed some scissors, and called Mommy for help. The final result was definitely not a designer hair cut, but it looked a little neater, and we can probably go another couple years till he needs his second one. :)

air plane

The other day Daddy pulled out a box of his old Legos and made an air plane. It was an instant hit with Elijah. He calls it "ee-pe" and carries it everywhere. He was so taken by the idea, that two days later he sat down with his own legos and made his own air plane, without anybody's help. The difference between Daddy's and his is that Daddy followed instructions, so it was easy. Elijah, on the other hand, had to invent his from scratch. :)

snowy spring

This picture was taken on March 2nd (I am playing catch up). I would normally not post such an old picture, but I think this one is pretty cool, so here it is.

"wa-ha"

Many kids have a blankie they are attached to. Elijah has a "wa-ha," which is his name for a sweatshirt. Actually, he has two. One for comfort during the day (blue with green stripes pictured above) and one for night time (gray with orange stripes - his favorite). He will not go to sleep without being able to suck his thumb, and he will not suck his thumb without holding a sweatchirt with his other hand.

names

The first living being to have ever been called by name by Elijah was Allie the dog. He calls her "Ah-yee." Seven months ago it sounded more like "Ai" and it took us a while to realize what it actually was. The next one was aunt Chelsea ("Ah-oo"), then uncle Tim ("ET"). The recent addition is pastor Michael ("Maku") to whom Elijah frequently talks on his toy phone, imitating Daddy. He starts with "E Maku" (translation: Hey, Michael!), followed by a long string of gibberish interrupted by an occasional forced laugh, and concludes with "Ah-ya-bah!" (translation: OK, bye!), after which he pushes one of the buttons to hang up (not necessarily the correct one).

18 five year olds

Read this first: http://wittingshire.blogspot.com/2008/04/friday-fun_18.html

18
All right, this doesn't have anything to do with Elijah, but every once in a while I want to post something unrelated, but there is as of now no other blog. So I hijacked Elijah's this time. After all, I am the blogger, so I can do whatever I want! Ah, is that freedom, or what? :)

bright future

When your future is so bright, you've got to wear shades!