chasing birds

We've shown Elijah the "bird" sign on a number of occasions, but he has never signed it back. A few days ago we met a friend down town Chicago and hung out by the bean for a while. While the boys were chatting, I tracked Elijah as he explored the area. At one point, he spotted a pigeon, looked at me, signed "bird", and took off after it! The bird was quicker than Elijah, and as the distance between them grew, he lost interested and let it go. So no harm was done. :)

maggie and a white cat

We spent Memorial day at Jim (Ryan's internship supervisor) and Charlene's house. Their dog, Maggie, made Elijah giggle his head off when he was about 8 months old. He has stopped laughing every time she'd go by a while back, but is now interested in being chased by Maggie. But Maggie isn't really interested in playing catch.

While visiting, Elijah made friends with a cat that hung out around Jim's back yard. At some point the cat let Elijah pretty close up (under Charlene's close supervison), and Elijah offered it his milk (in a sippy cup)! The cat didn't have a chance to partake of the treat, as Charlene put an end to this sharing pretty quickly. Maggie, on the other hand, didn't wait to be offered the milk. She found the sippy cup on the grass and licked it all over without an invitation.

wish list

Every once in a while someone would ask me what Elijah needs/wants, what kids of toys he is interested in, etc. So I decided to start a running list of ideas. The link will be on the right side of this blog, called "Elijah's Wish List." I'll try to keep it current. :) He has lately been very interested in puzzles, so that's what's on the list for now. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I figured a link to a page with a picutre has got to be worth at least 500. :)

go daddy!

Daddy graduated from seminary last Saturday. Grandpa Gary, Grandma Rachel and aunt Chelsea came to join in the festivities.

It was meaningful to share the day with family, seminary friends, and mentors old and new.

Brent, one of Ryan's professors (last names omitted to protect people's privacy).

Peter, a former neighbor, a participant of many a (very late night) theological discussion, poetry readings, and Elijah's God father.

Pastor (and professor) Michael.

Pastor Jim, Ryan's internship supervisor.

sharing is caring

This video is a few weeks old, but it's so cute I just had to post it. Elijah will often share his milk with his stuffed animals, whether you ask him to or not. I am speaking Russian in this one, and here's the transcript for those of you who need it:

"Elijah, give the pig some milk! Give the pig some milk! {Sipping sounds.} Thank you! Thank you! Elijah, give the pig some milk! The pig is thirsty. {Sipping sounds.} Mmmm, so tasty! {More sipping sounds}. Mmmm, so tasty!"



Whenever Elijah is sharing his milk, he always puts the spout to the animal's mouth. His aim is so precise I am often amazed. When we asked Elijah to share his milk with the Cookie Monster, he put the spout to the Cookie Monster's... eyes! Knowing that is was not becuase of bad aim, it made us wonder if there was, perhaps, something unnatural about the Cookie Monster's facial features that left a little child confused. I wanted to capture it on video as well, but Elijah figured out what was going on soon enough. Just a couple hours later his Cookie Monster got to enjoy the milk like all the other animals, instead of having it poured into his eyes. :)

molers

Elijah's bottom molers came in about 3 or 4 weeks ago, but I had no time to blog. They are now completely out!

peanut butter

Elijah tried peanut butter yesterday for the first time with disastrous results. Here's the full story.

At 2:15 pm he ate a late lunch after a long nap. The lunch consisted of a half of peanut butter sandwich (no jelly :) ). Soon after that, Daddy came home and we were all hanging out together. Around 3:30 pm Elijah started acting funny. It looked like he was objecting to me sitting where Daddy usually sit when he is home. He was standing by my chair and whining. In another half an hour he started crying and clinging to me for no apparent reason. He'd get cozy in my arms sucking his thumb, then want to get down and play for a few minutes, then run back to me, ask to be picked up, cry in my arms, get cozy, suck his thumb, get down again. That went on for 20 minutes or so. We decided he must have been teething and gave him Tylenol, after which we packed up and went to church (Ryan was supposed to help clean out some closets and Elijah and I were invited to tag along for a free dinner). On the way to church, which is only about 2 miles, Elijah started sneezing continually. He must have sneezed 20 times or so. He kept it up at church for a while, so I was starting to think he was allergic to something in the air or was plain getting sick.

After running around the church and playing in the nursery for a while, we made our way back where Ryan with several other people were working. And then, all of a sudden, in front of our eyes, Elijah turned dark red and broke out in hives. First his ears, then his neck and shoulders were covered in white spots that eventually ran together and looked just terrible. One of the ladies working on the closets was a school nurse. She asked what he'd eaten that day, and it struck me: he'd never before had peanut butter! I meant to make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a few occasions, but never actually did. We had a jar of organic cashew butter, so I always gave him that instead of the sugary Skippy stuff. Then a few days ago I picked up a jar of organic peanut butter from Trader Joe's. That's what he had for lunch. People in the room gathered around and the school nurse said that this can be very serious and that we should go straight to the ER. Freaked out, we grabbed the child and rushed to the hospital, which was only about half a mile away. On the way there, even Elijah's eyelids got covered with hives.

The ER staff was (naturally) in no hurry to see us :). Elijah seemed to be in quite a bit of discomfort and screaming at the top of his lungs, but he was still breathing, so no one was to worried. By the time the triage nurse finally saw him, he was already doing better. Some benadryl also helped, although the reaction continued for several hours afterwards until he was given steroids.

At one point while waiting to see a doctor (all in all we spent 6 hours in the ER) I had to use a bathroom and overheard a woman talking on her cell phone, saying what sounded like, "He said he'd be back to shoot some more." I wasn't sure if I heard right, but it still sounded distressing. Turned out, shortly after 3 pm a man boarded a CTA bus about 5 miles from our house and opened fire. He shot five people, some of whom had been taken to the same hospital where we arrived at less than 2 hours later. When we were leaving shortly before 11 pm, the families, friends and classmates of those shot were still standing gathered in groups outside of the ER entrance. It was freaky going to the pharmacy at almost midnight to fill Elijah's prescription knowing the gunman was still out there somewhere.

Elijah is doing well today. He even recovered his appetite by the end of the day. And his skin is mostly clean except for a few spots where it was the worst yesterday. His airways didn't get constricted at any point, or at least as far as we know. But if you are visiting our home in the next few years, you may have to eat a cashew butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, as I am afraid even organic peanut butter will be banned for a while :).

first word

Remember the blog entry from February 22, 2006? Well, after all these months, "hi" has been officially declared as Elijah's first word. I am a little disappointed that his first word wasn't Russian, but I can't blame him for choosing a simple mono-syllabic word with only to letters. After all, many Russian words have 4 or more syllables and difficult consonant clusters. The formal "hello," for example, is zdravstvuyte. I can see how a simple "hi" would be more appealing.

At first it sounded like many other random sounds he made, but over time the timing and context became more and more fitting, and are now near perfect. I say "near" because sometimes he just can't wait and says "hi" when he hears the front door opening, before the person actually comes into the house. Or, when we pick Daddy up after work, he says "hi" as soon as he sees Ryan coming to the car, but before he actually opens the door and can hear and appreciate the greeting. But most of the time he says just at the right moment.

boyhood

After the first night back home Elijah woke up a different child. The change was almost palpable. He ran around the apartment happily squealing and jabbering and using new sounds, and being more vocal than ever before. We initially thought it was just because he was happy to be home. But the next day and the day after he was still "talking" away, and other signs made us believe that more has changed.

All of a sudden he started keeping eye contact for longer and is looking at us with more understanding. He responds to commands, like "Climb the chair" or "Give your bear some milk." He somewhat did that before, but it wasn't consistent.

His signs are maturing. The sign for "more" has evolved into its true shape instead of just clapping his hands; the sign for "eat" has migrated from his ear back to his mouth (very handy when you need to distinguish between "eat" and "sleep"); he is doing new signs like "flower" and is clearly trying others, although they are yet indistinguishable. But most animals are still "bears," except for "duck" and "pig," which look very close to "milk" when Elijah does them.

Another change is that now when you tell him to come here, he turns around and runs in the opposite direction! It is very cute. :) He went back to crawling and walking in the "bridge" position (on his hands and feet), but now he does it just for fun, as walking has been the primary way of getting from place to place for over two months now.

As I watched him play in the piles of sorted laundry last night, I thought that he hardly fit the term "baby" any more. He no longer strikes me as one. The best way I can find to describe this latest change is a transition from babyhood to boyhood.

post Russia

The first few days of being home are always hard. It was hard to be back in our apartment, to unpack the suitcases and pull out all the gifts that my parents and my aunt gave us. They brought back memories of just a few days ago when we were still there, but now we were so far away, across the ocean, in a completely different world. To add to all this, the weather turned cold, so even the distraction of being able to be outside was taken away.

What's worse, I kept thinking about my parents, especially my father, coming back to their apartment, which only moments ago was filled with the sound of little feet running, with toys still strewn around the floor, with our tea cups still sitting on the table, reminding them of what had been, but no longer was. With my father's health being the way it is, this might have been the last time we saw each other. This thought only made things harder. I wished I could do something for them, ease their pain somehow. Yet no matter how difficult it is to part, it is still better to have come and left than to never have come. I am just thankful that my aunt didn't have to leave for another few days, so my parents weren't totally alone during those first hardest hours.

We never really transitioned to Russian time, so coming back was much easier, although we all feel tired even several days later. Elijah sleeps in in the mornings, takes long naps, wants to go to bed early, and is still acting tired throughout the day.

more pictures from Russia

Here are some more pictures from the trip, since I can only post so much in the blog and still have it look good. :)

the only regret

Despite sleepless nights we had a great trip. Running to pick up Ryan's and Elijah's visas was the most "exciting" thing we had to do, and that was OK by us! If I have any regrets, it's that the trip was so short. I am sure my parents and my aunt would have loved to have us for longer, and I could have used more time to see friends. Since I haven't seen my Dad in 3.5 years, and since our time was so limited, it was reserved exclusively for my relatives. So, for those of you reading this in Russia, do not hold it against me that I didn't call you. I would have loved to see each and every one of you, and I hope that our next visit will be long enough to do just that.

going west

We left Russia early in the morning on April 2nd, after only 4 hours of sleep that night. My mom helped watch Elijah the evening before while we packed and then came to the airport with us in the morning. Elijah was so tired that he fell asleep in my arms before we ever boarded the plane to Paris. Interestingly enough, there was no such thing as pre-boarding for passengers with young children. Nice. Elijah slept through the whole flight and only woke up when we took him out of his seat in Paris.

We had a 4 hour lay over, which stretched to almost 8 hours. Fortunately, there was plenty of space for Elijah to run around in addition to a small play area for kids his age. He didn't get most of the puzzles there, but it did occupy him for a little bit. The rest of the time we took turns chasing him as he explored the "Alcohol and Tobacco" stand and ran around signs in circles. Having gold fish crackers along was also very helpful.

He took another nap at the airport, which is unheard of in our normal life. He doesn't easily go to sleep in unfamiliar places, even if they are dark and quiet. So to fall asleep in the middle of a noisy airport could only mean one thing: the child was completely exhausted from the previous week.

Our plane was overbooked as it was spring break time in Europe. They asked for volunteers to give up their seats, and we heard that there were people trying to leave Paris stuck their since the previous Thursday. There was not a single empty seat on our plane going to Chicago. And, it turned out there was not such thing as pre-boarding in Paris either.

Once on the plane, we sat on the ground for a while. Elijah fell asleep again. After about 45 minutes or so the plane sped up ready to take off. We were about to leave the ground when the breaks came on and we were all gald to have had our seat belts on. Another plane crossed the runway as we were speeding along it. It's a scary thought, but we were all probably pretty close to dying. After this we had to refuel, the airplane had to be checked, and we had to wait for the wheels to cool down. All in all, it took over an hour before we were finally on our way to Chicago. Elijah slept through it all, and so did I for the most part.

He woke up soon after we took off and stayed awake for about 4 hours (half the trip). Through most of that time he wanted to entertain himself by pushing against the seat in front of him with his feet. Knowing how annoying it is for the person in front of him, we tried to keep him from doing it. But the only way to stop him was to rub his feet and legs. So there we were, each rubbing a foot for almost 4 hours. That was the worst part of the trip. As soon as Elijah fell asleep again, we promptly turned on our TV's, thinking that he'd only sleep for a couple of hours like he did on the way to Russia. But he slept the rest of the trip. We watched Stranger Than Fiction, and enjoyed it tremendously. Ryan even watched it twice. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

doors and april fools

They say a man's home is his castle. The Russian version of the saying goes "My house - my castle." I thought of it often as we made our way up to my parent's apartment each day. In order to get to it we had to pass through five doors, four of them locked, plus throw in the elevator doors for good measure.

First, there is a large iron door leading into the apartment building itself. In order to open it you have to have a magnetic key. If you don't have one, you can buzz the apartment you are going to and they will open the door for you.

Then there's an old wooden door about 3 feet from the first one. It used to be locked instead of the first one when I was growing up, but that is no longer the case. I think it's a much better idea to have the very front door locked. I remember often being nervous in that tine area between the two doors when coming home in the dark (and it gets dark in St. Petersburg very early!)

Past this second door is the elevator. After reaching the 9th floor (there are 16 total), you'll find yourself in a small area with doors to your left and to your right. The door on the left leads to a garbage chute. But it is the door to the right that is much more interesting. Once again, it is iron. On the level of a person's head there's a square opening with iron bars across it. A long time ago when crime rates in Russia soared my dad helped put this together. If I am not mistaken, the small window and the bars were his idea. Perhaps he even helped procure the actual door from the steel-rolling plant where he was working at the time. Those were the times when you couldn't just go out and buy any door you liked. If you don't have a key to unlock this door, you can buzz your hosts, but this time they'll have to come to the door to unlock it from the other side, thus the window. Past this door you'll immediately run into another one. Both are locked with dead bolts. This second one wasn't there 3.5 years ago when I last visited my parents.

Having passed this double iron "gate," you'll find yourself in a curved hallway with apartment doors on one side. Sometimes these doors will also be iron and often double, but my parents' is a single one and wooden - there's not much to steal inside. But if that is what it takes to get into a poor man's house, I can't imagine what the rich have to do.

What a contrast it was to go through all these doors and think of a single wooden door with a large window that is sufficient for so many houses in the U.S. I wanted to take pictures of them all and post them here, but by the time I finally got my act together my camera ran out of batteries.

On April 1st, as we made our way to my parents' for the last time, we were trying to come up with a joke. We finally settled on having Ryan pose as a plumber when we buzzed my parents at the very first door. As my mom answered the call, Ryan dramatically cleared his throat and said, "Plumbing service!" (in Russian.) The only thing we heard of her response was, "What plumbing service?" Then the door opened, but not because she let us in. Someone else was coming out, and we were disconnected. Usually someone would be waiting for us on the 9th floor to open the double iron doors, but when we took up the elevator, no one was there. It took a while for someone to come out even after we rang the bell. My mom told us that she had no intention of opening that first door leading into the building, because all kinds of people pretend to be a plumber and try to get in when they have no business being in the building.

I am not sure who ended up being the April fool.

russian grandmas

My mother gave my father space to be with Elijah as much as he wanted. But there were things grandpa physically couldn't do, and that's where grandma stepped in. Even though grandpa made several meals for his grandson, grandma and her sister still did most of the cooking for the rest of us. They also bathed Elijah (he got to play in the big tub for the first time!) and helped him on the playground. But their favorite was to watch him sleep, although they woke him up each time they did that. :)

russian grandpa

My father made the most of his time with Elijah. He wanted to push the stroller each time we went on a walk. He wanted to feed Elijah each time he needed to eat. He got up each morning, went to the store and then cooked so that the food was ready by the time his grandson came over. He followed Elijah everywhere to make sure he didn't stick his fingers into electric plugs or pinched them in the doors. He taught him to turn off the lights. And he loved each and every minute of our visits. Perhaps none of it sounds that impressive unless you know that my father can no longer walk very well without a cane, can't lift anything heavy, does not work, and does not cook on a regular basis. Having Elijah over even for part of the day wore my dad out so much that he (a miracle!) slept all night long while we were there.

My father chose to go by Deda, a shortened version of a more traditional dedushka, although Elijah doesn't talk yet and thus it didn't really matter. But you don't have to talk to be able to have a relationship.



The real purpose of this trip was for my father to meet Elijah. My mother came to visit us last year and she can come again any time. But my father can't handle a trip over the ocean because of his health, and thus the only way for him to see his grandson was for us to come to Russia. Interacting with a small child brought true joy to my dad. I could see it in his face. He even told my mother one evening after we left that he wasn't sure he could handle all these "positive emotions." It was a blessing to see grace poured out unto my father through a little child. Elijah didn't care about grandpa's mistakes or issues. He loved grandpa the way grandpa was, without reservation, without a second thought, the way only a child can. He broke the darkness of a broken man with the light of his blue eyes and his irresistible smile. He brought laughter and life to a man consumed by addiction, even if only for six short days. That is what I was hoping for and that is why we went, so my dad could receive grace from God through a little boy. And grandpa responded. No, he did not change. He was the same man carrying all his baggage. But his best qualities shone through. His care and love for Elijah was evident. He turned out to be a better grandpa than I ever hoped.

pancakes with cheese

Our second day in Russia we had to go pick up Ryan's and Elijah's passports. The company that was taking care of visa registrations was located on the main street, Nevsky. We were running a little late and Ryan and I had to hurry up to make it there in time. After we picked up the passports, we felt like celebrating. One of the things we wanted to make sure we did while in St. Petersburg was to eat pancakes with melted cheese inside at a place where we used to buy them during our last trip to Russia. We were very close to that place, so off we went. Sure enough, it was still there. We bought a pancake and some kvas. Ryan was hoping to eat it all by himself, but Elijah looked interested, and ended up eating quite of bit of Daddy's treat. Later that week we had more of this company's pancakes at a different location. My favorite this trip was a pancake with mushrooms and cream. Yum! Delicious!

two languages

My parents and my aunt got a kick out of the fact that Elijah understood two languages. They would ask me to say something to him in Russian, and then they would want Ryan to say the same thing in English, and each time they would be thrilled to see that Elijah responded the same way. For example, I'd ask him if he wanted more of something, and he'd sign "more". Then Ryan would ask the same thing, and he'd sign "more" again. At one point my Dad started saying Elijah's name in English and was amazed to see that he turned around and looked up at him. He did it over and over again, and Elijah kept turning around each time.

sleeping in Russia

Unlike eating, sleeping wasn't something we were able to do a whole lot. When we travel, we usually have to let Elijah sleep between us in the same bed. The first three nights Elijah would wake up in the middle of the night and want to play, because it was late afternoon in Chicago. We would pretend to be asleep, and he'd crawl all over us, coo, jabber, and show no signs of going back to sleep any time soon. Those were the times when I thought, "Why did we do this again?" When he did sleep, he was a space hog, so neither Ryan nor I were able to get very comfortable. During the day, however, he'd be really tired and often nap on our way to or from my parents. He would also nap in the stroller when we took walks, although I can't imagine that he was very comfortable doing that.

eating in Russia

Eat was something we did a lot. It all started on the plane over the Atlantic Ocean. We boarded around 5 pm and had our dinner around 7 pm. Then we had "breakfast" around midnight. Then we had a third full meal on our second flight. Thus, by the time it was morning in Chicago we have had a couple extra meals.

While in St. Petersburg, our regular eating times were so messed up that we felt hungry at odd times for just a minute or two, and I personally never felt full. We usually ate something before going to my parents, then ate a couple of times at their place, and then ate with our hosts back at the place where we slept. And let me tell you, these were no small meals. They were often several course affairs. In between the meals there was the ubiquitous tea with desert and, of course, conversation.

No matter how much you eat in Russia, your host will never be satisfied. They'll keep adding food to your plate until you are ready to pass out. And when you do pass out, they'll fill your plate again. After one of such meals I overheard my mother commenting to my aunt, "They aren't eating anything!"

The menu at my parents' was different every day, and included all my favorite dishes:

• Borsch (beat soup)
• Mushroom soup (made with dried mushrooms)
• Russian dark rye bread
• Salo (frozen salted pig fat - I haven't had any in 10 years!)
• Kvas (fermented bread drink)
• Russian salami
• Kefir (a kind of yogurt, but better :))
• Russian pancakes
• Syrniki (small pancakes made from a kind of farmer's cheese)
• Fried eggplant loaded with raw garlic
• Pelmeni (Russian dumplings)
• Pickled herring (if you ask me, it's much better than Swedish :))
• Lamb stew made in clay pots (my Dad's signature dish)
• Feijoa jam
• Buckwheat

We brought home a couple loaves of the rye bread, but I am not sharing!

bus #6

Every morning we got up and made our way from the place where we were staying to my parents' apartment. We tried the metro once, but it proved to be too difficult trying to squeeze into the train cars with a baby, two backpacks and a stroller. Fortunately, there was a bus going from where we lived almost to the door of my parents' apartment. Each morning we took the bus there, taking up the entire back row of four seats with all of our stuff. Each evening we took the bus back. And since we took the bus so often and mostly at the same times, we started recognizing the drivers. One of the drivers smoked all the time, so we hated his bus. Unfortunately, his was the bus we rode most of the time.

dogs and ducks

My parents met us at the airport together with a friend of ours Leonid Regheta (he and his wife hosted us while we were in Russia; my parents' place is too small for all of us). Once at their apartment, Ryan and Leonid took off to turn in Ryan's and Elijah's passports to be registered with the Russian authorities (required by law), while the rest of us went for a walk in the neighborhood park. It was still pretty cold in Russia. My Dad wanted to push the stroller. He's been dreaming of it ever since we started planning the trip.



Once at the park, we saw a woman walking a couple dogs. My Dad stopped and was pointing them out to Elijah, "Look, Elijah, a doggy!" Now, my father is not a big fan of diminutives. On many occasions while growing up I heard him speak against using the diminutive suffixes which abound in the Russian language. True to himself, he immediately corrected himself, "Actually, there's no need to say doggy. Just a dog. Dog. All these diminutives are unnecessary!"

A few minutes later we approached a pond. A couple of ducks we swimming in it. My Dad turned the stroller so Elijah could see, and said, "Look, Elijah, a ducky!" (He used a diminutive for "Elijah" as well). I just chuckled to myself, but didn't say anything. :)

the first surprise

Passport control held the first surprise. The officer (a woman - I've never seen a man in that position in Russia) did the most unexpected and surprising thing. If you've travelled to Russia, you'll share my amazement. She smiled at me! And no, I was not holding the baby, he'd already gone through with his Dad, so the smile was intended for me.

In addition, the customs official was friendly! Well, how about that!

going east

The trip started on Sunday evening, March 25th. After a quick lunch, final packing, and a half-an-hour search for Elijah's sippy cup, we were off to the airport. We each had a seat, as Elijah is too big for the bassinet (known as the skycot) provided by Air France for children under two years of age. We did not want to hold Elijah on our laps the whole time, so we had to pay up and get him a seat. We were hoping to be seated in the front row so that he wouldn't kick the back of the seat in front of him, and so that he could stand a little if he got tired of sitting in his car seat. It turned out that those front seats are pretty much impossible to get even if you are flying with a baby, although all the airline agents I spoke with before the flight assured me that they are reserved for people like us. Yeah, right. After having been stuck in the middle of a plane both ways, and a couple adventures during lay overs in Paris, Air France has ceased to be our favorite airline.

Elijah normally doesn't go to sleep easily unless he is in his crib. The trip to Russia was no exception. Instead of going to "bed" around 6 pm as he would at home, he didn't fall asleep for a while. He ate dinner shortly after we boarded, and then signed that he was ready to go to sleep. We confirmed with signs and words that it indeed was time to sleep and Daddy even sang our regular night time song into his ear. However, it turned out that when Elijah signs "sleep," he means something like, "Take me to my crib, lay me down, turn off the lights, and leave me in a quiet room." He continued to sign "sleep" and look at us inquiringly for several hours.

At some point during this exchange of "sleep" sign, when Elijah seemed ready to actually fall asleep, our dinner arrived. He smelled the food and wanted us to share. We did. He liked the chick peas. But the second dinner gave him extra energy and it wasn't until 9 pm that he actually fell asleep. In the meantime, he happily cooed, played with his feet, and played a French version of "peek-a-boo" with the flight attendant, who had a 15-months old at home.

Once Elijah fell asleep, Ryan and I turned on a movie and watched "Casino Royale." As soon as the movie was over, Elijah went into the REM phase of sleep. He tried to get comfortable, arched his back, realized that he was strapped in, opened his eyes, saw the dark airplane, and... SCREAMED. He screamed for quite a while. A few minutes into it I picked him up and walked towards the bathrooms where there was a little more space to stand and move around. The area freaked him out. He screamed louder. After about half and hour he calmed down enough for us to return to our seats. He then sat and eventually fell asleep in my lap, while the car seat happily continued the journey empty, occupying the expensive spot we paid for that no longer carried its intended passenger. Elijah slept for the rest of the trip, while flight attendants went by and pointed him out to each other. No surprises here, he is adorable when he is asleep. :)

Our layover in Paris was only an hour long, so we hurried to get to our next plane. If you've ever had to switch planes in Paris, you'll know that you have to take a bus to go from one terminal to the other. Not my favorite. Standing in line with a squirmy kid in my arms for 40 minutes to get through security wasn't my favorite either. Neither was dealing with an overtired child for the first hour and a half of the flight to St. Petersburg. Fortunately, he fell asleep and slept for the second half of the plane ride.

And so it goes that we landed in St. Petersburg around 3 pm on Monday, March 26th. All of our luggage made the transfer during the one hour layover in Paris.

best russia trip ever

We are back on the west side of the Atlantic ocean after a whirlwind of a trip to Russia and back. We were on the ground for full six days. During some uncertainty before the trip, we would joke and say to each other that this trip has a potential to be our best Russia trip ever. That wouldn't be too had since our last two trips were mostly a disaster, so things could only get better. (The first time all of Ryan's money was stolen the first day after our arrival, and the second trip is known as "the passports adventure" or, more accurately, "the passports nightmare", but I don't want to dwell on that here). And our best Russia trip ever it was! But, let's take it in order.

are we crazy?

Are we crazy to take a fifteen months old on a 13 hour plane ride to Russia? Hm... We'll let you know how it went when we are back in a week. It'll be a quick trip to see my parents and my aunt (who will make a 48 hour journey on a train to see us).

fifteen (and a half) months check up

Weight: 27 lbs 3.5 oz
Height: 32.5 inches

cold food

Elijah is not feeling well these days. We are not sure if he is sick, or if he is teething, or both. Regardless of the cause, when he is not feeling well, he does not eat. He won't even eat cheese! We did, however, stumble into a couple of things he consented to consume. Yesterday it was cold whole wheat noodles. Today - green beans (warm for lunch, cold for dinner).

hamsters

When Elijah doesn't want to eat something, he closes his eyes (or just leaves tiny slits open) and shakes his head so as to make it difficult for us to aim for his mouth. On the first day of our visit to Michigan, DeAnna, a 10 year old animal lover, brought up one of her 5 hamsters to show to Elijah. As she brought it closer to his face to make sure he got a good look, Elijah closed his eyes and shook his head, as if saying, "No, thank you, I really don't want a hamster for dinner!"

A couple days later, another hamster made an appearance in the living room. DeAnna put a towel on the floor to protect the carpet. Elijah didn't care much for the hamster, but he did want to be on the towel as if it was layed out for him!

hello ducky

My good friend Doris invented this game for Elijah one morning while we were visiting them in Michigan about a week ago, and it was an immediate hit! The first time the game was played, we thought Elijah would go on forever! Doris was afraid she'd have to sit there for the next ten hours saying "Hello Ducky! Good-bye Ducky!", and rightly so. Below is but a short snippet of how the game is played.

baby piano

Not a Mozart yet, but you have to start somewhere.

puppies

While visiting friends and family in Michigan last week, we had an outing at the pet store. Looks like at least some of the puppies recognized Elijah to be of about the same age, and Elijah definitely enjoyed running up and down the isle. Meanwhile, I am enjoying not having to carry my 27 lbs son everywhere we go.

box climbing

Climbing a box may not be very exciting for an adult, but it's enough of a challenge for a baby to keep him occupied for a while. And even though I don't personally get into box climbing that much, I do enjoy watching someone else do it. :)

yummy blueberries

Elijah loves blueberries. It was a love from first taste. Even when he refused to eat during his teething bout (to the point where we were wondering if he had simply forgotten how to sign "more"), he asked for more blueberries as soon as he tasted them. Fresh are preferable (and he is a blessed boy to have fresh blueberries in the middle of February), but he'll settle for dried in a heartbeat as well.

Today was a day of snacks. He recently mastered the sign for "eat", and is now in control of when he gets a snack. He started asking for snacks in the morning, shortly after breakfast, and had two by lunch time. First we indulged in some graham crackers, but the second snack consisted entirely of dried blueberries. Well... almost.

As I sat on the couch and he proudly walked back and forth, he'd come back signing "more" every time he'd finish chewing a mouthful of blueberries, and sometimes way earlier. At some point he decided to "ride a horse" on my leg. As I rocked him up and down and he giggled with a mouthful of blueberries, something small fell out onto my knee. I picked it up and put it back into his mouth. Then I thought it was weird that the thing was somewhat whitish-greenish, like the inside of a fresh blueberry, except it was a little hard, like a proper self-respecting dried blueberry should be. And then it hit me. It was a booger! It must have fallen out of his nose. And I fed it to him!!

Perhaps it was merely coincidental that he did not ask for any more blueberries after that :) .

lights and bears

Apparently, when babies begin to sign, they use the same sign for many objects, just like early talkers say the same word for different things. The world, according to Elijah, is full of lights and bears. He signs "bear" for many animals in his books, and also when he is pleased with himself. He signs "light" for things around the house (like a small butterfly tile in our bathroom). All considering, this is not a bad world to live in, as long as the bears are friendly. Could be much worse.

garfield park

Elijah and I joined our friends Katie and Nathan for an outing at the Garfield Park Conservatory a couple of days ago. Until then I had not known that it can be so relaxing taking a one year old on a field trip. The place was pretty much dead at the time of the week and day when we went, so we had an entire section of the park to ourselves most of the time, with an occasional person walking by about every 20 minutes or so. We hung out at the children's room of the conservatory. The "climate" was just right: warm enough to be comfortable, but not as humid as the rain forest room. They have a little enclosure for the really little ones (like Elijah and Nathan) to play in safely. So for two hours we just sat on the cushions under some tropical plant and chatted, while the boys explored the bright colors, each other, and each other's toys.

baby sign language

We started teaching Elijah sign language when he was about 10 months old. It took a number of inconsistent attempts off and on to really get going and to figure out what initial signs we wanted to pursue. After about two months he started signing "more", but that was his only sign for a while. However, in the last week or so, other signs became more and more clear, and now we also have "all done", "bear", and "light" :) (As in "And God said, 'Let there be light'", not as in "of little weight"). I think he is also working on "music" and "dog".

"More" often doubles for "eat" or just simply "I want". Sometimes Elijah will actually point to the thing he wants, and then sign "more". But he only signs "more" in the context of food, because that's the only time we've been using the sign with him. I am now afraid to use it in other contexts so as not to confuse him, but I guess sooner or later I'll have to do it.

It's been great to have the "all done" sign added to his "vocabulary". At meal times he makes unhappy noises while waiting for his food, and then when he is full and wants down. But it's not always easy to know what he means somewhere in the transition from being hungry to being full. Does he want more clementines, does he want some cheese, or is he finished? Now that we have two signs to help us, all we need to do is ask, "Do you want more, or are you all done?" And he "tells" us exactly what he wants! And it's much more fun to do a sign with a smile than to grunt and scream!

When I noticed that Elijah was fascinated by lights, I started to use the sign with him each time I turned the lights on or off. Yesterday was the first day that he'd been unmistakably signing "light". First he looked at the light in the bedroom (that was on) and signed it, then he looked at a light (that was off) in the living room, and signed it again. I turned it on for him. Then all day whenever the kitchen light was on, he'd look at it once in a while, and sign "light". I think at this point the sign means "I see light," but I am hoping that in the near future it can evolve into "I want lights on."

I've sometimes wondered what was going on in his head, but now I don't have to. :) It is really a lot of fun to get a sneak peak into what my baby is thinking throughout the day.

P.S. I know you'd love to see a video or at least a picture of this, but it's hard to be taking shots when you are in the middle of a conversation with your child!

eyebrows game

One day a couple weeks ago while walking Elijah to sleep in his bedroom, I looked at him and raised my eyebrows just for fun. He giggled. I did it again, he laughed a little, but kept his thumb in his mouth so he could resume sucking it shortly. I did it again, he cracked up :) Ever since then raising our eyebrows to each other has become a fun game. Daddy was also allowed to join. Sometimes all we need to do is to say his name with a certain inflection in our voice to get him raising his eyebrows right away. Sometimes he starts the game himself, and sometimes he'd try to do it to get our attention. Silly kid! He doesn't realize that raising your eyebrows doesn't make any sound, so if we are not looking at him, his attempt at attention getting miserably fails!

The game is most often played at dinner table. We just sit around and raise our eyebrows at each other for a few minutes, then go back to eating. Weird family!

walking proof

Here it is, the first video capturing some of Elijah's first steps. He's much better even by now, improving by leaps and bounds daily! He can also stand up without needing furniture or a wall for support. But that would have to be another video for another day :)

we have a walker!

It's happening! Day by day, step by step, we are getting closer to independent walking. So far we've seen him take about three small steps by himself. We try to encourage him to walk towards us, but he gets so excited to reach his destination that he wants to plunge head first into our arms before he actually gets there :) The shrill squeals of delight he makes while trying to walk are precious! It maybe a while before I am able to capture the new walker on video, so you'll just have to take my word for it for now.

thirteen months old

The tradition of taking a picture over Daddy's shoulder each month came to an end. It was fun while it lasted, but it did eventually get a little old. So, there's no thirteen months old picture in the post. But for those of you who were expecting one, here's a consolation prize: a Tabblo. Tabblo is a pretty cool online service. I was expecting it to take me half a day to put together this poster, but it only took half an hour or so. You can also order posters you make (look for a "Purchase" link at the top), but I would caution you that the quality is not as good as I had hoped, although it's not totally terrible. The company is pretty new, and I think they did a great job. Hopefully their printing services will soon catch up with the quality of their online application.

Christmas 2006

This year we stayed home for Christmas. Partially becuase it's not easy to travel with a baby, but mostly because Ryan had to be at church for Christmas Eve service. Grandpa and Grandma Ferguson came to celebrate with us. After opening a million presents, Elijah got a chance to play his favorite game.



After a nap and more play with new toys, we all enjoyed BBQ brisket and cheesy potatoes.

shake your head

Shaking his head means several things for Elijah. He can shake his head to make it difficult for us to get food in his mouth when he doesn't want it. It can mean that he is in a playful mood. Sometimes he shakes his head for no apparent reason. But he always shakes his head when he is hanging out with his blue bear, especially if the bear also shakes his head!

salt rain

Now that Elijah can stand pretty well, he is interested in what's happening up high, like the dining table, for example. He grabs the edge of the table with his hands and tries to pull up to get a better view. It's adorable! Once in a while he finds something within reach. A few days ago he reached for the salt shaker. My emphatic "No" in two different languages across the room had no effect, neither did a sign for "no". He picked up the salt shaker, stretched out his arm over the carpet, and turned it upside down. If I ever had any doubt in gravity, this was a confirmation that it still works pretty well. The salt poured out like rain. I rushed to rescue the carpet, but by the time I crossed the room, we had a nice white powdery "puddle" on the floor.

P.S. You have to love the vacuum cleaners!

twelve months checkup

Weight: 25.5 lbs
Height: 31 inches
75th percentile

first birthday

Looking back. We celebrated Elijah's first birthday yesterday. It seems like it was just yesterday that we came home from the hospital with a tiny baby in our arms, whose tender skin was irritated by the diaper and was slightly bleeding, so we let him go without a diaper for an hour and he pooped on me. We thought his cries were so loud that we took him out of the bedroom and sat in the living room so as to not wake up the neighbors above us. Little did we know that those cries were nothing compared to the glass-shaking screams he would be capable of a year later.


Off to a good start. I thought we'd take him to have a professional picture taken, but he fell even before breakfast and ended up with a huge red mark under his eye, so a trip to a professional photographer had to be postponed till the bruise heals.

Gifts. After breakfast we opened gifts. He caught on pretty quickly. A couple of times he tried to eat the wrapping paper, but Daddy took it away promptly.


The box in the video contained clothes, which he threw over his shoulder and proceeded to play with the box :)

(Cup)cake


We debated for a while whether to give him cake on his birthday. He wouldn't have known any better, and he probably didn't need the sugar rush. Plus, we didn't want him to know that cake existed. After all, we are trying to train the young taste buds to like the things that are good for him (it's going well so far - he prefers vegetables to pretty much anything except cheese, with broccoli and green beans being all time favorites). We felt there was no reason for him to know that cottage cheese is different from ice cream and wheat bread is not the same thing as chocolate cake. But in the end we (ok, I) broke down and gave him a carrot cake cupcake. To say that he loved it would be a gross understatement.



He had the cupcake after his second nap a couple of hours before dinner. He still ate pretty well at dinner, but once in a while he'd start screaming. The same thing happened today at breakfast. We think he remembers the cupcake and is wondering why he can't have that instead of the Malt-O-Meal. Sorry, Bud, but your next cupcake is at least a year away, and then only maybe. :)

first steps

At almost one Elijah is almost walking. And he has a little attitude :)



Also, I've been experimenting with two video sites: YouTube and vSocial. Although YouTube is by far better known than vSocial, and has been recently acquired by Google, my vote goes to vSocial. The quality of my videos is much better there, and audio doesn't have an annoying delay the way it does on YouTube.

three more teeth

So far Elijah has gotten by with 5 teeth: two front ones on the top and three on the bottom. After several weeks of heavy drooling and a couple days of fever about two weeks ago, he has something to show for all this struggle. A fourth bottom tooth cut through recently and was discovered today by Daddy's hawk eye. Two more on the top are clearly on their way. So now he'll have a complete set of eight teeth: four on the top and four on the bottom. Meanwhile we shy away from him when he approaches our legs with an open mouth - he is biting on anyone and anything he can get a hold of.

grandma's little helper

Elijah's first Thanksgiving (outside of the womb) was marked by a trip to Arizona to visit Grandma Shannon. It was in the 80's outside, so we took walks, watched Cody (the dog) fetch a stick (Elijah loves dogs, but is, unfortunately, allergic to them), explored kitchen cupboards, and had all kinds of fun with brand new toys. Mashed potatoes, stuffing, and green beans were his favorite at Thanksgiving dinner. And since we don't have a dishwasher at home, Elijah closely examined grandma's.

Elijah's Christmas 2006 list

OK, this is Elijah's Christmas list, which can also be used as his birthday list. However, it doesn't have to be used at all. Since Elijah can't type yet (he is learning typing next month), I typed it up for him. The list will be periodically updated as needed.

1. Discovery toys (he already has the cups called "Measure Up", an earlier version of "Hammer Away," and "Stacktivities")
2. Books (by Sandra Boynton (he already has Moo, Baa, La-La-La), or from this list, or from this list, or any other of you favorite baby board books, or books in Russian).
3. Dinosaur, Dalmatian, Teddy Bear, or plain hooded towels
4. A bouncy ball 4-6 inches in diameter. He has a large one and likes to play with it, but it's a little too big for him and hard to hold on to.
5. HotWheels cars, or any other cars that are small enough for little hands.
6. Diapers (Pampers Cruisers size 4)
   

11 months old

Wow. It's hard to believe it's been almost a year. Here he is, 11 months (and a couple days) old.

"Christopher Columbus"

Exploration of the apartment is now in full swing. First it was just the living room, then the dining room, then the kitchen. A few days ago Elijah took off down our very long hallway and turned into the bathroom. The bathroom has become one of the most fun places to hang out. Today he discovered the toilet lid and everything that's hiding beneath it. I was there just in time to get him out of the bathroom before he took a dive into his private swimming pool.

P.S. "The new world" that Elijah is discovering has, of course, been already "discovered" and inhabited by others way before he was even aware there was a world out there to discover.

standing up

Elijah has known how to pull himself up to standing for a couple of weeks now, but he felt content to just stand on his knees next to a couch, a chair, or a coffee table. He would remain standing if we stood him up next to something, but he did not really want to do it himself. Until today. All of a sudden, pulling up to standing became the thing to do. And not just that. Once he pulls himself up, he likes to hold on with just one hand, steady himself, and then very slowly and cautiously let go. He balances for just a second, and then either grabs something for support or plops down on the floor. Still, I was so proud of him I almost cried :)

favorite colors

Every morning (and sometimes after naps when I remember), we spend some time looking at books. This is our first activity of the day, since that's when Elijah is quietest. One of our favorites is a book called Happy Baby Colors. If the amount of time spent per page has anything to do with his color preferences, then blue, pink, and gray are his favorites. He usually briefly pauses on the blue page, spends a little time touching a picture of a flower or yogurt on the pink page, and just stares for a while at the gray page (I think he is staring at a big teddy bear there). But he quickly turns the pages for all the other colors.

library boy

When Elijah crawls up to a book shelf and starts touching the books, we just watch and remain in stand by mode. When he starts licking my The Bread Bible book, we discourage him. But when the books start getting pulled off the shelf and thrown on the floor, Daddy takes the baby away, saying, "You can't check these books out, you don't have a library card!"

Not any more! Elijah now does have a library card! In order to sign him up for baby story time (called Baby Business), our local city library requires that the child have their own library card. Now the only person in the family without one is Daddy.

We attended the first half hour session this morning. We sang songs, recited nursery rhymes, had story time and made a craft. OK, Mommy really made the craft (a three-piece snowman that had to be glued together and then decorated with stickers), but Elijah helped chew on it. And, while all other children were contentedly sitting in their mothers' laps during most of the time, Elijah felt compelled to crawl around non-stop.

spoon wielder

In honor of All Saints day we had a special dinner: hamloaf (in case you don't know what that is, here's a recipe; we use pork instead of turkey, but otherwise it's identical), mashed potatoes, and home made french rolls (we were missing a vegetable to make it a well rounded meal, but I was too tired after a day of cooking, so we decided potatoes would have to pass for a vegetable this time.) However, what made the meal really special was our first spoon experience with Elijah. He and I picked up some baby bowls at the store during our morning walk, so as soon as he was done with his hamloaf (which he absolutely loved; thanks for the recipe, Doris!), we placed a bowl of mashed potatoes in front of him and handed him a spoon. We thought mashed potatoes would be a good dish for this. Elijah will only eat the things he likes, and he likes mashed potatoes. The spoon was discarded almost immediately, the bowl was turned upside down after just a few seconds (fortunately, the potatoes landed on the tray, and not on the new carpet), after which Elijah proceeded to eat the potatoes with his hands. I would have never in my wildest dreams considered mashed potatoes to be finger food, but whatever works!

the longest nap

Yesterday Elijah and I went to visit some friends on the north side of Chicago. We left the house in the morning, and my plan was to be there by the time Elijah would want to take his first nap, so he could sleep in my arms. We were going to head home shortly after lunch, so he could take his second nap in his crib.

Well, as usual, things didn't go the way I planned. It took a little longer to get up north, and the humming of the engine lulled Elijah to sleep in the car for about 45 minutes (not a good nap). On the way back he once again fell asleep for about 30 minutes and woke up as soon as we got off the highway. Once we came home, I was thinking about keeping him up for a couple hours and then putting him to bed for the night early. But he curled up in my arms, put his thumb in his mouth, and I saw his eyes rolling back, which pretty much means "All I really want to do is be put to bed right now." It is not unusual for him to go down for his second nap as late as 3:30 pm, and still go to bed between 6 and 7. So, without much hesitation, I put him down, and he was asleep within 15 minutes. The time was 3 pm.

When we sat down to dinner around 5 pm, Elijah was still asleep. The dinner was over, the dishes were done, but the boy still slept. Daddy went back to church to work on his sermon, and I did some work at home, and still Elijah slept. When our bed time rolled around, he still hasn't woken up. We checked up on him one more time and turned in for the night.

We found Elijah at 6 am the next morning quietly sitting in his crib. His diaper was so full you'd think he had rocks in there, and he needed a bath pretty badly. But other than that, after 15 hours of continuous sleep, we had one quiet, happy, rested, HUNGRY baby.

All of this happened on the eve of All Saints day, so, needless to say, we did not go trick-or-treating (not like were planning on it anyway). But if someone asked us what Elijah was on his first Halloween, we could say that he was, somewhat literally, a sleeping beauty.

mac & cheese

A couple of days ago Elijah was introduced to the finest of our home cuisine: macaroni and cheese. None of the boxed stuff for us! Only the finest cheddar cheese will ever touch our macaroni. The recipe comes to us from Ryan's paternal grandmother via Ryan's mom. Ryan's mom tells a story of dropping off Ryan and his younger brother at a baby sitter's, and the baby sitter asking what the boys like to eat. "Do they like mac & cheese?" "Oh, yes, they LOVE mac & cheese!" Needless to say, neither Ryan nor his brother wanted anything to do with the mac & cheese that the baby sitter made for them out of the box. The little detail that the boys have ever only had home made macaroni and cheese did not get communicated to the baby sitter :)

We are proud to present to you a new macaroni and cheese snob in the making. The video was taken after he consumed about a ton of this delicious dish, so he may not look very excited about it here. When I tried to take another video the next day earlier during the meal time, my batteries ran out, and by the time they were recharged, there was no mac & cheese left. But even if Elijah may seem to you less than absolutely excited about what he is eating, trust me, he loved it!



P.S. For those of you familiar with this outstanding recipe, in case you are wondering how Elijah handled all the hot stuff we put on it, we made a pepper-less corner just for him.

can you baby a baby?

At Elijah's 9 months check-up, the doctor asked if his pincer grasp was developing. Well, it wasn't. Why? It's simple, he never gets a chance to practice! All food is delivered straight into his mouth in order to minimize the mess we'll have to clean up. Having come home we made a new resolution: cheerios for breakfast from this point on. Three days later the pincer grasp was in place, and two more days later he was able to put them in his mouth.

A few days ago, I gave Elijah a bunch of cheerios for lunch, about ten. The first one went straight into his mouth. While he was chewing it, he placed another one into the cup holder. A few minutes later, about a third of the cheerios were eaten, and the rest securely stored in the cup holder. I pulled them all out, and he proceeded to do the same. Again, when they were all either eaten or put in the cup holder, I pulled them out. The picture below is the third round of this process. (BTW, don't be fooled by the cute innocent look here. The child is as willful as... well, his parents...)


Having been satisfied with the pincer grasp progress, we once again relaxed and continued to work hard on keeping our lives as sterile as we possibly can. But exactly a week ago, we once again became concerned with his development. The new resolution was: finger foods at every meal. Elijah loved it! All that independence! He quickly got the idea that anything placed on the tray is meant to be put in the mouth (unlike things found on the floor, which we are still working on). The first day he happily played with the food he wasn't chewing at the moment, but the next day he immediately stuffed his mouth so full that food was falling out and he couldn't even chew it. That pattern continued for a few days, but he eventually figured it out. Now he seems to prefer finger foods to being spoon-fed.

Seeing how quickly he is catching on, we are wondering if we baby him too much. Perhaps he'd be ready for college by now if we weren't taking away all his opportunities for growth? :) So, we braced ourselves and accepted the fact that life is going to get really messy, and bought a spill mat. As soon as we get a few baby plates, Elijah will be allowed to wield a... SPOON!

crawling and standing

Shortly after the belly crawl video was taken, the hands and knees crawling started to pick up in earnest. He still doesn't venture very far, but he is definitely aware that crawling this way is easier when you have to get over a bunch of scattered toys on the way for more in the toy basket. His belly crawl still comes in when he makes a mad dash for the shoes (everything is relative, of course; the mad dash doesn't get him very far - Ryan and I are still faster :))

He's also pulled himself up to standing a couple of times. Both times it was an "accident." But, just like it happened with sitting up, he will soon be standing up all over the place. He's been working hard on it a half an hour ago in his crib, although he was supposed to be working on falling asleep.

P.S. Check out the awesome stackable train he has! It is marked "2+", but since he pretty much mastered the rings (marked 18 months and older), we thought it was time for a new challenge.

primary colors

Apparently, Elijah shares his mother's love for primary colors: blue pants, red sweatshirt and a yellow vest. This is as primary as it gets!

WANTED: a brain

Some time during my pregnancy I misplaced my brain somewhere at our old apartment. I am not sure if we took it with us when we moved, or if it stayed hidden somewhere there.

A couple of days ago Ryan went to spend a day and a night at a monastery. As is our custom, Elijah and I went for a walk after lunch. Whenever we leave the house, I always check to make sure I have my keys, even if it's just to check the mail and the door is not locked. Sometime in the morning of that day I checked my pockets, and the keys weren't there. They must be in the key box by the door, I thought. However, when I checked the key box later, they weren't there either. Oh, they must be in my pockets, I decided. With that, we left the house. Needless to say, when we came home close to Elijah's nap time, the keys were not in my pockets. Fortunately, we have several neighbors who go to our church and are retired, so they are always home. One of them let us in while we waited for the apartment building manager to come and unlock the door. The time was about 2:30 pm. We left four messages on his cell phone, but as of 5:00 pm he still hasn't called back. I finally contacted the monastery, they found Ryan and we decided he is going to have to come home. Sure enough, shortly after we hung up, the building manager called. As it turned out, he had an emergency of his own (a friend had to be taken to the hospital), and was just then on his way home. He made it here before Ryan did about 6:30 pm. That wasn't how I planned to spend my day, but our 81 year old neighbor, who never gets out, thoroughly enjoyed having a little baby crawl around her house and take a nap on her bed while she and I swapped stories and watched game shows on TV. One of these days we might have to grab some cookies and head over for another visit.

baby shoes

I don't know what's wrong, but for the life of me, I cannot seem to be able to put shoes on Elijah. I could probably create virtual shoes for someone to wear in Second Life without much problem, but when it comes to a real baby, I must be out of my league. No matter what I do, the shoes never get on quite right. And Elijah seems to hate the process. To avoid lacing, (and since he doesn't walk yet,) we bought him a pair of booties on eBay, thinking it will make it easier to put on. Not so! The heals never make it all the way to the bottom of the shoe. The other day we came home from a walk only to discover that one of the boots fell off. We had to retrace our steps all the way to where we came from before we found the missing shoe. So, if anyone out there knows a trick of how to put shoes on a baby, I could sure use some help!

belly crawl

We've been trying to encourage Elijah to crawl for months now. Daddy has been known to construct eleborate structures from Elijah's toys in hopes that Elijah would want to crawl towards them, but to know avail. Even live demos by Daddy didn't inspire Elijah a bit. Every time it looked like he was making a little progress, we made unrealistic predictions like, "I bet he'll crawl in a week", or "I am telling you, he'll crawl by the end of the month". But weeks went by, and so did the months, and Elijah was still happily sitting wherever we'd put him. He did eventually discover that rolling was more fun than sitting as it got him places, but he was still not in a hurry to crawl. Is he lazy, we wondered? We finally concluded that he was just content. Content to be where he was, not "coveting" the toy that was out of reach. That's not a bad quality, is it? And I truly enjoyed being able to just sat him down and read a book for a few minutes.

But as time went on, Elijah (at about 23 lbs now), finally had enough strength to pull himself up on his hands and knees. He now stands up and tries to figure out how exactly one can get around in that position. However, if he needs something fast, he drops the whole "hands and knees" things, plops on his stomach, and...



Yet the quality of contentment can be seen even now. That blue lid from a jar of blocks is pretty much the only thing that he wants bad enough that he would belly crawl towards over a larger distance. (Let me correct myself: it's the only thing of the ones he is allowed to play with; he will crawl large distances towards things he can't have, like our shoes, and we strongly discourage sucking on those.) Everything else is old news, and he'll go to get other things only if they are within a couple crawling movements. Otherwise he'll just play with whatever is near him.

practice makes perfect

We've recently discovered that Elijah figured out how to put his large plastic rings onto a large plastic post where they belong. To make things a little more challenging, we pulled out a set of wooden rings, thinking that he will work on them for a while before he figures it out. Not so! It only took a few days, and now it's more of a thing to do rather than a challenge. Here's a video from a couple of days ago when the wooden post just wasn't cooperating.



This one was taken a couple minutes later. Note how he looks up in expectation of praise :) The audio delay is a little annoying, but bear with it.

of car rides and front seats

Elijah likes car rides. Unless he is too tired. Or unless he dropped his toy and can't reach it. But even then, he is usually quite content to just sit there and think his deep thoughts. Especially now that his car seat has been turned around and he is facing forward. There was some confusion about the specifications of our car seat, so we waited way longer than we needed to to turn him around.

Another change came along with the new car seat orientation. After visiting our friends Peter and Tina the other day (who are also Elijah's God parents and our former neighbors), we were getting in the car and I decided that now that Elijah is facing forward, there's no need for me to sit next to him in the back seat. So I got in the front passenger seat, and realized that the last time I sat in that seat was over ten months ago, on a cold December night (a Saturday night), when we pulled out from this very location on our way to Swedish Covenant Hospital because I was in labor.

10 months old

Here's Elijah's 10 months old picture. He was too wiggly when we were trying to take the picture, so most of them turned out very blurry. This is the best we've got.

baby toothbrush

Ever since Elijah was a tiny baby of just a few weeks old, one of his favorite things has been to watch us brush our teeth. It fascinated him and made him smile. Now he has a toothbrush of his own and, as you can see, he is all over it. That's how good habits of dental hygiene start! At my last dentist appointment I was told that as a baby chews on a toothbrush, his teeth get cleaned, and that will do the trick until he is old enough to use toothpaste. Thus, a baby toothbrush has replaced the rubber ducky as a bath time toy. (We need a toy for pretty much every activity these days, from meal time, so he is occupied and doesn't scream because he is too bored, to diaper changing, so he keeps his hands out of his poop.)

Last night the toothbrush was too new, so he mostly kept it in his mouth (see picture). Tonight, however, he attempted to clean a wall and a window sill with it. Is he trying to make a statement about the condition of our apartment? :)

Did I mention he has five teeth? He's had them for a couple months now. We are waiting for the next batch, but his other teeth don't seem to be in any hurry to come out.

he sat up!

While talking to my mother on the phone today, I was kind of staring at Elijah. Not really watching what he was doing, but just looking at him, while my mind was on my conversation. All of a sudden, I realized what was happening. Elijah rolled over on his tummy (he's been rolling around all over the living room in the last couple of weeks), pulled up his knees under his belly, lowered his butt on the one side, and then pushed himself up to sitting with his arms. I couldn't believe it! He then did it again when Ryan came home for lunch.

amen

Meal time prayer:

Mommy: "Give us grateful hearts, our Father, for all your mercies, and make us mindful of the needs of others. Amen."
Daddy: "Amen."
Baby: "Uhm-nya."

The first time it happened, we thought, "What a cute coincidence, the timing, and the sound." The second time it happened, we just looked at each other. But the third time it was pretty clear that Elijah was trying to repeat the word after us. Each time we pray before a meal, he stops doing whatever he is doing, and watches us rather intently. He is obviously recognizing that there's a pattern, and that it always ends with the same word. Should we, perhaps, consider "amen" to be his first word?

legacy

A couple weekends ago we traveled to WA for a family wedding, and Elijah had a chance to meet his great-grandparents on Ryan's side (all the great-grandparents on my side are no longer living).

Great-grandparents Ferguson

Great-grandparents Lindley

Four generations

Just a dressed up baby

say cheese

After feeding Elijah Gerber foods, I decided it was time to make my own. Four dollars bought a TON of veggies at the local Farmer's Market. Armed with some boiling water and a newly purchased 14-cup Cuisinart food processor I set to work. First I made carrots, then butternut squash, then broccoli. But my enthusiasm was short lived. Elijah ate my carrots mixed with applesauce once, but that was it. He emphatically closes his mouth and will not open it (even in the face of suffocating - he has a stuffed nose) neither for carrots, nor squash, nor broccoli. I can understand broccoli - it's kind of bland and Gerber doesn't make it. But carrots and squash are familiar tastes, and I take it personally that he will eat Gerber's but will not eat mine! I may not be an accomplished chef, but I can mash carrots and mix them with water just fine! I am hoping that his lack of interest is at least partially explained by the fact that he is sick and hasn't been feeling particularly hungry lately. However, not all is lost! Elijah did eat my mashed potatoes and pears!

When he is not sick, meal times start with meat or veggies, since these are things he will eat when hungry, but may refuse once a little full. Then comes a little fruit. He only accepts pears. Applesauce, bananas and prunes are out of the question. Finally, when he can't eat any more pears, we bring out yogurt. He loves yogurt! One container of yogurt later, he is pretty much done. Unless... we bring out cheese. There's always space for cheese. And when he refuses cheese, we know he is really really really done. Medium cheddar is his favorite for now, but this is probably because it's also Daddy's favorite, and thus the one that is offered to Elijah most often.

nine months + 48 hours old

The recent posts are a little out of order, but I guess that's how it goes. Here's Elijah's official nine months old picture. We were traveling on the day he turned 9 months, and then we forgot to take a picture the next day, so this one is dated Sep. 13th, but it's close enough.

nine months checkup

Weight: 22 lb 10 oz
Length: 29 inches

No wonder my back and arms hurt from carrying this kid around!

good bye, bumper

Sad day. Elijah is getting bigger, and his crib mattress had to be lowered today. We don't want him to fall out of his crib, so we are taking measures before he figures out how to pull himself up to standing. But that means that his crib bumper had to come off. There's no good way to attach it any more. Such a bummer. Elijah loved his bumper. He would lay there and talk to it and play with the ties. He was always happy to be put in his crib, because the bumper was always there. It was his best night/nap time friend. Sometimes after a nap we'd find him peeking out from under it taking in the world (well, his bedroom). Yet tonight he had to go to bed with the bumper gone. I was concerned he would realize something was different and cry, but he was too tired after a day at a zoo and went right to sleep.

My little baby is growing up! Oh, no! ;o)