first trike

Here they are, grandma Shannon and Elijah on his first trike. No, he can't pedal yet. But he can sit on it. And he can fall off of it, which he's done a few times. Fortunately, the falls (more accurately called face plants) we softened by the carpet in our living room, but they nevertheless deterred Elijah from climbing onto his bike for a day or so. But if you put him on the bike, and set his feet on the pedals, and then push or pull the bike, he'll keep the feet on the pedals for a little bit. The idea is that one of these days he'll figure out how to go by himself. But our practices have been few and far between as it is incredibly hot outside and both of us (Mommy and baby) play better in an air-conditioned apartment.

close up

Grandma Shannon took this close up shot when she visited us about a week ago. I thought it was an excellent picture, so here it is for everyone to enjoy!

stars and flowers

I've been composing this post in my head for weeks, just didn't have the time to actually post it. Elijah's signing has really taken off. But you have to watch closely and pay attention to context a lot. For example, Daddy and horsey look the same. So do flower, cat and eat. This can sometime cause confusion. For example, one time Elijah was playing with his sorting bucket that had circle, square, triangle, and star shapes. He looked up at me and signed eat. When I asked if he was hungry, he shook his head. Then he signed eat again. What on earth? I put him in his high chair, but he wasn't interested in food. A few days later we were looking at a book about Christmas. On the last page, where there was a star over a stable, he got excited and signed eat. It was then that I realized he was signing flower! The shape sorting incident came back to me and I knew he thought the star shapes were actually flower shapes. Elijah does like flowers. We have some outside of our apartment building, and he always points them out to me. But I never thought of flowers as stars, or stars as flowers. Although I do like the idea. It intrigues me to think of the universe as a grand cosmic bouquet instead of it being a vast cold impersonal empty space with balls of burning gas separated by millions of light years.

uh-oh and ah-dah

Elijah is "saying" two more "words," although I am not sure if either of them qualify as words. One of them is "uh-oh." He is more and more accurate about the timing when "uh-oh" is appropriate, like when he falls, for example.

Another "word" is "ah-dah," meaning "all done." He usually says it when he is done with a book (as if saying "I am done with this book, let's do another one"), done playing with a puzzle (as if saying "I don't want to play with this one any more, take it away"), or done being on the changing table. He is usually done being on the changing table well before we are done changing his diaper, so he is lying there, signing "all done" and repeatedly saying "ah-dah," as if telling us to hurry up!

You may have noticed that neither of these words are Russian. I can understand that "hi" is easier than any Russian greeting, but "all done" in Russian is actually just one syllable: "vsyo"! It may be that the consonantal cluster "vs" may be challenging for him, plus we haven't heard him make either "v" or "s" sounds yet. Oh well. I guess I'll have to wait a while longer. :)

He also says "sentences" of random sounds, but the amazing thing (at least to us), is that the intonation and the number of syllables usually correspond to something we would have said to him at the time. For example, he usually plays peek-a-boo with his towel after a bath. He covers his face with it, and we say "Where's Elijah?" One day he covered his face and said something that sounded so much like "Where's Elijah" except that that actual sounds were wrong, but the intonation was exactly right! Once again, these "sentences" follow English inflection, perhaps because English sounds so much more "melodic" than Russian, or at least the expressive baby version of it that Daddy uses does. (Mommy doesn't do baby talk in Russian, so maybe it's not as exciting for him to imitate. Who knows.)

P.S. The next day after this posted was originally composed, Elijah stopped saying "all done" to books and puzzles. Instead, he is now saying it as soon as we try to put on his sandals to go outside. He doesn't really mind the sandals, but he doesn't have the patience to wait till they are on. It's so funny, as soon as we put him on our lap, he immediately says his "ah-dah".

the mind of a child

Ever wonder what's going on in little kids' minds? I do once in a while. Thanks to Elijah's signing, every so often I get a little peek into his thoughts when I don't expect it.

Elijah has learned a ton of signs by now. One of his favorites is "ball," perhaps because he likes balls. He has quite a few at home and likes to carry two or three in his arms at the same time, and then dump them on the floor. Whenever we are passing a large crate of balls at Target or a child playing with a ball in the street, Elijah never fails to sign "ball" with great excitement.

One day we were at a grocery store and I parked the cart with Elijah in it while picking out some veggies. As I looked up to make sure he was still there and OK, I saw him making a sign. At first it threw me off. It looked like he was signing "ball," but we were in the produce section, so there could be no balls. And the I realized that I put the cart next to a large crate of watermelons, and he decided they were balls! It's a good thing he couldn't reach any of them to see if they'd bounce! Another time we came home from a grocery store with a cantaloupe, which Elijah quickly accepted into his ball collection and treated it as such. He took it up on the couch and then threw it down on the floor. The cantaloupe was still edible after Elijah was done with it.

Another one of Elijah's favorites is a sign for "dog." It's supposed to be a pat on the thigh, as if calling a dog, but Elijah's version of it beating his chest with an open palm. Dogs have always been a love of his. A couple of days ago we saw a pretty dog at a park. Its owner was very friendly and let us come close, and Elijah even got a lick in the face, which he didn't mind a bit. As the dog's owner sat on a bench enjoying the weather, Elijah stood right by, repeatedly signed "dog," shook and squealed with excitement for quite a while. A day or so later we went to the same park. Elijah saw the bench where to dog was, went there, and signed "dog." I am pretty sure he was remembering his furry friend of a few days ago. I told him that the doggy was probably at home and expected him to move on. But he did not. We spent about a half our at the park that morning, and every couple of minutes (no matter whether he was on a slide or on a swing) he'd look at me with sad eyes and sign "dog." I never expected him to remember that dog in the first place, let alone be upset that it wasn't there and keep thinking about it the whole time.

already?

Elijah is only 18 months old, but we are seeing something we think are signs of the "terrible twos." Two weeks ago we had a child who, when we said "Let's go eat," ran to his high chair signing "eat," and when we said "It's time to go to sleep," ran to his bedroom signing "sleep." Not any more.

Each time we take a trip, some big changes seem to occur after we get home. We were wondering what the next leap was going to be after getting home from Michigan over a week ago. What we found is that his first an immediate reaction to everything and anything is now shaking his head, meaning "no". He doesn't yet say "no", nor does he know a sign for "no" (although one exists), but he doesn't need either to make it clear what he means. And he does mean it. Trying to put him into his high chair or get him to lie still on the changing table turns into a wrestling match at times.

I hope that all this can be explained by his cold he caught as soon as we got home, but I fear it's more than just a cold...

18 months check up

Height: 33 inches
Weight: 27 lbs 10 oz (after a week of being sick and hardly eating anything)
Head circumference: 48.5 cm
75th percentile

teenage geese

While in Michigan for aunt Chelsea's graduation, we stopped by a small park to see and feed some geese. Needless to say, Elijah had a ball. He didn't get to actually feed the geese, as they were taking bread right out of our hands, and we didn't think it was a good idea for Elijah to hold the bread. But he still got pretty close to them.

puzzle man

Elijah's new hobby is putting together puzzles. They are pretty simple for now, but he's gotten really good at them. Gone are the days when he struggled to fit the pieces in. I haven't timed him, but I bet he can do the whole thing in under 30 seconds. He can sit around for a long time putting these things together (he has a couple), then dumping them out on the floor and starting over. Puzzles became our toy of choice when we need to occupy him with a quiet activity for a while. Although he no longer needs help, he does like to have an impressed audience once in a while. Pictured above is Doris playing that role about a week ago in Michigan. :)

go aunt Chelsea

Aunt Chelsea graduated from high school on June 3rd, and her Chicago branch of the family came to join the celebration. Elijah got to sleep with his parents (to his delight and our frustration, as he takes up at least as much space as each of his parents, but, unlike his parents, he squirms, wakes up and cries if he feels too constrained in his movements).

We wish aunt Chelsea all the best in her college career!

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.