five months old

The boys at 5 months old

thinking of others

When visiting the doctor for his well child appointment, Elijah was asked to write his name on a piece of paper. The doctor was sitting across from him. Below is a picture of what he did. He wrote his name left to right, but turned all the letters upside down so that the doctor could read them. Then he wrote Minnie to the left of his name, since that's where there was space. :)


The doctor was rather impressed. She said she had had pictures drawn for her upside down, but she had never had anyone write for her upside down. She commented that this usually showed that a child was very attentive to the thoughts and feelings of others.

In case you wonder if he just doesn't know how to write right side up, I can assure you that he does. :) He does write an occasional letter backwards now and then, but we have never seen him do what he's done at the doctor's office.

Elijah - 5 years old

Elijah's yearly doctor appointment comes about a month after his actual birthday, but here are the stats anyway:

Weight: 42.99 lbs (64%)
Height: 44.02 inches (69%)

sleeping without sweatshirt

Last night for the first time in years Elijah went to bed having forgotten Sweatshirt on the couch. We didn't realize it until we came out of the boys' bedroom and saw Sweatshirt in the living room. Our first thought was to take it in to Elijah, but then we decided to wait and see what would happen. Nothing did. We quickly forgot about it.

This morning Elijah came out of his bedroom looking thoughtful. He looked around the living room and his first question was, "Where's Sweatshirt?" I pointed to the couch. He picked it up and did his normal sleeve-to-nose gesture. Then he told me he was looking for it on his bed thinking it must have fallen down at night and couldn't find it.

Tonight he made sure Sweatshirt was back in his bed. I guess we are not quite ready to give it up.

four months old

The boys at 4 months old

Ephrem's stats at 4 months

Weight: 19 lbs 10 oz (98%)
Height: 26.25 inches

three months old

The boys at 3 months old.

cradle Orthodox

Ephrem's Baptism

Baptized

Chrismated

Churched

Offered back to God

Communed

God Parents

Proud big brother

Cake (chocolate!) :)

Ephrem's stats at 2 month

Weight: 16 lb 5 oz (100%)
Height: 24.25 inches (89%)
Head circum.: 16 inches (65%)

two months old

Here are the boys at 2 months old.

who does he look like?

Valentina: "Who does the baby look like?"
Marina: "He looks like my dad."
V: "Really? I thought he looked like you, the brows and everything."
M: "Don't my eye brows look like Dad's?"
V: "Well, I suppose they do..."

supervisor

Elijah: "Mommy, Grandma Shannon and Daddy are weeding over there, and I am their supervisor! Do you know what a supervisor is? If you are weeding, a supervisor is someone who tells you that you are doing a good job!"

a different grandma?

Elijah: "When Ephrem is older and I am 10 and we go to Grandma and Grandpa's or to Aunt Doris', he can come with us. And it can be his Grandma and his Aunt Doris, too. Or will we have to get him a different Grandma and a different Aunt Doris?"

one month old

Here are Ehprem and Elijah at 1 month old (for comparison).

saluting you all

summer 2010

It's been a while since I posted any pictures of Elijah, so here are some.

day eleven

Ephrem saw his doctor again today to make sure he was gaining weight adequately. He is. He weighed in at 9 lbs 7 oz. Up over a pound since exactly a week ago, and way over his birth weight, which was the goal for today.

day eight

Around day eight of having the new baby at home Elijah started showing some concern about having to share a home with Ephrem.

E: Mommy, when are we going to get rid of him?
M: We are not. He is going to live with us.
E: Oh, I thought we were going to get rid of him.
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E: Mommy, when is the baby going back into your tummy?
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E: Maybe we can give the baby to somebody who doesn't mind the crying.

E.D.F.

Ephrem Daniel Ferguson joined our family on the "outside" on August 5th at 12:06pm. He weighed in at 8lbs 10oz (3.9kg) and was 22in long (56cm).




He lost a lot of weight in the first day and was only 7 lbs 13 oz at the time of discharge, but gained 2 more oz by the next day (Saturday, Aug 7th). We took him to a pediatrician on Aug 7 and had his tongue clipped. The milk came in that night and two days later Ephrem was 8 lbs 5 oz. Apparently, babies normally gain about 1 oz a day. Ephrem averaged 3 oz during those two days.

imaginary friends

Elijah has several imaginary friends. We are hoping that it's a normal stage of development and not the result of him being ignored by us. Until today they were: Hour, Minute, and Sniff Curtis. Sniff Curtis is a girl. All four of them go on long airplane trips almost every day. Curtis always wants to sit up front. She doesn't understand that that's where the pilots sit: Elijah, Hour and Minute.

Today Elijah announced that two more friends were joining them for their next airplane trip. Their names: Kimbovana and Condorica. Kimbovana is a boy and Condorica is a girl.