Riding horses with "my Sara"

Riding horses has always been one of Elijah's favorite things to do. We had so much fun, and I will let the pictures speak for themselves.


They will always be the best of friends.


Trotting for the first time


"Sitting all by myself!"


Walking a horse. All 4 year olds do this, right?


I wish you could hear the laughter. You can probably get an idea by the vein popping out of his neck.

Big boy bike!

My idea of writing little snippets frequently hasn't worked out so well. Instead of beating myself up over it, I'm just going to post a few exciting things that have been happening around the BC household. The BIG news is that Elijah learned how to ride a "big boy bike" this week. He only learned how to ride a tricycle this summer...the muscle control and coordination was very hard for him to get a handle on. But, when he finally got it, he took off. Literally. It has been incredible how good learning to ride a trike has been for his leg muscles. He can do so many things that he didn't have the muscles for before. Well, about 3 weeks ago, we decided to buy him a big boy bike, hoping that he would get into it immediately. He was VERY excited about buying one, but once we did, he wanted nothing to do with it. We tried and tried to get him on it, and he just wanted to ride his "red bike" (aka a tricycle). Last week his physical therapist and I decided to have her try to teach him (he does many things with/for her that he won't do with/for us). I snuck his bike over to the clinic. You should have seen how surprised he was that Robin had a blue big boy bike just like his. :) After about 2 minutes of her trying, he was doing laps around the therapy clinic like you wouldn't believe. Since then (Thursday evening), he has been to my parent's patio daily and to the B-line once. It is officially his new obsession.


Hmmmm...where shall I go next?


Riding up a hill is hard stuff!

Happy times are here again...

Oh how I love the pool. The water is still too cold for me to get in, but Elijah has enjoyed playing on the steps and on the patio. We've had tons of fun already, and it's only been open for 2 weeks!


Trying to push his cousin, Andrew, in the water!


Elijah helping take care of the pool.


Elijah and his cousins


Just a cute shot

A Trike-a-thon

Elijah's school did a trike-a-thon as a fundraiser for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. It was quite possibly the cutest thing that I have ever seen. Elijah learned how to pedal pretty recently, and he's not super coordinated with it. We were so excited that he could participate because learning to pedal his been incredibly hard for him (both because of his muscle tone and his coordination). When I got to school to see it, we realized that the ever-so-small incline on the track was going to create a problem. Riding uphill is not an option right now...so, for half of the track he rode, and for half he was pushed. As you will see, this lasted for some of the time, but then he gave up and decided to have fun with the wagon.

Like father, like son

Elijah is REALLY, REALLY into doing whatever his daddy is doing outside. Enjoy...


You might think that is a snorkel in Elijah's hand, but it's really a leaf blower ("Just like daddy," as Elijah would say).




Again, you might think that is a stroller, but it's really Elijah's lawn mower.

An attempt at making Play dough

Elijah has hated play dough his entire life. He has so many texture issues, so we've always assumed that this is why play dough scares him. I found out that at school he can often be found playing in their play dough. His teacher mentioned that they make their own, so we wondered if the feeling and/or smell of it made the difference. So, I googled a recipe and Elijah and I decided to make our own (this was my first time...I know, bad teacher...should have made play dough before!). Well, the recipe didn't work out, be we sure had fun. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

A Tribute to Stella

I have been searching for words that adequately describe the most amazing little girl that I have ever met, but I have come to realize that they just don't exist. One of my best friends, Shannon, lost her 23 month old daughter, Stella, last week. She had a terminal, undiagnosed metabolic disorder. She fought a long, hard fight, but was the most delightful little girl you could ever imagine. Stella lived with us for one month when she was well enough to come home from the hospital, and she became Elijah's best friend. Then, when she was back in the hospital, Elijah was able to visit her several times. I know I am a better person for having known Stella.

Elijah and Stella


Stella and her mommy, Shannon


Elijah visiting Stella in the hospital


Best buds, forever

Happy Birthday, Jer!

It's hard to believe that I am old enough to have a brother that is 35! Happy birthday Jer! We miss you and hope you are having a blast in Africa!

In Under Three Months

I started this blog knowing that if I updated frequently, it wouldn't feel overwhelming. Well, you can see how well that worked. At the beginning of this blogging delay, we weren't doing so well. Elijah went through a phase this winter that was our hardest yet (outside of Riley, of course). He was having meltdowns that were indescribable. We called in his neurologist, developmental pediatrician, and behavioral psychologist. They were consulting w/ a pediatric psychiatrist. We were a mess...we didn't know if we were dealing with seizures, tantrums, or some other disorder. It turns out that no one really knows. They are suspecting some sort of anxiety disorder...possibly OCD. That was in Feb...within a few days of meeting w/ all of these docs, he started doing better. We got an appointment with the psychiatrist, AT THE END OF JUNE! When we were in crisis mode, that was a ridiculous time frame to wait. When the secretary told me that (a 4 month wait), I literally laughed on the phone because I was sure that she was joking. My second response wasn't appropriate enough to put on the web. :) Anyway, overall, we are doing really, really well right now. He definitely still has his moments, but they are nothing like what we were dealing with.

Because of this change in his behavior in Feb/March, I stopped blogging. In the moment, I couldn't possibly think about updating. How do you write, "Things are awful right now?" Then, I got caught in the cycle of "where do I begin?" Well...here is my attempt at starting this up again (thanks Aunt Barbara for the harassment...I mean, the encouragement).

Our first canoe trip

Shane got his long awaited for canoe for Hanukkah last year. He's been drooling over them for years. Well, my incredibly generous parents got him one last year. While Shane has taken it out on many cold mornings, Elijah, Baby River Dolphin, and I had not joined him until recently. We really didn't know how Elijah would do because he'd have to wear a life jacket. Last summer he wouldn't even think of putting one on. His issues with different textures have stopped him from so many experiences...but not this time! I was racking my brain trying to figure out a different angle to take when trying to get him to put it on. When Shane went out to load the canoe on the car, I decided that I'd make it silly and try to put on Elijah's life jacket. Well, when I got it out, I said, "Elijah do you know what this is?" He looks at me (like I'm stupid) and he says, "Mom, it's a life jacket...like Diego wears." DUH Mom...Diego (Dora's cousin) wears a life jacket...silly me for not realizing that! Needless to say, he stuck it right on and we had a fabulous adventure.

Passover

This was the first Passover that Elijah could really participate in. We hosted and he helped to cook food (for 18 of us!) and get place ready. We were all shocked when he started singing some of the traditional Passover songs thanks to his preschool (connected with the Synagogue that we don't go to...). One day right before Passover started, he was in his car seat and broke out in "Dayanu." We had good food, good company, and a great time.



The Post-Seder festivities....

Our trip to the zoo

Over my spring break, we took a family trip to the zoo. I struggle every time we go because I feel so sorry for the animals. I always end up worrying that they get too bored and that their quality of life isn't good. BUT, Elijah LOVES animals, and since we aren't currently planning a trip to an African Safari, the zoo had to do.

Even while I struggle internally, we had a blast. Elijah wanted to go from exhibit to exhibit as fast as he could. As soon as he'd see one, look at it for a moment, he'd go, "FInd another animal!" His arms were finally long enough to actually get a good feel of a shark.


For the first time, he got to feed the giraffes. Just like petting the sharks, I struggle with this...but HE LOVED IT. He still talks about getting "licked" by the "big, black tongue!"


He's always been super into animals. His newest obsession is with worms (thanks, Dad!). He first saw them this year when he was helping me pull weeds in my flower bed. We'd have our hands totally dirty, but I wouldn't let him touch the worms (bad mom, I know). Well, my dad let him hold worms and that was the end of slime-less hands! He often now says, "Where'd my worm go, Mommy? Go find him?" Pretty cute...we're now buying stock in hand soap.

A foot of snow...

We've been waiting all winter for a good snow and it finally came. Right now we have about a foot out there and it is simply gorgeous. We just went sledding as a family and it was so much fun. Elijah wasn't sure what to think of SO much snow...he was much more confident sledding yesterday when we only had 4". Toward the end, he got used to it and kept wanting us to pull him up AND down the hill. This is deep snow and it's thick....and unplowed. It was hard work! When he wore both Shane and me out, we came back in. He wasn't happy about that at all, and actually, when we told him that he couldn't take his sled inside, he freaked out. Evidently he's forgotten about inside vs. outside toys. That's a hard lesson to revisit.

A Day On...

Penny, Tom, Elijah, and I just got back from volunteering with a local organization called Volunteers for Change. Many of the volunteers from our local Obama campaign office got together and organized community volunteer efforts. We were assigned a neighborhood in town to go door-to-door and ask for canned food or monetary donations for the Hoosier Hills Food Bank. We had a blast and Elijah was amazing. It was his first, of hopefully many, volunteer efforts. He loved going door to door and telling people "Thank you!"

Thanks to Penny and Tom for inviting us to go with them, and thanks to the organizers of Volunteers for Change...it's going to be an extra tough year for many people, and those of us who can, should make a renewed vow to help others who are less fortunate. Anyone want to join us?

Showin' some sass

Last night I got home late from work, just in time to read books with Elijah. Before we started, I was asking him about his school day. He reluctantly answered my questions...I wanted him to be more specific than he wanted to be. After a bit, he just stopped answering. When I asked the same question again, he looked at me and said, "Hey Mommy, I'm done talking." What can you really say to that? I figured I'd better start reading.

I like cookies!

I've been wanting to bake cookies with Elijah all break, but it never seemed to happen. On New Year's Eve, I decided that it was time to stop doing normal things, and make sure that it gets done in 2008! We had a blast! Elijah was hysterical. His favorite part (aside from eating the cookies, of course) was using the hand mixer.

In fact, he loved it so much that when it was time to put it away, he had a meltdown...and a large-scale one at that! He was able to recover and finish. He helped me scoop the dough onto the pans, and then he had his first taste of cookie dough (take a look at his eyes and you can see how swollen they are from him crying!)!

Then, he waited oh-so-patiently, for them to bake in the oven.

After that, he had to wait for cookies to cool. It felt like he was waiting, and waiting, and waiting. He kept saying, "Hey mommy, I like cookies!"

Then, finally, it was time to chow down.