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.