7 Quick Takes

one--

This is the probably the second day in a couple weeks when I'm not napping during Elijah's nap time.  While I was on vacation the last week of January I finally got him to nap with me.  Normally if he gets in the bed with us he decides it's tickle time and he won't settle down.  But I discovered his weakness--Elmo.  Yeah, it wasn't too hard to figure out.  Now we watch about 15 minutes of Sesame Street, I turn it off and say "okay, nap time," and he lays right down.  It's kind of my favorite time of day now.  But I had things to do this afternoon.

two--

Something about turning two has made Elijah much more cuddly than he used to be.  These days before he goes down for bed at night I sit in the chair in his room and hold him and we tickle and talk for a while before he goes to bed.  He thinks if he doesn't give me a goodnight kiss, it means I can't put him down, so when I ask for one now he always says, "no."

three--

I've been trying to read Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila recently.  I got to the beginning of the chapter on the fourth mansion when I had to put it down because I was having trouble really absorbing what she was saying.  That happens sometimes when I read nonfiction, I get to a point where I have to take a break.  I picked it up again the other day and I can't seem to get back into it.  I think I need to stick more to stories about the lives of saints for a little longer before I can get into anything denser.

four--

Can you tell he was excited to play outside, finally?  Now if I could only get him to wear his boots.

five--

We watch a lot of Thomas and Friends here...a lot, it's little boy's favorite show.  Nathan and I can't help but be puzzled by a few things: 

• First of all, with the trains going off the rails so frequently or upending cars of various, usually sticky, things, why do people live on the Island of Sodor? It seems more dangerous than it's worth.

• Also, why do they keep giving jobs to Thomas?  He never listens and always has to do everything again.  If I were Sir Topham Hatt, I would just kind of let him do his own thing.

• We can't help but be a little worried for the engine drivers.  They just kind of go along for the ride while the engines get into  all kinds of trouble.

Elijah doesn't seem to pick up on any of these concerns.

six--
I cannot make myself get into Downton Abbey this year.  I don't know why.  I love the show and I watched the first 30 minutes of the first episode but ever since then every time I think I'll sit down and watch it, I turn into a 6 year old whining,  "I don't want to," to myself.  It's probably because Nathan won't watch it with me.  Instead we watch Sherlock, Raising Hope, and I honestly don't know how many times in the last month we've watched Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, but I'm pretty sure it's getting close to 10.  Seriously, I love the "Bad Horse Chorus."

I better get over this by the time Call the Midwife starts, because I really want to watch that and I know Nathan won't watch it with me.

seven--

Keep Nathan's cousin and his family in your prayers, they're taking a mission trip to Kenya for three weeks.

For more seven quick takes check out Conversion Diary. 

Back...Again

I don't know why keeping up regularly with this blog is so hard for me lately.  I honestly haven't even been back to this page since my last post that I remember.  But I actually do enjoy blogging and I like getting the opportunity to write more often.  So, here I am, trying again.

I'm going to start with a question for other moms and dads.  The thing is, Elijah doesn't talk.  He has a few words he'll say, mostly ours and his grandparents' names, "Elmo," and "cookie."  Those are his big ones.  He also says "Thomas," and "tractor" with some frequency.  But we really have to work to get him to use any other words.

And the thing is, he is very smart and he can talk.  He can say "downstairs," and "window," and "light," and "in," and all kinds of things.  He just never does, unless we make him.  We've started really pushing him to use more words and most of the time it just frustrates him.

I came home from work the other morning and found he and Nathan sitting in the living room, both of them looking irritated.  Nathan told me they had had a 30 minute battle of wills because he asked Elijah to say "downstairs" after he woke up before they went down to breakfast.  And Elijah would. not. do. it.  Eventually Nathan just tried to get him to say any word, any word at all and the little guy still refused.

We talked to his pediatrician about it and he mentioned it might just be because Elijah is very mellow.  He doesn't feel like he needs to talk to get what he wants.

Every day I tell him that pointing and whining to get what he wants isn't cutting it anymore and he needs to start giving us words, and he just sits down and cries.  I feel terrible. 

If anyone has had a similar experience or has any advice or ideas I'd love to hear about it.

Milestones

This morning, given a choice of two shirts and two pairs of pants, Elijah picked out his own outfit.

He was very definite about the shirt, pointing to it right away.  It was probably the googly-eyes that did it.  He carried around both pairs of pants for a while, eventually holding these out at arms length away from the others.  It may not have been a clear signal of his wishes, but it was good enough for me. 

I am by no means a fashion expert or clothes horse, but I'm calling it a milestone, and I was proud of him.

Also, in big step news, we have set an end date for the use of pacifiers.  We have been severely restricting them to crib time only recently and we will make the jump to a pacifier free toddler on November 5.  I anticipate the first few days being very rocky, which is why I picked a Tuesday, it is Saturday for me and so I will be home at night the first two nights.  Pray for us.

Finally, today, Nathan and I are celebrating our seventh wedding anniversary.  The three of us are going to go out to dinner tonight.  I'm looking forward to it very much.  Nathan is also honoring the occasion by becoming as sick as he was on our wedding day.  If you were there, you may not have known, but Nathan had a  terrible cold/flu thing going on and we are getting a replay of that today.  Poor thing!

I wanted to have a video play with the last song we danced to at the wedding reception, but for some reason, I couldn't get it to embed here.  If you're curious, here  it is.

Sick Mama

My least favorite person showed up today.  I can't stand myself as a parent when I'm sick.  I get cranky and irritable and all my energy is gone.  Elijah is sick as well so we stayed home today and were annoyed with each other all day.

He got mad at me because I wouldn't let him out in the 50 degree weather while his little nose is running like a faucet.  And I have to say, I was less than pleased with the 20 minute nap he favored me with. 

I tried to be fun and engaging.  I built a crappy half-assed fort and sat on the floor with him reading books and playing with his puzzles.  But every time I had to stand up, my knees hurt a little more.  We ended up watching way, way more television than I am comfortable with Elijah seeing in one day. 

Unfortunately, when sick mama shows up, that's all I can make myself do.  Let's hope that bitch goes home soon.

A Promise

On Eagle's Wings has always been one of my favorite hymns.  It was one of two songs I remembered moving from private to public school in second grade.  It makes me feel very blessed to be able to sing in Mass each weekend. 

Today it was our Communion hymn.  After receiving the Blessed Sacrament I stood sat in our pew towards the back of church holding Elijah and something about the words made me think of them as a promise.  The little toddler in my arms (who was amazingly well behaved at Mass today) has no idea yet what Our Lord and the Church has in store for him. 

And it struck me that the words of On Eagle's Wings are like instructions. 

"You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord, who abide in His shadow for life, say to the Lord 'my Refuge, my Rock in whom I trust...And He will raise you up on Eagle's Wings..." 

For the first time tonight, each verse sounded to me like the Lord renewing his promise that if we call on Him and trust in Him, then He will see us through.  As we sang, I looked at Elijah and kept thinking "It's a promise, it's a promise."

A Return

It looks like I needed to take a little break before I was ready to approach a new blog.  Things were all very much the same and also the same as what I had been reading on other Catholic "mommy blogs."  I got a little discouraged that I wasn't having original revelations about my faith or parenthood.

In the beginning it wasn't an intentional stop.  I just didn't have anything to say.  Then, I started thinking "Should I write about that?" and the answer I always came up with was "I'm not ready yet."  But now I feel ready.

Nothing much has changed. Things on our little patch of ground are pretty status quo right now, but that's okay.

So, before we jump in, here's a little update:

THIS GUY:

• 20 months old
• Cutting about 5 teeth at once
• Walking
• Eating with a spoon and making attempts at using a fork
• Says "Mama," "Dada," "Boppa" (Grandpa), "Poppa," "Bye-bye," "Yeah!," and any number of animal and machine sounds.  
• Much more interested in sounds than actual words.  If he hears a strange noise close by, he will try to mimic it. 
• Loves Thomas and VeggieTales also Baby Einstein, he is mesmerised by those puppets
•  Favorite foods--yogurt, almost any fruit, and eggs

He's something of a neighborhood celebrity.  He goes to daycare close by and the daycare lady, who I grew up with, has three boys.  Everytime we're all outside the boys all shout, "Hi, 'Lijah!."  We also have other neighbors and friends in the area who will stop and say "Hi, Elijah!" as we go for walks.

Nathan and I are mostly the same.  I'm working third shift now, which I don't enjoy as much as I used to because it means Elijah has to be at daycare two full days and one half day so I can get even a little sleep.  He seems to love daycare, lots of friends and things to do.

Remember this post from the old blog?  Well, it turns out all those times I said, "I'm going to England for my 30th birthday and only adopting a second child can stop that," God was laughing at me.  Nathan recently found out a good friend of his is getting married in China the month before my birthday next year.  And Nathan, of course wants to be there, and we can't afford both.  So, England will have to wait...maybe until 31.

Nathan has decided that for this big trip, he wants to lose some weight and I really could probably eat healthier, but to be perfectly honest, I have no idea how.  I eat all the fruits I can manage, I think and I really can't stand vegetables.  And my favorite foods are all things like pizza, cheesburgers, and bacon.  So if anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it.

I've read quite a few books since I've been away, but few of them worth mentioning.  I'll try to update the booklist.  Also, I'm still refining the blog's appearance, so bear with me.

I think that's about it...nothing much else new going on around here.

I can't promise I'll be here every other day or I'll always have something ground breaking to say, and you'll probably see quite a few pictures of Elijah, but right now, that's really what life is about.

The Butterfly

If a one year old could have a favorite author, Elijah's would be Eric Carle.  He loves Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which are the only two Eric Carle books we have. 

When reading Caterpillar one night, we got to the end, read about the beautiful butterfly and our little blond boy started saying "Buh...buh...buh..." It was the first time he'd tried to say something without lots of prompting and repetition. 

He is so proud of his attempts to say the word "butterfly" that he wants to get right to it when we pick up that book.  He doesn't have the patience for all the pages and flips through fairly quickly.  So, Caterpillar has taken on a strange new form in our house.  It goes something like this:

"In the light of the moon, a little egg lay on a leaf.
He started to look for some food.
On Saturday he ate through one piece of chocolate cake, one ice cream cone, one pickle, one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake, and one slice of watermelon. 
Now he wasn't hungry any more, and he wasn't a little caterpillar anymore.
He was a beautiful butterfly!" 

Followed by a very enthusiastic "buh, buh, buh!!"

I wish uploading video worked for me, it's much cuter to see!

The Great Dilemma

We've been really lucky so far to keep Elijah out of daycare.  Ever since I went back to work I've been on second shift and our dads who both work from home have been good enough to watch him for us.  It's been so nice knowing he's with family, well looked after, and loved.

It also created a pretty neat bond between him and the grandfathers.  Nathan's dad goes by "Pop Rice" with the grandkids and my dad is "Grandpa."  Elijah has tried to say those two words before most others.  He loves his grandmother's also, of course, but his grandfathers are his buddies.

We always knew we would not be able to impose on them forever, though.  And now my father-in-law is getting ready for planting season and my dad has his own things going on.  So it's time to start looking for daycare.  There are other reasons as well.  I try not to be, because everyone always says he'll do it when he wants, but I really am concerned about his not walking.  I'm hoping putting him with other kids closer to his age will encourage him to do what they are doing.

And I think he could use the socialization in general.  He needs to get to know other people than just Mama, Daddy, and his grandparents.

We are lucky that it won't be full time.  My 3-11 hours from Thursday to Monday mean he only has to be watched for about 3 hours 3 days a week.  Our parents, who actually do enjoy watching him, are going to alternate one day a week, so really, he only has to be in care two days a week.

Still, it bothers me to think of leaving him with someone who isn't family.  We don't know much about the world of day care.  What we do know is that we don't want him in a "center;" we'd rather he stayed with someone in a private residence who only watches a few other kids.  I thought about getting a babysitter or nanny to just come to our house, but then he wouldn't get the socialization.

Pray for us!

Order from Chaos

The blog isn't the only thing that's gotten a facelift in our lives lately.  For some reason I've felt a strong need to simplify just about everything.  I have never been much for housework and since we became parents my motto for house cleaning was "we can do it later, just play with Elijah."

That meant dishes were piling up, laundry wasn't getting done, and I don't even want to tell you how badly the floors needed sweeping.  Actually the dishes didn't usually make it a long time without getting done because my parents would do them when they came to watch Elijah on Thursdays.  While this was helpful, it made me feel like the world's worst wife and housekeeper.

Then, I came home to find they had not only done the dishes, but also swept the downstairs bathroom, which gets bad because it's also where the litter box is.  I knew it was time for a change.  That night I stood at the white board on our refrigerator and came up with a weekly chore list.  Each day of the week has one chore or one room to be cleaned, that way we only have to do one thing a day and everything gets cleaned every week.

Monday--dust and general pickup
Tuesday--bathrooms (sweep, clean fixtures, clean mirrors)
Wednesday--kitchen (dishes, countertops, sweep, take garbage out if necessary, clean out fridge monthly)
Thursday--sweep and vacuum (stairs and two main living areas)
Friday--laundry (either fold, or move it along in the machines)
Saturday--pay weekly bills, an work on Nathan's office

Okay, so Nathan's office is our one really really horribly messy room.  He doesn't care and I just do my best not to go in there (I say as I type this from his computer).  Also, Thursday usually means I sweep before work while Elijah is playing and Nathan is meant to vacuum after Elijah goes to bed, but he's been busy and sick so it hasn't been done.

And the laundry gets done throughout the week, Friday is just in case I get really behind.  So far, things have been going very well.  I also finally had enough of digging through the linen cabinet and not finding what I was looking for.  I bought two Sterillite bins and a little set of drawers and created a sense of order in there too.  I found a TON of toothbrushes and the pacifier thermometer I bought the first time Elijah got sick and lost as soon as I put it in the closet.

I also brought a new order to the kitchen so that all the food fits in the cabinets instead of crowding the counter and the book case I had my cookbooks in is now a shoe rack by the front door.

I'm quite proud of all my efforts.

 I love these cabinets above the stove.