4.24.07 Transition (Mommy)

Busy, busy times. This is a major time of transition for our family and I feel it. Lijah must feel it too because he is testing us like never before.
Question: How come if dad and I both say no, Lijah will listen to dad and not me? Andy says its the tone of my voice. I have tried to make it lower; didn't help. After months of trying and practicing (I kid you not) I think I may finally have it. This whole thing is strange to me because I make aliving of telling kids what to do and I'm kind of used to having them listen. But my own toddler is way different than a 6 year old. Also, I have read, toddlers like to save their "bad" behavior for their moms. Joy.
Our boy continues to be observant and inquisitive. We can't get away with anything without our child watching us. He notices everything and wants to be a part of everything we are doing. It's cute. It's also a bit smothering- like living in a fishbowl.
We are so sad about our dog Miles having cancer. This has really bummed me out and I have been in a depressive fog ever since. Lijah is just starting to get to know Miles. He delights in feeding him the food he doesn't want. He giggles when Miles licks his hand or face. He loves to chase after Miles. And, cutest of all, Lijah settled in next to Miles's bed and started reading his little book so the dog could see the pictures. It was darling.
In other news, Lijah is now really picky. Really, REALLY picky. Remember when we worried that he was eating too much? Remember when I obsessed over how much milk I was making for him? Well now that child will not eat unless it is bread or crackers or some other kind of carb. Sheesh. We have resorted to letting him pick off our plates from time to time just to entice him to eat some (gasp) vegetables. Oh how things change.....
I'm anxious a lot lately. Anxious to get moving and packing. Anxious to sell the house. Anxious to get out of Vegas and move on with life. Just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

4.21.07 English Channel (Daddy)

Wow. Wow. Wow
Where have we been? I have no bloody clue, but it has been challenging still to sit here and actually write about what is going on. We should be much better about it because 'Lijah will probably appreciate it as time goes on and he wants to look back. There are some things that I'll quickly catch people up on.

1. We can ask Elijah to put something away and he does it - most of the time.
2. We are not wanting to be the kind of parents that a child can give anything to and expect the parents to hold it, so when he doesn't want something any longer, he is instructed to "put it on your tray". He puts it on his high chair.
3. When we ask him to pick something up and put it away, he usually does. This is followed by a clap - he's praising himself.
4. He is definitely demonstrating some mental congition. He had one of his monkeys the other day. We hid it and asked him to go get another monkey - he did. He brought us another monkey from his toy basket.

In not so good news, our dog Miles has been diagnosed with Lymphoma. He probably won't be around much longer. We expect him to stay on this earth for another month, but only time will tell.

'Lijah now has a new toy - with an integrated iPod.
I (Dad) bought an iPod Shuffle not too long ago for demo purposes relating to business. It was just 'Lijah's size. Now we've grabbed a little red bear from Sharper Image that has an iPod plug-in in its front pocket. We can plug the iPod in and clip it to the bear's pocket. When we first did this it took our boy about 5 minutes to figure out where the buttons were and how to change the song. We're learning that he loves buttons, of all kinds. The grin on his face was quite priceless. Make sure you check out the April 07 photos, as we'll have some posted in there of this very event.

Mom is currently doing some job hunting for our move back to Oregon. We're both working our tails off to make sure we can afford two house payments - uhhhhhh.

Elijah isn't yet running, but he's walking pretty quickly. He still gets a little too excited and will trip over his feet occasionally, but he's an old walking pro now. He actually just came over to me to say hi and then walked away. He looked like he had something in mind and better go to it.

He loves bread. He loves anything that rises with flour in it really. Cookies, yes. Bread, yes. Banana bread, yes. Rice, yes. Oatmeal, yes. We are having a really hard time getting to eat real food like chicken (any meat really) or veggies. We've been reading up on some tricks - like not giving him anything to eat, but put him in front of us while we're eating. Of course he'll want to eat what we have. Right?

Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No. Ever seen a kid nod his head yes to you asking him if he wants to go to bed? Well, 'Lijah doesn't quite seem to get the yes (nod) and no (shake) yet. He'll even shake his head no and then nod immediately afterward. It is kinda like he's saying "No, I don't want that and Yes, I mean it". We have a new game where we ask him strange questions. 9 times out of 10 we get a nod. Next time you see him try asking him if he enjoyed swimming the English Channel.