Fun at Christmas

While Elijah didn't quite get the whole idea behind unwrapping and getting gits, it was still fun to have him experience it. He did spend some time playing with a box or two but he also enjoyed the toys that he got. Here's some pictures of the fun.
(Thanks to my cousin Andrea for the cute jacket. I really didn't think it would ever fit him when you gave it to him.)

And there went December

Busy month. Good times. Good kid.

A snapshot of Elijah's day

Play with Dance Dance Revolution - Toddler Edition (i.e. playing with the box that the adult version came in)

Brush his hair (or his mouth as the case may be)

Eat an apple. None of this cutting it up or peeling it for him. One day he found an apple and just starting eating. He LOVES apples.

Give him a grown up book to page through and he is THRILLED! Thanks to PM for providing the reading material. He is surprisingly gentle.

Halloween a little late

Elijah was a turtle for Halloween and I thought you'd enjoy seeing him in all his cuteness.

Back to playing

Welcome back little one

There is nothing more enjoyable than a child that is back to his old cheerful self after having been sick.

I picked Elijah up from daycare today and I don't remember the last time I heard him laugh so much. Everything was funny. He has learnt to shake his head back and forth when you ask a question. He doesn't really get what he's communicating. He only knows that it's incredibly funny.

I missed my happy little boy so it was fun to cuddle and giggle with him today.

And then came the rash...

So Elijah started getting this rash on his stomach yesterday. This morning it had spread.

I called Healthlinks and found out that 5-7 days after the start of Amoxicillan a rash can break out. It's not itchy and it's not an allergy. It's just a side effect from the drugs.

He looks really bad but he doesn't seem to be bothered by it. So I guess we won't be bothered by it either.

And so we took another trip...

When we went to the ER on Saturday the doctor told us to come back if Elijah's temperature was over 38.5. After several days of being sick, but not getting worse, his temperature was hoovering around 39. So, we went back.

Once again we had a great doctor. He checked Elijah out and said that the issue really seemed to be the ears. He wasn't concerned about anything else because the major areas where there could be concern seemed okay.

He was also a realist. I will forgive him for directing his comments at me even though Elijah's Daddy was in the room. I don't believe he intentionally meant to disrespect Elijah's caring Daddy. He confirmed in a tongue in cheek kind of way that I would always do the wrong thing. Bring him in today and the doctor makes you feel like you're a paranoid parent. Wait two days and the doctor makes you feel guilty because you waited two days. Above all, according to kind ER doctor, mommy's gut rules. If I really think that something is wrong with my child, find a doctor that will listen. As far as he was concerned though, Elijah will likely be okay.

So, Elijah is sleeping now. Hopefully we'll have a good night and the fever will continue to drop. I don't have to work until 11:30 tomorrow so we can hopefully get some good sleep in time. Poor fellow.

I'm gunna go get me some supper and head to bed.

Poor Elijah

Poor little Elijah has a raging ear infection.

Saturday night Elijah fell asleep on our way home from a party where he was happily playing with a bunch of other kids his age. At around 10:30 he woke up CRYING. We figured it was teething and gave him some Tylenol and Orajel. Now usually the Orajel is magic. Give it a few seconds and the crying stops. Not that night.

Three hours of crying later I called Health Links to find out what to do. He had no fever and we thought that maybe it was something he had eaten. She informed me that we should head to emergency as no child should be crying for that long.

We bundled Elijah into the carseat and took off to the hospital. His crying died off on the trip and as we entered the hospital doors I was starting to feel a little foolish. My crying baby wasn't crying anymore. (Turns out that Elijah likely stopped crying in the carseat because there was less pressure on his ears being upright.)

They checked us in an let us go sit in a separate room so that he wouldn't have to get in contact with all the germs floating around the general waiting area. There was another couple in there. The man had fallen on ice and was waiting to hear if he had broken his ribs. It was nice to be able to chat with someone to pass the time.

When Elijah finally got to see the doctor she ended up the best doctor we could have had. She checked him from head to toe to make sure that there wasn't anything else wrong with him. She made us feel like good parents. (Did I mention that I took Elijah to the walk in three weeks ago? The doctor that he saw told me that even though he was tugging at his ears, I shouldn't bring him back unless he had a fever. I'll leave to your imagination my thoughts for that doctor.)

So by 6 a.m. we were home and heading to bed. We spent the day sleeping on and off. He had moments of obvious discomfort but for the most part, he was the happy little boy we know.

And, I am happy to report that he actually likes the taste of the medicine. How great is that?

Safe, shmafe...

OK - so it's probably not particularly safe to let your child play with hangers. I'll give you that. But look at him. He gets so much joy from it. How could you not let him? Besides, some of them are good Mennonite hangers with all the padding on them.

Elijah

Life is good

Sometimes it is hard to be optimistic about life. Others times it is much easier. Now is one of those times.

I have been back at my job for almost two months now and it has been nice to be back. Sure, there have been some hiccups. I'm going back to the job I left on Monday which means that I have spent a lot of time doing other things. I have been reminded of the things that I enjoy about my job. From the 86 year old member driving across the city to welcome me back from my mat leave to the staff and their idiosyncrasies. I work with a great mosaic of people that enrich my life.

Elijah has been doing so well at daycare. His daycare Tante takes great delight in him and his achievements. I was sad to have missed his first steps but I have no doubt that they were encouraged just as enthusiastically as they would have been at home. I love dropping him off or picking him up and seeing him interact with the other kids. I love seeing his social skills develop.

I have great friends and family who continually remind me by their words and actions how blessed I am.

Yup. Life is good. It may suck for some people that the weather took a dramatic turn this week but I'm looking forward to letting Elijah play in the snow for the first time. It may suck for some people that McCain lost in the US election but I am full of hope because of Obama. What a great world to live in.

So there you go. The moral of the story today is: Life is good.

Magnets and such

Elijah recently discovered the fridge magnets and finds them to be quite entertaining. They're not just ANY magnets, they're SCU magnets so you know they're extra special.

I'm back at work

...so I'm taking the lazy way out of blogging and am posting pictures of Elijah. Being back at work has been great and Elijah is adjusting really well to daycare. It does feel a bit like life is on fast forward but we can't/won't complain because our lives are filled with good things.

The night before he started walking. He was standing for longer periods and you could just tell he was itching to move. Now he can, although he would rather crawl because it's still much faster.

Gotta start learning how to flip through channels at a young age.

Apparently wearing your hat and a diaper is the latest cool thing at daycare. I don't know. He certainly seemed to enjoy himself.

He has unfortunately been battling a cold this weekend so today mommy held him while he napped.

Always pleased to be walking

Thank you CBC

Now that we've settled into me being back at work, we've developed a bit of a morning ritual. While I'm doing those last minute things to get us out the door, Elijah watches CBC, no commercial, television. He has a habit of standing a little bit too close to the TV so our coffee table is now the two foot barrier that helps delay his need for glasses just a little bit longer.

Elijah enjoying life... as usual

Fun in a backseat

One of my favorite parts of the day takes place when Elijah and I leave for the day. I put him in the backseat of the car beside the carseat while I go back inside to get all our stuff. The look of joy on his face when I come back out fills my heart with joy.

If you're going to buy a Wii...

...then you may as well buy DDR... and if you're going to buy DDR, you may as well buy the Fit.

So, my first full week at work has involved lots of evening activities. If you drive past our house at night you will see us doing all sorts of wacky movements. We've been loving it.

Side note for any computer geeks who might be able to help: We bought a second mat for DDR (actually DDR2) so I can regularly show Trevor how Mennonites can dance. While the Wii recognizes that the mat is there, you can't actually use the mat. We've returned two mats already thinking that they were faulty but now we're thinking it might be us.

I'd write more but I've got more ski jumping to do.

Update

Work good.
Daycare good.
Household good.

Very tired.

Return to work

As many of you know, this week I headed back to work. I am happy to report that the pain was minimal and the pain that was there was mostly felt by the mommy.

Elijah had spent some time at his daycare already and so it was *easy* to drop him off on Wednesday. He headed to his little kitchen area because, you know, there is baking and cooking to be done. So I headed off to work.

The first half hour involved a few tears that were mostly induced by my working mother co-workers who were full of a great deal of sympathy for me. It didn't take long for me to remember what I love about SCU and the people that I work with. My boss took me for lunch and was kind enough to get me a laptop to help read my 16,000 emails. (No, that was not an exaggeration).

It was nice to have a short work week to get back into the swing of things. I ended up leaving early today to bring Elijah to his one year immunizations. (Two needles in his arms and the little boy didn't even flinch).

I'm looking forward to a fun family weekend to refresh me for a full week of work next week.

Thanks to everyone who has kept us in their thoughts and prayers. I don't know how this week could have gone any better.

Elijah's first birthday

Here's some pictures of the exciting weekend.

Birthday cupcakes at his first birthday party with all his friends.

Tricycle for next summer. Gotta get prepared to be a cyclist.

Both Elijah and his cousin got to enjoy this gift. One drove while the other pushed.


His very first DQ icecream cake.


...and by the look of his face, perhaps his last.

His first haircut

We decided that we didn't want to butcher his first haircut and have him look like a dork for his birthday. So we paid someone to do it. He was happy and it turned out pretty nice.

Almost walking

Elijah got a walker from his cousin this week that he tried using today and LOVED! We realized quite quickly that our house was too small for his walking adventures so we headed outside. Elijah had a good time. His parents had a good time. The people driving by watching him had a good time. It was a feel good moment.

I'm just wondering...

I'm just wondering, Is it possible to be passionate about something without being judgemental towards the opposing point of view?

I asked someone this question and they said that they thought it was. You just keep your opinions to yourself. But isn't that missing the point of being passionate? Can you be passionate about something without being vocal about it?

I got to thinking about this recently when a friend became very passionate about something that differed from the way I had done it. I understood her passion and at a different time and different place, perhaps I too would have felt that same passion. As it stood, I ended up allowing myself to feel judged because of that difference.

I wonder how often I share my views on things and end up making others feel judged. If I think that imports are the only cars to buy, does that mean that if you drive a domestic vehicle you're not quite as cool as me? If I think that I should go back to work after a year of mat leave, and you are choosing to stay home with your child, does that mean that I'm a better person? If I choose not to purchase lottery tickets because I think it helps fuel the vicious cycle of gambling issues, does that make you a bad person because you like to pick up a 6-49 every now and then?

I wonder how often I have inadvertently judged someone by my own passion without realizing how much my words could and did wound them. It makes my heart sick to think that I may have done that.

Do we give up passion to save feelings? I'm not sure.

I'm just wondering...

The little man

Optimism and the flowers down the street

There is a house that I pass when I walk to the mall. It makes me smile when I pass it.

In the spring there was an attempt made by the owners of the house make some changes to their front yard. One of the changes was to move the walkway from the side to the middle of the yard. Then they optimistically planted flowers down the sides of the walkway. They were maybe six inches at the time.

As summer has gone on, so have the flowers. They are probably three feet high and they have completely taken over the walkway. You couldn't walk down it even if you wanted to.

Sometimes our best intentions just don't work out the way we expect them to. Sometimes you just have to smile because what else can you do.

Last summer weekend at the lake

Only three more weeks till I head back to work. Just in time for one last long weekend at that lake.


This was the first time that Elijah willingly walked into the lake and enjoyed it. He spent some significant time in the water, playing with the fraying edge of the dock. (Not sure why we spend money on toys when a fraying dock will do...) This was also Elijah's first time in a canoe. He did surprisingly well. Only cried when he tried to stand and understandably hit his head on the canoe. There was no permanent damage.

Some recent pictures

When did he become a little boy?

I looked at this picture of Elijah and realized that he looks like a little boy. He's not a baby anymore.

There is a small part of me that is sad about that, but I have to admit that I like that he is becoming more and more independent. He doesn't need me like he once did. As long as I can keep the perspective that parenting is not about how my child makes me feel, I am good with this. I am proud with him when he tries something that he's never done before. The smile of accomplishment on his face never ceases to warm my heart.

I am also glad that that independance will give me the opportunity to once again use some of my non-mommy skills. To have something to add to a conversation besides his latest tooth (which popped out this morning) or the state of his bowel movements. It will be nice to going biking or cross country skiing without the thought that I have to hurry home to feed him. Someone else can do that. Yup. I think that this independence thing will be nice.

Fun in the summertime