Watching Elijah

It is an absolute joy to watch Elijah and I have been fascinated by him these last three months more than I am normally.  He is learning and doing so many new things each day.  He picks up a new skill one day, practices it and the next day has incorporated it smoothly into his repertoire of play.

12/25/09

When Shayna was Elijah's age (9m 4w), it was Christmas day and our 2nd full day home from the hospital post transplant.   I was finally feeling like we had a normal child but I was still terrified of medicine time.  When I recall that time, this is the picture I think of.  I had just collected the clean laundry from the basement with Shayna, carrying them both upstairs in the basket.  I never noticed before but that yellow piece of paper on the floor is her daily medicine schedule that'd I'd been discharged from the hospital with.  At the time, just that smile was an amazing miracle to see.

With Elijah, I've been able to watch a baby who can solely focus on discovering his world because his daily needs are always being met and there is little question of survival.  Learning to feed himself at 7-months to now refusing to let me feed him at all.  He figured out how to tip a sippy cup up to get more water in only 2-3 days.  Scooting to crawling to crawling away and getting stuck under things.  He crawled under a friend's coffee table to get a toy and got stuck.  He crawled under his crib to explore a box and got stuck.  Most recently, he crawled down the grassy hill in front of our house to our neighbors' yard and under their car just to see what was was there and got stuck.

10/22/11

12/4/11 (car noted above is not in this picture)

10/21/11

 I like it when he tries to take toys from his sister because he's so passive when she takes things from him.  I can only remember 2 times when he's yelled about toy taking.  Usually, he just finds something else with which to play.  He longs to be fast enough to play with her.  I can easily see them chasing each other around the house in a couple months as he already tries so hard to run after her.  They recently found a game they can play together: crawling between the couches chasing each other.  The carpet keeps thing from getting too slip and the crawling slows her down a bit.

10/9/11

We finally had to put the plants up high because he had taken to crawling over to them, looking one of us in the eye as we said, "no", then digging a fist full of dirt out of the pot and stuffing it into his mouth.  He likes to do this outside too except he's a little pickier as he'll dig out a pile of loose dirt before selecting the tastiest looking specimen.  My favorite is when he finds dirt clods to chew on.  I'll have turned my back for two seconds and the next thing I know he has a clay-coated mouth and smile.

His walking has progressed from wanting both hands held to only one.  Last Tuesday he took his first steps on his own but still prefers to hold our hands to walk.  What he really wants to do is run and as he just can't on his own he flatly refuses to walk without assistance by sitting and yelling in protest.

10/28/11

He loves the water and shows no fear.  A recent trip to the pool which has a wide ramp entrance had him crawling into the water up to his eyes when I would fish him out and put him back at the top only to watch him do it again.  If I run a bath in either house bathtub, he stops whatever he's doing, listens, scrambles to the side of the tub, and squawks in delight at the great treat we have obviously created for him.

Most of all I like his smile. It lights up his whole face and lights up the room. It's one more way I can see how he enjoys everything in his life and it's a joy to watch him live.

11/26/11