Spring Rain = Green Grass and Happy, Wet Children

Every time it rains (about 1/2 the days since my last post) and Elijah finds out, "Right back.  Outside.  Rain," and he heads for the door with Shayna close behind.  On the last day of school, they didn't even make it outside while we got 1.5" of rain so I brought towels and dry clothes with the plans of puddle searching and splashing in the rain.  We got lucky with a huge puddle at the bottom of the school parking lot, away from the child-pick-up car parade, and leading into a long swale in the grass.  The kids had a good half-hour of wet, splashing fun before we had to head home for naps.  We were joined briefly by one of Shayna's classmates and another got a very wet good-bye hug from Shayna.  (See pictures and video below.)

We did have a brief heat wave in between days of rain when I got out our new, huge pool.  Elijah mainly loves filling his watering can and buckets to water the grass, garden and chalk pictures on the driveway.  While Shayna loves doing that as well, she also spent much time splashing and playing in the water.  On the first day with the big pool, we even had her friend Peyton over who enjoyed it just as much.

We've had some park picnic's with friends after school.  We've done three with friends and at least two on our own in the last month around one of the two duck ponds in town.  There's a small pond on the way to the kids' school that's fairly flat so I bring the kids' bikes.  Shayna's biking skills have improved tremendously.  She's up to going faster (she started at, and would freak out if she went faster than, Elijah's walking pace) so she can make it up the slight inclines and over the tree-root bumps in the path.  She can get up steeper hills too as her legs seem to be getting a lot stronger.  Her breaking has also greatly improved, which was my biggest safely concern.  Instead of freaking out, screaming, then falling, she puts on her breaks.  The bigger hills are still and issue from which she had to be rescued once as she careened straight (luckily) back down a hill she'd just heroically gotten most of the way up. My fast moving friend Sarah (she's been trained by her 4 boys) caught Shayna before anything bad happened.  (Sarah followed this rescue 10 minutes later when she fished Elijah out of the creek he tipped into while I had a slow-moving, I'm-pregnant-and-in-pain, and sore-from-too-much-exercise day.)  Elijah has a tricycle with an adult push-handle on the back and just recently graduated from feet being on the stationary pegs to legs-long-enough to put his feet on the peddles.  He still doesn't get the peddling himself concept but loves being pushed along any trail.

Nahum was in Germany for a conference last week so we kept sane as best as possible.  We're training a new mother's helper for the summer so she was a big asset as I took myself to dinner twice and had some down time while someone else chased the kids.  We also enjoyed a breakfast out where the kids were marvelously well behaved.  I did cheat a little with Elijah and let him play games on my phone while we waited for our food and for Shayna and I to finish our breakfasts after he inhaled his.  Shayna knew the morning plan but Elijah wasn't sure what was going on so showed some concern.  All he knew what he had only eaten 1/2 an apple so was leaving the house like it was time for school on a near empty stomach.  He was quite happy that we ended up driving in another direction and quickly settled in for the new adventure trusting, I'm sure, that I would feed him soon.  I got even braver and busted out the multi-color water colors that afternoon.  Shayna had some practice at school but Elijah had never seen such a remarkable thing.  He fell quickly in step with rinsing his brush before getting more paint.  The concentration on his face was priceless so I videoed about 10 minutes of painting.  Don't worry; it's not all included here but can be made available to Grandpa Michael on request.

Speaking of Grandpa Michael, Elijah's still in love with him and can't wait for his October return.  I took the kids to the neighborhood creek about a week after Michael had left from his May visit and Nahum came home from work while we out.

Me: Elijah, let's go home to see Aba.  Do you want to go see Aba?
Elijah: No. (said quickly, short and to the point)
Me: What do you want to do?
Elijah: uhhhhh...GranpaMichael. (it's one word to him)

Since Michael left, seeing him again has been a normal request by Elijah.

Enjoy the pictures because I'm done writing for today.

May 19: Helping Aba open a coconut.

May 24: Reading the look-n-find book together.

Beginning of June: Three best friends: Addison, Shayna, and Peyton.

The rest is all from June 6.  The last day of school and the day we got 1.5" of rain.

Plus, the video from that day.  

"Annual" Pittsburgh Pilgrimage

I say "annual" because it's actually been almost 2 years since we last visited the transplant folks in Pittsburgh (July 2011) and, theoretically, we're supposed to come up around her transplantiversary.  We got to skip last year's "annual" visit by seeing our awesome local GI doc in Roanoke Dr. Hart.  He and the folks in Pittsburgh get along great, respect each other and communicate well.  The other issue is driving to Pittsburgh in the winter is like rolling the dice on weather and therefore road conditions with the odds against us.  With all this and Shayna's astounding good health, we were able to enjoy some of Pittsburgh's beautiful spring along with our doctor and hospital visits.

Shayna and I had a wonderful trip, just us ladies.  Elijah stayed home with Nahum and Tall Oaks Montessori (where he stayed until 4:30/5 each day instead of the usual morning preschool only).  It was the easiest drive I've ever done with a kiddo in tow.  Shayna was an excellent traveler, able to stay in the car for long periods of time and communicate bathroom, food/drink, and entertainment needs easily.  There were even a few times when she had me turn the car dvd player off  so she could look out the window, daydream, sing her songs or just chat with me.  We drove up two weeks ago Sunday and checked in with labs and a clinic visit Monday morning.  The transplant crew continues to be very happy with Shayna's progress and present health.  We also talked about the possibility of a little plastic surgery to goofy scar folds if she requests it as a teen (or older) and their immunosuppression weaning program.  Once Shayna is 5 years post-transplant, she can be evaluated as a possible candidate for Dr. Sindhi's program.  She has to have been rejection free for the last 3 or so years and show good indicators on a blood test he has designed.  (Transplant science is still so young that it's thrilling for me to watch it unfold from such a close view point.)  It's still a couple years out for us but an exciting possibility since Prograf does not come without its side-effects.  The one of most concern is kidney damage, which they check for every year and Shayna's kidneys look perfect so far.

April 15: Relaxing after labs with some french toast breakfast at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

April 15: Clinic visit with our coordinator Stacy and PA Patty examining Shayna.

April 16: Waiting for her procedure.

Tuesday, Shayna had her umbilical (belly button) hernia repaired.  She was scared they were going to remove her belly button as it's hard for a 4-year-old to understand all the complex things under the skin.  An oral dose of Versed did the trick to relax her.  After that she smiled and giggled at anyone who looked at her.  The procedure went smoothly.  There was a little intestinal adhesion to hernia tissue so I'm glad we were in Pittsburgh since it was all routine for them.  After the procedure, the nurse got nervous because of the way Shayna acts coming out of anesthesia (crying and grumpy) so gave her a large dose of Fentanyl (narcotic in the Morphine family) without notifying me though I was standing right there demanding to know what she was doing.  Pissed me off and knocked Shayna out for another 2 hours.  It did make Shayna chipper when she woke up since the anesthesia wore off while she was in her Fentanyl slumber but we could have left at least an hour, it not more, before we did with the extra drugs.  Shayna was a trouper as usual and was playing, gently, outside in the evening.

Making the day extra difficult, my virus took full hold on Tuesday.  My ears were stopped up so I had a lot of trouble hearing and was popping ibuprofen and tylenol all day to control the pain, I started to get dizzy with anything other than steady movement, and achiness and exhaustion took over my body.  We ended up going to a MedExpress where the doctor said it was a virus going around that even she had experienced and because I was pregnant I could take anything but tylenol or ibuprofen.  I'm still waiting for my ears to fully open up and in the mean time another virus has taken hold making it almost 3 weeks of illness for me.  Thank goodness Nahum has mastered putting both kids to bed so I can get a break in the evenings this last week.

On to happier times: Before we left Pittsburgh, Shayna and I visited the zoo and aquarium.  I pushed her all around the hilly winding zoo while she marveled at all the animals.  She was scared of the lions, tigers, and rhinoceros so didn't want me even going near their fences.  She was fascinated by the elephants, giraffes, apes, and penguins.  I loved that part.  We even saw a mama gorilla with her 5-day-old baby.  Shayna made me whisper as we passed the sleeping black bears.  We walked through the shark tunnel to watch the sharks circle at eye level and swim over our heads.  There were many other animals to visit and love and a few places where even a stiff moving 4-year-old could climb.  She was so good about staying within her physical limits without a word from me.  After the zoo, we drove home and again Shayna was an awesome traveler.

 

April 17, 2013 and March 2, 2010: She's grown a bit in those 3 years.

 Being silly in the tunnel through the shark tank.

Again, the Hertzmans played a pivotal role in our Pittsburgh trip.  It was so wonderful to have a house with normal people around to stay with.  Shayna and I did great sharing a room.  (She wanted to continue once we got home as well.)  Shayna was scared of their new dog Cookie which made the dog scared of her but they were very nice to Shayna putting the dog in the basement a bit more often so Shayna and I could be downstairs in the early evening.  Our bedtime (I went to bed with Shayna and loved going so early) coincided with their dinner time so Cookie could join the family for their normal evening routine.  Adam (the dad) enjoyed reading to and talking with Shayna so I even got a few breaks while I listened to her laughter in the next room.  Both boys Noah (11) and Jonah (8.5yo) were great with Shayna; though, they were a little over enthusiastic to explain many scientific things to Shayna (astroids, dinosaur extinction, electricity, etc).  Shayna did her best to follow along.  Monica was her usual sweet, steady self.  I am so thankful they were able to open up their house and lives for us like that.  Even with normal/easy doctor and hospital visits, my stress level is quite high as I always have to be on alert.  Having a real home to relax in every afternoon/evening was essential for making it a joyful trip.

April 15: Reading with Adam and Jonah.  Adam had both kids giggling with his voices for the animals.

Elijah was not forgotten during our adventure.  He was a trouper, enjoying a full day (8-5) at their montessori school without any issues, and he and Nahum really bonded.  Elijah's such a mama's boy that it was nice to give him a chance to realize he can get the same comfort from Nahum.  I need to go away more often.

The other exciting news about Elijah: NO MORE HEART MEDICATION!!!!!!!  I was cleared the week before Pittsburgh to discontinue his 3x/day flecainide as long as I check his heart rate 3x/day for the next month.  It's been a week without meds and we've had no SVT episodes so far.  He does look for his heart after I listen and tell him it sound beautiful.  If he has an episode, we're just put back on flecainide and have to wait another year before trying again.

The deer didn't eat all my tulips this year, and I had put a lot more in the ground last fall to tempt them.  They hit full bloom this last week.  I took some pictures to try to compare to last year (still have to find those photos).  It's been wonderful to have a cool, normal spring.  While we haven't been outside as much, my gardens are perfect.  The kids and I even planted mixed greens and sugar peas right on time this year.  Once I'm feeling better, I have a lot more work that I'm looking forward to in the yard.  Then, I have to refinish the deck.  At least Shayna can help with the staining while Elijah naps.

April 13: Playing outside.

April 19: Goofing off in the rain.

April 13: View from the low lawn.  

 April 25: View from the lawn and view from the steps.  I love the quick changes in spring.

Yay for Grandma! and More Snowy Adventures

March 24: Reading with Grandma Carole.

We had a wonderful Spring Break the week of March 25th thanks to Carole and her untiring ability to do whatever Shayna wanted.  "Help me take my babies here," "Put them to sleep here," "We're princesses doing....," and so on, all week long.  There was also lots of chase since both the kids love that game so Carole got her aerobics in as well.  Her two travel days were beautiful but every day in between was snowy and cold.  To get the kids, and us, some out-of-the-house exercise, we went to two open gym hours at the local gymnastics studio (the whole studio is open to walk-5yo including trampolines, foam cube pit, lots of bars, balance beams and many other things the climb or jump on) and two visits to the local pool with a 37-person Passover dinner at our house just to keep life interesting.  Carole also took care of the kids while I went to crossfit and the nuchal screening in Roanoke (which looked great).  The week was so lively and the visit so wonderful it felt like she was here only a couple days.

March 27: Painting with Grandma Carole

 

March 28: The full-body workout of climbing out of the foam pit.

I was so proud of Shayna leaping off the vault on her own.  She's getting so much more adventurous; it's wonderful.

March 25: Winding down of our crazy Passover dinner.  I loving being able to put that many people in our house easily.  Passover is awesome too in that it's not a party we put on but a party everyone is involved in.  I set up the frame work then stepped back and while other people organized, setup, and ran the rest of the evening.

In one final, wonderful gift from Winter, we got ~2" of snow on Thursday.  As the kids both, now, love snow, I took them out in it in the afternoon.  I ended up excited about the snow as well so that I raced around the house the get the sleds from under the deck so we could hit all 3 hills in-ish our yard.  (The big hill is actually mostly in our neighbors yard.)  Shayna and I loved the sledding as usual.  While Elijah enjoyed most of it (I even took him down the big hill twice), the flying snow (I tried to block it with my hands) as we hit the abrupt grade changes (steep to flat instantly) still got a little in his face which took the shear joy out of it for him.  However, he did love pulling the sled around the yard and would have stayed out much longer doing this and cheering Shayna's sledding on.  Shayna's sledding ended after she ran into our house but she still recalls the rest of the sledding as great fun.  (I'll buy some straw bales next winter for a buffer.)  I'm just so happy that Elijah finally enjoys being out in the snow for a while as when we went sledding in January he didn't sled but still spent the brief time out with Shayna and I crying.  Instead, he cried when it was time to go in to help me finish making dinner.  I love the growing kids and how much more I can just play with them.

 

Now it's off to meet Nahum and the kids at the Farmers Market then home to do some gardening on this beautiful, sunny weekend.  (98% of the snow melted yesterday; haven't had that since Colorado.)

I'll end with this picture from April 2 of one of our beautiful morning rituals: Sharing Aba's cereal in the morning.  If Elijah catches Nahum sitting down, Elijah ends up eating about 1/2 of what's in Nahum's bowl.

Surprise! and More Dresses Than Most Dads Can Handle

Nahum and I got a fun surprise at the end of February.  Instead of an IUD preventing pregnancy there's now a baby.  Our 3rd, and final (greater steps will be taken), offspring is due in the early fall, probably October.  

Shayna is stoked about her baby "sister" but not so happy when I remind her that it could just as likely be a boy.  At which point she says, "If it comes out a boy, I'll cry."  She's decided that talking through my belly button is the best way to communicate and desperately wants to be able to feel the baby.  I had her poke my belly to feel the fat then the muscle underneath and explained the baby  was under all than and really tiny (about 2").  It's gonna be a long wait for her.  Luckily we've got a beautiful spring/summer on the way with a long trip to Israel to distract her.  After the initial shock and following acceptance of our new challenge, it's been the easiest pregnancy, both physically and mentally.  Yes, it's been a normal tiring 1st trimester but mentally it's been an easy acceptance of the physical takeover that I hated when pregnant with both Shayna and Elijah.  That could just be due to the sheer terror of dealing with a toddler, preschooler and a new born but I'm taking advantage and enjoying all the sensations that typically come with my pregnancies.

Elijah's latest obsession is dresses, or as he says it, "dretchy".  "Right back!" he shouts as he runs to their room, "Dretchy." 5 seconds later he hands me, or Nahum, his selection on it's hanger.  As he started wanting to change dresses throughout the day, I finally started documenting his attire of choice.  The kids have been on spring break but just before that, Elijah started wanting to wear a dress to school.  Nahum would have him show the dress to his teacher Ms. Nancy then would take the dress off Elijah and back to the car after dropping the kids off at school.  Elijah's insistence in keeping his dress on while out has grown so I wonder how successful that tactic will be on Monday when school starts again.  Shayna is always told, "what a pretty dress," whenever she wears one.  Elijah just wants the same attention and thank goodness the whole family is quite supportive of his choices.  I just try to keep them shorter if we're going to the gym or park so he can still climb easily.

Nahum recently spent a week traveling for work in southern CA and Las Vegas.  The kids and I did better than usual even though all our normal sitters were on spring break as well.  I had a 13yo come over a couple times and one visit from a new college sitter and that seemed to be all the break I needed to stay sane.  While Nahum flew home on Saturday afternoon, I even took the kids hiking at the Cascades trail.  They did awesome!  Shayna probably could have done the full 2 miles to the water fall, but Elijah still has some stamina to build.  We made it about 20 yds from the sawmill boiler (about 1/2mi from the trail head) before Elijah decided he was done hiking and either wanted to play with sticks and rocks or be carried.  We snacked by the old boiler then risked the rain by hiking quickly (Elijah on my shoulders) back to the car.  While there was thunder quite close, it never poured on us and left both kids with a happy taste of hiking in the mountains.  As soon as it warms up (still winter-esk here), I'm going to take the whole family, and a child carrier for when the boy, all the way to The Cascades.

Notice the orange blur of the trail.  That's speedy Shayna.

Birthday Girl, WHO, and "Pee Pee"

Happy 4th Birthday Shayna!!!  Nahum and I took Shayna out for dinner on the 27th.  Of course she chose the Sake House where she can get Ikura (salmon roe).  (That's the only sushi she'll eat, yet.)  She was quite well behaved and loved having Ima and Aba all to herself.  Poor girl got strep on her party day so we postponed the party until last Saturday.  She loved it.  Lots of bouncing, running, and princess playing.  Plus, her favorite pizza and a strawberry ice cream cake.

Unfortunately, I don't have a whole lot of things to gush about this year as it's more like the year of frustration.  I love her continued growth and development and it's so fun, when she's nice, to hear her talk.  She's got a great imagination so keeps herself busy around the house with all her daughters and animals.  Sometimes her "son" is involved too, this means Elijah gets bossed around a lot.  Luckily she also still loves running and jumping so it's not all bossy-pants time.  The frustration comes because she has been busy asserting her independence for the last few months which includes lots of yelling at me ("Fine!! Then I won't like/listen to you!!", "No!!!", or "I'm never going to talk to you again!" to say a few.)  or hitting, kicking and the occasional full body slam if I'm not naturally in hitting/kicking range.  Then there's the peeing in her bed before she goes to sleep to get attention thing.  It's just another attempt at social manipulation but I got so sick of doing laundry that once she pees now she just sleeps on the plastic mattress.  At least, after months of struggle, we figured out and implemented a, currently, working solution.  She was moved into the guest bedroom, so she won't disturb Elijah's sleep, given a laundry basket, a pile of clean shirts, pants, and towels (so she doesn't have to lay on the plastic) and one sheet, told to take care of herself and we don't want to see her until her clock light comes on in the morning.  She hasn't peed awake in 1-1/2 weeks!! The asleep peeing is still an issue but at least most of the time she takes care of the situation herself.  Now, if only the yelling and slapping me and shoving Elijah when he won't listen to her directives would lessen, I would be a very happy mama.

Two-years-old, now that's an age I love.  There's growing independence and communication but there's  still innocence and he listens so much more than my 3-now-4-year-old did/does.  (Plus, if he doesn't listen, I can still physically make him rather easily.) The communication thing has been the star for him in the last 2-3 weeks.  The crown jewel of which is he tells me, and others, when he needs to potty without any dribbles in his pants, even in the middle of an engrossing activity. He's also working really hard on helping get his pants off then on.  It's so nice to finally have a break through on that front.  He seems to add 1-2 new words to his vocabulary every day too and he's started to "read" books to himself, not just look at them but tell himself out loud the story of the pictures.  He also loves to tell people he's 2-years-old.  He goes around asking himself, "howyou?" then doing his best to hold up 2 fingers he shouts, "two!"  Whenever we go up and down stairs, we have to count them and he gets a thrill when I, or anyone else, hold up my fingers for counting.

The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding until the age of two and I am so excited to have made it that far with Elijah.  We made it 2 years, 1 month, and 3 days until I decided that I was done.  He would have gone on for who knows how long but has been content with the new situation as well.  He loves reading the "car" book before bed and having me sing "Visit the Moon".  He actually runs to his room before nap and night saying, "car, car, car?!" because he's so eager for me to read to him.  He has a few other favorites too.  It's been a week and, after the first 1.5 days, he's only asked to nurse 3-4 times.  I'm so happy that he's happy with the new rituals and that I don't feel bad at all for stopping nursing.

Nahum has been in CA & Vegas for the last week visiting 3 universities there.  He's had a good trip and we've done fairly well but will be so happy to welcome him home tonight.  I have a sitter with the kids this morning so I can have some time to myself at my favorite coffee shop.  The weather is so beautiful here that, as long as it doesn't rain again, I'm going to take the kids "hiking" this afternoon.  "Hiking" because I doubt they will walk far but at least we'll be outside in the forest/hills.

Last but not least, Shayna's latest labs (last week) were awesome again!!

Feb 24th: Visiting Aba at work during his 10-days-straight of work on 2 proposals.  The next generation of Professor Aravs is already hard at work too.

March 10th: Shayna's birthday party.

Leslie, Patricia, and Yaniv prepping snacks for the hungry jumpers.

Bouncy house/princess fun for everyone. (Genny, Elijah, Shayna, Mara?, and Peyton)

Enjoying strawberry ice cream cake (Matar, Nahum, Shayna, Elijah, Sofia, and Michelle).

A Little More About Elijah

Yesterday after nap time, I took the kids to the local pool for some fun, something I really need to do more of.  Elijah took to bossing me around like Shayna does her sitters at which point I realized he was using two-word sentences, just a day after I said he was still having trouble with that.  They consisted of my title and a command.

"Mama, hep" (help): which meant he wanted me to swim him around a bit.  He puts his chest in my hands and holds onto my forearms.

"Mama, back": when he wanted to be taken back to the ramp where he could run and splash in the water on his own.

"Mama, bo": when he wants me to swim up to the ramp next to him.  ("Bo" means "come" in Hebrew when one is speaking to a male. As this is what he hears a lot, this is what he repeats.)

It's like his language skills exploded in the last couple days and he's so excited to use them.

In addition to bossing me around, they both enjoyed jumping off the side into the pool to me.  Shayna is back to walking down the ramp to neck-deep level but instead of going back up she walks to the side to climb out.  She fell under once during a stroll but righted herself within a second, just as I got to her.  I helped her balance, told her how amazing she did, and, while startled, she didn't cry, recovered in a couple seconds, and continued playing with more enthusiasm.  I think those little easily corrected spills add to her confidence.

A month ago, we took Nahum to that pool for the first time.  These are some of the pictures from that trip.  Yesterday, we had Shayna's water-wings but she didn't put them on until the end so she was unassisted for most of the time, which is how I prefer her to be. Elijah will throw a fit if one comes near him with a floating device, thankfully as I think they should learn to handle the water without such assistance.

Elijah will also throw a fit if one comes near him with underwear to put on, not-so-thankfully.  Here he is hiding under the table from his pumpkin underwear while yelling, "nooo, nooo, nooo, nooo...."

Happy Birthday to My Baby Boy

Elijah officially turned two-years-old on February 6th.  He's been 2 in my mind for a while so it's nice to have it finally be official.  

We had a little party for him over the weekend with a handful of friends, including his best friend Henry from school.  He and Henry are a month apart in age and share the love of the game Chase, which they play together every chance they get.  They and the other kids enjoyed yelling and running around the house Saturday.  There were three 4yo girls, a 3yo boy, and three 1.5-2ish-year-old (lots of siblings) so it was a very mild gang compared to the usual ruckus.  While the noise wasn't nearly so piercing, they still managed to destroy the house.  Elijah is in love with Thomas the Train and his friends (he has me sing him the theme song at least once each night) so I made him a Thomas cake.  All the kids dutifully scraped every last drop of icing off while only nibbling at the cake.  Luckily, the grownup were not so picky.  (Shayna now asks for a Bambi cake, not gonna happen.)

A few stats about Elijah:

Favorite game: Chase and tickle: Even Shayna can get him giggling hysterically.

Best Friends: Shayna and Henry: I say Shayna too because he doesn't like doing anything without her.  She started dance class, he wants a pink leotard too so he can join her.  She goes to her friend Addison's house and he screams, "Addison, Addison," while trying desperately to climb into their car too.  He loves doing everything she does including wearing dresses and crowns to dance around the house.

Number of words: I have no idea.  He talks, we listen and try to answer.  Some things ("whereareyou?") are like one word to him as he has lots of trouble consciously putting two words together.  Maybe 2-3 dozen but it seems to grow a word every other day at least.

Physical Growth: 35.5" and 31.6lb (he wouldn't let the nurse measure his head, instead he hid under the chairs screaming, "letgo!, letgo!").  It's the first time he's been on the growth chart coming in about 75% and 92%, respectively.

Favorite color: He proudly calls everything, "purple," and seems to be happy with anything.  (Where as Shayna seemed to gravitate toward orange at an early age.)

Favorite song: Probably Thomas and Friends but he'll sing anything as singing is one of his loves.  He's got Baa Baa Black Sheep, ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Wheels on the Bus, and a couple others that I haven't figured out yet.  He doesn't have all the words down yet so he just puts his own sounds in there to keep the rhythm going until he gets to more words he can say.  Plus, he already sings better than Shayna.

Something that astounded me in the last week: He counted to 10.  He usually only says, "A, B, C," then jumps but when I wrote the numbers for Shayna's hopscotch, he beat me to their names each time.

Happy running birthday boy with Henry and Shayna in the back.

Running Princess

followed closely by a Henry and fairy Addison traffic jam.

Singing Happy Birthday to an anxious birthday boy (Gray, Lynn and Dan in background and Izzy next to Elijah).

Probably his favorite part as he loves singing.

He did awesome blowing out the candle...

but did not expect the smoke to fly in his face after.