Today's Tidbits II

At church today Elias ran up to the director of children's ministries and said "God keeps us safe!" (their first memory verse from this fall).

After church we played in the snow a little. It was nice and sunny, but more importantly, the single-digit temperatures we've been dealing with lately have departed. Elias likes stomping on top of the snow and occasionally falling through. I took out the little disk sled I got, and Elias did his first sledding in the front yard. He was of course fearless, but after just a couple runs was more interested in taking off in search of the neighbors' horses. We haven't seen them all winter, but he still asks about them in some capacity several times every day.

After a more-reasonable (2.5hr) nap today, we made muffins.  Elias puts the paper cups in the tin, adds the mix and milk, and madly stirs it, all while trying to keep me from "interfering."

As we were sitting down to dinner, Elias spelt his name!  This is actually his second spelling feat:  he already spells "action" along to his "Kids in Action" CD.

Today's tidbits

He's growing so quickly! This morning for the first time he was able to climb on my back for a horseyback ride all by himself. He also climbed up the stairs today mostly without using his hands. He still likes to be picked up and carried around, but he's so big now I just can't keep up with the demand--nor should I, at this point. Getting him in and out of the carseat can be rough, but my car's so small he can't really get in himself.
We played catch quite a lot today.  He usually initiates this be running up to me with a ball in hand and throwing it in my face while yelling "catch it!"  He's actually really good at catching, much better than throwing.  Today I noticed he correctly says "I caught it!" as well as as me to "catch it."

Elias is my alarm clock.  He used to wake up the same time every morning within 1-3 minutes.  Not so much anymore.  Worse, this week he's been sleeping in a whole hour, not waking until around 7:30, about the time when we should be packing up to leave.  Good thing my work is pretty forgiving about what time I walk in the door; but still, it's been a little embarassing being SO late every day this week.  I was really looking forward to sleeping in this morning--even kept him up a little late.  Wouldn't you know it:  he was up and ready to go at 5am.  More, he really wanted Mommy's company, and not even Thomas the Train videos kept him distracted very long after a while.

I'm writing this while listening to him stirring in his room.  I couldn't get him to go down for his nap until 1pm (rather than ~12:15), but at that time he told me he'd take a big nap.  He certainly did!  It's nearly 5pm.  I have a high regard for the importance of sleep, especially for kids, so I usually let him sleep as long as he'd like.  Problem is, it's hard to predict, so hard for me to take best advantage of this time.  If I'd known it'd be this long, I may've taken a little nap myself, rather than laundry, making dinner, vacuuming the basement, and some "quick bill paying" on the computer.

Some other tidbits: 

• He's taken to proclaiming "Hallelujah!" throughout the day.  I think he got it from a Fernando Ortega song I occasionally listen to.  I wonder if the daycare folks know what he's saying.  He likes the way it sounds. He also loves the word "joy."
• Last night we read about a character who said "Ahoy, Mateys!"  He really liked that, and this morning greeted me with 'Hoy!  'Hoy, Mommy!
• Verdi's still his favorite chicken.  He was happy I let them out today.  He greets Verdi by calling Cock-a-dooooo!
• I used to say he eats pretty much everything except lettuce.  Last night he abolished that by eating a good portion of my salad, as well as his own spaghetti & cheese/ham/brocoli/noodle dish.  So, yeah, he pretty much eats everything.  His least favorite thing now may be rice.

Daycare feats

I had a "student-teacher" conference a few weeks back where they told me Elias was a bright, normal 2 year old. It was interesting how he shows abilities and difficulties at daycare differently than at home. For example, at daycare he's the best at waiting until everyone is served before eating(!), whereas at home sometimes he's gobbled down half his meal before I even get everything set on the table. Alternatively, they were surprised to learn that he was using a fork and spoon just fine at home, fingers--or, rather, fist-fulls--being the serving tool of choice there. Another example is that they only have him down for knowing 1/2 his colors, typical for his age...but I know he's known then all cold since last May. He's sneaky, my little one. I told them that, and that he also knows all his letters and the sounds associated with them, but I think they just put it down to mother's bias. I wish his daycare would push "academics" more, rather than settling for the "lowest common denominator" goals of the Madison school district. If Elias knows this much just from what brief, jumbled exposure I give him, just imagine what he'd do given some informed, intentional teaching. But even if they're lagging on that front, his daycare is wonderful at doing other things I wouldn't be as good at providing. They have tons of varied art projects, dramma, group activites, guests that play music or speak Spanish with them, and outdoor play nearly every day, sun or snow. He's spending a lot of time with kids his own age, learning important social skills--something his mom wishes she'd learned better, herself.

A few days ago this "biased mom" got a nice rush of justification, though. Wednesday Elias slept in, therefore I slept in, and we were running late for school and work. His class was already at breakfast so I brought him in there (where, incidentially, he immediately walked around to an empty chair, seated himself, and waited patiently to be served--unlike the whiney chaos typical of his 1st daily breakfasts at home!) His teacher excitedly referred to when I'd told her he knows his alphabet, and said "he really does!" and related how the day before he was casually reading off all the letters of a banner in the room, and proceded to do the same with other printed matter. She asked the 3yr olds teacher to back her up, and she also got excited and said how Elias could "read" the signs and spell his name and was just amazing, like no other kid she'd ever seen do that [that young]. I may've let slip a "I told you so," but played it cool.  It was certainly a nice way to start the day (even if I did show up 40 min late to work.)

Wednesday Elias went potty on the toilet for the first time at daycare.  He was progressing quite well over Christmas, but hasn't shown much interest since coming back home.  I'm told boys often do that.  The great thing is, Thursday he did it 4 times (never having a wet diaper), and again several times on Friday.  He complains a bit, but will do it at home, too, so hopefully this time it'll "take" for good.  His aim could use some help, however:  this morning he peed all over my leg and foot, as I was sitting next to him sitting on his potty.  Oh well.  I think it's time to take out his urinal, even though I've been unsuccessful at recruiting anyone to demonstrate its usage.

We're back, I think.

It seems my appetite for blogging, like all my hobbies, goes in great spurts then wanes to nearly nothing.  I don't get tired of bragging about Elias, but lately writing about him has required more energy than I had.  Yet, I don't want to deprive the world of news!  I try really hard not to dwell too much on his wonderfulness to the handful of people I get to talk to face to face, so it's also a nice outlet for me.  Bragging in prose is much more acceptable than doing it in person.

First things first:  Elias came through his surgery in flying colors.  He had both ear tubes replaced and an adenoidectomy (scraping off the immune tissue at the back of his throat right behind his nose.)   Just 3 hrs later they sent us home and he was cracking jokes and running around (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRYnvS1LaCo).  I, on the other hand, was wiped and the next day came down with a horrific cold or something that laid me low for a week.  The very next week his teachers reported he was listening (hearing?) better, and his horrible nighttime snoring has stopped!  I think my initial reluctance was justified, but I am happy with the outcome.  Thanks for your prayers.