Elijah's Entourage

In the past year, Elijah has become a very popular dude! He has a whole menagerie of animal friends.

He adores them all, but the kitties are by far his most treasured friends. He also has two penguins (Sugar and Shivers who "wubbers" which is his word for shakes), a monkey (I-ggy), a lamb (Little Lamb), a blue bunny (Flopsy), and dog who wears rabbit ears (Bunny). He gave each one their names himself.

Occasionally, others may find their way in there if he crosses paths with them during the day. Last week, he discovered his favorite baby toy, a panda head attached to a small fabric blanket, so that was also part of the group.

As I mentioned before, cats are his favorite. He shares that fondness with his big brother. Samuel made a fluffy white cat at Build-A-Bear for his 4th birthday and she has been his lovey ever since. Snowflake, as he named her, is part of the family. Elijah's kitty friends include: Cookie, Ginger, Oreo, Doug, Sally, Fluffy, and Pouncy.

Just this week two new kitties have joined the family. Nana took Elijah to Build-A-Bear in honor of his upcoming 4th birthday while we were in Atlanta for Spring Break. He made a Siamese cat that he named Ivory. Samuel and Elijah chose matching pajamas for their kitties to wear, and insists that they are now sisters. His other new cat, Smokey, was a gift at his birthday party from his best preschool friend.

He treasures each one and seems to rotate favorites. He may choose 2-3 to sleep with one night and the next night will look for others. He always keeps the pile in his bed and loves to see how many he can hold and hug at the same time. If he makes his way to our bed, we know that he will bring a small pile of friends along with him. I usually wake up with at least one cat on my head!

The animal friends carry over into our days as well. He will often crawl into my lap and purr like a kitten, while giving me kitty kisses. Or, we like to hide under the covers in the "pig-a-loop" (igloo) and play penguins. He will bring me his friends so we can love on them together and play as if they are real.

His collection is beginning to outgrow his bed, but I hope it's a long while before he outgrows this stage. I am so enamored with this soft, sweet, loving side of Elijah.  He can be boisterous and headstrong, but is just as caring and affectionate. Everything he does is to the extreme, and he makes our lives so interesting!

Lullaby & Goodnight

One of my favorite duties as Mom is singing the boys to sleep at night. Allen and I trade off on nightly jobs, so every other night I do the bath/story/singing routine. At the end of the day I usually feel pretty wiped out. Sometimes I even find my patience wearing thin and I may rush their baths or stories. But, once the lights go out and its time to sing to them I always slow down enjoy those few songs we share.

There is something very therapeutic in singing. I've never thought that I had a particularly good singing voice, but after practicing for the last 6 years it's surely improved. Regardless, the boys love it and that's all that matters to me.

Yesterday, while I was getting Elijah into his pajammy-jams he asked, "Mommy are you taking care tonight?" When I replied yes, he said, " Yay! Daddy doesn't sing the right songs." I laughed and asked what he meant, "Your songs are great! He doesn't sing my favorite songs." Allen has his own set of songs that he likes to sing, while I sing others.

When Samuel was born I made an effort to memorize some classic lullaby songs, as well as songs that I remember my mom singing to me as a child. I also mix in some love songs and silly children's songs. I have quite a collection of material now!

We start out with "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Jesus Loves Me", followed by prayers, then I ask them to choose three songs a piece for me to sing. First I lie down with Elijah and we snuggle while I sing. It usually takes him a little longer to settle down and lie quietly, which is why I start with him. He almost always chooses the same ones: "The Good Ship Lollipop", "Lullaby and Goodnight" (the version sung by Jewel), and "My Favorite Things."

Samuel likes those too, but will usually request "Lullaby and Goodnight",  "Hush Elijah & Samuel" (the version of "Hush Little Baby" by Sylvia Long), and "Teddy Bears Picnic." Samuel has several other favorites too, like "So Happy Together" (by The Turtles) or "My Guys" (I adapted the lyrics of The Temptations' "My Girl"). I sing others when the mood strikes, but these are definitely the long-standing favorites that I sing the most. A few of my favorites to sing are, "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" (by Sophie B. Hawkins), "House at Pooh Corner" (by Kenny Loggins), "The Bluest Eyes in Texas" (by Restless Heart), "I Can Only Imagine" (by MercyMe) and "1-2-3-4" (by The Plain White Tees).

Samuel also likes for me to climb into bed with him and snuggle up under the covers and I'm glad to oblige. I hope that our night routine will stay just like this for a least a few more years. In that stillness, the chaos of the day is forgotten and we just love on one another.

Flashback Friday: Look Who's Talking

Two years ago today, on October 9, 2012, Elijah said his first sentence! Of course, it was something that made us all laugh. "I want that!" His budding personality was already shining through!

He started out as a somewhat stoic little baby, it took a lot of silliness to make him smile, but he has developed into a funny guy who loves to make us laugh. He can still be shy sometimes, and is definitely strong-willed and stubborn, but his unexpected moments of hilarity are one thing that we love the most.

Here is a photo taken the day before while we were at the Bossier City main library's story time. I spent most of it chasing him around the room, trying to convince him to sit still on the rug or my lap. In fact, like this one, most of Elijah's photos are a little blurry because he can't ever sit still long enough for me to snap. He's always been my wild man!

Flashback Friday: Cars Galore!

My boys are car fanatics. Samuel, in particular, has always been fascinated by all varieties of cars, especially luxury sports cars (many that I'd never even heard of like Bugatti and Lotus).

By the age of three he could name almost every make and model of car we would see on the road. It's always been a main topic of our car trip conversation. In parking lots we regularly stop to admire cars and I lift him up to peek in the windows.

At home, our playroom is full of cars of all shapes and sizes, along with plenty of tracks and playsets. Everywhere you look, all over the house, you will find Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. They are beloved, but only if they are "real" cars. Samuel has no interest in the made up models that are created by Hot Wheels.

Now, Elijah has also developed a love of cars. He and Samuel spend endless hours driving cars on the road rug and setting up racing tracks. They will even simulate the video game "Need for Speed" by driving cars all over the house - up and down banisters, over the backs of the couches, even on the walls (to my chagrin).

This is one area where I am learning right along with them. I knew nearly nothing about cars before having my boys, but now I enthusiastically read car books, attend cars shows and watch NASCAR or Indy races. I love the opportunity to explore and cultivate their interests!

For this photo, taken October 25, 2012, I lined up just a fraction of Samuel's collection in an arc and left a spot so he could lay down. He thought that it was so fun and was able to lay very still while I took photos. I thought that it was be great to recreate the photo with Elijah, but I'm not sure he could lay as quietly. We may have a very different collection of photos at the end!

Flashback Friday: Going Bananas!

On September 11, 2012 "Hoss", a.k.a. Elijah, earned his nickname when introduced to his second solid food: bananas! He ate the whole jar and cried for more in between bites. The best part was how he attacked the spoon as soon as it was within eyesight. 

He's a much pickier eater these days. I feel like I spend a huge part of our mealtimes trying to convince him to eat something. He has several favorite foods, and those he will eat in large quantities, but if he spies anything unusual on his plate then he will completely ignore it! 

A few of his current favorites include: greek yogurt, chicken nuggets, all varieties of cheese, oranges, pizza, cucumbers, and (of course) bananas. He turns his nose up at most everything else, unless it's sweet. Like all kids, he would love to just survive on cookies, ice cream and candy!

Since I wasn't able to find a photo of him eating his bananas, I thought I would post this one, taken a few days earlier, of Samuel feeding him carrots and cereal. He didn't enjoy them quite as much, but he is such an adorable mess!

School Daze

The school year has begun! Summer flew by in a blur (with a big move and some fun trips) and I hardly feel ready to have the boys away at school. I miss them when they are gone!

Samuel is in 1st grade this year and I think that once he settles into the rigor and routines of his new school, that he will enjoy the extra challenge. Because it is a magnet school he will be receiving a lot additional (FUN!) classes, including Spanish, Science, Social Studies, Music and Art. In addition, there is time set aside each week for Computer Lab and visits to the library. His class will also have 10 field trips!

Here he is on the first day of school. He is sporting his school logo & mascot on his vest. He's excited that the mascot is a tiger since he loves kitties!

On the first day we left early so we could stop for breakfast at the Dunkin' Donuts near our house. I've found that donuts can be very motivational to help little boys get ready quickly in the morning. ;-)

Since it was the first day of class, Elijah and I were allowed to walk Samuel inside to his class.

Samuel came home from his first day excited to tell us all about his class and the school, but he was mostly excited to play with his new Playmobil classroom set. Elijah was happy to have his "best friend" back.

The following week Elijah started Preschool! He will be going M,W, F for 4 hours (including lunch) at a church school near our house. The idea of "school" isn't really new for him. He was in a MDO program for the past two years, one day for each year of his age, and last year he went twice a week. This year he will just be adding another day.

After we moved to Montgomery this summer, we drove to the church to show him his school so anytime we passed by Vaughn Forest Church he would yell out, "That's my school!" He was excited to finally start his class.

As excited as he has been to start preschool, I was surprised at his shyness once we arrived. It took a bit of coersion to get him into his classroom. After he set down his bag and lunch he ran down the hallway and tried to hide by the door. I think he was a little afraid to be in a new place, with so many new faces. If we had stayed in Bossier City he would have started preschool at our regular church, where he went to MDO..

He had a great time though, and when I arrive to pick him up he was happily playing with PlayDoh. Once he spotted me he ran right into my open arms just like he always does! Later in the afternoon he fell asleep on the way to pick up Samuel and took a snugly nap with me after I carried him in from the car. He doesn't nap often, so I know he must have had an exciting time at school!

Flashback Friday: Somebunny's Here!

Since I took a long break from blogging, I thought it would be fun to start a new type of post called Flashback Friday. Now on Friday's I can blog about a photo, event or memory from the past 4 years.

The first photo I will share is from Elijah's newborn photo session, April 2012. He was only about 6 days old. It was an easy session since he slept almost the entire time. We never had a newborn session done with Samuel, his first professional photos were taken at 6 weeks, so I definitely wanted to do one for Elijah. I found this adorable handmade knit bunny hat and diaper cover and knew it would be perfect for him because he was born just a few days before Easter!