Growing up

There is a sense of poignancy when we watch our children grow, isn't there? Since we brought Eli home, he loves to pray before we eat- sometimes even with a snack- and it has always been, "Nana Gigi foo." Thank you Jesus for the food.

We have been working with him to say, " Thank you, Jesus, for the food." And he can now say it. He still starts out with his standard, and when we ask him, "What?" He says, "Thank you, Jiji fo food."

We had a speaker come to our MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting on Tues. She was talking about Kindergarten preparedness- fun things you can do at home to lay the foundation for future learning. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I've been doing almost everything they suggested.

The speaker works for an organization called Little Hands Learning Company. They produce a lot of materials for children- and their parents- to help in this endeavor. The nice thing about the product they put together is that you get everything, including any supplies you need to complete the activities. Eli absolutely loves it!!

A classic book is the premise for the bulk of the binder- then there are crafts, letter recognition, games, stickers, etc- and as I said, everything is in there- for the book Eli created where the hand picks varying numbers of apples, the book was there, along with a glue stick and little red pom poms. I have a tendency toward the creative bent myself, and I initially thought I could do it all by myself- but I'm finding in getting into the meat of this, we are doing things I wouldn't have thought to do- like using a glue stick with a 2 year old, or using a lot of stickers. I'm finding things Eli likes and enjoys that I wouldn't normally consider- and he is eating it up!! It also gets me thinking outside the box for fun things to do.

I still am amazed that he knows all his numbers up to 10, most of his letters, if not all, his colors and many shapes. We tried search and find puzzles today, and he loves to find the hidden pictures. That really astounds me, as I've known other, much older children, that have no clue how to find a hidden object. His love of reading closely parallels mine- he's memorized so many books- it almost seems he is already reading!! I'm having fun with him, too. I think he's really going to enjoy preschool- I can't believe I'm already thinking about that!!

Tim and I are daily remembering what was going on in our lives just a year ago. So hard to believe it has been a year. At this very moment, we would have been unpacking in our hotel room in Krasnoyarsk, having just arrived from Moscow earlier in the day. Yesterday, well, leap year day- does that count? was when we had our physicals- all 6 grueling hours. Tomorrow will be our one year anniversary of our court witnessed reunion with Eli.

Just thinking about the emotions of that time almost overwhelms me now. I remember them bringing Eli in, screaming and crying, and me, in my pathetic Russian, trying to tell him to come here- it's OK- I am your Mama- and then him coming to me- and playing with me and filling up that empty spot that had grown sooo large over the 4 1/2 months we had waited to see him.

Tomorrow, we are heading out really early. I have a pharmacist conference I'm going to in West Virginia, so Eli and Papa are going to drop me off and head over to my parents house for the day. Then Papa will come back and get me and we'll spend the night with my Mom and Dad. We got the movie Fireproof to watch- it is very good- highly recommended!!

On an odd subject- Eli started climbing out of his crib about 4 months ago. I haven't slept much since. So...... I bought a crib tent. I remembered another adoptive mom from our agency talking about how it kept her climber in bed. I was so proud of myself!! I found it on EBay for $10!!...... almost 5 days before the bidding was over........ :0( But, I won!! My very first eBay attempt!

Only problem- Papa got quite firm with Eli a couple of weeks ago and said, "No more climbing out of the bed!!" I reaffirmed this when the two of us were here- and he stopped. Hasn't done it since.

SOOOO, the tent arrived this week. I wondered if I should even use it..... Then thought- it may give me just enough peace of mind that I'll be able to sleep again, knowing he's not out and loose in the house. (One morning, several weeks ago, he climbed quickly and quietly out of bed. All I heard was a little squeak of the mattress. I jumped up to get him, and by the time I got up there, he'd run into the bathroom already, had pulled the stool over and had the light on. He loves the water so much- I had visions of not waking up in time and finding him looking into the gates of heaven through the drain. Uuuuuggghhhhhh!!!! Soooo not a good feeling!!!!)

Back to the tent. I had an idea. Hoping it won't backfire on me.... I asked him if he wanted to help me open a present. (It was wrapped in brown paper) "WEll, Yeah!!!" he emphatically stated. So we opened it up. He saw the picture of the crib in the photo on the front of the box- wondered out loud if it was a new crib. I told him it was a new tent for the crib he already has, a tent like the one we saw at the beach when we were in St Croix. He's had such histrionics lately about the boogie man and during the summer it's about bees (or any flying critter- such as house flys, or even fruit flies). He becomes nearly panicked and takes forever to calm down to sleep.

So, I asked if he knew what the tent was for? He just looked at me- what? Keeping everything out of the crib that shouldn't be in it (it said so right on the package, with a cat walking across the tent......) and keeping everything inside that should be inside. SOoooo- the tent will keep out boogie men and bees- isn't that great?

At least he's accepted using it, somewhat. He helped me set it up- but he wants to be able to unzip it at will and still climb out- I told him you couldn't climb in or out unless Mama or Papa were there- doing it by himself would break the tent.

That led to making play tents tonight all over the house with old sheets and blankets. AAhhhh!!! let the fun times begin!!! I love the season of make believe we are entering- I love watching his imagination take off- and I love that he still wants me to be part of it with him.

OK- I am sooo rambling now- have to sleep....... Just wanted to check in and give an update on what's new in our lives.

Elisha's Gotcha day is March 15- we'll be celebrating by having him dedicated at our church. Once I get all the specific scriptures down that I want to use, I'll post them so you'all can see it, too, and share with us in this special time!!