Letters To Elijah: All Sorts of New Fun

Dear Elijah,
I can't sleep!!! I've been up since 4am, and now it's 5am, and I decided to write to you since my mind keeps racing and won;t let me go back to sleep! Well, the 4th of July was fun :) We had a bbq at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Your daddy and I made a red white ad blue cheesecake, and your great aunt Teresa made a red, white, and blue carrot cake! Grandma cut up watermelon, and made corn on the cob, hamburgers, and all kinds of other yummy stuff! Then later that evening we all drove to Malaga Cove, (the cliffs) and watched the firework show that they had going on there! It was so much fun! At the bbq you warmed up to mostly everyone, and started rough housing (wrestling) with your uncle C.J. It was hilarious! When you get in that mood, you want to keep on wrestling, and you start to pick a fight with whoever will get down on the floor and roll around with you! It so cute! You went up to your cousin Nic, but he didn't want to play fight because he was busy playing a video game. You kept on tickling him, and them tried to bear hug him. You wanted to wrestle with him so bad, but he wasn't having it at that moment, so you went onto the next person who was your auntie Erica. Hahaha... You walked up to her and basically squealed at her, and pushed her playfully as if to say, "Ok, come on, try to get me!" haha... So she was a good sport and started playing with you. She was even in a dress and was keeping up with you just fine. Hahaha... Then you picked a fight with mommy. I was sitting on the floor and you ran up to me and bear hugged me trying to tackle me to the floor. There is only so much wrestling mommy can do now though since I'm 9 months pregnant with your little sister! Hahahaha... But I do enjoy it ;)I like how fun you are! I love how you play...

You are starting to venture off on your own more these days, and are getting a bit more independent. It takes you a shorter time to warm up to places and people now, and then when you do, you stop clinging to mommy and daddy like you used to do, and you have started to roam around and explore other areas and people. It's pretty fun to watch, and notice the changes you are going through. The other night at our home group, you were roaming around, kind of following one of the little girls in our group, and you were holding two maracas... Lydia wanted to play with one of them, and you were holding tight to both of them! It was the first time I ever witnessed you not wanting to share! Hahahahaha, and I don;t know why I found it so funny! You r reaction to sharing one of your maracas was first, holding on tightly and shaking your head "no," and then letting out a loud scream when Lydia was trying to obtain the other one. Hahahaha. THEN, when her mommy and I were trying to talk you through the concept of "sharing," you growled at us! You have learned to growl from the doggie you are always around. He growls at you when you are trying to snuggle with him, so you do it too. It was quite funny, and eventually you parted with one of your moroccas... I just thought it was a funny little change I witnessed. We may have entered a whole new stage where sharing is not your strong point anymore. You have developed a mind of your own ;) heehee

For the past two weeks or so you have been giving us a hard time about eating! This has never been a problem for you, but now getting you to eat is one of the hardest things! You cry through most of it, and we have to sit there with you for a long time trying to get you to open your mouth. You usually do open up for us, and you rarely spit stuff out, (although you do that sometimes), once we get it in your mouth, you are good about chewing and swallowing. It's just sad because you cry through the whole thing. You would seriously LIVE off of berries and cheese if we let you, but we are trying to make sure you are getting everything your little body needs to be a healthy boy. You fight us on oatmeal, sweet potatoes, beans, most veggies and things of that nature, but will happily, on your own eat strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, watermelon, and cheese! You really like berries and cheese! It's crazy to see this because you have grown up on my homemade baby food, and would eat spinach, carrots, broccoli, avocado, zucchini, and much more. I would think you would get used to the tastes. But it's almost like the taste is the least of the problem. I think you may just not want to give up play time to eat, You would always rather be doing something else. Oh well, we'll see how things progress :)

I woke up last night as well, but that was more because I feel like I was supposed to be praying for people God was putting on my heart. So I prayed for a solid hour for you, your daddy, Emma, our housing situation, a random girl I came in contact with a few times when I was volunteering at a church, and some others. I do like when I wake up with specific things and people to pray for, but also, the lack of sleep left me pretty wiped out today, and now again this morning I know this day holds a lot of tiredness for me too! I have to wake up more these days to go to the bathroom since your little sister is in my tummy, and since I'm up so often, my mind will just start to race about all kinds of things and I can't seem to shut it off! So here I am, not sleeping, and yes, I will be very tired today, but at least I got to write you a letter :) That's a big plus! I love you more than words can express. I enjoy watching you, playing with you, kissing you, hugging you, and just being your mommy! It's the best fun ever getting to take care of you and watch you grow and change. You are the sweetest, cutest, so brave, ultra smart, most fun little guy I have ever had the pleasure of loving! You have such a tenderness matched with your rough and tough ways. You always have time for hugging and kissing and snuggling in between your running, jumping, wrestling, and growling! haha! I love you baby boy! You are my sunshine! :)