Joys of Parenthood - Part 1

Here are just a few of the things that Elijah does that we absolutely adore:

We recently purchased a bike seat for Elijah to ride in. Stephanie borrowed another bike from a friend and we spent some of the afternoon on Sunday riding around. Elijah and I took another ride this morning. He rides quietly behind me, only occasionally speaking along the route. He says "Hoesey" as we approach the house with the horse in the side yard. He exclaims "Pay! Pay!" (play) as we take a quick stop at the park. He insists, "Car-car" as we sadly pass the house in which our friends Chase and Heidi (and their kids Carter and Anna-Kate) used to live. And finally he announces our arrival back home by calling out, "Hoese" (house).

Elijah has been enthralled with the Vacuum cleaner (and anything that resembles it) for quite some time. He often pleads at the closet door, "My-cuum, My-cuum." Until recently, he would just stand there (the only time he would stop) and watch. But more recently, he insists on operating the machine himself. This would be a wonderful assistance if he wouldn't keep up-righting the machine and leaving it running as he dashes off to another room. But this weekend he gave us an extra laugh as he tossed the cord over his shoulder—exactly like his father.

Elijah has also started to really enjoy his Hotwheel cars. Lately, he likes to exile his animals from their barn, and convert the empty space into a garage for his cars. When he's not parking them in a row there, he'll pull the rug away from the refrigerator and convert the space in between to a track. It's exciting (and quite cute) to watch this little guy play quietly by himself.

Elijah has also recently taken to a surprisingly neglected toy up to this point: balls. He'll take one of his rather large rubber balls, look to the ceiling, and toss it as high as he can. It's amazing to see how entertained he can become with this activity as he proceeds to do this over and over again. It's also fun to watch half of his releases come to early or too late, and thus the ball is propelled in front or behind him, which of course earns squeals of laughter as he chases after it.

This weekend, as we were working out in the yard, Elijah pulled rocks out from around the shrubs and lined them up on the back bumper of the Camry.

He's also found a new home for his animals when they've been banished from the barn: underneath his shopping cart. But rather than place them directly on the lower shelf, he enjoys stuffing them through the small hole from the front (notice sheep near the middle of the picture).

Ahhh, the joys of parenthood.