Updates

Elijah started feeling better on Friday and his appetite is really back with a vengeance today. I had to add an extra snack this morning because he was so hungry!

I've been feeling a lot better lately, too. There are still times when I feel sick, but they are getting more rare, especially if I eat as often as I should. Hooray! Now I'm just really hungry all the time.

We got a questionnaire when we took Elijah for his 18-month check up to see how he is developing in several categories. I thought some of them were kinda funny (funny strange, not comical) but maybe that's just me. Elijah "passed," but didn't get all of them. (Not that I'm worried about it.) Here's how we answered a few of the questions:

Without showing him first, does you child point to the correct picture when you say "Show me the kitty," or ask, "Where is the dog?" Yes. This is one of our favorite games to play now when reading books. Elijah also points out some of his favorite things without being asked. (Balls, cats, dogs, horses, bears, etc.)

Does your child say two or three words that represent different ideas together, such as, "Mommy come home," or "Kitty gone?" (Don't count word combinations that express one idea, such as "bye-bye," "all gone," and "What's that?") No. All of Elijah's two-word combinations are used as one idea - for instance, milk is always, "More milk," and all books are now "Bear book." I'm not worried about it though - E is learning new words every day and speaking more clearly all the time. I'm sure that he'll start putting them together too.

Does your child turn the pages of a book by himself? YES! He's been doing that since he was 8 or 9 months old. Seriously. (Does he get extra points for doing these things early?)

Does your child walk down stairs if you hold onto one of her hands? No. Elijah is tall for his age, but steps are still pretty big. Besides, why would I purposely try to teach him to walk down the stairs when he can do it safely and well by himself? He'll be running and jumping down them soon enough! Another one of these questions is about using chairs or stools to climb to something he can't reach. Again, why would I teach him that any earlier than he would figure it out himself? It sounds like asking for a whole lot of trouble to me.

Anyway, Elijah has been doing lots of fun things lately and I think it's amazing how quickly he's learning and growing right now. One of his new favorite things is an animal puzzle that he got for Christmas. He does it over and over every day and is getting really good at it. He also loves to read his "bear books" and do all of the animal noises. He is very good at identifying the animals and likes to go find all the lions or bees or elephants around the room - he even remembers where they are in different books! We're having a lot of fun.