The Smith Family Adventures

I just have to post a few of Simon’s portraits at one year. They turned out adorable! The poor little guy was asleep when we walked in. (Somehow I always manage to pick the absolute worst time for portraits….It always seems like a good idea when I schedule it). Simon was a bit groggy, but never grouchy. We didn’t get his million dollar smile in any of the shots, but we got a happy little boy. What a cutie! Enjoy:

In just under two weeks, Simon will be one year old. It is hard to believe that a year has already gone by…but then he is so much a part of our family that I can’t believe it has only been a year.

Yesterday we went to get portraits taken of Simon at one year old. We dressed Elias in a matching sweater just in case he was willing to get his picture taken. Elias is usually very resistant to getting his picture taken so I wasn’t getting my hopes up. When we arrived, though, Elias was excited about the experience. He was talkative and helpful, and happy. When the photographer said it was his turn to sit next to Simon, he happily walked up and sat down right next to his brother. He did everything the photographer told him to. He hugged his brother. He kissed his brother. He stood or sat next to his brother….up until the very end. He refused to lay on his stomach and have Simon on his back. But I was thrilled…we got some great pictures of the boys.

But what really struck me the most was this picture:

Of course Simon’s eyes had to be half closed! But the picture really touches me. Elias looks genuinely happy to be next to his brother. This picture shows what’s inside his heart: he loves his brother.

We’ve come a long way from here:

Elias has his frustrations with Simon occasionally. But they get along most of the time. Elias hugs and kisses his brother of his own volition. He randomly says phrases such as, “I love Simon.” at the dinner table. He helps Simon and plays with Simon. He loves his brother.

I asked Elias if he remembered when Simon was a baby. I asked him if he remembered when Simon was not here yet. He claims he does not. Simon is as much a part of him as we are.

I remember being so worried in those first few months after Simon came home….when Elias wouldn’t even be in the same room as him and when he cried every time Simon cried.

That is all in the past. Now we are celebrating Simon’s first year, and it is only onward and upward from here.

One of Elias’ favorite things to do these days is dancing. Well…that’s what he calls it anyway. For him it’s all fun. For Mommy or Daddy it’s a strenuous work out. I don’t know how it all started, but Elias gets it in his head that he wants to “dance.” He runs and turns on the stereo so we have some music to dance to. Then, Nathan or I (whoever is his dance partner) must toss him in the air repeatedly to the beat of the music. When my arms get really tired, I just sort of swing him into the air instead of tossing him. But he absolutely loves it.

Often, Nathan and I take turns to give each other some rest. We never toss him far from our hands…a couple inches at most…but it is a good work out!

Here we are dancing:

Simon is walking! He’s been slowly increasing his distance from one step…to two steps…to four steps at a time. Now I think I will say he is officially walking since he tries walking all the time and he can make it all the way across the room. He loses his balance quite often, but after he plops down on his little bottom, he gets right back up for more.

Unfortunately, today Simon got his first fat lip. In fact, he ended up with two separate bloody mouth experiences today. The first was from falling forward while walking. He got three cuts on the inside of his top lip. The second time was the bottom lip. Poor little guy!

Here is some footage of Simon walking:

I’m both happy and sad at the same time. My baby is growing up.

Today was Elias’ first day of preschool. It went splendidly! As soon as we arrived in the parking lot, Elias exclaimed, “We’re at school!” We ran in the building, he hung up his coat, and entered his classroom. He looked a bit nervous at first, but when his teacher greeted him, he proudly told her, “I found my red wagon!” (The symbol she put next to his name on his coat hook, cubby, etc.)

I got to give Elias a hug and a kiss goodbye, and then I was out of there. As I walked down the hallway, I could still hear him talking to his teacher, telling her which toys he wanted to play with.

It got a little teary eyed. I didn’t want to cry, but couldn’t help myself. I needed to nurse Simon, though, so once I got to the car and focused on that I was able to compose myself. I can’t believe Elias is in school!

The next two hours went by pretty fast. I went to the post office. I picked up Elias’ plate that he painted the other day. I got my flu shot. I talked with Simon a bunch. Then we went back to pick up Elias. I didn’t know what to expect.

I couldn’t be more happy with how things turned out. When I got to the classroom, Elias came to greet me, and showed me his artwork. He told me that they learned about winter, and got to put glue on Frosty the snowman. (They glued marshmallows on a snowman). After we put on his coat and left, Elias was a fountain of information. He just gushed about things that happened. He told me about his snack. “Our friend Ashley brought gold fish. Mrs. Kimball says I could have more next time. I asked. I can have more next week.” He told me about some of the things he did during play time. “I played trains. I found the painted Thomas. It will stay at school until next week.” “I chose one girl book and two boy books.” (I never was able to get out more about the books…I’m not sure what he meant).

After a few minutes, though, he totally shut me out. He wouldn’t talk or look at me, and seemed to be in a foul mood. I didn’t push it because I wanted him to feel positive about the experience. I thought that was all I would get, but throughout the day he kept bringing preschool up over and over again. “Two Elise’s. Elise N and Elise T.” or “Marshmallows are yummy” (apparently he tried one!) “Mrs. Kimball brought three frostys.” “Poor table. The table was sad. It got a scratch.”

And I was very surprised at how much he already uses Mrs. Kimball’s lingo in how he talks about “our friends” and “jobs” and other such things.

The only thing that would have made the day better for me would have been to get a picture of him on his first day of preschool. Elias is very resistant to getting his picture taken. I wanted a picture of him standing by the front door holding up a sign that says first day of preschool or something like that. He got very upset when I tried to force it on him, and I didn’t want to make him upset before his first day of school. This is what I got:

I wish it didn’t bother me so much….but it does. I have the memories which are most important. But I like the pictures too! Oh well…if that is the only thing I have to complain about I guess I am pretty blessed.

Elias’ first day of preschool was a lot of fun and a big success!

Nathan says I always preface my stories with way too many details. He may be right. But sometimes there are is just important background information that makes the story even better.

So here’s the background:

1. Nathan…because of his interest in Bob Dylan, has a harmonica. I don’t remember when he got his first “cheap” harmonica, but last year for Christmas I got him the real thing. A nice Hohner in the key of E.

2. Elias also took an interest in the harmonica. Nathan’s cheap harmonica is now Elias’. He plays and plays it while walking around the house. It’s quite cute.

3. Yesterday the harmonica went missing. Elias was quite distressed about this, but I told him we’d find it when Daddy got home.

4. We did not find the harmonica. This morning as we were getting ready for preschool, Elias asked again for his harmonica. I told him we didn’t have time to look, but we would look hard after preschool. We got in the car.

Ok…so here’s the real story…..

I was driving on the freeway with both boys in the back seat. Jon Foreman was serenading us over the stereo. No one had said anything for a few minutes. We were just listening to the music. I was thinking a lot about the fact that it was my son’s first day of preschool and getting a little emotional…but more on that in a different post.

All of a sudden Elias said, “Hey! There’s my harmonica!”

That phrase shocked me out of my emotional thoughts. I looked in the rear view mirror to see where Elias was looking, and was trying for the life of me to figure out how it got in the car.

Before I could ask Elias where he saw it, he continued, “They took it in the music!”

It was then that I realized that sure enough, there was harmonica in the music we were listening to.

I was trying not to laugh, but mostly I was just inwardly proud that my son had recognized the harmonica on his own in the music. As I was digesting all that was happening, Elias said again, “They took my harmonica! Where is it?”

He is so cute.

Dear Elias,

We went on a date last Saturday, you and I. Our first Mommy/son date. It is something your father and I had talked about doing for a long time….having purposeful quality time set aside for each of us with you two boys. I’ve had a lot of time alone with Simon since he was born, but I had never been able to do something alone with you. For ten months! There might have been one or two trips to the grocery store in there, but it’s not the same. I missed spending time with you and you alone.

Now that we’ve moved and made it through the holidays, I told your Daddy that it was time to schedule a date. A Mommy/son date. So we did.

The night before our date I asked you what you wanted to do for our special time together. “Painting” you answered right away. So I decided to take you to Ceramicafe in Beaverton so that you could paint some pottery.

When our date day came I was super excited. I put your brother down for a nap, got on my shoes and coat, and got you out the door. It was a relatively long drive to Ceramicafe, and you were not very talkative. But I was alright with that. I talked. And we listened to music. And I was just happy to be with you.

We got to the Ceramicafe and I let you choose anything you wanted to paint. You chose a small salad plate. Choosing the paint color was your favorite part, though. You wanted blue! We found a table, and began painting. When I got out the camera, you looked at me as if saying, “Come on, mom! Put that thing away. I’m painting here.”

But I snapped another one anyway just to prove I was there on this special date with you.

As I sat and watched you paint we talked about some of the things we were seeing in the store. There was a birthday party going on, and you really wanted a balloon. We talked about techniques for how to fill the whole space and get the outside blue. Some of the time I just watched you. And I realized something…

Here I was thinking the time was so special (and it was). But before your brother was born, it was how things were all the time. When it was just you… I of course enjoyed being with you. I have always loved staying at home with you. But I wished I had realized how special our time together was when I had hours and hours of it every day. Why does it always take losing something to realize how precious it is? I was momentarily filled with sadness. Then I realized I had better not waste our time together being sad! Besides, your Daddy and I have a plan for one date a month at least!

After we filled the plate with blue, you asked to go get another color. You chose a dark blue. Then again we went to choose, and you chose dark purple. When you declared your work finished, I wrote your name and the year so we would always know when you made your plate.

After cleaning up and a trip to the restroom, we walked a few stores down the row to Subway, and we got lunch. We got you a sandwich, apples, and water, and I let you choose any chips you wanted. You chose a bag of baked cheddar and sour cream ruffles. I was quite nervous about it because you are such a picky eater, and I guessed that those would have a pretty strong flavor. I chose baked lays for myself just in case you didn’t end up eating your chips.

You chose a booth, and we sat down to eat.

During lunch you kept asking where Daddy was. You also asked about Simon a few times. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed. There was a part of me who wanted to say, “who cares? This is our time together.” But I just answered that they stayed at home, and we are having a special date and then we’ll go home and all be together.

When it came time to eat chips, I anxiously watched you put that first chip up to your mouth. You took a bite, and an interesting expression came over your face. You declared, “They’re the perfect temperature!” I think you must have had your first experience with a bit of spiciness or something. I can’t figure out what else you may have been referring to. But…you took another bite. And another. You ate the whole bag! That just goes to show if you tried new things more often you might like them!

After lunch, I drove a few hundred yards to Safeway to get you a balloon. You were still talking about the birthday party balloons, and I thought it would be a special treat. We walked in and told you that you could choose any balloon you wanted. You took a long look at the wall of choices, and settled on the Elmo balloon. We called for help, and as the lady was filling your balloon, you were so excited you just could not contain yourself. You held your arms out to her and literally shook with glee. You held that balloon very tight on the way to the car, and I was just glad you would have something fun to remember our date by.

When we got home, Simon and Daddy were playing and watching football. We joined in and returned to life as normal. But I feel refreshed. Lighter on my feet. You are such a special boy, and I am so lucky to be your Mommy. I can’t wait until our next date!