Elias Reads Some of His Favorite Books!

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Kimberly

Besides Dr. Seuss and P.D. Eastman, Elias has a few other favorite authors and books. What is most fun is that he has started to read them to himself…out loud! I often hear his little voice as I am loading the washer or washing dishes. When I go look in on him, he is most often reading a book to himself. He has many books memorized at present. Most of the time I just sit or stand and listen to him. Occasionally, I run for the video camera.

In this first video, I have captured Elias reading “The Pet Store” to himself. It is a counting book about animals in the pet store. He “reads” the page, then counts the animals to himself. Enjoy!

Next I have a partial clip of Elias reading “Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?” illustrated by Eric Carle (another of his favorite authors). Elias got “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” for his birthday and memorized that one first. He recently found this one on the bookshelf in his closet and has been devouring it ever since. I only got the camera about half way through the book so you won’t hear the whole thing. It is also a bit softer so you may have to turn up the sound to hear. I am quite impressed with his memory. He even remembers that the penguin “struts” and the red wolf “sneaks.” This was taken over a week ago, and he has since improved his reading of the book even more. Enjoy!

Ah, what fun. The teacher in me is so proud. I guess the Mommy in me is as well. I’m just so glad that reading is something he enjoys right now. I hope we can keep it up into adulthood!

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The World According to Elias

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Kimberly

Elias is really into dinosaurs these days. Here is (an approximate) snippet from my lunch time conversation with Elias (dots indicate a long pause):

Elias: “A betasaurus, Mommy.”

Me: “A betasaurus? Is that a dinosaur?”

Elias: “Yeah.”

Me: “Oh, ok. Where did you learn about the betasaurus?……Did Daddy tell you about it?……..Did Uncle Scott tell you about it?………Did you read about it?”

Elias: “No. It’s a betasaurus.”

Me: “Oh. Is a betasaurus a plant eater or a meat eater?”

Elias: “No. It eats potatoes.”

Me: “Potatoes! That’s silly. Is it a big dinosaur or  a small dinosaur?”

Elias: “It’s a tall one.”

Me: “Does the betasaurus fly?……Does it swim?…….Does it walk on land?……..”

Elias: “No. It’s up tall.”

Me: “Hmmm…..In the trees?”

Elias: “No……In the mountains!”

Me: “Oh wow……What else do you know about the betasaurus?”

Elias: “It’s red.”

Me: “The betasaurus sounds like a cool dinosaur.”

Elias: “Yeah. A cool one.”

Oh what an imagination my son has! Where in the world did he come up with betasaurus?

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Awww….Cute

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Kimberly

This afternoon I went to open Elias’ door and curtain around 4:00. I usually do this to help him wake up from his nap…as long as he has been asleep at least two hours already. If he sleeps much longer than 4:00, he has a hard time going to bed at 8:00. I always feel bad waking him up…so I usually just open his door and curtain and then leave for a bit…hoping that he’ll wake up gently.

Today, I opened his door around 4:00 as I said, and went to check on him about 10 minutes later. I found that one of our cats had joined him. I thought it was quite cute and went to snap a picture. She really loves him…even if she tries to pretend she’s above it all.

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Good Ol’ Fashioned Cardboard Box Fun

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Kimberly

We recently purchased a gliding rocker with some Christmas money. The best part, though, was the box. Elias had a ton of fun playing in the box, and Mommy and Daddy just had to climb in a few times too. We read stories in the box, and hid from Olive, our cat, as well as just laughed and giggled in there. It was some good ol’ fashioned fun!

I caught Elias by surprise with this picture while he was playing in the box.

Elias reading just outside the box so that he has enough light.
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Big Boy Bed!

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Kimberly

Elias playing around as Nathan removes the front wall of the crib.

With little Smith #2 coming soon, Nathan and I decided we had better stop procrastinating, and get Elias used to sleeping in someplace that is not his crib. He’ll have enough transitions once the baby comes, so we are hoping we didn’t wait too long to start this transition too. We actually have awhile because the baby will be in our room for at least a couple of months. (Elias moved into his own room at 3 months old). But we’ve always done bed time transitions very gradually, and it has worked well for us.

We purchased a toddler bed for Elias so that the baby can eventually sleep in the crib, but we don’t have it yet…plus we didn’t just want to move Elias to a new bed cold turkey. So today, Nathan took off the front of the crib to make it into a toddler bed. Same bed. Same sheets, same place. Just one wall missing. We anxiously awaited nap time to see how Elias would do. Would he get up a million times? Would he cry and feel insecure? Would he take it in stride?

Elias reading next to the bed…not on the bed.

Let’s just say that Elias was not pleased at first. We were playing in his room trying to get him used to the idea, and he would not even try sitting on it with the front off. He eventually did read Dr. Seuss’s ABC book right next to it, though, so that was a baby step. Then I got Elias excited about taking pictures of his Daddy sitting on the bed. I won’t make you look at those pictures…but it created enough interest that Elias wanted to sit on the bed with his Daddy to pose for a picture. Finally! After that, he did not refuse to climb onto the bed anymore. We ate lunch, and got ready for nap time. Here are some pictures of Elias getting adjusted:

Finally sitting on the bed!

Happy boy!

We did our nap time routine the same as normal, though I rocked him a bit longer than normal…until he was very drowsy. That didn’t seem to matter, though, because as soon as I put him down on the bed he noticed the difference. I got out of there as quick as I could, but I heard him over the monitor saying “I don’t like it.” But it sounded like he was staying on the bed so I just waited him out.

After about 40 minutes I went in because he was singing the ABC’s at the top of his lungs. He was miraculously still on the bed…I don’t think he ever left. I told him to close his eyes and be quiet. It’s nap time. He laid down and said he wanted more snuggles so I sat next to the bed and laid my head next to his for a minute or two. Then I got up and left…and I haven’t heard another peep from him. He’s now been asleep for an hour and a half or so.

This first nap time has been pretty smooth! We’ll see what the next few days entail. It’s a little nerve-wracking knowing that he could just wander around now. But it’s a relatively small milestone compared to some he’ll go through in his life. I’m trying to just sit back and enjoy it.

 

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Another Wedding!

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Kimberly

Andrew, Nathan, and Elias at the reception.

We went to another beautiful wedding yesterday. This one was to unite Andrew (Nathan’s good friend and Elias’ godfather) and Diana. Nathan was in the wedding party and had to be there early in the day. The wedding actually took place at 3:00….a horrible time for Elias! (Doesn’t everyone know that they should plan their weddings around my son’s nap time…I mean…Geez!) Anyway, I got Elias down for an early nap, but still had to wake him up after less than two hours in order to get there in time. He was quite unhappy with me…and cried all the way from the crib, through me changing him and dressing him, bundling him up in the cold, and then in the car until we were on the freeway! But then the rest of the drive calmed him down. We parked down town, and he pretty much forced me to carry him 4 blocks or so to the church. (In my over 36 week pregnant state). I could have been a stricter Mommy and done time outs or dragged him along, forcing him to walk…but I had some sympathy for the poor little guy. He is getting over a cold after all.

But actually getting to the church was the only hard part. After that we had a wonderful time. Elias enjoyed seeing his Daddy up in front. He loved looking at the lights and the windows in the church (If you’ve never been to First Baptist Church in Portland, it’s definitely worth a look around). Elias cheered right up once we had arrived, and stayed happy until the very end of the evening. He even gave me some smooches during the ceremony!

The reception was beautiful and lots of fun as well. We are very happy for our friends Andrew and Diana!

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A Few Things That Made My Day

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Kimberly

I’ve been super emotional lately. Poor Nathan has had to bear the brunt of it. It’s probably just hormones…I am only four weeks away from my due date, after all. Today was a good day, though…and it was helped along by a few things that Elias said and did:

1. Elias was reading stories in the bathroom as I was getting ready for the day. I dried my hair, pulled it back into a messy bun, put on a bit of lip gloss, and called it good. Then I picked up Elias and began to carry him into his room to get him dressed. He looked me over from chin to hair with a sly smile on his face. Then with both hands he patted the top of my head and said, “Mommy’s hair looks real nice.” It was so cute, I thought for a moment that his Daddy might be coaching him…I just wished I had actually done something nice with it!…..

2. As Elias was falling asleep for nap time, I was sitting in my bedroom reading and trying to relax before my Dr. appointment. Over the monitor I heard, “E-L-I-A-S says Elias! B-A-B-A says Baba! E-L-I-A-S says Elias! D-O-D-Y says Daddy! E-L-I-A-S says Elias!” (And so on….) Even though he did not quite get all the words spelled correctly, I thought it was quite cute…and even though I wanted him to be falling asleep, I liked hearing his little brain working…and he fell asleep soon enough anyway.

3. Elias rubbed my bare belly and kept repeating, “There’s a baby in there.” I am honestly quite stressed about this transition for him…but I realize that there’s not much we can do about it now. He is loved and he will survive. The rest will just be adjustments for all of us!

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The Cat In The Hat!

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Kimberly

A few nights ago, the three of us were reading The Cat In The Hat together as a family. Elias received it for Christmas from Grandpa Smith, and at first, did not show much interest in it. However, after he discovered a few other Dr. Seuss and P.D. Eastman books on his closet bookshelf, he recognized that The Cat In The Hat was similar (even without me telling him!) and started wanting to read that one as well.

Elias’ favorite right now is probably Dr. Seuss’s ABC or possibly One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. But he really loves The Cat In The Hat. He walks around quoting sayings from the book. Today one such example was “What a shame, what a shame,” in the middle of our game of cars and trucks. He also has said, “Oh me oh my” and a few others. I have read these books at least 10 times a day for the last few days…and he “reads” them by himself as well.

Anyway….

The other night we were reading The Cat In The Hat as a family, and Nathan asked what the kids names were. I replied that the girl is called Sally, but I didn’t know about the boy. Elias pointed to the boy and said, “That’s Ted.” He said it with so much confidence, I just assumed that it was true. I figured that it said the boy’s name somewhere in the book, and I just hadn’t noticed. Elias has been memorizing his favorite books lately, and knows them better than I do. ( I got corrected on The Very Busy Spider the other night. I said the spider was building her web. “Spinning her web, Mama,” Elias corrected.)

So I went on for a few days assuming that the boy’s name was Ted. It makes sense.Why not?

But then today I realized that in all the readings, I didn’t think I had ever noticed the name Ted…so I paid attention. I looked on every page. Never does it mention the name Ted. In fact, the boy is the narrator of the book…it never says his name. Am I missing something? Am I blind? How in the world did Elias come up with the name Ted?

It’s a mystery. And a cute one at that….

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Happy Epiphany!

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Kimberly

Our King for the day eating his lunch!

Happy Epiphany! We had fun today celebrating this special day. We started out in the morning with a fun Sunday School event. Elias joined the other kids at our church in learning about different epiphany traditions from around the world. He made a lantern, stuck his hand in some ice water (some countries have a polar bear plunge type event), listened to a story, got materials to bless our home, and got some King Cake!

Actually, it is a tradition for some that there is a special object hidden inside of the King Cake. Whoever got it, got to be king for the day. Our church had “King Muffins” and inside one of them was an edible purple flower. Guess who got the flower? Elias! Elias got to be king for the day. He ran around in his green tissue paper crown.

Elias playing with his new play-doh set

In the evening, we gave Elias a couple gifts…actually we kind of cheated and re-wrapped some gifts that got lost in the mix at Christmas. Today we gave him a Wise men Little People set, and a re-wrapped play-doh set from my parents. He enjoyed that very much.

I also read Elias “Humphrey’s First Christmas”. It is a really touching story about one of the camels in the Magi’s traveling party. He gets to meet Jesus in the end and is changed by the experience. It was fun to share it with Elias.

Elias admiring his lantern.

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A Baby Update – 35 Weeks

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Kimberly

Well we are T minus five or so weeks from the due date for little Smith #2. It seems that our list of things “to-do” before the baby comes just keeps getting longer each day rather than shorter. Granted, I did check off “make an appointment to get some trouble issues looked at for our car” and “pre-register at the hospital” today. We also have probably settled on his first name. But those few things don’t look like much in comparison to a long list!

I keep telling myself that the baby just needs a place to sleep and a few clean clothes. But neither of those things are ready….so it doesn’t help much.

Besides being a bit stressed, though, things are going well. I hit a rough patch in the “sleep” area…but added yet another pillow to the regimen and have slept well for two nights in a row now! My blood pressure was high at a dr. appointment, and there was a small pre-eclampsia scare…but after keeping track of my blood pressure for a few weeks now, it seems to be staying in the normal range. The baby moves and kicks and squirms to let me know he’s there (just in case I forgot….).

Elias has started kissing my tummy. Our family feels blessed!

 

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