Elijah

 I can't believe my little guy is almost 5!!  These past few months have brought on many changes for him.  His first big thing was swim lessons.  I was a little nervous about these.  He hasn't been exactly friendly toward the water.  On one hand it made it easy to go to the beach.  Grace wants to splash in the water, and Elijah wants to play in the sand!  On the other hand, I want him to be comfortable in the water.  The options here are limited (which I find odd... we live at the beach!!)  The IDEAL swim class is offered at the University.  They are pretty much, get in the water and get over it kind of classes.  They are expensive, but apparently effective.  I just didn't want his fear of water to be forced out of him.  I wanted him to feel okay jumping in on his own because he WANTED to.  So we started by getting a backyard pool.  He liked that.  He even put his head in the water, but wasn't REAL thrilled about it.  So I found a swim class that was offered in Black Mountain.  I called and signed the kids up.  They let Grace in the class since she is potty trained, but hers is another story.  It was only 4 kids in the class.  There were no parents allowed in the pool and that was just fine with me.  EXCEPT the first day, one of the mothers went in the pool...sigh... and then my kids wanted me there... super sigh.  So the first day I was in the pool (in my shorts) with the kids.  But Coach Hannah said no more parents and that was GREAT!  Elijah had a little trouble going each morning and he stood by the side until it was his turn, but Hannah was AMAZING!!!!  She wasn't pushy, but she was firm.  If a kid didn't want to dunk her head under, she didn't push it, but PRAISED the kids that did.  I was totally shocked when Elijah went all the way under without holding his nose to get a toy off the bottom.  I WAS SO PROUD.  From there it was cake.  He could NOT get enough of the water.

Doing all this made the rest of the summer lots of fun.  We went to splash pad and swimming in the local pool as well as our friend's house (they had a BIG pool) and our backyard.  Then we went to a party at the beach.  The family had lots of boogie boards out.  Elijah, who was still showing some trepidation at moving water, really seemed interested in the boards.  So on the way home, my mom and I stopped and picked out two boards for the kiddos.  Elijah mastered it quickly and loved riding the waves!

Soon enough though, we had to put away the boogie boards and break out the back pack and new shoes.  Elijah was nervous, but he did really well.  One the first day we went with him to meet his teacher, Miss Sullivan, and find his room.  The four year olds are all broken up into 4 different rooms.  Each room has 10-11 kids in it.  They go into school each morning and work on table work, usually something with the letter of the week or numbers or an art project.  They sign in on their sign in sheet and sit down to do their table work.   Then they have open center time.  Each room has a different center theme (i.e. blocks, dress up, etc.) and during center time, the children are allowed to go to the different rooms to play with all the different kids and toys.  They also have an art room that is just for the four year olds.  Each room has necklaces on the door.  If there is a necklace on the door that means there is room for playing in that room.  I think it's a really cool concept.  They also get outside time.  If it is raining, they have a huge gym in which to play.  We are pleased with the school and Elijah is having fun meeting new friends and learning new things.  He has gotten only good reports coming home.  His teachers love him and think he is a really sweet kid.  The director told me, "He's a breath of fresh air."  I love that he is such a good kid.  We have found out that he hasn't really been leaving his room and I feel at a certain loss as to what to do.  On one hand, I want to encourage him to branch out and meet more new kids and explore new things.  On the other hand, why?  He is doing fine.  He's playing with the kids in that room, he's comfortable, and he's doing just fine.   So I want let him do this on his own.  However, some of the other teachers have expressed an interest (or concern?) about wanting to get to know him....well who wouldn't?   So Miss Sullivan has been taking him around to meet the other teachers and to let him play in the other rooms.  The reason he gives me for not wanting to go to other rooms? "I have to clean up in there before going to back to my room."  Sweet kiddo.

His speech is growing and evolving much better.  He still has trouble with "l" and "r", but so do many kids his age.  It's normal developmentally.  He occasionally has trouble with "g" when it's with a "l" or "r" (i.e. girl) and replaces it with a "d".

He continues to be a GREAT big brother and watches out for Grace.  They are really getting into the rough housing as well as playing together.  He is a bit bossy, but he's the older brother, and quite frankly, Grace won't put up with and can stand her own.  

He has become a soccer PLAYER!  He isn't on a team yet, but he's in the most advanced class and he is really, pardon the pun, kickin' it!   He is really fast and his coach really challenges him.  There are only 3 kids in his class, which is really nice.  They get lots of one on one time.  They play a lot of games that help them to practice their skills.  

He is SUPER fast.  I get a daily cardio work out by playing tag with him.  I seriously have to work to out run him or to catch him.  He has also developed a sense of strategy.   He understands when there is an obstacle in the way, the player has to choose a way.  He watches for signs of which way the player is going to go.  It's REALLY hard to trick him.

Overall he's still my little guy, but he's growing up.  It's really hard on me to deal with this, but this is life.  And it really is pretty cool to see how awesome he's turning out to be.