Elijah is at the point in his life where naps only happen in the car or the stroller. Rarely, so rarely, do they happen on the couch. Which is why this one had to be documented. And yes, his preferred sleeping position is in the middle of a nest of blankets (and a towel in this case).
May was the month when I realized Elijah was actively trying to get me reported to CPS. He figured out how to open all the doors and would just leave whenever he wanted to. I found him in Mr. Chris's tree after one escape attempt (see above). Second attempt was trying to get into Mr. Chris's backyard. Maybe I should ask Chris if he's interested in adoption...
What inspired all this interest in the great outdoors? One word: lawnmowers. For some reason, lawnmowers became his greatest passion. And, since it was spring, the noise of lawnmowers was fairly constant. Guess who would make a break for it every time he heard one anywhere in the neighborhood? I was also glad that I hadn't actually given away Seth's old toy lawn mower that no one played with anymore. It became EVERYTHING to Elijah. He mowed at 7 am. He mowed in the horrible heat of 2 pm. He mowed at night when it was clearly bedtime. Nothing would stop the mowing, especially not a serious lack of clothing:
Stinky's Lawn Care Service:
Very dedicated to the art of mowing.
Not so dedicated to the idea of clothing.
And yes, this happened much more often than I want to admit.
But really, the lawnmower love and the Houdini escape tricks were very stressful. Many times a day I would yell, "Has anyone seen Elijah?" If the answer was no, I was off on yet another brisk walk through the neighborhood to find my son and his lawnmower. We finally bought a latch to keep the sliding door locked and slightly unscrewed a bolt on the front door so he couldn't flip the lock (made it really fun when people knocked on the door and we had to screw the bolt back in before we could open it). But if we ever forgot to lock the doors, he was gone.
The worst incident happened on a day when I was visiting with my awesome friend Adrian, who I haven't seen in over a decade. Her new job has her coming to APG occasionally and we of course had to have her over for dinner! We were enjoying a nice chat on the back porch when I saw someone I didn't recognize bringing Elijah into the backyard, from the direction of the main road behind our house. I made Jon deal with it since I was talking to Adrian and had already hunted Elijah down several times that day.
Turns out, it was actually my friend Katri. She was driving along the road when she noticed a toddler with a toy mower 'mowing' very near the road. This is no neighborhood road--it's 45 mph and no one is looking for kids along the way. But thankfully Katri was. She pulled over, then realized that she recognized this kid! At which point she walked him into our backyard and into Jon's arms.
It took a while to sink in, but I realized how close we came to potentially losing him. I can't imagine how I would have felt if he'd wandered into traffic. I wrote Katri a very emotional note thanking her for saving his life.
I did try to be more diligent, but there were at least two other occasions when he was brought home by various neighbors after having escaped. I'm so grateful for kind people who are willing to help rescue lost toddlers and not be too harsh on frazzled mothers.
Elijah, all ready for church!
I guess he was worried about serious flooding that day?
For a few weeks, leaf blowers were right up there with lawn mowers.
Which means that of course Grandma Cathy had to buy him his own!
Pantless Elijah vs. Mow Mow
Which mower will dominate?
When you have to do Walmart runs with Mom, you get donuts.
You get one donut for each hand, in fact.
A couple other Elijah stories:
-Our county offered a free preschool program for mixed ability children. They had a meeting where the kids could see the classroom and meet some of the other kids and teachers. It was kind of a trial run to see how things went. Parents went to a meeting in the room next door while the kids played and had a small lesson. Guess what I heard during the entire meeting? "Moooooooooooommmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!
Moooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyy!!!! Moooooooooooommmmmmmmmmm!!" A week or two later I got an email saying he "wasn't quite ready" for their program. So yes, my kid failed preschool tryouts.
-Nursery is not much better. He's fine if Jon or I stay in with him, but when we try to leave he just screams. So that's super fun.
-Elijah spends a lot of his time playing with construction vehicles and his lawn mower. And of course you can't play trucks/mowers without making truck/mower noises. And yes, they are each distinct. And yes, he must turn the key on the toy mower before the noises start. This is serious stuff. One day he was getting very upset. When I tried to question him, all I got was "My mouth not working!" I started looking for something stuck in his teeth or a sore in his mouth. Nothing. Eventually I realized he was upset because his mouth was too dry and he couldn't make the correct raspberry noises for his trucks. This has since become a frequent problem that is usually (but not always) solved with a drink of water.
Stinky, you are exhausting and you are going to probably kill me with anxiety, but I sure love you!
