Nine for 9

       Elijah is an excited kid.  All   The   Time.  He can hardly sleep most nights thinking about what is to come the next day.  I don't know if I did this to him or if it's just natural.  I often do blame myself (good or bad) for his drive for activity.  When I quit teaching and started staying home, Elijah was almost three.  He was used to the wake up at dawn, drive to the babysitters and play with friends all day kind of day.  I didn't know how to handle this new stay-at-home gig but I knew I wasn't cut out for it.  What would I do with two kids home all day?  So, I took my almost 3-year-old and my brand new infant, and we went everywhere.  Elijah was signed up for every Parks and Rec class I could find - gymnastics, woodworking, lego math, cooking.  If it worked for our schedule, we were there.  Because of this love of doing, we rested little.  

      Now, as a 9-year-old, I often wonder how all that going affected him.  Unless he's playing a video game, he wants to be up, out, and moving.  Talk about a kid who took watching The Wiggles to heart.

      It's Elijah's birthday today and I'm trying to process all this going we've been doing for the past 9-years. At times, I wish I could go back to when he was little and we could sit and rock and read his favorite Sesame Street books (circa 1978) and he could make the "Ah, Ah, Ah" sound of the Count or when he knew every train in Tidmouth station.  I would go back to that little boy and that new mom and tell them to take it easy.  I would tell them to just rest a while. I would tell them that they didn't need to know how a hammer worked today or what a somersault was.

     At other times, I remember with great admiration at how well Elijah could bounce from activity to activity without melt-downs (mostly).  He enjoyed the new things we did and relished in all the fun we had doing them.  And since that's the path we took, I am going to watch with wonder how this 9-year-old moves forward with his collection of experiences. Whatever may be, it won't be without some excitement, and some sleepless nights.

     I originally started writing this post to share my Nine for 9 list of reasons we love Elijah.  (It seems my hand and heart had some other things to write about first.)  But I asked everyone in the family, reasons they love their big brother, their son, their grandson, their nephew, their godson and here is our Nine for 9 (in the order I got responses.)

1.  His caring heart
2.  He's smart and inquisitive and a good athlete
3.  He loves his sisters and he loves Jesus
4.  He helps me with spelling
5.  He puts so much effort into everything he does
6.  He gives me good hugs
7.  He lives life with pure joy, enthusiasm, and love
8.  His fantastic presidential knowledge & Hidden Picture Skills :-)
9.  Because God made him just perfect

A bonus:  We love Elijah because of his great parents, which must reflect some pretty great grandparents :-) (hmm, who sent that one in?)

We love you, E.  Nine times over.

Happy Birthday!