As He Grows

Sometimes being a grandparent is so much cooler than being a parent, especially in the early stages of a child’s life. I remember being proud of my kid’s milestones but in the stress-filled haze of working full time and taking care of them, the exhaustion of being a mom was overwhelming. With Elijah, I can sit back and watch the fun for the most part. I’m fortunate in that he lives with me and I get to see most of his evolving first-hand. It amazes me how he has, from almost the beginning, focused on one passion for an unbelievably long time before moving on to the next. And, as he is four, he has had four major interests in his life.

In his first year, he was all about sports. He would sit on our laps from the tender age of a few months and watch the Pittsburgh Penguins play hockey. You did NOT get in between Elijah and the television. To do so would bring on a tantrum of epic proportions. He watched the entire Penguins 2009 Stanley Cup win even though he was only four months old. He learned to wave a Terrible Towel during the 2009 Steeler season and wore his Troy Polamalu jersey with pride…as much pride as a child that age can have anyway. Even today, although he doesn’t watch sports anymore, his Sidney Crosby Penguin jersey is one of his favorites.

Animals replaced sports in his second year. Cows say moo and ducks say quack. But sheep? They say baa! There was a sheep farm near his daycare center and Elijah knew it. He would start “baa’ing” on school days as soon as we put him in his car seat until we got near the farm. We would automatically slow down so he could look at the sheep while we drove past. One spring day, I drove out in the country and found another sheep farm. Elijah was thrilled when I stopped, took him out of the car and carried him to the fenced-in field. He baa’d loudly and soon enough, all the spring lambs came running to the fence hoping for food. He was ecstatic.

We also took him to the county fair for the first time that year. A young boy’s heaven…at least it was for Elijah. Barns and sheds full of cows, sheep, horses and pigs. Llamas, chickens and bunnies. Ducks and geese. He had no interest in the rides or food. Only the animals caught his eye. He wanted to pet everything so we had to have eagle eyes to protect his little fingers that seemed to be poking in to every cage or stall, regardless of what was inside waiting to nip them.

 

Age three brought on the construction equipment and trucks. Ditch diggers and bulldozers and rollers, oh my! Semis and tankers and dump trucks, holy cow! Our entire drive from Pennsylvania to Louisiana consisted of Imagination Movers music and ear-piercing screams of “Dump Truck!” Elijah knew what a truck stop was and we had to visit quite a few of them. I was willing as it made the long trip easier for him and more pleasant for my daughter and I.

 

Four is the era of the public servant. Every sheriff’s deputy that has been to our complex knows Elijah. We meet them at our numerous ER trips. Walmart always has one and each one there has been interrogated. We have one living in our apartment complex who is his best friend.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, we are currently visiting every fire station in our city and since it is a very large metropolis, we will be at it for the unforeseeable future. Every one we bless with our presence is amazed at the questions Elijah asks and the amount of time he spends looking at everything. From my point of view, you’ve seen one fire truck,  you’ve pretty much seen them all but not him. They are all new and exciting. And the station we visited last weekend had … OMG … fire poles! He was afraid to slide down one, even with the fire chief helping him, but he watched while the big man did it and was amazed and astounded. Well, maybe not that but he was pretty psyched.

Since it is the latest of his passions, Elijah is currently wearing a fire hat everywhere we go and has been for almost a year. He was a fireman for Halloween and wore the coat to his costume every day for the next week, taking it off only long enough for it to be washed. Since then, he wears it every time he goes outside or watches Fireman Sam (Sam is the hero next dooooooor….) He has fireman boots that he’s worn so often, there were holes in the bottom of them in less than six months. He has magnets, badges, stickers and coloring books given to him by the various firemen we have visited. He has a metal sign on his bedroom wall that says “Real Heroes Wear Boots” with a fire logo. Yes, he is enthused. Can you tell?

 

 

Since year number five is coming up quickly, I can’t wait to see what happens next. Knowing Elijah? Oh, it’s bound to be something epic and he will dive into it with boundless energy, determination and his own special brand of weirdness. And that is the greatest thing to watch.