Do you remember as a child when there was a favorite adult that really spoke your language? You loved that person like they were your best friend in the whole world and you hoped that nothing would change. I remember several of those in my childhood. I liked my "adult friends" better than I did most other kids my age (until I got older, that is). They made me feel secure, where as other children were always fickle and never trustworthy.
I don't remember his name, but when I was in the first grade, my class was invited to stay the night at Beth's house. I remember there was dancing and music for the adults and the kids pretty much ran around and played with eachother. Now, I was a pretty shy kid and this was
not my idea of a fun time. I'd much rather have stayed home, all snug in my bed, where my mommy, daddy and siblings were nearby. Familiarity takes the cake. But I was too proud, even as a 6 yr old, to admit fear of staying the night somewhere when my whole class was doing it. I know I had my blanket and thumb, so I would be fine. I wasn't fine. A man, perhaps an uncle or family friend of Beth's, took me under his wing and made me laugh. He danced with me and made me forget my woes, at least for the moment.
Behind our Virginia House lived a couple, Charlie and Christie. They had a German Shepherd named Spud who always ran away. Charlie had a garden; Christie worked a lot. They were my friends, and I always visited them. They were rarely at home together at the same time. Then they had a baby who was born with no fingers or toes. Then they divorced and moved away. I never heard from them again.
OK, so that story wasn't all bright and shiny, but at least they were my friends when they were there - when I needed them.
Elias is still a bit young to be in the same boat as I was when I was 6, and besides the fact that his mommy will
always be the star in his life, he has a friend now that he is enjoying to the utmost. I fear for his emotional stability when she leaves. Her name is Aunt Biff.
Aunt Biff and Elias get along so well and have so much fun together. It's a shame that she has to work at all and she can't just stay home and play with him all day. I'm sure if he could identify his feelings and communicate them, he would say that he wishes she could. Elias is extremely social. He needs people around. When it's just Mommy and Eli all day in the house, we can get cranky. We need walks, we need action, and we need people. I don't know where he gets it from... Goodness knows, Dan and I are simple homebodies living quiet simple lives. (
If you know anything about us, you'd know that was balderdash.)We will miss Aunt Biff. She is such a joy to have around. Even with the small space that we have, it's working out quite nicely. We all get along beautifully and have a lot of fun together. Last night, was an enjoyable evening for us. The power went out for several hours due to a major thunderstorm. We were supposed to watch Star Wars: Episode IV last night, but instead sat in the living room and talked or read to candlelight. Eli wouldn't sleep b/c of the flashes of lightening and rolling thunder, so he joined us in the living room and he was quite happy with all of us there.
On Monday, Dan and I went tubing - my gift to Dan for Father's Day. Always looking for a way to save on everything we do, we got a buy-1-get-1 deal at
Bucks County River Country, afterwards, we went out to eat Red Lobster with a free gift card through Discover Card's cashback bonus rewards. Guess who watched our little bundle of responsibility? Yup, Aunt Biff. We stopped at home to shower before heading out to eat, and when Eli saw us, of course, he was happy. But he had been quite happy with Aunt Biff before we even arrived. They had a lot of fun that day swimming at Nonnie's and playing together before going down for the night.
Aunt Biff will be missed by the little guy - and his parents.
Elias is constantly changing and growing. Everyday, it seems, there's something new he's learned and is putting it into practice. So far, he can roll over from his tummy to his back (nothing new) and his back to his tummy (new) with ease. He's gaining arm strength and hand-eye coordination, so he can grab things from a distance and pull them to himself - usually to his mouth where he procedes to drool excessive amounts of saliva all over whatever it is he's holding onto, and that would be anything that is within reaching distance. He's gaining leg strength: he often tries to stand when whoever is holding him is sitting or when you put him down on the ground, he'll try to stand. He pulls his knees under his body and pushes off. His arms are not yet strong enough to hold himself up while his knees are under him for very long. But he's working on it. He loves to scream and squeal. The other day, no word of a lie, he squealed all his waking hours. I'd lay him on the floor with his toys and he would turn himself over onto his back and just kick and squeal to his heart's content. Yesterday, he learned how to use this new sound when angry. That was not fun. Ah, thus starteth the lessons of discipline - at five months!
