Yesterday, we celebrated 10 years with Elijah.  As I think about who Elijah is, I always first think of his sense of humor and love of laughter.  Even as a very newborn baby, he would often wake himself up laughing.  And now, he is always ready with a joke or a quick-witted reply.  Perhaps unfortunately, most of his jokes these days have a potty-humor bent, but nonetheless, it is impressive how sharp and creative his mind is in coming up with quips.

Elijah has also shown himself to be quite musical.  He has continued playing the trombone this year, and is making impressive progress.  He also can still sit down at the piano or pick up his harmonica and play reasonably well despite little instruction and not-so-frequent practice of late.  Somehow his rhythm was slower to develop than other skills, but he finally is able to reliably keep a steady beat now, too.

My Buddy continues to be both excellent and frustrating with his schoolwork.  He grasps concepts deeply and completely…eventually.  But, if he doesn’t focus on learning something, the easiest concepts in world will elude him entirely.  I’m sure attentiveness is the primary hurdle here, so we’re working on removing distraction and giving “doodle breaks”, but there’s still work to be done.  We aren’t too discouraged by this, though, since, as a fifth grader, he is already doing pre-algebra math, and getting excellent grades in it.  I just try to remind myself of that when I have to repeat the same science concept to him for the tenth time, haha :).

Elijah remains sensitive and athletic, and his naturally encouraging nature is even starting to show itself more, again.  He is usually a wonderful big brother – patient and kind – and he still greets me every morning with a hug.  While there are areas in need of growth and refinement, Elijah has many character qualities that are admirable and special.  I love this kiddo so much and I’m thankful to call him my son.