At Last..Second Grade and TJ's

Excitement (as least for Mom and Dad) has been rampant here as both school and Trader Joe's opened their doors these past weeks. Trader Joe's has been all that we remembered it to be, good food at a good value. They also have discovered how to cover every possible edible item known to man in chocolate and package it in huge quantities at a ridiculously low price. Is there any doubt why I am now on a bullet train to obesity?

School has been very good so far. Unfortunately, Elijah's summer friend Janey is not in his class, but many of his previous classmates who have befriended and looked out for him are. Sarah's efforts at "Mom School," though frustrating at times, will prove to be a great aid to Elijah as he navigates his classwork. Among one of the amazing aspects of Elijah's brain is his uncanny ability to remember names. As I walked the hallways with him the first day of class, I was struck at

how he greeted everyone he saw by name. Be it a teacher he has never had, a custodian, librarian or aide, he knew everybody's name. What warmed my heart though was that they all knew his name as well. There can be no better

feeling for a parent than to know the environment at their child's school is so open and warm.

So school is off to a good start. Piano lessons, after a month's hiatus, will start again in September. A social skills group is being formed with Elijah as one of its members. And every day as school lets out, he insists on hugging at least two classmates and talks excitedly about going back to class the next day. We know it is going to be a journey with Elijah, but he appears to be raring to go!

Hot Fun in the Summertime

This past weekend, we took a family road trip down to the area where Sarah grew up -- a trip that forced both Elijah and me to meet one of our dreaded enemies head-on: the great outdoors.

Sarah's father has for years wanted to show the two "outdoorsmen" the natural springs and river swimming areas in the wooded region around his hometown. So this past weekend, we followed him through winding two-lane roads to see some really gorgeous areas and swim at Rocky Falls, a true "swimming hole."

Although the heat and humidity was tough at times, the little guy and I survived. As we drove

down a stretch of highway, Elijah commented that this was "a very long street" and kept looking for a set of Golden Arches to convince himself that civilization was just around the corner. The swimming hole was a great success as everyone cooled off in the clean river. Elijah even donned a swim mask to view the fish and rock formations beneath his feet. (We have tried all summer to get him to wear goggles at the pool with absolutely no success. I guess a river offers more sights than the bottom of our park pool!)

But perhaps the most amazing aspect of the day occurred after we had taken a long and extremely curvy path, involving several country highway intersections that were indistinguishable from one another, to get to a spring. As we were headed back to the main highway, Sarah's dad wanted us to follow him on a different path than the one we had taken into the forest. When we reached the intersection at which her dad turned in the other direction, Elijah screamed from the back seat: "Wrong way! We need to go the other way." If we indeed had been heading back to the main highway to go to our hotel, the little guy, a human GPS, would have been absolutely correct.

So we survived our weekend in the forests of the Ozarks, with a great deal of help from the previously mentioned Golden Arches. (A take-out meal for Elijah allowed Sarah and me to eat at an "adult" restaurant while little guy chowed down on his McDonald's.) And little guy enjoyed the river so much that we are planning a canoe float trip next summer in the same area. Hmmm ... I wonder how long chicken selects stay warm while on the river?