On the Beach

As I mentioned on an earlier post, we spent a wonderful week at the beach in Siesta Key on Florida's Gulf Coast. Sarah found a great place a hop, step and jump from the beach, and everyone had a great time.

Vacations usually involve eating out, which, with Elijah in tow, can lead to some stressful times. Fortunately Sarah booked a room with a kitchen, so meals were, if not a pleasure, at least no different from what occurs at home. With a barbecue grill right outside our door and a Publix Market a few blocks away, meals were not only cheaper, but much healthier than our normal vacation fare. (The Publix became our second home on this vacation. Each day Elijah would ask to go there as he shares his father's odd obsession with wandering through upscale grocery stores, especially if a viewing of crayon markers or a free treat is on the agenda. With the demographics of the area being elder Jews and Hispanics, each time I went there I thought I was back at a Vons in Sherman Oaks!)

Except for a day trip to the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota, we spent almost all of our time on the beach. Although Sarah and I enjoyed the aquarium, Elijah seemed bored by the idea of looking fish that don't talk they do in the Nemo films. One of the few times he really seemed to be enjoying himself was when he was viewing a tank that contained clownfish, or "Nemo fish" (and, as I mentioned in an earlier post, when he saw the "traffic signs" in the gift shop.) But his biggest smile came when we debarked from a tour boat. "Look Daddy...over there," he said excitedly, and joyfully pointed out a basketball court someone had constructed behind one of the docks.

The beach was wonderful. The sand, like no other I've seen, stays cool to the touch and, like the tourist brochures promised, truly does feel like flour. And as one got closer to the water, the sand became home to sea shells by the thousands, prompting beachgoers to comb the area from sunup to sundown looking for the perfect shell.

Although colder than normal for this time of year, the weather, except for rain on our last day there, was great. I got a laugh when I went out to get a paper one morning wearing shorts, a T-shirt and flip flops and encountered a gentlemen out for his morning walk bundled up in a sweatshirt, jacket and gloves. I doubt he would even leave his home during winter if he lived anywhere near us. (The warmest day of the trip coincided with the day that SEVEN inches of snow fell back home.)

Our last night coincided with the traditional drum circle event on the public Siesta Key beach. Lots of congos and bongos, hula hoops and flowers, with people encouraged to join in and dance to the rhythm. Of course our little guy jumped right in and showed the crowd his best steps.

Just like we felt about our vacation, he left the crowd wanting more!

A Quick Break from Spring Break

Yes I know I promised to post more photos from our trip to Siesta Key along with details of the little guy's beach escapades, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. In the meantime here is some new artwork that is gracing our walls that was inspired by a trip to the Sarasota Aquarium.

Once we got there Elijah had little or no interest in seeing dolphins, giant squids, pelicans and blow fish, though a tank containing a real Nemo and Dori did get his attention; but the gift shop with its various "traffic signs" (i.e. manatee crossing, a picture of a shark with the words Dead End) pique his curiosity. That interest waned however until today when, in a burst of creativity, he recreated the shark sign and added to it a variety of crossings we should be on the lookout for when we take to the highway. I don't know about you but being stuck in tape or glue and getting blindsided by a quart of milk is not my idea a joy ride.

Spring Break

For those of you who have been wondering why there hasn't been a new post lately (I'm guessing ten people, including family members) here's a few pictures of where we've been with more details to follow.

What is this s**t?

With Elijah, sometimes a crisis is nothing more than a DVD freezing or wagon wheel pasta that isn't cold enough. Other times, like last night, it's a bloody nose that drips on his shirt and prompts a demand for new apparel. (Not too long ago, the blood coming out of his nose would have been the cause for alarm, so I guess this is an improvement.) This morning, however, the cries of "Daddy come here!!!!" coming from the bathroom were for a problem I haven't dealt with before -- bright blue poop.

For any parents reading this blog, such a moment probably doesn't register high on the angst meter, but for Elijah, the anxiety was overwhelming.

"I don't want my poop to be blue! It needs to be brown!"

My mind went back to a birthday party he attended yesterday in which the Star Wars theme cake was layered in "dark side" black frosting, and I assumed this was was the culprit of the bowel mystery. A quick call to a nurse hotline confirmed this (after she got a good laugh) so the panic level in the household has subsided dramatically.

Sort of gives a new interpretation to the phrase "let the force be with you."

The Shin Bone's Connected to the.....

Taking his cue from a certain well-known former Governor, Elijah recently decided to write some notes to himself on parts of his body. Now I don't know if the reason for his anatomy cheat sheets was an upcoming exam on body parts in kindergarten or if he just wanted a reminder for himself but, as the old saying goes, it all came out in the wash.

iPhones, The Human GPS and Other Tales from the Heartland

The biggest news around here last week was Sarah's purchase of iPhones for us as a Valentine's Day gift. I know her gift was given to me because of love, but there is no doubt it is also part of Sarah's continuing effort to drag me, against my will, into the wireless age (an iPod was bought at her insistence after she saw me carrying around a Sony Walkman at our gym.) To those of you who already own an iphone, my awe at the many applications it is capable of would probably amuse you as much as it does Sarah. The ability to make a phone call, cruise the Internet, identify a song being played, get the weather or a street map of anywhere in the world, all on a device the size of your hand is amazing...and that's only a few of the applications that have already been installed by Apple. I have not yet begun to download!

Elijah continues to amaze me as much as the iPhone does. As a previous post noted, the child is indulged to no end. As further evidence of this I will take him at his request through a neighboring subdivision so he can view various basketball goals. What is amazing is that no matter how many cul-de-sacs and winding roads are in a development, he will always tell me the right way to turn and get me back to the main road. Garmin couldn't do it any better.

















His artwork continues to be a constant source of pleasure and amazement. Be it renditions of a couple of minor characters from Shrek 2 or a Pooh math lesson, his eye for detail is acute.











But nothing prepared us for a book he "wrote" detailing men losing and finding their "masts" ( as best as we can figure they are some sort of hat.) I would love to post the entire book, but Sarah would kill me, so I'll just give you a sample of what he wrote and drew regarding a barn:












This picture can't do justice to the detail of the barn, especially since the entire book is only an inch and a half by two inches. Everybody who has seen it (and believe me I have shown it to quite a few) are flabbergasted by his abilities.







Alas signs, like basketball goals, never seem to be too far from his mind. Yet every once in awhile he will draw a sign that truly captures a philosophy or idea that strikes a chord (an earlier posting showed his YIELD NEW THINKING sign.)









I couldn't have said it any better!

Indulgence 101

As any reader of this blog knows, Elijah's skills as an artist, as well as his fascination with traffic signs, have been well-documented over the past few years. Recently, due to both the arrival of his own signs (as mentioned in a previous post) and a rekindled interest in a couple of YouTube videos created for the Five Man Electrical Band's hit "Signs," our home has become an art gallery for every image seen on the two films.

One of my favorites is his interpretation of a "tree sign" depicted in one of the videos. I'm sure if our local nursery sold the seeds for such a sapling, we would have a grove of them in our backyard.

As if allowing this display wasn't enough spoiling of the child, Elijah's alphabet fascination also has made a comeback of sorts, and his letter renditions now grace our home office's walls. If you look closely you can make out all the letters and what they represent. (One hint: animal torsos are not his strong suit. Most if not all of them have a very compressed body shape that looks as though they have been on Jenny Craig for awhile.)

There are also a variety of hearts on the wall, which he created and cut out by himself. Thankfully they don't seem to detract from the mammoth undertaking of the "letter project" that appears on the same wall.

The part of this I find most amusing is that Sarah, who wouldn't allow certain pictures on the walls of our house as they seemed like clutter, not only has permitted this display, but actually embraces it. I guess to her way of thinking, anything is better than the wallpaper now up in the dining room.