Roscoe village

Elijah's teacher recently asked me if we own a cat. "Kitty cat" has been Elijah's imaginary friend for several months now and he loves talking about her. "Mommy, my kitty cat has a robot. And you know what? It can fly!" Elijah also enjoys keeping us posted on the whereabouts of his friend Doggy. Doggy has been living in Mexico for sometime now and Elijah has suggested that we move there on several occasions. He is fascinated by remote places and his animals have traveled from China to Machu Picchu. I find that Elijah's animals (fictious and otherwise) make it easier to parent as they seem to provide him with an alternative way of expressing his emotions. "My kitty cat is a little bit nervous." I have also started using the animals to prepare Elijah for various transitions. "Elijah, can you get tell Elephant that we need to leave in 5 minutes?"

Elijah prefers reading the same books over and again. It had been getting a bit painful for me, so we recently instituted a new bed time rule. Elijah picks one book and Mommy picks another. He loves the Corduroy books and has continued to pick books about Hannukah. He has strong opinions about virtually everything, and I finally quit trying to guide him towards more seasonally appropriate options. I still consider Elijah to be easygoing but his mischievous streak is becoming more noticeable. Setting limits can be a challenge as he is such good kid and his mischief is frequently more amusing than anything else. Thankfully he is a happy little guy and hasn't driven us crazy (yet). Finally, I must share one of Elijah's best quotes to date. He recently received a new stuffed elephant and Amiel asked him what he wanted to name it. "Roscoe," he said. "Roscoe Village." For those of you unfamiliar with the Chicago area, Roscoe Village is a neighborhood on the north side of the city. Pretty cute.