Elliott's b-day playgroup

We hosted our Friday playgroup today in honor of Elliott's birthday. Even though the yard needs a spring clean-up and some steps, it was good enough to get us out enjoying the warm weather. I took Aunt Charlotte's advice to try a Namaste cake mix and was very pleased with the results. I mixed a regular mix that contained a good bit of sugar with a sugar-free muffin mix, added some hazelnut flour and walnuts to part of the whole thing (plus carrot, zucchini and spices) and ended up with a tasty train and yummy caboose. I used a little butter and coconut oil plus standard powdered sugar for frosting, and the brown frosting is made with carob powder. I tried adding beet juice to make a red frosting, but I did the proportions wrong and it came out gloppy, so I scraped it off and went with a more rust-colored caboose. A choo-choo train piggy bank Christmas gift painted by cousin Zacharie was our primary inspiration for the cake design. Elliott is always asking me to draw a train on the Etch-A-Sketch and lately has developed a fascination with cabooses (cabosi?), so I thought I'd see what I could come up with. It was fun to try to get creative, but of course starting the whole operation at 10 p.m. (when people will be over in 12 hrs. and the house is still a mess) limits things a little. Cutting out the design did allow us a late snack of warm cake, which was delightful.

These days I'm posting blog photos in part for Elliott to look at when he wants to see photos on the laptop and I want him to stay occupied in his booster seat while I clean up or feed myself. He is really remembering names -- when I say Susan is here, he says "Sawyer?" (her son). He has several mama/child pairs down cold. Though Joey didn't make it into any photos, his mom, Katie, came over early to help out and then took the photos of me, for which I'm thankful. Above Elliott is with Alex at the table and with Salome (holding out the recorder) on the couch. Behind the car is Margaret and behind the O-ball is Clare. Shying away from Elliott's soul-penetrating gaze is Gautham. I put Elliott in his Kalamazoo College t-shirt today because it was new and different, and I decided to match him (in my orange K College shirt) just for fun.

Elliott's Second Birthday

The boy is two!

Elliott was very excited to have "two balloons" in the house (one from babysitter Doris, and one from us). Other than nice phone calls from family, we had a generally quiet day and will host playgroup on Friday.

Elliott did enjoy sharing his blueberry pie and pseudo-cupcake biscuits with Joey and Katie after some playtime outside. The hat was not a big hit, and after an initially mature response to the "2" candle (including trying to blow it out without being prompted), he then got scared of it and didn't want to see it again. "Candle off!" I have only video of the big "2" candle, and he didn't exactly smile for the camera when I later tried two little candles for a still image. The word "presents" had him saying no and shaking his head, but then he got intrigued with one gift bag, asking "Ooo. What's in dere?" and being happy to dump out the wooden animals inside. We opened some more gifts (read: took things out of bags) but then he rejected the box hastily covered in tissue paper, so we'll save the accessories for his wooden kitchen for another day.

See photos from Elliott's first birthday at http://www.geocities.com/haneyjessica/firstbirthday.html

Maine in March

We had a great time visiting with Aunt Charlotte, Uncle Jerome and cousins Lucy and Baby Georgia in Maine. Elliott and Lucy both love apples (as you can see at Whole Foods) and enjoy a number of other foods in common. They share an intensity that brings out both their best giggles and most possessive, aggressive determination. They both have vice grips! Somehow we managed to inhabit the same house for 48 hours without more than a few bruises, scratches and I think just one bite, and everybody got to sleep. There was lots of accidentally on purpose sippy cup sharing and food sharing, both peaceful and not. It was the first time we heard Elliott say, "Mine!" mostly about his Kleen Kanteen cup. We've seen him get red faced, jaw-clenched and ready to pounce before, but the word somehow pushed it into a different category for me.

But there were lots of super cute moments, too, like the two kids getting in to bed together and getting under the covers, pretending to go to bed. And there was some gentle handing of toys back and forth. Elliott never quite got the concept of gently patting the kitty with his open hand. He just wanted to squeeze and hug and grab those poor furry creatures, not to mention narrating their every move. "Kitty Cat upstairs. Kitty Cat go downstairs. Where Kitty Cat be? Sweet Pea in bafroom?"

Elliott had no interest in sledding, but he did enjoy building snowmen (or watching us build them). Lucy was more interested in knocking them down, just like Elliott was a few months ago on the one opportunity we had to build one here in Virginia. I remember very clearly him lopping the heads off as soon as I'd stuck in a nose, and this time he just stood while Lucy did the demo for him. The one pictured is kind of goofy, but apparently snow people with leafy hair survive more easily in a toddler-rich environment than do cuter, bald-headed snowmen. This one was still standing when we left the hill.

The weekend included lots of blueberries and a speedy restaurant dinner Saturday night as we all had our hands busy trying to keep the kids from running away or demolishing the table while also stuffing food into their faces so they'd have fully bellies and sleep. We drove Elliott to sleep while Lucy went down to sleep and cute little Georgia (almost 3 months) was encouraged to sleep or quietly nurse. Then the adults got to hang out.

Sunday we went to the beach, and Elliott loved playing back-up-from-the-waves with John, digging with Lucy and generally running all over the vast expanse of sand, oblivious to the cold. When we got to the parking lot, I shot some funny video of Elliott and Lucy both in the driver's seat of the two cars we had (and John and Jerome play fighting in the background).

Since Elliott fell asleep not before (like Lucy, and as we hoped he'd do so I could just wait outside with both of them) but rather shortly after a coffeeshop stop, we drove to Freeport to get him his nap before our flight. John managed to make good use of our 20 minutes there in Patagonia, and I made a list of things to get back at the house. After we got there, finished packing, and got Lucy into the car, we got to the airport just as they were boarding our flight. I've never heard my last name over the P.A. with "you have 30 seconds to appear at the gate," especially not while my bag was still in the x-ray machine. "Sorry, I had the time wrong; you're fine," apologized the gate agent when I arrived after sprinting down the length of the small airport in my socks. John had hung back to get our bags while I ran with Elliott bobbing in my arms, I gather prompting the boy to conjure an image of Maizy last week in the park, because he kept repeating "Maizy!" And if that wasn't exciting enough, we found out upon boarding the plane that Elliott had not only wet his clothes but had also pooped. Fortunately, the rest of the trip home was uneventful (as was the trip out), and we were just so happy that we'd gotten to spend time with family. It was also fun to be back in a real winter environment, which we haven't had much of here this season.

It may have been our last trip with Elliott flying free, but I think we now feel like even short trips with family are well worth doing. Still, we're looking forward to a longer stay in Bar Harbor this summer.

23 months

Here's hoping later I come back to write some text here.

One thing I will say is that my best birthday present was John teaching Elliott to say the following, which he now does just whenever it occurs to him, and with the sweetest, intentionally connecting face: Happy Birday, Mommy. I yuv oo, Mommy."

Other stuff before I forget:

He knows shapes and colors now, to our surprise.

We had two nights of no waking before 6 a.m. and then back to sleep (but other regular waking nights since). Before our trip Elliott wasn't nursing much during the day, just in bed in the

morning, maybe one time before we went out but often not, before nap and before dinner. We'll see what happens now that we're back home.

He's still enamored of "Mommy's car," wanting to stand on the driver's seat and listen to loud music. He often asks for "outside," and though I think it means he wants to play, he often really means he wants to get behind the wheel. But he does also ask for "backyard," and we kick the soccer ball around a lot. He also enjoys raking.

Inside Elliott enjoys mopping, as seen above. He likes hugging his friends, like Max from preschool (above). Elliott frequently tells me to "call Katie" so he can play with "Jo-Jo and Baby Tony." When our sitter was sick one Monday, we met Katie and family (including Maizy, the golden retriever, Elliott's first and favorite dog friend) at a nature center. We threw stones in the water, walked on the path and then observed a great horned owl they keep safely in a cage because it's not able to live in the wild. A few weeks later I told Elliott we were going to check out a different nature center adjacent to the place we take Music Together (which we just started back up). I was astounded that the word "nature center" was meaningful enough to him that he asked, "See owl?" They didn't have a real owl, but he was able to tell his dad later that day that he saw an iguana. He says it kind of funny, but he knows the word, that's for sure!

Okay, on to photos of Maine. Maybe more text on this time period later. It's fun and amazing.

Leap Day, etc.

Elliott thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Michigan, including the trip part. On both flights, we had a row to ourselves toward the back of the plane. It was nice to spread out, but Elliott also enjoyed connecting with people in the plane and airport. And the jumping-water fountain at DTW
and its bird attendants were a big hit!

This past Friday - Leap Day! we went to a program at a nature center that included some free play time to look at turtles and snakes and just hang out with our playgroup friends and also a few stories with puppets. After that we enjoyed a walk in the woods, sometimes on the accessible trail but often crunching through the leaves gathering acorn tops. Elliott loved exploring, and I realized how suburban we are. At home he is always throwing the soccer ball and O ball into the thicket between the two pine trees. We really need to get out more!

I'm also including a photo of Elliott napping just because it's cute. I'm making a a sleep book for him to help with the night-weaning process we plan to undertake sometime soon, if we can figure out a good time for John to potentially lose a lot of sleep.
And here also is the kitchen with the matching step-stool we had made so that Elliott won't try to stand on the "oven" door.

Three Little Words, and then some

2-22-08

Dear Diary,

I can’t believe it! He said he loved me! I mean, he’s said it back to me before after I said it first, but that just seemed like parroting. Tonight, he came up with it all on his own! That means he must really mean it, right?

Okay so it sounds a little seventh grade, but it’s quite a kick to hear those three little words from your son for the first time. When John takes him up to bed, I usually blow him a kiss and say and sign, “Good night. I love you. Sleep well.” Elliott always blows me a kiss and says something like “night” or usually just “bye-bye,” sometimes with an endearing “(comma), Mama” tacked on. Well, tonight, all I did was start to point to myself and begin to mouth the capital vowel, when he up and said, “Ah yuv oo” followed, after I thanked him, by “Guh-night, Mommy.” Pitter-pat, pitter-pat! And tears!

Okay, it’s now a week later and I’m just getting around to posting this…

Tonight (2/29) he had just finished having his before bed snack and I picked him up to take him to the couch to nurse. He gave me a gleeful hug and said, “I yuv you, Mama.” Wow.

We are just amazed at the things he puts together now. Lately he’s been requesting “picture Elliott driving car?” I know he’s probably asking to watch video of himself in the driver’s seat listening to music, but he used to ask for that (“used to” = five days ago) by saying “see Elliott singing?” Now not only is there one bad habit – letting him sit behind the steering wheel to listen to music and play with the controls – but also of letting him play a video over and over on the camera. He knows all sorts of fun words, like “chamomile” and “special drink” (what I call cod liver oil; he now requests it!), “grapefruit,” “frozen” for whatever fruit or vegetable I don’t have fresh, “kale,” “cauliflower,” and, our current favorite, “coolmama” for cucumber.

Now that a week has passed since I started writing, it seems kind of silly to even write down words unless they’re especially funny. For example, I think it’s funny that he said, “Hi, Penis.” He says hi and bye to most anything. “Bye-bye music. Bye-bye book. Bye-bye downstairs.” And after we’ve said goodbye to a friend, for the next half hour a few times and the next day or two once or twice, he’ll just up and say “Bye-Bye, Lisa” or whomever.

Elliott is getting very aware of some people’s presence in his life. He frequently wants to see his friend Joey and suggests to me, “Call Katie” (Joey’s mom). The neighbor boy Preston is requested often, too, especially if we happen to be sitting in the car listening to music and Elliott looks over to Preston’s house two doors down. Preston has lots of trains and trucks and loud toys, so it’s kind of like going to Vegas for Elliott (and for me).

Lately he’s taken a liking to rice tortillas and has gotten good at saying “tortilla” – and requesting it often. He also, I’m sorry to say, inserts “uh” into a lot of his sentences, clearly thinking that if I do it, it must be, uh, something cool to do. Oh, and we think it’s funny how he measures things, asking for “some blueberries?” “some tea” alternately with “some tea bag?” Elliott now has at least three ways to answer in the affirmative. There’s the excited to go along with the idea and claim it like it’s his “Yeah!” There’s the casual, don’t bother to ask again “Yep.” And now he is fondest of drawing out a very clear “Yes.”

Elliott is becoming more aware of his bodily functions, which is helpful. It’s always nice not have to soak a poopy diaper! And he gets a kick out of peeing in his little potty and carrying the bowl over to the big one. We are still in the getting comfortable phase and don’t feel like any of us are ready yet to full-on get him to use the potty all the time. We also aren’t quite ready to fully night-wean but we’re getting close, becoming less and less enamored of “Nurse!” and other demands in the night/early morning.

Elliott is singing along a lot, both in words and just in humming along, sometimes to songs he hasn’t heard in weeks or months. John and I keep looking at each other in disbelief. He even sings along with my goodnight song, my own words to the tune of the Music Together goodbye song. So I guess it’s not that soporific anymore.

Speaking of sleep, it’s time I got some. Will try to post a few photos soon.