Preparing to move

Before we move, we'll have to take a photo of the heights we've written in the basement. But I want to get it down now so I won't lose or forget.

At 6 years, 3 and a half months, Elliott is now 44" inches tall, up from 42.5" in September 2011, 41.5" in February 2011, 40" in June 2011, and 38" in December 2009.

Annika (23 months) is 32" tall, just a foot behind her brother.

More to come but at least this is here!

Moving into spring

It was a surprise to see that I hadn't updated since last May! Goodness!

Well, here are a few photos to catch up on the almost 6-year-old!

Elliott is learning to read such that I can't type much without him getting a clue what it's about!

He is watching right now and wants me to refer to him as EJ.


First skiing lesson - December 2011

Two sick kids - early February 2012

During the winter, EJ had a fascination with The Nutcracker and would frequently stage elaborate dances. "If we knew what the scene was, you could have wroten the scene," he adds.

Springtime at age 5! With a baby sister who can stand

At least a few snapshots here. What I really need to do is post all the photos Elliott takes himself.

Right now he's singing They Might Be Giants loudly while John plays on the electronic keyboard. I'd better check to see where the baby is! She sure can move now!

Birthday shots - He's 5!

Photos out of order, as usual. On Elliott's birthday, we went to the park for snacks with friends from school. It was chilly and windy but decent enough for all the kids to run around and have a great time. Elliott and I opened most of his gifts at home that afternoon. Pictured here are the paint board set from the Haney grandparents and some modeling beeswax from us.

The following Sunday, we had our first actual party here at the house. We planted seeds, played a spring bingo game, ate some snacks and then had some daffodil cake.

Winter updates

Elliott seems to have grown out of his cheeks just as his sister came into her own. His dead tooth has faded in color, so now you hardly notice. It might stay until its natural time to fall out comes.

He has been struggling some emotionally with the departure of his afternoon teacher (also the morning assistant teacher), who just left the school to have her baby (and will not be returning). She was really special, and I think her leaving brought him a second round of grieving the loss of his mom as a mom only to him.

So we've started some essences and oils, which seem to be calming him, and I'm trying to give him cooling foods to tamp down his rage. Some is appropriate developmentally, some is imitation of the 6-year-olds in his class, but some is just him being too fritzy. I had to drag him kicking and screaming home from the park the other day, decidedly a challenge while pushing a stroller. There are times when he amuses Annika wonderfully and other times when I fear for her safety in his presence. He clearly loves her dearly, but he's also brash and boisterous.

And, as has been he case for a while, he pretty much never stops talking.

We had never done a lot of screen media, but it's clear to me he can't really handle any. It's challenging to keep him from losing it while I put the baby down for a nap, but his constitution just seems too altered by screen time, even the more mellow stuff. We might do some nature videos on occasion (like Planet Earth) or even SteveSongs's music video if I really need help (and John sometimes shows him short video on his phone). But I hope the memories of other junk will start to fade and that he'll stop asking for them. Just please don't call the house between 3:30 and 6:30 p.m., because the second I get distracted he's going to start wrangling for screen time. For now, I'm okay with music if he wants to play CDs.

Fall into Winter 2010

Elliott is a crazy, goofy 4.5-year-old who loves nothing more than to play with rhymes and make nonsense words. We don't place any emphasis on letters or numbers around here, but I found out the other day that he does know how to spell his whole first name. It's cool to see his growing awareness of and interest in symbols naturally evolve absent much early intervention/coaxing.

At the Waldorf school, they just paint with one or two colors, just watercolor, and Elliott's drawings have been just as random and scribbly. His teacher has no concerns, but I've found it a little odd how much more other kids younger than him want to draw "stuff." The other day I was trying to kill time and told him to go draw a tree, which he did in half a second, though he's only once or twice shown anything like it from his own choice. And in painting a Christmas present for John, he clearly gave Santa (his choice) eyes and a mouth, plus a hat. Then he sort of painted a Christmas tree and made a few decent ornaments, including a sheep (that I think I bought in 1985 from my 6th grade art teacher at a bazaar). It's interesting to see what he comes up with sans suggestions or praise.

For the most part, Elliott is doing well physically and does seem to be tolerating dairy well overall, but he missed a full week of school in November for a cold and cough, and then in late December, he had a sledding accident and cut his gum above one of his front teeth. He was pretty rattled, and the tooth is slightly loose, but we hope it will be okay. The dentist will take another look in early January and let us know if time -- or today's bonking it on the computer table -- changed anything. Doh!

His face is longer, as is his body, though he's still shorter than most kids his age. Plenty solid, though! Still more proficient with fine motor than gross, he enjoyed gymnastics this past fall session, and we'll try a sort of sampler non-competitive sports class this winter to give him some exposure to tennis, t-ball, soccer, etc.

We haven't done any music classes or even a lot of playing together in a while (well, some with John, not so much with me), but he still gets in phases where he loves to listen to CDs and change them over & over.

He adores Annika and loves to dance like a monkey for her (or like a penguin, as her father has found amuses her). He certainly does entertain her -- can stop her from crying if I need another few minutes before I can pick her up. One annoying thing is that he likes to inhale with sound to mimic the way she "talks;" it hurts our ears, and we're sure, his throat!

Halloween and such

In the order Blogger decides to load... you figure it out...
Elliott at the zoo on Columbus Day, at the fire station for its open house, picking pumpkins, and perched at his favorite spot to bug his sister while she gets changed.

Another - watching the deer outside the bay window.

Oh, and also in the process of becoming and then being a scarlet macaw. And pumpkin cake after trick-or-treating, and then the bounty left by the Switch Witch the next (still dark) morning.