Late April and Early May

So I've decided to give this Blogger alternative a real try. It has a text editor and it's much faster to add photos, but there's not much control over how the page looks.

Elliott currently has a runny nose that seems one part cold, one part allergy reaction to all the pollen, and possibly one part molars coming in. He's happy but we've stayed home from social activities for the last two days because no one likes a snotty nose. Before that, we were busy with baby sign language class, music class and playgroups here and there, including a trip to the zoo (see the photo with Karey, baby Henry and one of the million-dollar pandas on the other side of the glass). At the zoo, Elliott especially liked the small mammal house with all the little rat-like animals running back and forth as though they'd had a few too many cups of coffee. Now that the weather is nice, Elliott and I have also been going on more jogs, and he's pretty happy in the Baby Jogger the whole time. Yay! However, our neighbors are going to move, so we will probably have to give the jogger back and actually buy one. I met the new neighbor at the South Arlington MOMs club, and she has a son 6 weeks older than Elliott. They will move in at the end of June.

Elliott still likes to sing along with music and back and forth with us. Yesterday he worked on his performance art piece entitled "Keys/Keypad." He pulled up on a chair and played several notes on the piano, then bent down to push some buttons on the phone, which was on the floor. He then got back up and to play the piano again, and continued the back and forth. At one point it seemed that he quickly rejected the high notes he first played and then moved left to settle on lower notes. During this exercise I actually saw him squat, though he was holding on to the chair slightly. Most of the time when he wants to sit he just bends like a hinge and goes plop on his cloth-diapered butt. He has stood solo for a few seconds on a couple occasions but still doesn't show much interest in walking. He holds onto almost nothing and has even successfully pulled up on toddlers only a few months younger than he is, but he's not about to go it alone. He does love to climb the stairs but is only successful at going down backwards/feet-first off the couch. He doesn't go down the stairs, unlike his younger cousin, Lucinda.

We still don't have any words, but he does seem to mimic our sounds quite often. He also shakes his head when he really doesn't want something and nods when he does, but he doesn't have any signs for ambivalence. He holds out his hand for food if I offer it, and he pushes away a sippy cup if he doesn't want it. Otherwise I'm still guessing a lot. He's very happy most of the time, so apparently my guessing is adequate, but I would like to know more of what he is thinking. Wherever we go, people comment on how happy he is, squealing with delight at dogs, children and anything he thinks is funny, like a 40-year-old man jogging. He likes to wave at people when he feels called to do so, which often comes as a happy surprise, but he doesn't usually do it when prompted. He claps his hands when he's especially happy and when he's ready to get up in the morning or up from his nap. He cries with vigor if I take the phone or real keys away from him, but a new phone he got from Grandma Marcy is so far the best substitute for the real thing. When getting into the car seat, he either laughs at himself in the mirror and nods "'s up?" or he goes stiff as a board and wails. I try to keep in and out of the car to a minimum these days. Sometimes I just have to let him stand in his seat and look into the front of the car. A couple times when I haven't been in a hurry I tried giving him a snack - apple, rice cracker - and I've even sat and read for a while during his surveying of the forbidden front seat and all the visual delights it holds, like Lara bar wrappers, books, the diaper bag, water bottles.

Elliott is happy to play on his own a lot of the time, and he's having less trouble separating from me. He's used to John giving him his bath and putting him down for bed without seeing me again, and if he's not overly tired, he'll just pout rather than cry when I tell him goodnight and go back downstairs. John gets him to sleep faster, and some nights I leave to tutor, exercise or meet with a writing group. During the day, Elliott usually naps only once now, and usually only for an hour to an hour and a half. He's been sleeping more with this cold, but usually there's just one midday nap. He usually wakes up between 7:00 and 8:30 a.m. and goes to bed about 12 hours later. Our babysitter has been successful at getting Elliott to fall asleep by wearing him in the sling and just walking back and forth, and then he stays asleep when she puts him down. Homey don't play that for his moms and pops.

Last week we went out for dinner with the neighbors who are moving, and Elliott loved sitting outside and watching all the people go by. I was coming from the chiropractor, so I met him and John there, and he didn't even reach for me when I arrived. John held him the whole time and he just looked over his shoulder. Tonight we actually walked there, to Shirlington, which is just about 20 minutes. It was a lovely night. Elliott flirted with lots of people and waved at the women trying to park a car in a really small spot. They called him their entertainment for the night, and I told them they were his.

As I noted in the previous short post, Elliott is more interested in food these days, except while he's been congested, and we think he is finally gaining some height and weight. His hair in the back is red and getting fluffier, but he still doesn't have much in the front. Right now I'd say he looks like a combination of John when he was a baby and my dad.

Reminder that the other web site is http://www.geocities.com/haneyjessica