Maine in August

We had a great trip to visit Jerome, Charlotte and Lucy in Maine. Some of the highlights for Elliott were walking back and forth along the village green in Bar Harbor, splashing in the ocean (and in Long Pond and Lucy's baby pool), eating wild blueberries on the way up and down Kebo Mountain in Acadia National Park (carried on one parent's back while the other fed him), walking with just his mama (on my back) on the Great Meadow Loop, and eating all sorts of food at various restaurants, including Jordan Pond House in Acadia, and in the car. He also spent plenty of time flirting with everyone who would look at him as we roamed around town, though thankfully he also did a good bit of falling asleep in cousin Lucy's stroller and the rental car. Vacations pose nap challenges, so it's good when sleep happens on the go.

There were lots of fun times with cousin Lucy. She let him play with her toys, and on their last evening together, she taught him some fancy climbing moves. But a lot of the time we had to carefully watch our boy who, now in the phase of thinking things belong to him and only him, tends to swat at his "competitors" or, worse, bang them in the head with the object of adoration - a toy, a metal sippy cup, a plastic food container. Lucy put up with him well (as did her parents). Elliott now has 16 teeth and left a mark on both Lucy and on his own arm. I think the aunt and uncle and Grandpa Jim made it through unscathed, but Elliott does try biting with John and with me. It's pretty hard to escape when he's on my back in the Ergo and decides to gnaw on my shoulder blade!

With other people, Elliott is usually a charmer -- and still a shrieker if he's really happy (or sees a dog or child). However, if if something is taken away from him by an adult, he might throw a mini-tantrum, which is loads of fun at a restaurant. It usually doesn't last long, and he still can be distracted with something else if it's interesting enough, but the willfulness is certainly a challenge when it roars. Many times we had to just take him for a stroll outside.

He is just so pleased with himself and his ability to walk. He still ambles a little lock-kneed -- and he looks new at the sport to onlookers -- but he doesn't do much crawling at all anymore. Even if he's tired and falling a lot, he lopes along drunkenly, sometimes with equally amusing babbles. But this new walking has changed things with his need for comfort. Though he's having fun, I think the walking has left him feeling the need to touch back with the safe zone more often. In the past week, I've nursed this kid more often and in more public places that I have in months! (Side-note: Apparently we were in the Aug. 3 Washington Post in a photo from last November's nurse-in at Reagan National Airport, and I might have forgotten to mention a while back that we're pictured on p. 54 of the current issue of Mothering magazine for another nurse-in).

On the language front, Elliott is killing us with his desire for cheese and peas. He signs for both of them and asks for them out loud with this cute high-pitched question mark hanging in the air. He is clearly a fan of both foods (though the soft goat cheese we found in Maine was not what he meant - he's used to a raw goat cheddar). But he also just seems to like the sound of "dees" because that's become his "this"/"these" sort of "hey look at that/can I have some/gimme/tell me what it is" catch-all phrase he pairs with pointing. It sounds like he is catching on to "no" along with a head shake when he really doesn't want something we're offering. He clearly does pant as a sign for dogs and will mimic lots of other animal noises but doesn't do them on his own. I think sometimes he does say "mo" for "more" but doesn't consistently sign it. His babbling is still fun to listen to but the shrieks today in the airport had John asking, "Kid, do you see by echolocation?" These high-pitched barks are really ear-piercing and, though better than crying, not exactly people's favorite sound on an airplane. We think he's trying to communicate with dogs and is relating to everyone as though they speak dog language.