The Ingrams Do Michigan

Making little boys happy

2012-01-26T20:15:00.001-05:00

Tonight Ell asked for dessert, and the remains of the pumpkin cake that we had last nights were polished off by the dog (who steals food whenever he can). So I remembered a trick I read a long time ago on a website called Pinterest. For people watching their weight or sugar, you take a frozen banana and some cocoa powder and blend them together and voila! Chocolate ice cream! David doesn't hate it, but me and Ell are big fans. I've seen it with a little vanilla extract too, but it tastes pretty banana-ey.

We demolished it. Yum.

When he knows I'm only halfway paying attention

2012-01-09T13:11:00.001-05:00

Earlier Elliott and I sat down and he water painted while I messed around on my computer. I was pretty engrossed in whatever I was reading, and I could tell instead of narrating his painting, he had apparently asked me a question that I hadn't heard. "my eyes are beautiful, momma? My eyes are beautiful?" Now, Ell has very pretty blue eyes, and he has been told this a time or two and has started to comment on other peoples eyes lately, so I thought nothing of this comment. If I'm honest with you, I said "Mmhmm" without looking up at all. That was a mistake, however."my eyes are beautiful, momma! My eyes are beautiful?" then I finally looked up at him, perhaps a bit exasperated. And I see this.

Randomness from ell

2011-11-28T21:23:00.002-05:00

Lately, these are how all of Elliott's goodbyes go:

Elliott: "Okay, Mom, I'm leaving. See you later!". Shuts door for .25 seconds then opens it again. "Bon appetit! Bon appetit, mom! Bon appetit!"
Me, finally: "okay, buddy, Bon appetit!"
Ell: leaves

I couldn't begin to tell you where this came from or why he thinks it means goodbye.

Elliott's contribution

2011-11-26T21:27:00.001-05:00

We are getting in the Christmas spirit here. This is ell's contribution- which I swear I didn't coach him.

The star on the top is my star shaped cookie cutter. Daddy did help him reach the top though.

This boy

2011-11-14T18:05:00.002-05:00

A couple of things that make me smile:
Toddler ingenuity. Elliott really wanted to ride this stuffed horse, but whenever he sat down on the horse it wouldn't budge. So he stuck it on a school bus and rode it around that way. There, I fixed it.

His love for his " shows". This one was wonder pets. He needed to wear the backpack for some reason. He also dressed himself in too-small backwards sweatpants and house slippers. Comfort is key around here.

-

Happy Halloween, y'all

2011-11-01T13:52:00.004-05:00

Elliott chose his own costume this year, and then I helped him modify that choice into something I could actually pull off. You see, there is this random man who rides around downtown (like through the streets of the business district) on his horse for some reason. We see him all the time, and one day we went over to say hello and show Elliott the horse. We found out that the horses name was Topaz, and after refreshing Elliott on the whole costume/trick-or-treat thing, he told me he wanted to dress up like Topaz. Now, I do realize you can buy those horse costumes where the kid is the cowboy and wears the horse part like a pair of pants with suspenders, but so far I have made Elliott's costumes and that is a bit beyond my scope of things. So after some subtle redirection, we decided he would go as a cowboy. Thanks to Aunt Lizzy, we had most of the stuff already, so I made him a vest and a hobby horse (which we abandoned after a dry-run at the church trunk-or-treat, because I had to carry the dang thing around).

Anyway, Enjoy!

Settling in

2011-09-21T21:01:00.001-05:00

We are finally finding our way around Bartlesville, and have even had the chance to meet the new pediatrician since ell is under the weather this week. Since things are pretty quiet this week, here are some of the few pictures I remembered to take.

When we brought home Loki, we brought this crate with us. It took a lot of convincing someone that it was for the dog though. I guess it is just his size.

He loves the new bathtub, except when it is draining because I made the mistake of reading him "the tub people", which is a story about a wooden toy getting stuck down the drain. I had to show him several times that he is too big to get sucked down the drain.

And here is the little bit of time he felt up to working, where he colored a sheet about the letter "c". I am trying to start to work on letter recognition with him, but I am trying to learn the Montessori way to do this. I found a great app on my computer that does this, and I am thinking about ordering some sandpaper letters for him too. Out of seemingly nowhere he knows " w" and points it out all the time, so I am going with it.

Lastly, here is some of his latest artwork, and I am convinced he is a budding artist. This is his drawing of drums (bottom left), a guitar, a trumpet (top middle, the lines are the keys), and the yellow curvy line is a saxophone. He just doodled this and showed me his band. Also, he will turn 2 1/2 next week. Crazy.

Loki

2011-09-20T20:11:00.001-05:00

This is our newest family member.

He is trouble. Especially combined with Elliott.

Interview

2011-08-29T08:10:00.002-05:00

I just found a cute idea to interview your kid at different ages, and to my delight Elliott actually had a few answers for me. I present to you, an interview with a two and a half year old

What is your name? Elliott Timothy (pronounced Eyyitt Timafee)
How old are you? Two and a half
What is your favorite color? Blue
Who is your best friend? Aunt Charlee
What is your favorite animal? A zebra! And a lion, too.
What do you want to be when you are all grown up? Two and a half.
What is your favorite movie? Lion king (we just watched it for the first time a few days ago)
What is your favorite book? Where's Dave? (surprising)
What make's you happy? David makes me happy
What makes you sad? I don't know, Mommy.
What is your favorite thing to eat? A sandwich. (also surprising, but I think he said this because I had a sandwich yesterday for lunch)
What is your favorite song to sing? Baa baa black sheep.
What is your favorite game to play? Mikalaylee (ukelele, which he ran to go get and play as he said this)
Can you write your name for me? (while saying Timafee, Timafee, Timafee... He drew basically this:)
\ | \ | | / |

Recent conversations

2011-08-29T07:28:00.004-05:00

David and elliott are walking down the street in town to go get breakfast. David notices that Elliott is walking strangely due to the fact that he has put his own flip flops on and they are on the wrong feet.

D: Your shoes are on backwards, buddy.
E: No, I doubt it.
D: no, but they are. That's why you are walking funny. They are on the wrong feet.
E: Mmmm, I doubt it.
D: No, I'm telling you that they are on backwards.
E: (Thinking) Maybe a little.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elliott is eating oatmeal and I sit at the table with him to have some tea.
E: You eat with me mommy?
N: I sure am, buddy.
E: You eat lunch with me?
N: Yes sir.
E: Lunch with Mommy and lunch with God!

He seems to be adjusting to our new life in Oklahoma pretty well, although I can tell he is thrown off by all this. He has been quick to have meltdowns out of frustration and several times has sent himself to bed for being tired, even though he just woke up. I think he will start a morning preschool program this week so that he can socialize and settle back into a routine. I just have to take care of a few details and try to weasel ourselves into more than one day a week, which is all the program that I like can offer us right now. I visited several on Friday and felt a little snobby going into a few of them. I guess his last school set the bar very high, because I found myself thinking "TV time? I can do that at home", and sizing up the teachers I met. To my own defense though, at one school the teacher ignored a child completely while talking to me, and stood by as a couple of little boys started wrestling and then biting each other, and then started yelling at the biter in front of me. Not being firm, but yelling. Yikes. Anyway, the school we settled on is very nice, and emphasizes letting the children be independent, which i like. I even met his potential teacher, who seemed very nice and good at her job. I'll keep you posted on how all that goes.

E's first recognizable drawing

2011-08-01T21:10:00.001-05:00

On the left is a drawing of a kitty cat, with eyes, a mouth, tons of whiskers, and hair (?). On the right is his abstract drawing of a trumpet. The cat especially makes me believe my child is a genius. I may also be biased.

Serious about his stickers

2011-07-27T16:49:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned, I have been working hard to keep Elliott from the tv lately, and it seems like art projects work out the best. After combing through the internet to get other moms' ideas of activities for two-year-olds, I made a list and set out for Michael's (craft store). I found several little things to add to my bag of tricks, and this afternoon while I was putting away the groceries, I put a few of them to the test.

After a disastrous attempt at stamps (he ended up falling off his chair somehow- I have no idea), and markers, and crayons, we finally landed on these foam stickers I found. I gave him a piece of construction paper and a pile of stickers and showed him how it worked. He has been quietly for about 10 minutes now, and we have gotten more stickers twice. I went to sit at the table with him and watch him create.

E: "I'm working."

N: "Yes, I see. You are working very hard."

E: "No, go 'way. I'm working."

I see how it is. But I walked away and am leaving him be. I'm learning it's best not to mess with a quiet, busy two-year-old.

Time out

2011-07-26T17:09:00.002-05:00

Elliott just came up to me and pointed to a toy school bus in the corner.

"He's in time out. He pushed my motorbike. He's in time out."

I asked him if he was going to go tell him why he was in time out.

"He have no eyes. He have no face. He's not a big boy!" Well, obviously. My mistake. And after a minute, he got the bus out of the corner to ride again.

He just returned the bus to time out though, because "He not listening again. He's sad."

And we're back.

2011-07-24T18:20:00.002-05:00

I can't believe how fast this summer has gone by. We will be moving to Oklahoma in 3 or 4 weeks, David is about to become Dr. Ingram, and Elliott is getting bigger and smarter every day. We started out this summer going outside, having playdates, going to summer festivals, etc. Then one day it was oppressively hot and I decided to let Elliott watch several pbs tv shows. It took 5 minutes for him to become a full blown TV addict (I wanna watch Cars! I wanna watch Eh-mo! I wanna watch Go GO GABBA!) and then we had to reel it back a bit. So as we crept closer and closer to moving day, I made a "bucket list" of things to do in Ann Arbor (which David apparently finds cheesy, but I guess I'm pretty cheesy sometimes so whatever) and we have steadily crossed things off. We took him canoeing, to the petting zoo, to the water park, and to several outdoor summer concerts. I bought water paints, washable markers, and made playdough in an effort to give him things to do instead of watching tv. It's a slow process, but he's currently making up a song called "Where's the little girl?" because he can't find the girl from his playmobil farm set. I count that as progress.

Elliott constantly amazes me with his imagination, and each day I find myself adding something to my mental bank of things-he-has-figured-out-early. When you ask him why something is happening (like why he is in time out, for example), about half of the time he can tell you why ("Acause. I spit out my food in a floor." or "Acause. I threw Daddy's toy.")

Are you sad? "No. I grey."

He wants to see just how much you will let him get away with. He likes to go to the "big pool" which is the city pool, but he does NOT want to get in lately. He'd rather stay on the s

ide with a toy and make you play fetch, or find a random stranger to go hug- which can be pretty awkward. New people moved in next door and he greets them by saying "Hi Neighbor!" When he hugs me, he says "Oh Sweetheart, I love you too." If you ask him a question, he either answers with, "Yeah, I think so" or "No, I don't really think so." Earlier, I spelled a phrase I shouldn't have said, and Elliott said "Don't say that mommy" (I don't think he can spell...). I was looking through my archives a few days ago and Elliott is just as I imagined he would be- a insatiably curious chatterbox.

My two year old

2011-06-12T17:01:00.004-05:00

Elliott has had several developments in the last month or so. The first of these is a little "girlfriend", another talkative, bossy two year old cutie pie named Willa. They play together almost exclusively, hold hands, help each other put their shoes on, eat snack together, and hug and kiss goodbye. It's a trip for sure, but it's funny to see him trying to imitate David and me.

The second development is a bustling vocabulary. He talks and sings nonstop, and has added lots of fun phrases, such as:

"Why? Why? Why?" (ad nauseum)

"Whatt?" (which I write with two "T"s, to emphasize how short and crisp he says it)

"Your choices, mommy." (which means, pick one- these are your choices, mommy)

Also, he refers to himself as buddy when he is trying to talk himself through something. The other day he was trying to put on his pants, and managed to get two feet in one leg. He said, "Wrong hole, buddy," and then corrected himself.

"Stop Mommy"

"No Talking! SHHH."

"Goodbye. I go a hospital!"

As soon as my camera and computer cooperate, I'll post some videos. Sorry!

Happy mudda's day tew you!

2011-05-11T20:40:00.000-05:00

A song from the cute blonde kid- better late than never?

Also, the shakiness is due to the fact that I was just pointing the camera over my shoulder hoping I was aiming in the right direction. I was stopped at a light when he started singing, and of course the light turned green right after he started. I assure you that I WAS paying attention to the road though.

A concert from Elliott and Elmo.

2011-04-18T17:10:00.002-05:00

Elmo's voice is at least an octave or two too high.

Consider yourselves warned:

Things we're working on

2011-04-18T17:00:00.002-05:00

Five minutes ago, Elliott and I were watching Bob the builder on the couch, when out of nowhere, he smacked me in the forehead. He's been a little more aggressive lately, taking other kids toys and grabbing them in the back of the head to get to whatever they are working with. He likes to watch the adult in charge, too, so he can see just what he can get away with.

So after the forehead smacking, he got a firm talking to and lost his show. When he got upset about losing his tv show, I walked away from him acting out. He came over to me and said, "You watch Bob the Builder, Mommy?" So I told him "No, we are not watching shows because Elliott is being mean. Mommy is not happy, Elliott."

To which he replied, "Where'd Mommy's happy go?"

Things I love...

2011-04-03T20:10:00.002-05:00

Elliott sings himself to sleep. Tonight's concert has included "Do you know the muffin man", "The wheels on the bus", and now "Old MacDonald". All of these are sung loud enough that we can hear all of the words from upstairs, even though his door is shut.

Also, forgive me for being crass, but my friend Lizann insisted I share this with the blog...

This morning Elliott and I were playing with his new train set, and he (ahem) passed a little gas. Being the paranoid mother of a potty-training two year old, I start questioning him:

Me: "Do you need to go to the bathroom?"

Ell: "NO."

Me: "Are you sure?"

Ell: "No. I burped?"

Me: "You burped?"

Ell: "Pants burped."

You're welcome, and please forgive me. Thanks.

Birthday party!

2011-04-02T20:25:00.003-05:00

Are you bummed you couldn't attend Elliott's second birthday party? Well, bum no more. I have some treats for you guys, and aside from missing out on the cake and fajitas, it's almost like you were there with us!

First off, we all know this wouldn't be my blog if there weren't a picture of an adorable little boy with no pants on. So here he is. He got a skuut balance bike (and I realize the bike is put together wrong. I had to flip the frame to accommodate some small little legs) on Thursday morning. It's still a little tough for him to maneuver, but look how proud he is!

I dug out his birthday banner, the birthday table cloth that grandma made (although it is pulled up in this picture to avoid staining it with pumpkin oatmeal), and his birthday crown. He LOATHES the birthday crown. See his little hand? He is going to yank it off his head for the fourth photo attempt in a row. Booyah, Elliott. I got a picture anyway.

I decided since he has really been into trains lately to have a train themed party. I found the most adorable cake pan that made individual train car cakes, and it was a pain in the neck to decorate. My initial plan was to make one long, elaborate train cake. Three cars into decorating, I made a sheet cake and decorated it like a track with some grass around it and plopped six of the cars on top. I don't have time for that mess right now.

We ended up having a party for our friends since Elliott's friends are really more like people who fight over the same toys. We had fajitas, chips and dip, cake, punch, and frosty cold beverages :)

Elliott cleaned up. This is a toy that holds four wooden balls, and when you pound on them, they roll down the wooden tracks and get spit out another side. He loved it. He also got some new books, a wooden tool set, and a soccer goal!

Elliott also got a wooden train set, and he really liked it. He provided the party entertainment, and we watched him play for most of the night. The cars to the train are magnetic, and he had a little trouble with matching poles and then getting the whole train to stay on the track. One of our friends, Adam, kindly gave Elliott a lesson on how magnets work, and then later another friend told us that the freight car is carrying "soda pop". Love that, don't you?

Another awesome thing to know? When the train cars fell off the track or came apart, Elliott said "Aw, snap!" When he managed to put them together and get them successfully on the track, he'd say "Teamwork!"

He knew how to blow out candles this year, which made it all the more fun. He saw his cake when he got up from his nap, and could not understand why he couldn't eat his "birthday" right then and there. "Wanna eat my birthday! I get it. No mommy. I get it." I'm very lucky that my reflexes were awake today, otherwise he would have succeeded in pulling the cake on top of his head.

Happy birthday (party) E Monster.

Happy birthday to El

2011-03-31T21:23:00.004-05:00

Two years ago, on this day, Elliott made me a mother and David a father. He has really enjoyed having a whole day all about himself. We took cupcakes to preschool, pizza for dinner, and opened presents. He still is convinced that he's one and a half instead of two. Anything in the mail that isn't bill-sized is a PRESENT for EYYITT! Anyway, here is a video of me letting him break his Aunt Sissa's birthday rules (Whoops! Sorry Aunt Sissa!) and open presents early.

Also, he opened Grandma's present yesterday:

And here's a video of him playing with his new Duplos.

We're having a little get together for him on Saturday, and he'll get his last present (a wooden Thomas the Tank Engine train set) then. I will do my best to get good pictures of that too. And again, I apologize that my child seemingly never wears pants. I promise he does own them, and occasionally he even puts them on. Just not if a camera is around, I guess.

Deep, healing breaths

2011-03-16T19:54:00.003-05:00

Today, featuring Nicki and Elliott

6:00- stumble out of bed, and quickly try to prepare myself for the day before I have to wake E.

6:40- wake up Elliott, who stumbles out of bed and wraps his arms and legs around me in the biggest morning hug ever

6:45- fight with Elliott over him taking off his pajamas and diaper so that I can send him to the bathroom

6:50- After an enthusiastic "I did it", try (unsuccessfully) to get Elliott to finish, because if he doesn't then I will be changing his underwear and starting a load of laundry before leaving the house

6:55- Decide that if he won't finish, he won't get to put on the bottom half of his outfit until he does. Elliott decides that the world is crumbling immediately afterward.

6:57- Decide to leave the hollering lump of child in the bathroom floor and take myself (and the bottom half of Elliott's outfit) upstairs to get coffee, breakfast, and lunches together.

7:00- Feed pumpkin oatmeal to a half naked little boy. He gleefully finishes all of it, and then dumps a glass of milk on the table. "Wha happen a milk?" Proceed to clean up milk, and then deposit said half naked little boy on the potty seat so we can finally go to work.

7:01- Half naked little boy proudly proclaims "He did it!" Which he did. Proceed to dress him and try to shuffle us out the door.

7:10- Remember he needs to have his medicine. And he wants to carry his bunch box (not a typo). Almost leave the house without his coat. When he has to put down the bunch box to put on his coat, he falls apart again.

7:12- Take deep breaths before scraping the mess of a child off the floor, stuff him into a coat, carry him to the car and proceed to work.

7:55- Finally get to work. Haul Elliott to his class, where he proceeds to sit just outside of the doorway and look at me like "What are you going to do now?" Luckily his saint of a preschool teacher interceded for me. I love her.

Entire day at school and work goes by.

4:01- Walk in Elliott's class and am greeted with a hug that involves both arms and legs. Notice that he is miraculously in the same underwear I sent him to school in! Smell something weird.

4:02- Go change Elliott's clothes.

4:10- Go to pick up David to enjoy this gorgeous weather we are having. Make sure a backup change of clothes is in my bag

4:20- Wait outside of parking garage for David. Avoid weird people and hide from the panhandlers. Explain what a motorized wheelchair is.

4:25- Notice a ladybug lands in Elliott's hair. This means good luck! Carefully remove it and let it crawl across my hands so that Elliott can see. Explain that he must be gentle, but he can touch it.

4:27- Casually remove the squished ladybug from Elliott's hand and wonder how much bad luck that means. "Wha happen a lady bug?"

4:30-6:15- Have a wonderful meal with David and Elliott in the sunshine. Decide to press my luck and meet some friends afterward.

6:25-7:30- Unsuccessfully try to explain personal boundaries, why Elliott can't climb on other people, why we can't jump on the booth in the restaurant, and eventually hand him off to David.

Once in David's lap, he is still and quiet for 10 minutes. David hands him back. He immediately resumes acting like a chimpanzee. Decide to go home.

8:00- Agree with Elliott that I'm tired too, and we are going straight home to go to bed.

8:05- Brush Elliott's teeth and ruin his life by doing so. Not that I did anything unusual or painful. He just didn't want his teeth brushed, and I didn't let him win that one.

8:06- Take lots of deep breaths. Finish getting him ready and put him in bed.

8:08- In between dramatic sobs, hear "I wanna go night night, Mommy". After telling him, "Then go night night", hear him actually say "No, I wanna go night night with Mommy" and decide that he's sad, and tired, and my baby. I'm not sure how long he will actually want me to lay down with him while he settles down. So I tucked him in, snuggled in beside him, and watched him settle himself down and fall asleep. And then I (almost) forgot about the rest of that other stuff.

The end.

No Jack in the Box

2011-03-15T18:51:00.002-05:00

So, Elliott received a Jack in the Box at Christmas, and he has a hot/cold kind of relationship with it. He likes the music and singing pop goes the weasel, and if he has enough warning he thinks it's funny to watch the clown pop up. But there are many times that the clown sneaks up on him, and he nearly jumps out of his skin. Being the horrible woman that I am, I think that this is hilarious. But now that Ell has gotten a bit older, he can hold his own against his cruel-natured mother.

Snow days

2011-03-14T20:33:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago we had several inches of snow dumped on us, and Elliott's preschool was cancelled, which meant we both got the day off. Now, this guy is pretty busy these days, and I hae to be pretty creative to keep him entertained. I drug out some butcher paper and we started coloring. Actually, when I say "we started coloring", I actually mean I was ordered to draw fish and pumpkins and trucks and Elliott would grab a crayon and "color" them, meaning he would scribble all over it before I even finished. Once I learned how this worked it was fine, but was pretty frustrating at first.

Anyway, we colored two three foot long pieces of butcher paper, front and back, and I decided to bow out after a while. I was bored and running out of things to draw. I put my crayons away and told Elliott, "Mommy is all done coloring, but you can keep coloring as long as you want to." Elliott picked up the crayon I had put away, handed it back to me, and said "No. You not finished. Draw a fish." This video is how I finally negotiated my way out of it.

watching what I say and do

2011-02-20T10:15:00.003-05:00

I try to remember the little eyes and ears that are listening to me. I really do. But sometimes. things slip by. Like the other day when I was stuck behind a purple car on our street who was going three miles an hour down the entire street. We were so close to being home. One more block. And if I were to hit the accelerator, even a little, we would have plowed into the car. Knowing my son would copy any rude road behavior, I kept my comments to "Ugghhh... GO."

Which was fine.

The next day we are driving to school, and I am waiting to pull out onto a road with a limited view of oncoming traffic. David smiled at me and I noticed that every time I took my foot off the break, rolled forward, and then stopped to let another car go, Elliott would say "Ugghh. UGhhhh." Then I finally caught a break in traffic and pulled out, just as Elliott said "GO."

Then there was Friday, when we came home from school and had just enough time to go potty and change clothes to meet David for dinner. He grabbed his potty to empty it out in the toilet, and spilled it all over the seat, narrowly missing my pants and boots. I know that I shouldn't have, but instinct overcame wisdom and I said "Jesus!" as I jumped out of the way. Guess who had to apologize for saying the wrong thing after her son repeated it?

Other things he says constantly:

"Where (Mommy/Daddy/car/bus/truck/random object) go?" ad nauseam, about an object in plain view

"What happened?"

"No I do it!"

What's your name? One ina half. How old are you? Eyyitt.

He still loves singing. He comes home at least once a week singing a new song I had no idea he knew. This week it's the Hokey Pokey. Last week it was Mr. Sun. His favorite food is cereal bars. He dances all the time. If I am doing anything that takes my attention away from him he hangs from my knees. He wants to do everything himself and at his own pace. If you rush him he will make his legs go to jelly and pout. If he realizes he is crying for a silly reason, he tells himself "No cryyy......" We pray before bedtime and he folds his little hands and says "Amen" at the end.

He is really fun right now, but David and I welcome bedtime with open arms at 7:00, because all three of us are usually exhausted and whiny.

Right. I'm back.

2011-02-10T21:54:00.002-05:00

So, yeah- I went missing. But I'm here now, and that's what matters, right? Right.

I've mentioned before that Elliott LOVES guitar. He loves any music, really. He loves guitars. He sings songs he learns in school a lot. He sings along with bad pop music- and I'd tell you what kind of bad pop music, but I'd be afraid that you would seriously doubt my abilities to parent. He sings along with good music too, but he doesn't know the words so he just sings "Aaaaahhh" instead. He even makes up songs. So David was awesome and got him a ukulele for Christmas, which is a perfectly sized toddler guitar. I've never seen the joy that I saw on Ell's face the day he opened that gift.

Anyway, when David plays his guitar, this happens. And I die of pure happiness. Be forewarned: It's three minutes long, Elliott has no pants on, and he put his own underwear on, so of course it's on backwards.

Choo choo peanut buttah...

2010-12-07T15:20:00.002-05:00

Every Tuesday, Mr. John brings a guitar to Elliott's class and plays songs for the kids. He comes to the class I teach too, and he usually just sings one song and works in melodies of other ones occasionally. But he loves the peanut song, and now I do too. I discovered that Elliott liked to sing this song when he found a cardboard cutout of a guitar and pretended to play it while singing "Choo Choo Train, Choo Choo Train" over and over again.

Don't understand what we're saying? The words are

A peanut sat on a railroad track,

his heart was all aflutter (or if you're Ell, a-fuddah)

along came a big old choo choo train (if you don't sing the next line, he gets stuck here)

Choo Choo Peanut Butter (Ell: Buddah)!

Where I finally post new pictures

2010-12-06T18:52:00.005-05:00

I recently gave away a few of our outgrown baby items, like the bassinet and changing table that we were given. That led to a panic that I was going to immediately get pregnant with number two and have no furniture for him/her, but I've since calmed down. The recipient gave Elliott a little wagon full of wooden blocks as a thank you, and he loves them. He raced around our living room pulling the little wagon for probably twenty minutes.

Then he'd round the corner too quickly and catch the corner of the wagon on the leg of the coffe table, and say "stuck!" until I helped him get it going again. Oh, and you thought I was kidding about the kid never wearing pants, didn't you. Ha. I only wish.

He likes to build towers with them, but since building vertically tends to require balance and coordination, he prefers to lay them across the table and build a horizontal "tower", saying "DID IT!", like lining them all up takes a lot of his concentration. Also, I've recently learned that Elliott calls anything red Elmo.

Then as we were getting ready for our Thanksgiving festivities, I decided to let Elliott have his very first hot chocolate. Have you ever seen a kid eat his first cupcake or taste their first hot chocolate? It's very high on the things-I-recommend-that-you-do list.

He started out slowly spooning out the mini marshmallows to make sure I hadn't tricked him into eating something nutritious. When the coast was clear, he relaxed and went for it.

I think he was looking at me to make sure I was still his mother. Like he was thinking, "aren't you the same woman that feeds me peas and that disgusting chicken stuff? Where have you been hiding this stuff?"When he finally tasted the cocoa, he started drinking it like he was afraid any minute I might snatch it away and give him a piece of broccoli instead.
This is a face that has shut out the outside world. Also, when he finished eating a marshmallow, he'd pull the spoon out of his mouth with a flourish, eyes still closed, like he was getting away with something that I must not have figured out yet.

Hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. Next, I'll post video of him singing the Peanut Butter song. Prepare yourselves for some unintelligible cuteness.

My life, currently

2010-12-03T17:36:00.003-05:00

First, I promise to put up new pictures of Elliott this weekend. I haven't been taking as many as I used to, mostly because we are still working hard on potty training and he is usually either in his underwear or completely naked below the waist. The faster I can get his bare bottom on the potty, the better.

Which brings me to a little story. This afternoon I had Elliott sit on the potty, but he hadn't gone yet. So I left off his underwear and let him sit on the potty when he felt the need. This usually goes pretty smoothly, so I wasn't terribly concerned. Then I looked over and saw Elliott standing awkwardly by the Christmas tree. I knew the face he was making, and RAN over to him only to see that he had done his business. In. The. FLOOR.

Now, according to the potty training advice givers, you should never make a big deal about "accidents". You should just have them help clean up the mess and themselves, and casually mention that we use the potty to do their business.

The advice givers would not have liked my reaction. I mean, I didn't freak out, but casual I was not. It was more like this:

Nicki: What are you doing? NONONO! We do NOT poop in the floor!

Elliott: Pee pee.

N: Not pee pee. You pooped in my floor. That is NOT acceptable Elliott.

E: No pee pee.

N: Right, no pee pee. You are supposed to use the potty.

E. Potty! Did it!

N: UGH! (lots of grumbling as I'm putting him on the potty, cleaning up the mess, bleaching the floor, etc). That is NOT what we do. That's gross, Elliott.

E: Gross, Eyyitt. Gross, Eyyitt. Gross, Eyyitt.

Now I have to fight back laughing so that he knows he didn't just get off the hook, but it is pretty difficult. We go down the stairs to the bathroom.

Nicki: Where DO we go poop?

Elliott: (long pause) Potty!

N: That's right. We use the potty. Not the floor. Do you know why?

E: Gross, Eyyitt. Gross, Eyyitt.

Just in case you thought my cute kid was so cute that you are considering stealing him or making your own. It isn't all fun and games. But it is pretty funny sometimes.

Sucker

2010-11-23T17:52:00.001-05:00

I served Elliott broccoli florets with hummus for a before dinner snack, and he is currently just using them to suck all the hummus off. Jokes on you, Elliott. I snuck artichokes and spinach in there. Booyah.

19.5 month edition

2010-11-19T18:01:00.001-05:00

Around here, we are knee deep in the "my turn my turn" phase. Which means if we are brushing his teeth, I get a turn for 3 seconds, then Elliott grabs the toothbrush and says "my turn" until I turn it over. He has to be involved in making his oatmeal at breakfast time now, so I have him dump everything in the bowl, and then I stir it for a half a second and he grabs the spoon and says "my turn" until I let go. He helps me to pick up his laundry, throws away his own diaper, brings his dishes to the sink, and throws away any trash he finds. I've had to slow down everything I do to help him feel involved, and while it would just be easier most of the time to do it myself, he seems to really enjoy being a productive part of the household. It's kind of nice, actually.This is exactly what it looks like. Or, if you aren't familiar with yoga, it is Elliott imitating me doing the downward dog pose. He has much better form than I do.
He stretched out this mat, and started doing this on his own. I showed him upward dog too, just so that he's a balanced baby. (That is a joke- I'm not that weird.)
We're also still figuring out his eating. After talking with his teacher, and discovering I'm being a control freak with his food, I've started sending things that I know he likes. It's much less stressful knowing that I can sneak in at least one serving of veggies in his oatmeal (we make it with pumpkin), sending him with a pb&j and some crackers with hummus at lunch time, and giving him turkey dogs or spaghetti for dinner. Then I can introduce new foods on the side, and if he likes them I can just add them to the list of things he likes to eat.

The toilet training is still underway, but he's doing great. He does best if he's upstairs and has lots of books to choose from, so I think for Christmas Santa will be adding to his library. His current favorite books are a book of first words, books with flaps he can lift, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. He's started to try to finish the sentences in that one, saying "Hungry!" at the end of each page that ends with "...but he was still hungry."

I think my favorite new development is that he is starting to sing. One day in the grocery store he started to sing something that sounded suspiciously like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", and then later in the car he was singing "Brother John". When he washes his hands he his own version of the ABC song, and sometimes in the car he'll just try to sing along with whatever song is on the radio by going "Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" either really loud or in a funny falsetto.

He's still a charmer and seems to love new people, though occasionally he'll get shy with a new person around. It occurs pretty randomly, because he'll see some of David's friends (who he's seen several times) and he gets really quiet and watches them closely for a few minutes before opening up. However last night we had a babysitter come over who had only watched him once before, and when I opened the door he shouted "HIIIII!" and ran up the stairs to see her. Once they got to the living room, he grabbed a book, nuzzled up to her on the couch, and pretended we didn't exist. He wouldn't even give me a hug goodbye, which is really weird for Elliott. I guess he just likes college girls. :)

This weekend- In pictures

2010-10-31T20:57:00.003-05:00

We started out our Halloween weekend in festive (handmade) undies, since Elliott is currently learning how to use the potty. His preschool teacher is on board, we have an Elmo Potty DVD, and little potties scattered throughout the house. Also, when you let your kid play with water in the sink, it's pretty hard to tell if he's had an accident when he dribbles the water all over himself and the rest of the kitchen. Just in case you didn't know that already.

Then, after church this morning, we finally drug out the stuff to carve a pumpkin. Elliott helped, and he was really, really excited about it.

He danced, he jumped, and he used his little wooden spoon to scoop in the pumpkin. He would NOT touch the guts this year. Maybe I traumatized him by letting him eat all of those seeds last year.

This year Elliott was the Cat in the Hat. I made this costume, and I made it entirely too large. But it was cozy and fleece and he seemed to really dig it.

Well, he did like it- until it was time to leave and David and I were scrambling around like crazy people. Setting out candy, spray painting our hair blue (yes, blue), dressing Elliott up, then forgetting all the things we needed to leave the house, and finally just grabbing two to-go cups of spiked cider for Mommy and Daddy to warm up on this chilly Halloween. He lost it for just a little while.

Then he got over it. Maybe he understood that eventually we would take him to get lots and lots of candy.

See those tears? Halloween is hard on a little guy.

It took a couple of houses, but eventually we had established a rhythm. He wouldn't say trick-or-treat, but he did say thank you and "Haween!"

Thankfully, we managed to get a lady to take our picture while we were out and about. Our hair was a little dark to show off the blue all that well, but we had a good time taking Elliott around our little neighborhood. And we really like to "check all his candy", too. Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

The many faces of 5pm

2010-10-06T18:40:00.005-05:00

5pm, post preschool. Elliott has discovered this book recently, which he loves because it has BIG TRUCKS and QUACK QUACKS and Meow....'s in it, and thus he can read it to me.

I can't get enough of this face...

Or this one, which is usually given if I mention something he'd really like to have or do, like go outside or crackers.

He isn't shy in front of a camera, and likes to get up in the lens. I think he's trying to see what I'm looking at in there.

These blue eyes get him lots of attention, sweets, and balloons from the people at the grocery stores and banks.

And this is usually when 5pm becomes 5:30, and he get cranky and cantankerous.

This is what mischief looks like

2010-10-05T20:14:00.004-05:00

I know better than to leave Elliott unattended. I know not to leave hot beverages within his reach or candles going. I know to keep the gates up and my laptop closed. And now, I know to put the lids on candles when I'm finished burning them, because he will pinch off the top of the burned wick and smear it all over the place, leaving him looking like he ate charcoal for dinner and the chair he was standing on smudged with carbon.

Doesn't he look guilty here? That's because he is.

Don't worry. It obviously didn't slow him down at all. I don't think anything could.

whoops.

2010-09-29T11:10:00.002-05:00

Our bathtub has been giving me problems. Out of nowhere it stopped draining last week, leaving the bath water standing until the next morning. We keep a little catcher over the drain because my hair has a tendency to collect, but I think at some point David got tired of cleaning it out that he removed it.

I bought a bottle of Drano Pro and emptied it into the drain, and although it took a while, it seemed to eventually loosen whatever was stuck in there enough to let the bath water slowly drain out. But after a couple of days the water was still standing, so I bought another bottle of Drano, figuring that two bottles of harsh chemicals should surely work.

Yesterday after my shower there was still about three inches of water in the tub. My landlord was coming over to replace the air filter on our furnace, so I asked him if he could bring a snake or something to help me fix the blocked drain. I was pretty exasperated, because we have had a few issues with the apartment, like a dishwasher that doesn't do a great job on the dishes and a dryer that doesn't vent out properly, making our bottom level damp and sticky. After a little while though, his head popped up over the banister smiling, and he dangled a small baby washcloth in his hand.

"This was in your drain. I think that was the problem."

I feel dumb.

Round here

2010-09-18T17:07:00.003-05:00

I'm home sick with a sick Elliott, so I figured I ought to put up some new videos and pictures while we're waiting for him to feel better.

Last night we read this picture book while waiting for Daddy to come home. I got it on camera, because he is trying hard to say all of these words. Watching it today, however, showed me that it may not be terribly clear to anyone else. The "Eat" at the end is as clear as a bell though.

Today we had to stay home from sch

ool because Elliott is running a fever, and he had a banana for his morning snack. I LOVE the way that he says "banana".

These were taken a few weeks ago when it was still sunny and hot here. I took Elliott to Fuller Park Pool, where he learned how to be brave enough to jump in the pool with no one to catch him. Luckily for everyone, he was only in the kiddie end, where the water was about 8 inches deep. Whew.

Considering myself lucky

2010-08-05T18:00:00.002-05:00

Elliott just finished dinner, and I took him downstairs to change his diaper afterwards and didn't put his outfit back on. We went upstairs and I resumed cooking dinner, and turned around to find my baby naked as the day he was born, and the diaper laying in the floor beside him. He looked partly proud of his accomplishment, and partly a little nervous about the response I was going to have.

Luckily it was only number 1, so I didn't have any response at all other than to put another diaper on him pronto. Also, he says diaper like this : Bah-per. And when he goes down the stairs, he counts them by saying, Bah...? Boh...? Hai...?

16 months

2010-08-04T09:21:00.003-05:00

So, toddlers keep you busy! In fact, Elliott and I are going to start at a new preschool next week because I am pretty sure that he is ready for some new areas to explore. He's growing quickly and trying very hard to prove that he is NOT a baby and can do all things himself. And if he can't, get ready for him to launch that thing across the living room, followed by "Naaaaooooo!!"

So. Yeah. Other goings on have been hiding things from Elliott now that he can climb on our furniture, rescuing crayons from his mouth, hiding the mops and brooms, and trying to convince him to eat something besides crackers and fruit. He's almost mastered stairs, which is terrifying, and he's starting to say lots of words, which are becoming harder and harder to say no to.

Mo? (More)

Peees (Please)

Tish (Kiss) - He uses this to manipulate more time from bedtime. It works.

EEEEAAAATTT (Eat, Hungry, Breakfast, Snack)

Teey! (Kitty!)

Tees (Teeth)

Hasses (Glasses)

Iss (fish)

OH? (phone, or any object that could resemble a phone)

Bup (drink, cup)

Baaee (bye)

He can also wink (except he uses both eyes), dance, sing along with Itsy Bitsy Spider, and destroy the shelf that houses his toys in seconds flat. He finally likes to go on the slide at the park, and LOVES other kids. He likes most people, but especially of the younger and older variety, since he gets the most attention from them. He flirts with ladies when we go out to dinner, says "Haaiiii" to burly men with big beards or bald heads, and chases little girls while chattering and trying to imitate their conversations.

It's fun around here, but also challenging, and tiring, and filled with head scratching as we try to figure out Elliott's frustrations and how to get him to stop climbing the walls.

New videos of the toddler

2010-07-14T14:35:00.004-05:00

A chat over some frozen grapes. It runs a little long, so feel free to stop it early if you get bored. Especially before I start to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Here, we practice putting dry oatmeal in a bowl with a teaspoon. It kept him quiet for almost fifteen minutes while I made dinner.

And finally, we continue Elliott's adventures in food (I swear I take him out of the high chair every now and then) as he tries out seaweed. I swear this is a food substance, and apparently kids love it. I tried it and it tastes like the seaweed on the outside of sushi, except there isn't any soy sauce or other ingredients to distract from the seaweed taste. Not my cup of tea, but it looks like it won't go to waste.

Elliott's baby

2010-07-07T19:06:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago I went to a neighborhood yard sale with Elliott to look around. At one house, I spotted a white plastic adirondack chair that was just his size and he sat in it for several minutes, swinging his little feet and leaning back in the sun. I took it up to the table to pay, and Elliott spotted this pink stroller with a baby doll in it. He took off pushing it up and down the driveway, and I thought about buying it for him, but it was priced at $15- which I didn't really want to pay. The lady selling it apparently got a big kick out of watching him play with it though. She was selling old toys of her grandkids, so she took a lot off the price because she liked watching him play with it.

He wheels around the living room with his baby stroller, powering over any toy or furniture in his path. (See the chair?)
While the baby hangs on for dear life, he pushes her around, and briefly slows down to dig in the carrier/backpack for the dried up baby bottle to feed her.
I tried to show him how to wear the carrier as a backpack, and you would think I strapped some torture device to him. He was not a happy guy.

Ell's first haircut

2010-06-24T09:15:00.004-05:00

So last Friday, Ell's hair looked like this. It isn't all that unruly, but it was closing in on mullet territory in the back, and my sister didn't think Elliott had the rural street cred to pull off a mullet. So I hemmed and hawed about getting it done, fearing that a haircut would make my baby look too grown up. Over the last year we've all heard about how I try to prevent Elliott from growing or doing big boy things.

Plus, I had some purple rubber bands laying around and the back was the perfect length for little pigtails. I may have gotten curious about what a future daughter would look like. And she may be beautiful. Haha. Kidding! Sortof.

ANYWAY.

I made an appointment in Canton at a kid's haircutting place a couple of people had suggested to me. Which may have also been 6 miles from the closest Sonic. It is really genius. Each salon chair is a vehicle (firetrucks! Sparkly convertibles! Lightning McQueen!) And each mirror has it's own tv and dvd player on it. I picked out an Elmo movie and the lady went to town.

I had to be fast, but I managed to snap a few pictures in between distracting him to look down so she could work on the aforementioned mullet.

See the back? I wasn't lying.

Zoning out to the Elmo movie.

As a treat for his excellent behavior I bought him a new book with Elmo on it. It has a puppet in it which he thinks is amazing and so he steals the book from me. Then for some reason Elmo stops moving and talking and he doesn't really understand why.

Its summer!

2010-06-12T21:20:00.003-05:00

I've been bad at putting up new pictures, because I've been busy enjoying the beautiful weather we've been having. Elliott and I have taken another trip to the petting zoo (this time he could tell me what some of the animals said, and he mooed and baaa!ed along with the cows and sheep), gone to the botanical garden where Elliott played in the dirt and sand and went down the most terrifying slide ever, and have taken lots of walks around town. Mostly, though, we try to get to the public pools around here, because they are wonderful.

He is still doing great with the signing classes we are taking, and especially loves to point out balloons, hats, balls, and sunglasses to me. He has added a few words to his vocabulary, although some are unclear except to us (shoe, cheese, juice, and kiss all sound like sss! or oos!) and others are more like onomatopoeia (guitar is doongadoongadoong and bubbles are rapid blowing noises while he reaches for the place behind the couch where I keep them). He is starting to test his limits, by throwing dinner on the ground and saying nononono when he's reaching for something I've told him to leave alone. He won't eat meat unless it's hidden in spaghetti or belongs to another child. I called my mom a couple of days ago asking for help to get him to eat real food and she laughed at me and told me to give him pudding and leave him alone. Which wasn't exactly the advice I was looking for, MOM.

But overall we're good, and busy, and enjoying the things that come with summer, like cheap berries and popsicles. Ice cream and sunshine. Pools with sprinklers mounted just high enough for Elliott to walk under but manage to spray me in the chest while I am trying to get brave enough to get my stomach wet.

He gets it honest...

2010-05-25T08:38:00.002-05:00

For those who don't know what the title of this post means, it's what my family says when describing a trait that has obviously been passed down from family (or kinfolk, as my dad says). I also want to start by saying that I KNOW you shouldn't plop your kid in front of the tv and call it a babysitter. And I don't. The few times I've tried it (in desperation, mind you) by renting a sesame street or curious george video from the library, he has been completely uninterested or even a little freaked out. He'll watch the screen for 15 seconds and then go find a book, or a ball, or destroy something.

But Elliott LOVES the remote control. And since the power button is bright red, he usually figures out how to turn on the tv pretty quickly. Today it was on channel four, but he pushed buttons and it quickly became fuzz. Then he managed to land on PBS, and there is a nature program on about animals in Madagascar. He is enthralled, standing in front of the tv staring up at the lizards and lemurs and whipping around every so often, like he's asking me "Are you seeing this?!"

Why my floors SHOULD be cleaner

2010-05-23T21:02:00.002-05:00

I mean, who else in the world thinks a broom looks like a really cool toy? I've had to start hiding them.

Ol' Crazy Eyes

2010-05-21T13:59:00.003-05:00

Spending the day outdoors does something strange to us.

Makes us see the world a little differently.

Puts a little sparkle in our eyes.Lets us all wear rose colored glasses. Or cardboard novelty ones from the dollar bin at Target.

Our buddy Jaafar

2010-05-17T08:55:00.003-05:00

Super baby!

2010-05-14T09:22:00.002-05:00

The balloon helps him fly.

I've never been great at sharing.

2010-05-14T08:43:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago I made a fantastic discovery at our local market- Biscotti Brothers Chocolate dipped almond biscotti. Along with my morning cup of coffee it is a piece of heaven. So yummy. I can't resist picking up a package if I go over there for a couple of onions or a gallon of milk. So this morning I had one with my coffee, and then went about checking my email and the weather while Elliott toddled around playing with his toys (which are scattered from corner to corner). After a few minutes I noticed how quiet he had gotten (never a good sign) and looked over to find him sitting under the kitchen table, gnawing on my gourmet biscotti like there was no tomorrow. Chocolate was smeared around his mouth, and he had shut out the rest of the world. That's how I eat it too.

So I go over and pry my treats out of his chubby, grubby little fists and put them safely out of his reach. He wasn't happy about that, but I wasn't too happy about sharing. I mean, because the almonds in it could be a choking hazard, not because I am stingy.

Yeah, choking hazard. Gimme those.

mommy brain

2010-05-12T10:24:00.002-05:00

I used to have dreams all the time when I was younger about getting on the school bus and suddenly discovering I had forgotten to wear shoes, or looking down in one of my classes and noticing I was still in pajamas. I'd have to forage through the lost and found and piece together some ridiculous outfit from the lost and forgotten articles of my classmates. And I was always as embarrassed as if I had shown up completely naked.

Fast forward to last Friday, when my mother-in-law and sister-in-law were visiting us. I had been excited all week to go see the movie Babies, and there was a showing that allowed you to bring your kids along at 1pm. I made sure Elliott had his morning nap, ate lunch, and had plenty of distractions in case he became a hooligan halfway during the movie. We were going to try to cram lunch in before the movie, so we scurried out the door and headed for the movies.

After parking and visiting the ATM, I started to notice how nice and cosy my feet felt as I walked toward the restaurant. This is not a typical realization for me, because I have always felt like cuteness and price trumped comfort and at this point I am usually kicking myself for not wearing sensible sneakers. Slowly it dawned on me that I had not made a good shoe choice. I was still wearing my shearling lined house slippers. Granted they have a good sole on the bottom, but that isn't the point. I had on makeup, my hair was done, I was wearing cute clothes, and I still had on my houseshoes. I felt like a goofball, but sadly I did not learn my lesson so well. On the way to Elliott's doctor appointment yesterday, I had to turn around halfway down our street to go put on real shoes.

I'm not sure I'll be able to leave the house if we have another baby, for fear that I'll wind up naked at the grocery store, or in a bath towel for a play date.

Progress...finally!

2010-05-04T12:30:00.002-05:00

So I've said before how we have been trying to teach Elliott some baby sign language and how the results had been slow going. For a while I had to interpret banging on the table and waving while saying DA! for everything, and I was starting to get skeptical that we were going to have any success at all communicating with Elliott.

Three weeks ago I decided to tag along with my friend Leonore and her son, Jaafar, to check out the infant signing class. If nothing else, I could ask the lady what to do about all of the banging my table was quietly suffering through. So we went, and I asked lots of questions. She told me to encourage him when he used his hands, but continue to show the correct signs. She showed us how to sign on books, or on toys, and get his attention to incorporate signs better. I left feeling pretty good, and determined that we would get this thing.

That night, I fed Elliott dinner, and when I asked him if he wanted more, he slammed his hands on the high chair tray like usual. So I showed him the right sign with his own hands, and then with mine, and asked him to show me more by tapping on his hands. And what do you know? He did it. VICTORY!

So we started to work in other signs. He repeats some of them, and others he ignores or grunts instead of using them. But he's totally catching on! Last week the teacher told us to sign "Stop" instead of saying no all the time, because they start to tune out no if it is all they hear. So after Elliott threw his lunch on the floor for the fifth time, I signed and said "STOP". And he tried to make the sign, and actually said Stop! Well, Stah! That counts though. Don't tell me it doesn't. IT DOES.

So now, we have 6 or 7 signs he will make fairly consistently. The signs for bedtime, more, brush teeth, eat, and diaper change. Mostly he will only do them with some prompting, but it's pretty exciting to watch. And maybe now I won't have to try to translate grunts.

Dogs say "woof! woof!"

2010-04-27T13:22:00.002-05:00

Our neighbors have a couple of dogs that frankly scare me a lot and annoy me a little. They are huge, and I'm pretty sure at least one is some sort of pitt bull mix. They don't act super aggressive or anything, but they are both barkers. I mean, I guess it isn't their fault that I am used to Jack, who only barked when commanded to, but still. We are surrounded by squirrels and rabbits and raccoons, and they like to bark at them.

Lately I've been showing Elliott lots of animals and naming them, signing the name, and then following with the noise if it has one that I can imitate (and if it doesn't, I make something up. Elliott is going to think Kangaroos say "goodaye, mate!" for example) in an attempt to help him learn some words. He's trying, and has actually started to sign several words in the last few weeks, but it is often hit or miss.

All that to say, it is currently nap time, and the dogs next door are barking up a storm. And from downstairs, I hear Elliott barking along with them.

The reason for no posts lately

2010-04-19T11:47:00.002-05:00

For the last few weeks, Elliott has been a little, um...challenging. My theory is that since turning one, he has developed a sense of independence and it is pretty limited by the skills he has not yet mastered and the things his mean mother and father will not let him do. He wants to talk, but can only say Mama (usually when he's mad) and DA! - which is used for everything else. So if he is trying to tell me something, he resorts to screeching or screaming. It's fun. If he wants me to read a book, he'll throw it at me. If he wants to open the refrigerator and I block him, he melts down.

So, to keep it real, I haven't had much to say other than Elliott is a punk right now. Want to babysit?

This particular overreaction was caused by me having a bubble tea that he wanted to share, and the bubble tea having too large a straw for him to work (It was too big for me to put my finger over the top to feed him some, too). Which made him really mad. Which made him lose his mind.

Don't get me wrong. He has good moments too. But this certainly wasn't one of them.

1st Birthday Party

2010-04-03T20:40:00.002-05:00

Today was Elliott's birthday party! We invited a few little friends, and a lot of our big friends, fired up our grill, and had hot dogs, punch, and cupcakes. Elliott mostly toddled around and stole food from whoever had a plate.

He also managed to find the stash of presents when no one was looking, and proceeded to dig through the tissue paper.

Once he and his little friend found the goodies inside, they entertained each other for a while figuring out the buttons. Also, see the red string by our little friend's head? I got balloons, and it was the best $10 I've ever spent. Babies love balloons.

After we grilled I noticed some of our younger friends were getting tired, so we did the cupcake part so that they could have a treat before their afternoon nap. We sang happy birthday, and Elliott was a little confused when all of those people started singing.

But after a minute, he decided he liked all of that attention after all. Also, see that cupcake, with a huge candle perched on top, on a paper plate? I invite danger.

This is the beautiful birthday table cloth Grandma Peggy made for Elliott. Luckily, no grubby little fingers pulled it (and all of the food along with it) off the table.

And these were our cupcakes. I made forty. We have 23 left. I am set to gain ten pounds next week. Yay for birthdays!

Our trip to the petting zoo

2010-04-03T20:22:00.003-05:00

On Wednesday, before I pumped Elliott full of cupcakes, we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and went somewhere I'd been wanting to go for years- the petting zoo at Domino's Farms.
We went on a hay ride, and wondered around to look at all of the different kinds of animals. They had just about everything you could want to see on a farm.
We found some noisy geese, ducks, and roosters, and a couple of times I managed to get Elliott to say quack quack. (sounds like "Ah! Ah!"- Okay, not that close. We're working on it.)

We stumbled over toward the bunny cage, and there was one guy laying on the ground. I thought he had gotten out and would run away from us, but he stayed put while Elliott patted his fluffy tail.

Then we figured out you could buy carrot sticks to give certain animals, so we got some. The goats managed to steal most of ours, but Elliott got really excited to feed them. When he started trying to eat the carrots himself, we gave away the rest of our carrots and made our way to the hand sanitizer.

Cupcake fun

2010-03-31T20:27:00.005-05:00

Just so you know, this is totally his second cupcake of the day. Aaaand he basically only ate the frosting. In fact, he would open his mouth and let the cake fall back out if he accidentally got it in his mouth.

This is actually a happy face. Imagine him saying something like AGHHHH MORE CUPCAKE FROSTING!!

Happy birthday Elly Belly!

Control freak

2010-03-30T08:41:00.003-05:00

So, to say that I am a neat freak would be a lie. In fact, I am still figuring out housekeeping as I go. The first six months of marriage were filled with little battles about common sense housekeeping tricks that I did not know, like putting dishes in the empty dishwasher instead of the sink. I mean, I know how to make a bed, but it wasn't a rule in my house growing up to make your bed. So I made it when I was forced to clean my room. I know how to wash dishes, but we didn't have a dishwasher so my sister and I would do all of the dishes from the day after dinner. So I am not the kind of person who freaks out over dust bunnies and unfluffed pillows.

I apparently am the kind of person who does not let her son learn to feed himself with a spoon for fear of The Mess, though. The Mess makes me do dumb things, like give Elliott a spoon and bowl withhis food in it, and then take it away after he grabs the spoon and starts to shake it at me. It isn't a problem with him getting food on his face, or even his clothes. It is a problem with the fact that Elliott sees food as an artistic medium, ready to be spread on the closest surface. I watch him try to do it, then I help him try to do it, then I take over. Bad, bad mommy. I don't know why it bothers me so much if he flings yogurt at me or smears mashed potatoes on the high chair tray instead of attempting to get it somewhere in the vicinity of his mouth, but I usually snatch the spoon away before he makes too much progress. Usually I just offer the food that requires a utensil and let him do the finger foods by himself, but this morning I managed to sit on my hands and let him t

ry to do it himself. His clothes are spotted with yogurt, the tray was smeared with goo, and his arms were sticky, but he had his first (uninterrupted) lesson with the spoon.

And yes, that is the handle in his mouth. *sigh*

he walks the line

2010-03-18T10:13:00.000-05:00

Walking to Momma from Nicki Ingram on Vimeo.

Walking (and falling) from Nicki Ingram on Vimeo.

Breakfast at Nick's Pancake House

2010-03-18T09:26:00.001-05:00

The boy
Originally uploaded by _prachi_

Our friend Prachi visited this weekend, and lucky for us he is a pretty good little photographer.

Rawrrr!

2010-03-10T10:57:00.002-05:00

As requested, here is Elliott doing his bear sound. Vicious!

What's a bear say? from Nicki Ingram on Vimeo.

A Quick Message

2010-03-02T21:03:00.000-05:00

We love you Aunt Nicki. I hope you feel better quickly.

11 months

2010-02-28T22:13:00.006-05:00

Dear Ell,

Today you turned 11 months old. Which means two things- first, we are almost finished with the winter, the snow, and therefore snowsuits. Second-you will be one year old the next time I write you a letter, something that blows my mind since I feel like the time you have been here has felt like forever on ultra fast forward. That probably makes no sense, but I can't imagine my world without you now, and at the same time-weren't you too small for newborn sized clothes and incapable of smiling on your own five minutes ago?

This month you have figured out a little baby sign language. I've been trying to show you some practical signs to help you communicate with us, and maybe a few vain ones too (Momma? Please? Sign Momma?! Okay fine, sign Daddy? Something?) but until the last few weeks you seemed to not really get it. Then one day I figured out that since you hadn't quite grasped putting your hands together to clap, you'd bang one arm on whatever the nearest surface was. This was how you responded to music, and how you indicated you'd like more. It's also how you indicate "all done", which is confusing. More? No, since you threw those crackers the banging must mean you're finished. Ah- now we're communicating!

You've also figured out waving (which looks identical to your sign for milk), and you wave all the time. At strangers in the supermarket or at restaurants, to Daddy or our friends when they leave our house, and anytime I go near the stairs or to take you to bed. You are a waving fool. You're trying hard to walk, and get a little closer each day. You love music and dance all the time. You fake cry when you are tired, and think someone sneezing is the most hilarious thing you've ever seen.

You probably won't remember him, but you lost your first pet this month. I bought Jack the summer before your Dad and I got married, and he was a great dog. He seemed alarmed when we brought you home from the hospital and cried, and would run to the crib and then to us like "Um, that thing in the bedroom is broken! What do we do?!" Then you started to crawl around after him and pull his fur, and so he stayed clear of you. But when you got to finger foods, he stayed close by your side to snag the treats you at first accidentally dropped, but then later would drop on purpose and watch him scarf up. Although he occasionally went to the diaper pail and pulled your diapers out (never tearing them up, just carefully taking out and then placing on the floor), we couldn't have asked for a better dog.

You are becoming more of a little boy every day. One who makes noises like a bear and makes car sounds as you roll them (ahem, knock them) across the floor. A little boy who likes books and music and people. Who hates snow suits and mittens and being told no. Don't worry guy. The snow usually goes away by April.

Love,

Momma

Silly sleepy boy

2010-02-26T21:18:00.002-05:00

Every now and then, when I want to get out of the house with Elliott and don't have a sitter, I go against what I have learned as a mother (which is to respect the bedtime) and drag him out for the evening. Tonight was one of those nights, and David and I wanted to grab a bite to eat. Despite throwing all of the food I gave him in the floor, he was really good the whole time. Finally, an hour and a half past his bedtime, we went home and I put Elliott to bed. He slept through me taking off his coat, and then I checked the diaper situation and he slept through that too. But when I grabbed his foot to put it back into his jammies, he got the giggles. He giggled in his sleep the whole time, and kept giggling as I carried him to bed, and then fell asleep as soon as I laid him in his crib. I love that kid.

What we've been doing lately...

2010-02-25T09:33:00.002-05:00

We've gotten lots and lots of snow lately, so I haven't left the house much. In order to keep busy and warm, I've been breaking in my sewing machine and knitting. My first new machine project was a baby carrier that I saw online that I decided I had to have. The picture isn't a great one, but you can see the finished product.

Then we had a birthday party for our buddy Jaafar, so I made this little pointy hat for him and made a little bag to put a couple of board books in.This is what our back yard looks like. I'd make snow ice cream, but I still have some left from the last time we got ten inches of snow. It melts, then we get another 6 or 8 inches dumped on us. Ugh.

To help Elliott's little toes stay warm, I made some little tube socks. These are the first pair I've ever knitted. The fit isn't the best...
But Elliott assured me that they taste just fine.

Finally, I finished this duffel coat, which I started in October. It didn't take that long to knit, I just worked on it whenever I felt like it. So of course, it took five months to finish. Luckily I used a big pattern.
Elliott has been working on other things. Like taking a step or two-

And growing two more teeth.

Happy belated Valentine's Day

2010-02-17T16:51:00.003-05:00

Not related to this post. He just hates snowsuits.

I disappeared for a while. I had a lot to say, but nothing really seemed appropriate to follow up my last post about Jack, and honestly I didn't feel like posting about the various things we've been doing to keep busy. But busy we have stayed. Elliott has mastered bye-bye, will give kisses when he feels like it, and is trying really hard to get the bravery up to take steps. I also figured out that he is signing "more", and has been for a while, but he does it a little differently than I do. Instead of putting his hands together, he hits one hand on the table, floor, or nearest surface. He hasn't figured out clapping yet, so this is his variation.

I've been sewing, knitting, and reading like a madwoman- losing myself in projects and getting through winter. And, since I am a little crazy, I've decided to make life a little more complicated in the name of getting "greener". I meant to start recycling when we moved to Ann Arbor, but it just never really happened. Then I read a post by a friend who told all about how she had to sort her recycling in the laundry room and then drive to the recycling center to give it to them, and I realized that I was being a total jerk not utilizing the curbside recycling service the city offers. It is a little more work, but we have a smaller amount of trashbags going into our bigger trash bin. This isn't the crazy part though. This is just not being so wasteful when it is really so easy to recycle.

The CRAZY part is that I somehow allowed myself to get curious/guilty enough about cloth diapering to try it. I intended to way back before we decided to have a kiddo, but then as part of the deal I struck with my boss that I would bring the baby to work with me and the longstanding policy against cloth diapering, I struck that idea and stocked up on Huggies. I love Huggies. They are wonderful. But then, you know the statistics on diapers in landfills, and I had fifty jillion cloth prefold diapers just lying around (because Elliott has spit up on something everyday since he was born). So today, I gave it a shot.

It wasn't that big a deal. I mean, I need to stay on top of laundry, because EW, but I figure while we're just kicking it at home it could be an option. I just stuck these waterproof little covers over them and it was easy peasy. We have rubber pants too, but Elliott seemed much more aware of those. Anyway, I'm not a convert yet, but I tried it. It was fine. I'll keep some huggies though just in case.

Finally, I'd like to show you a couple of videos. The first is Elliott doing what he does best, which is finding things he shouldn't really have and playing with them much longer than he would any of the jillion toys we have. I know you shouldn't let babies play with plastic sacks, but we never left him unattended.

Elliott discovers my junk drawer from Nicki Ingram on Vimeo.

Also, he got some cutie pie valentines from Memaw and Grandma and Grandpa Ingram today. One of them played music, so he really liked dancing to that. Fair warning, the song restarts if the card is moved, so you will hear the first line of the song thirty times. If you aren't a country fan, you might want to mute it and pretend he is dancing to something else. And please pretend I don't sing along. Thanks.

Valentines from Grandma and Grandpa from Nicki Ingram on Vimeo.

Saying goodbye

2010-02-03T08:27:00.002-05:00

Last Tuesday night we left Elliott with a sitter and went to see Jack for the last time. David had gotten a call from the vet earlier letting us know that the treatment they had given Jack hadn't worked. He was still paralyzed, and the chance of him ever recovering was pretty slim. I was a wreck. David and I said our goodbyes, and thanked him for being such a wonderful dog and for the time we had with him. We are now slowly adjusting to the quiet house that now greets us after we are away, sweeping up the food that Elliott drops for him, and putting away his things until I can bring myself to deal with them. We still don't really know what happened, and thought that Jack would be with us for 5 or 10 years more. He was an awesome dog, and was good with Elliott, and we will miss him dearly.

Jack

2010-02-02T11:13:00.002-05:00

No news on Jack- he still can't use his back legs and is still at the vet. We visited him last night briefly and will go back later on. I'll update more as we get better information.

Month 10

2010-02-02T10:59:00.004-05:00

Dear Elliott,

This first month of 2010 has been fun, and you are a busy little boy. You are practicing lots of skills, like standing, walking with push toys, and screaming. Not crying-screaming, just yelling as loud as you can to signal that you want FOOD! or TOYS! or ATTENTION! or hey, it's kind of peaceful and quiet. STOP THAT! You are making Daddy a little crazy with the screaming, but I guess you are just testing out your sounds or something. I've tried to show you how to sign for what you want, and you look at me like, "Yeah, or I could just go AAAAGHHH! That works too."

We are in the dead of winter, and although it hasn't been that snowy here, it is really cold. So I've tried to bundle you up when we leave the house, and nothing seems to tick you off more than a snowsuit and mittens. But if I try to just use a coat, you will dramatically chatter to let me know you are cold- a trait that you have definitely inherited from me. You still only have two teeth, but you make them work just fine and eat anything you get your hands on- especially if I am trying to eat it.

Other new tricks and games you like to play are peek-a-boo (now you will cover your own face), giving a toy to me and then taking it back (the Thank You game), feeding goldfish crackers and other finger foods to me, and giving kisses. They are still open mouthed, but you don't give as much tongue- which I am grateful for. You are also a pro at giving Jack any food that you don't want. You drape your arm over the chair and offer your snack, and Jack will wait until you drop it and then scarf it down.

I'll end this with some videos we took last month.

No is a funny word from Nicki Ingram on Vimeo.

I think this move was in Grease... from Nicki Ingram on Vimeo.

Walking with a push toy from Nicki Ingram on Vimeo.

Briefly standing on his own. from Nicki Ingram on Vimeo.

Love,

Mama

Waiting...

2010-02-01T08:37:00.002-05:00

I actually have lots to write about- Elliott just turned 10 months old, I spent all weekend working on a project with my new sewing machine, and we had a reunion with our Mom and Baby group yesterday- but instead I'm kind of holding my breath until we hear from the vet.

When we woke up yesterday morning, Jack seemed fine. David took him outside, and when he came back we noticed Jack looked a little stiff. I thought maybe the cold weather was hurting his joints or something, because he sort of shuffled up the stairs and into the kitchen. David gave him breakfast, and he ate it and laid down. Then we set out to fix the issue of the dead battery in our car. We had a friend come over and jump the battery, and David went to go replace it.

Elliott and I were settling in to play, and I noticed Jack was sitting down and looked like he was dragging his bottom across the floor. I was about to yell at him to stop, but then I realized he was really trying to get up to come over to us. He couldn't seem to get off the floor. I ran out and stopped David to come look at him, and he helped Jack stand up by lifting his back legs. His right leg didn't seem to do anything, but his left leg shuffled him across the floor. His body swayed toward the left leg shakily, and he came over to us slowly. David checked him for pain and he didn't seem to have any. I called the vet while David went to the auto parts store, and I decided we would take him in tomorrow, since something was definitely wrong, but he didn't seem to be hurting and was eating and not sick.

Later that afternoon, Jack hadn't moved that much. He could get to his back legs after trying for a while when we checked him out, but by 5 pm he couldn't get up at all, couldn't support his back legs, couldn't go to the bathroom when David carried him outside. We fed him his dinner and I watched as his front legs quaked trying to support his weight while he tried to lower his head to his bowl. He still managed to eat his dinner and drink some water, but it was obvious that he was getting worse. David took him to the emergency clinic at the vet. I had to sit at home with Elliott and google everything I could find about a dog suddenly losing the use of his hind legs, finding everything from a spinal injury to hip dysplasia to a saddle thrombus. Nothing looked super promising.

When David came back he said that Jack had to stay in the vet while they ran tests and gave him medicine and tried to figure out what was wrong. Our house is too quiet. There are no clicks on the hardwood, no water bowl scraping the kitchen floor, no squeaks from Jacks decapitated duck. I miss him.

New toy for Momma

2010-01-26T11:17:00.005-05:00

Merry Christmas to ME!!! I used my Christmas money to upgrade my sewing machine this weekend. My first project: Our sad chair. We bought this chair right after we got married when we were living in Bay City, TX, and got it for twenty bucks. Having no children or foresight at the time, I made white cushion covers for it with black piping. I was pretty proud of my handiwork at the time, but after three moves, three Thanksgiving dinners with lots of red wine, and one lovable little boy, our chair was in seriously sad shape. So this weekend I bought thicker foam for the cushions and used some practical, beige fabric for the chair, and now it looks like this:instead of this:

Hooray for upgrades!

Month 9

2010-01-08T18:29:00.003-05:00

Dear Elliott,

Okay, again with the late newsletter, but I've never been great with punctuality. You, however, seem to be one of those early people. You were born early, and crawled early, and are apparently trying to add walking to this list. And I am trying to thwart those efforts.

Okay, not really, but it is equal parts thrilling and TOTAL BUMMER to watch you pull up on the couch next to me, let go for a few seconds, and raise your hands in total victory. "I am big! You are heartbroken! Booyah!"

This month was a big one for our family, because we celebrated your first Christmas and you took your first trip to Arkansas. In fact, it was also your first trip to Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Louisiana, because we decided to tempt fate with a 16 hour car trip with a baby and a dog. You did pretty well, considering you were completely off of anything resembling a schedule and were trying hard to cut your top teeth, but there were a few incidents along the way. You woke approximately 32 times per night, leaving your father and me completely wrecked while I tried to keep you quiet. You managed not to catch the awful, awful stomach virus that Daddy and I caught on our anniversary and then passed around to everyone in Benton, but then we took you Granny's house for New Years Eve so we could recover and you apparently slept for 45 minutes the whole night. This was your Granny's idea- and while she says she did it so you would sleep for us, I know she really just wanted to squeeze every second out of the night that she could. I can't say I blame her.

You met all of your grandparents, Great-Grandparents, and your Great Great Grandmother, who unfortunately passed just after we left town. She was going to turn 109 this month, and she was a really lovely lady. I wish I would have been able to talk to her a little about all the things she's seen in the last century- about how different (or similar) a place the world has become, and how she is directly responsible for the two people I love more than anything in the world.

Now you have spent as much time on the outside as you did on the inside, and in this time have blossomed into this dancing, grinning, attention-magnet little boy with blondish hair and blue eyes and rosy chubby cheeks. I know I am going to turn around soon and you will walk over to me, ask me questions, and develop interests in things other than laptop cords and remote controls. Happy New Year, Ellybelly. You are adored.

Love,

Momma

Holiday Recap

2010-01-05T08:28:00.004-05:00

We're Baaaack! I can officially say we survived a road trip with a 9 month old and dog, and it was a relatively smooth trip. Well, aside from teething, waking up eleventy billion times a night, and a wicked stomach virus. Those parts were pretty rocky.

We are now trying to find a place for all of Elliott's new toys and watching Elliott steady himself on two legs. Also, he has started dancing if music is on (even tv theme music), which is so cute. He hears a tune and smiles really big, then starts bouncing up and down. David says he dances like me, and I'm pretty sure that's a dig even though he wouldn't know since he's REFUSED to dance with me since high school prom. I guess that isn't fair, since he did sign up for a country dancing class with me at A&M before our wedding, and he put me to shame in the classes we went to. But whatever- he had an edge. I didn't get line dancing lessons in kindergarten.

Anyway, now my sweet, happy baby has developed rhythm, and also quite a temper. The first night we were home he screamed when I put him in his bed and stopped as soon as I picked him up, showing me that he didn't agree that it was bed time and PICK ME UP WOMAN PICK ME UP is his preferred method of communication. I came in yesterday from picking up groceries, since our freezer crapped out and thawed everything in the freezer, and then resumed working once it had ruined all the food we had. Elliott was screaming the same way as he had at bedtime, and I asked David how long he had been doing that. He had apparently been peachy until David took away the remote control from him, and he responded by alerting our neighbors to his apparent bloody murder.

I think he got this way right before he started crawling, too- just got super crabby and screamy when he couldn't get things to go his way- so I'm hoping these tantrums resolve with his ability to get around on two feet. However, when he does that, He'll be WALKING, and I'm not ready for him to look all big and walk around our place.

ANY

It's the busiest time of the year...

2009-12-14T15:08:00.004-05:00

Believe it or not, I haven't disappeared from earth. I have been working on top secret projects though, so I haven't been posting about most of what I've been up to. The truth is, we've been getting ready for Christmas around here, and that involves a lot more than it used to. For example, I was trying to figure out a convenient window for Christmas shopping, and one just never opened up. So finally I roped David into tagging along with me and helping out with Elliott while we crossed off each person on our list. That was a long, napless day.

This week I am wrapping up the few gifts I am making- and since I'm pretty sure he is to busy gnawing on his toys and splashing in Jack's water to catch up on his blog reading, I can safely show you one of my finished projects.

This is Elliott's new buddy. Okay, yes, it's a doll. But don't get all up in arms yet. It is a boy doll that he can play with (or chew on) and learn to dress and take care of if he wants. If he doesn't, it only cost me a little time and scrap materials. The thing is, we have been incredibly fortunate to have friends with little boys who are growing out of toys and clothes just in time for Elliott to inherit them, and most of these things have come to us in pristine condition. Some even still have the tags on them. So I have had to buy very few things for our little man, and I don't know what he could possibly need at Christmas. But we don't have a doll. We certainly don't have a hand-made one, with blue eyes and crazy brown hair that took hours to attach to his head, which is sewed on a little crooked. And I figure that as he gets older, he'll figure out that he can get loads of toys at Christmas, but I really like the idea that for a short while, this holiday can be relatively simple and true to what it is supposed to be about: Spending time with the people you love, and showing them little ways that you care.

That, and awesome footie pajamas. (The other little boy is a friend's son who I babysat last week. His jammies have MONSTERS.)

Now I just have to figure out how to manage to get our little family down to Arkansas. I have no idea what I need to pack or how to cram it into our car with the car seat, dog, and presents. Eesh.

When life gives you puzzle pieces- make Pacifiers!

2009-12-04T11:47:00.003-05:00

Let me just start by saying that when I had Elliott I decided we would try not to give him a pacifier, just to avoid weaning him from one later on down the road.

Then when I tried to take him on errands and he started to cry, I reevaluated my stance in favor of peace and quiet and offered him one. Elliott then proceeded to gag on the paci and threw it in the floor. He has NEVER taken one, unless it was somehow attached to another child. If it is another kid's paci, look out. He takes it out of their mouth and sucks on it like it is coated in chocolate. So to keep him from being a paci thief, I again offered him one of his own and he gnawed on it for five seconds and threw it out of the crib. So he isn't a paci baby, and I am FINE with that. But lately I have caught him doing this:

I guess it is his way of showing me that if he can't steal one, he'll make his own.

eight months

2009-12-03T14:10:00.008-05:00

Dear Elliott,

Geez, little guy- I looked up and it is December already, and somehow you are eight months old. Between teetering from panic (Aaaagh- if he's eight months old he should be huge, 'cause that's pretty old. He's not eating enough and underweight I'mnotagoodmom-aaaah!) to um, well, other forms of panic (How are you already standing up in your crib and eating everything in sight is that paper in your mouth gimmethat gimmeTHAT!) I've managed to let go a little bit this last month.

A tooth sprouted in the bottom of your mouth on November 2nd, and then another came along the day after my birthday. You were kindof whiny and punkish right before they popped through, but not bad compared to horror stories I've heard from other moms. Well, until a week ago, when you up and decided to become a BITER. I tried firm talks, which went over as well as I imagine a trigonometry lesson would at this age. So I went on strike for a couple of days and only gave you bottles (which don't scream when you bite them), and then I googled ways to get you to stop and I'm sincerely hoping that we've fixed that problem. Because after a couple more times of that, I am going to hand you a pork chop and call it a day.

I also decided to go to Chicago for a weekend with some of my friends, which was really hard considering the longest I have been without you has been about four hours. So I left a schedule with your Daddy and took off, and being the emotional blob that I am totally cried when I left- right after I sniffed all of your blankets and stuffed animals. I probably annoyed the living daylights out of your father, calling and texting every hour and just waiting for the world to fall apart. Apparently you didn't even notice I left though, and you and Daddy had a weekend with no major catastrophes or incidents. My weekend in Chicago was a different story- although it was fun, it involved getting caught in the middle of Michigan avenue in some ENORMOUS crazy parade, an unfortunate purchase of the most uncomfortable, adorable shoes, and a seriously weird cab ride. Oh, and finding appropriate times and locations to pump- 'cause there aren't any.

We hosted your first Thanksgiving here, and you (finally) got to try food with seasonings and meat and marshmallows! You also discovered that making a disgusted face and gagging makes people laugh, and so you did that every time I gave you a bite to eat. You seemed a little bewildered by all the people in our house, but shrugged it off afterward and decided the crowd was worth it if it meant sweet potato casserole.

The next day we broke out the Christmas decorations, and while you have yet to figure out that I have plopped a tree in the middle of the living room, you have discovered the toy nativity scene I bought a while back and have discovered the true meaning of the holiday. Tasty, tasty baby Jesus.

Love,

Momma

Thankful...

2009-11-26T13:46:00.002-05:00

I am thankful for these guys...

for our families, our friends. This has been such an amazing year. I hope yours has been as well. Happy Thanksgiving. Now I've got to go check on my turkey(s) before one burns or the other breaks something.

Swingin'

2009-11-18T09:04:00.003-05:00

David got home from a looonng trip last Friday night, and he was a little exhausted. So naturally I stuck Elliott in a bulky backpack and handed that and Jack's leash to him and dragged our family to the park. :)

I wanted to try to get some pictures of Elliott playing outside (before the snow comes and we stop leaving the house for six months), so I put him in some play clothes and told myself that if he eats dirt and leaves that it wouldn't hurt him. Once I gave into this inevitability...

he didn't eat anything! Not even this leaf, even though the look on his face says "this looks tasty..." to me. We played on the swings, and played around with our camera, and celebrated the fact that David was back.

Elliott is okay with the swings, but he doesn't seem to get super excited about them like some kids do. If I lift him high in the air once or twice, he's okay, but if I do it more than that he pinches up his face and will eventually look terrified. He likes the ground just fine, thankyouverymuch, so please put him safely back on it.

Stocking!

2009-11-16T09:04:00.003-05:00

I've been meaning to post pictures of the ridiculous amount of projects I've started, but I've been to busy starting more projects. I went to a swanky baby store last summer, and noticed some really adorable knit pants that had a monster on the seat of them. I almost bought them, until I noticed the price tag of $90. For one pair. of BABY PANTS. So instead, I went to the yarn store and set out to make a pretty good substitute. I didn't try my hand at the monster face, because I am not that patient, but maybe I'll give it another shot later.

Aaand, as you can see, they are huge. He crawled right out of them a few times yesterday. But, the bonus is that they will last for more than twenty minutes. Which is more than I can say for some of the other knitting projects I've made. He wore the blue sweater I made him once and it was practically a crop top. Yikes.

This is also huge, luckily I was going for that. Two years ago I knit stockings for David and myself, and we went with stocking hats instead of large socks. It may have come out a little bigger than ours did (I haven't dragged out our decorations yet), but as I'd imagine we will be stuffing a lot more in his stocking so that's okay.

Now I just need to finish the baby sweater, hat, blanket, doll, and presents I have planned.

Thanks Grandma!

2009-11-15T22:15:00.004-05:00

Elliott got a package from Grandma last week so I thought I'd post pictures of him in his new duds. Enjoy! Also- I just had the best birthday ever. After dinner I went on the back porch to find out what David had been secretly slaving over for most of the day- s'mores with homemade marshmallows and homemade graham crackers. Seriously, Mrs. Ingram, you should write a book on how to raise little boys.

Bottle Battle

2009-11-10T14:30:00.003-05:00

David went out of town for the week for work. He left on Sunday, and this week my mission will be to get Elliott to drink from a bottle. When Elliott was small he had a few bottles here and there. David fed him when I went to yoga, sitters fed him when David and I went out, and so I considered the bottle thing "learned". And so, for the last three or four months, I have become a little lazy. He stays home with me during the day, and if I leave he comes with me too, so rather than pump and bring bottles, I just bring a blanket with us to cover up with and feed him. This, my friends, was a very stupid thing to do.

I am planning to go with some friends to Chicago the weekend after David gets back. I am terrified to leave. Not because David isn't perfectly capable of caring for his son, or because I am afraid something terrible will happen, but because I have no idea how easy or monstrous Elliott will be once I leave in someone else's car and drive five hours away for two days. Poor David could have the easiest baby on earth, or a little t-rex just waiting to happen.

I thought that we would start a routine a few nights ago, so I gave David a bottle and had him deal with Elliott at the 10 pm feeding. Elliott did fine for a few minutes, but then he started clamping down on the nipple and chewing on the bottle and his fingers. He forgot all about being hungry and instead decided to figure out the chemical composition of the silicone nipple using only his jaws. David came back up with a nearly full bottle and Elliott went back to sleep, and I have been practicing ever since.

On two occasions he drank the entire bottle in one shot. Every other time he does what he did to David that first time, gnawing on the end of the bottle. I'm sure he'd figure it out if he was hungry enough, except that sometimes he loses his mind when he's too hungry and screams until you give him what he wants. I have tried different bottle/nipple combinations and can't get consistent results. He knows how to drink from a bottle- I figured this out by giving him watered down juice, which he gobbled down in five seconds- but he just doesn't usually want to.

Any of you have any tips or advice on this?

Seven Months

2009-11-04T09:55:00.005-05:00

Dear Elliott,

This Halloween marked your seven month birthday. October was a pretty packed month, mostly because I was trying to cram in as much activity as possible before Michigan magically transforms into the North Pole. We started out by taking you to your first Texas A&M alumni gathering. Unfortunately, this also happened to be a renewed rivalry game between the Aggies (where mommy and daddy both went to college) and University of Arkansas, our home state. The Aggies lost, which gave all of our friends a reason to call or text us and laugh at the outcome of the game. A low blow, really, when you consider the people you are taunting now live in Michigan.

We are also coming up on your first holiday season (which, by the way, is complete CHAOS in our family due to the number of relatives we have, how far away we are from them, and the amount of things I feel compelled to cram into the week that we go home), so I decided to try to start new family traditions. Ann Arbor is all about apple orchards and pumpkin patches, so we ventured out to the closest one.

Unfortunately for Daddy, it was also the most crowded and crazy one, with a country fair and petting zoo and karaoke (really, really bad karaoke). You seemed pretty uninterested and were a little doped up on Infant Motrin since you were cutting teeth, so in reality the trip was mostly for me. But next year, I'll show you how to feed the creepy llamas and cute little baby goats. Or I'll have Daddy show you, since he informed me that I was doing it wrong.

As far as milestones, you had your first cold, started teething, and learned to sit up. And your crawling abilities are pretty amazing too, which means I have to constantly watch you to make sure you aren't splashing in Jack's water bowl or cramming Dad's laptop charger in your mouth or trying to crawl down the stairs. You try to eat shoes and steal your friends' pacifiers and if I don't watch you with Jack you WILL lick his back. Which, by the way, is so GROSS- and even though Jack runs away when he sees you I think he likes when you do this because you always manage to lick the spot he can't reach.

Once we got home with some pumpkins, I decided to let you in on the experience by bringing you outside when we carved them. I dressed you in play clothes and put you on a blanket while we sat up, and you promptly crawled off of it and proceeded to try to eat all the leaves around you.

I let you touch the pumpkin guts, which were freezing, and you were interested for half a second and then started trying to eat leaves again. I finally put you in a chair beside the pumpkin guts and let you put your hand in the bowl, and proceeded to watch you shove raw pumpkin in your mouth, cringe, and then repeat. You obviously did not like how it tasted, but kept putting it in your mouth until I finally pulled the bowl away so that you would stop eating the stuff.

I made your halloween costume the week before Halloween. It was not my best effort, but I was glad that I didn't spend money on a costume that two people would have seen you wear. Next year, when you are walking around we will beg for candy from our neighbors in a much better costume. And I will not buy 5 bags of candy either, because I have had Snickers and KitKats for lunch everyday so far this week.

You have started to show preferences for things in the last month, too. You have a favorite food- Blueberry fruit puffs, a favorite person- Daddy, and a favorite toy-Nesting cups. You want to drink from a cup by yourself. When I go get you in the morning you are always peeking over your crib bumpers, waiting for me to pick you up and smiling and kicking in delight when you see me. You think that sticking your tongue out is the way to greet Daddy, because he has done it for the last few months to get you to laugh. You hate when I take away things you aren't supposed to have, when I feed you peas, and when I throw you into the air (most kids love this! I think you suspect my lack of coordination). I love watching you unfold into a little boy.

Love,

Momma

Our Monkey

2009-11-01T12:09:00.003-05:00

Hope you had a great Halloween. We bought five bags of candy and had two (count them- one, two) trick or treaters, and Elliott crawled around our living room in his costume until an hour after his bedtime. We'll probably actually trick-or-treat next year, and I'll still eat most of his candy, but for his first Halloween I'm glad we kept it low key. Especially since our car broke mid-day.

When Delirium Sets in

2009-10-29T11:57:00.002-05:00

There is a point, with most kids anyway, where they get so exhausted they become silly. I love this, because the kid will be teetering on this tightrope of emotion, laughing one minute and then whining or crying the next. Elliott is currently on that tightrope. I sat down with him for his midday nap, and he decided to play a game with me, kind of like a mute peekaboo game. He would peek up over the bumpers in his crib, giggle for a few minutes, and if I didn't duck out of his sight he'd slam his head down on the mattress, kick his feet, and then peek over the bumper again. He thinks this is hysterical, until he ducks down and bumps his head against the crib bars. I started to worry that he hurt his head, until he peeks over the bumper to see if I'm still there, and starts giggling again. Since I'm still there, but haven't picked him up yet, he ducks back into the mattress to "cry", then peeks over the bumper to laugh, and then repeats his new game over and over.

Monkey

2009-10-26T16:05:00.004-05:00

I decided to try to make Elliott's Halloween costume this year, since if it turns out terribly he can't really complain, and he'll look adorable despite my questionable costume making abilities. I hunted down a plain, brown set of footed pajamas, and made a curly tail and hat to attach. I'm hoping that if I put a banana in his hands, the monkey vibe will come across, instead of Ewok or unfuzzy bear. And for now, I am putting it on his head and giggling as he crawls around. What do you think?

Budding Fisherman

2009-10-21T21:08:00.002-05:00

Hey Grandpa Ingram and Granddaddy Gossage, you have a new fishing buddy to train.

Elliott loves the fishtank from Nicki Ingram on Vimeo.

Inked

2009-10-19T20:19:00.004-05:00

This is what happens when you decide not to pick up after yourself after doing a crossword puzzle.

He crawls over to your pen, sticks it in his mouth, and decides to chomp on it until you look over and OhmygahElliottgimmethat GIMME THAT! And he looks at you like, "Whoa lady, you need to take it easy."

You get what you pay for

2009-10-11T21:03:00.002-05:00

I have been growing my hair out since before I got pregnant with Elliott, which is a testiment to how monumentally slow my hair grows. Of course, I will try to get a trim or a minor cut to get through the awkward stages, but I like being able to do more than two things with my hair. That brings us up to last Friday. I decided I wanted to get a little trim, to pamper myself a little, so I made a last minute appointment with our local stylist school. I've been going there for years, since I hadn't yet fallen in love with a stylist since we'd gotten here, and although the cuts aren't usually the best quality, for $16 you can hardly complain.

HOWEVER. Oh, however, I had cause to complain after that appointment. Dear Lord, I have never had such a bad haircut experience. I told the student that I wanted a long version of the bob I normally rock, which would mean she'd take the back up an inch and call it a day. She picked up a pair of scissors before even washing my hair and started her work.

At this point I take a minute to fully evaluate my stylist. Her long, wavy hair is dyed black, except on one side where she has cropped it an inch from her scalp and dyed it blond and green. An artistic one. That's cool, I guess, I thought. In her ears were holes the size of a dime, spaced open with little plastic rings. She doesn't talk to me, just snip snip snip snip snip until I'm wondering when she is going to put those snazzy thinning shears down and wash my hair. Hair is flying into the coffee mug I am holding and I am bored with no one to talk to and no magazine to read, and I'm reminded of those scenes in Edward Scissorhands where hair is just flying and Johnny Depp looks totally creepy and you see topiaries in his backyard that he's practiced on. Finally, she talks:

"I'm about finished with the cut, but we can wash it and style it and see what you think." She hands me a mirror and I see that she has taken off most of the hair I have been growing for over a year and left a scraggly fringe of it underneath "to give the illusion of length and movement". I stroked what was left of my hair and started stuttering.

"I. Uh. It's. It's so thin. I. Um."

So she washed it. And fixed it. And it still looked awful. So I asked her to adjust the fringe. She trimmed a little and gave me the mirror. Still bad. By this time, I think she started to hate me. She told me "It's not like I can glue your hair back on". She told her instructor, who was obviously trying to save my shag, "I think I know how to cut 1/4 of an inch of hair off her head."

Finally I just told her to stop and that it was fine. I got in my car and called my sister and used a few choice words to recount the experience. Then I told David about it. Then I started crying.

David: Why are you crying?

Me: I (sob) look (sob) so (hic) UGGGGLLLLLYY (wail)!

David: No you don't. It looks fine. (David looks a little bewildered at this surge of total hormonal overreaction)

Me: I have a MULLLLETTTT! It looks terrible! I am ugly...(Sob, wail, moan)

David: Is something else wrong? I just don't think you would normally react this way.

Me: (indecipherable blabbering about mullets and Joan Jett and being UGGGGLLLLYY)

David: (Shrugs and goes to bed.) (this is not the right reaction)

I went to a real salon with real stylists three or four days later, and it's much better now. We also had a talk about his job when this kind of thing happens, which is to pretend like I am NOT overreacting and to hug me and tell me I don't have a mullet or look like Joan Jett until I believe him. And I learned that $16 haircuts are $16 for a reason.

Sweetness. Sort of.

2009-10-07T12:33:00.002-05:00

Elliott just worked really hard to scootch over to me on the hardwood. When he finally got to me, he laid his head down on my leg and looked up at me. I thought about how sweet it was that he had worked so hard and was snuggling with my leg, and then looked at me and smiled-

and threw up on my jeans.

5 and 6 Months

2009-10-01T07:42:00.000-05:00

Dear Elliott,

This month you get two newsletters in one, because momma has been seriously busy lately. August went by fast, because we got to spend ten awesome days with your Auntie Nicki, who swears she taught you to roll over. Then I started trying to figure out packing our house, and before I knew it, August was already over and our house needed to be moved across town in three days. So we called some friends and they did most of the work for me. We moved into our new apartment and you got your own bedroom and have slept pretty well since that, and then your Grandma Peggy and Aunt Sissa came to visit us.

They did a lot of the unpacking for us and helped make our house look like our home in record time, because apparently they are physically incapable of sitting still. They are champions of getting stuff done, and one of these days I'm going to have to try to copy them so that I can keep up with you.

You started to get up on your hands and knees that week, and I had to fight the urge to tip you over so that you couldn't figure out that you were thisclose to figuring out how to crawl. Then I watched you practice every day, watched you turn red and start yelling at the toy that your fingers just couldn't quite grasp that got pushed further and further away from you, until one day I noticed you had developed a technique. You would get on all fours, wait a second, and then fall forward an inch or two, then repeat until you managed to get close enough to whatever you were going for that your flailing hands could knock it toward your mouth.

And so now, I guess, you are kind of a big boy. A six-month-old, who can get into the toybox and pull the dog's hair and charm people's socks off by grinning a big, gummy grin. And I have managed to survive the first six months of being a mother. I am learning the fine art of respecting nap- and bedtimes but being flexible enough to not become a total anti-social hermit. I am thinking of traditions that I want our family to have since Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are all speeding our way. I am trying to figure out how to babyproof our apartment and have it still be a good place for adults to live, too.

While it is sad to see you outgrowing tee-tiny baby things and getting closer and closer to being independent and not needing me for everything, it is also pretty exciting to watch you growing and learning and opening up into a little boy.

Love, Momma

Settled in

2009-09-26T13:56:00.005-05:00

Well, we have just about gotten everything settled in the new apartment, and i think we finally got all the kinks worked out with our internet, which comes and goes every few days. Elliott is super busy lately trying to coordinate his arms and legs in order to crawl over to things he should not have and taste them. Of course, this is VERY hard work and he wears himself out pretty quickly, and then resorts to much shouting and mumbling and frustration. I've been trying to coax a "ma ma" or "da da" sound from him as well, but this has only resulted in what looks like a poorly dubbed kung fu movie, where Elliott says "AAAAAHHHH" but moves his mouth afterwards without making any sounds. I guess it's a start.

We took him to a "infant swimming class", which was really an infant sing-a-long in water, ending with me towing Elliott from one side of the pool to the other while saying "kick kick kick!" or "scoop your arms!" or "blow bubbles like Momma!" and him looking at me blankly and then staring at whoever was in the next lane.

I don't have any pictures, but I've been taking him to the library with me a lot since I discovered that the library is way cheaper than blockbuster for movies. The branch downtown has a pretty awesome children's library, so I took Elliott in to pick out some books for bedtime stories. They have a pretty big aquarium with a couple of puffer fish and some other really colorful ones so I stood him at the table surrounding the fish tank to see if he would notice them. He stood there following fish swimming around the tank for several minutes, and would tense up and get mad when they disappeared from his view and got still and followed them across the glass when they appeared again. I thought for a millisecond that maybe we should get him some fish, but then reconsidered when I remembered who would be responsible for cleaning the bowl. I don't think David wants any more chores.

This post brought to you from my rooftop

2009-09-08T07:01:00.002-05:00

Attention world:

After a week of settling into a new apartment and one really cranky weekend, my baby has officially slept from 8:30 to 8 am twice now. Which means, I have slept for 7 hours, uninterrupted, for two nights in a row. I haven't had that much sleep since about this time last year. I have been feeding him a bowl of cereal before bed, and then nursing him again before I go to bed, and miraculous things have happened. Both mornings I have woken up thinking "YES!" and then "ohmygosh I need to go make sure he's still breathing". But he is. I love that kid.

Home sweet home

2009-09-01T07:08:00.003-05:00

Well, we are finally officially out of our old apartment, thanks to our amazing friends and David's hard work. We aren't remotely close to being unpacked yet, but we have it set up so that we can get around in our new place with only a few obstacle courses, take showers, and wash laundry. And speaking of, I have done so much laundry. I've become obsessive, and have probably done ten loads or so thinking all the while how much I would have spent at our other place to do the same amount of laundry in the coin operated machines. I've washed our clothes and towels, sheets, comforters, couch pillow cases, Jack's bed- you name it. David also got those handy Purex sheets that have the laundry soap and dryer sheets in one, and although they are sort of pricey, I love them. My house smells like laundry and has clean pillow cases. I can die happy now.

The second day we were here David spotted a yard sale a couple of blocks from the house so I loaded up Elliott in the stroller and we walked down there. The only downside to the new place is that there isn't a sidewalk on our block, so I have to stroll in the street, but once I got out I realized all the lovely things that make up for it. For example, our neighborhood is crawling with kids. Almost every house we passed has a stroller, bike, or plastic picnic table in the front yard. We are less than a block from two really nice parks. I'm excited to take Elliott to try out the baby swings, but as he's still a bit wobbly when I try to sit him up I haven't done it yet.

The second bedroom is working out very nicely too. Bedtime is at 7:30, and although the first few nights didn't go as planned due to the loud bumps of us moving furniture and Elliott knowing this was NOT the place he went to sleep, he is settling into the new surroundings. I feed him before I go to bed, and he has been waking up once (last night was at 5 am) and continues to sleep until 9 am or so.

Jack is slowly adjusting, but for a while he kept getting in the car once all of the boxes were cleared out. It was like he was telling us, "That was fun. Let's go home now." He is trying to sleep on the furniture too, and David thinks Jack is guessing that with a new house comes new rules. But what Jack doesn't realize is that I just washed those couch cushions, buddy, and I didn't do it so he could have a fresh palette to stink up.

I'll post some pictures as soon as I find the cables to the camera.

Hey, I remembered how to type!

2009-08-25T17:15:00.003-05:00

Look at that. I've completely forgotten to update my blog. Things are a little hectic right now, since we are planning to move this weekend and I have become hopelessly addicted to finishing the Harry Potter series. I requested eleventy billion library books thinking they would stagger in, giving me a steady stream of entertainment, but they all came through at the same time. Thinking I would start with the fifth book of the series since it would be a fun, quick read lead me into reading 600 page books any spare minute I have because good grief is this story addicting. I'm obsessive about books that way.

Anyhow, I did have a new little adventure last week. Once a month the local theater has a baby-friendly movie showing, and I tagged along with a few other mom friends and watched the Time Traveler's wife. The concept (Catch up on the latest movie with your baby and you won't be glared at when he cries/eats/makes embarrassing noises) was amazing, the movie was not. I've heard the book is better (and isn't it always?) but I was trying hard not to poke the nearest lady and say "Seriously? What the heck?" Luckily another like-minded friend was laughing pretty heartily too, and so we both made fun of the movie when no one else was listening.

Also, packing- with a baby? Not fun. Let me clarify. I am a disaster when it comes to packing. I stand with a box in a room full of stuff and freeze. My sister packed me for college. My mom packed for me once too. David bears the burden of most of our moving work. I'm just baffled as to where to start. My packers always say the same thing: ANYWHERE. For the love of all things, just throw that stuff. in your box. and keep doing it until there is nothing left. THIS IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE. And I just stare at the pile and imagine what will happen when I pack away the sheets, and then Elliott throws up in our bed. Or I pack away the medicine cabinet and come down with ebola. THEN WHAT?

So add in some more writhing, hollering, spitting up distraction, and yeah- I fail at moving.

Quiet in the fitting rooms!

2009-08-19T16:32:00.002-05:00

Elliott and I just got back from a trip to the mall so that I could get some more clothes. It isn't like I don't have clothes, or even that they don't fit, because most of them do. It's just that most of my wardrobe was not purchased with nursing in mind, so if Elliott gets all riled up in the middle of some public place, it is usually helpful to be able to feed him without too much fuss. Because if you have a hungry, screamy baby people look at you like are OBVIOUSLY starving that poor baby. I remember once upon a time looking at women in Ikea or Target with screaming kids and thinking, "just take him home! He's tired!" I apologize, random shoppers, for judging you. I had no idea. And all you wanted was a shelf, or some toilet paper. You even brought a bottle, but your kid got all uppity about his method of feeding and wants you to get naked here in the middle of the store. If I saw you now, I'd haul over a pillow from the bedding section so that you could at least be comfortable.

It's stuff like this that you just wouldn't know until you lived it. A friend of mine had to literally sit in the middle of the sidewalk on the way to the bookstore that we were walking to and turn her back to traffic to feed her screaming baby, who refused the bottle. She was so embarrassed, but saw no other option. Thankfully it hasn't gotten to that point for me yet, but I do get it now.

Anyway, the stores. I found great stuff, and didn't spend too much, and decided to press my luck by going to Kohl's afterward- even though Elliott hadn't been able to catch a nap in his stroller. Off we went, and halfway through the trip Elliott started to cry, and was not having the bottle I brought. I checked out the "family restroom" and the ladies room, but the only option for sitting down to feed him would have been a toilet seat.

Absolutely Not. Barf.

Anyway, it dawned on me that I could use a fitting room, and so the other mom I was with came along too. Both of the babies fussed for a minute (and when I say fussed, I mean Elliott WIGGED OUT for two minutes) and then Elliott ate and calmed down. Apparently some girl in the fitting rooms was trying to talk on the phone but couldn't hear over the noise of our children. She seemed annoyed by the noise we were creating, and told her friend she would have to call them back since she couldn't hear anything. It was interesting that she either didn't know or didn't care if we could hear her end of the conversation and deduce that the annoying people she was referring to were us, but I'm slowly getting used to the fact that people aren't generally excited to see women with strollers sharing their space. Or at least, not while those strollers are generating so much racket.

Roly Poly

2009-08-19T07:38:00.002-05:00

Ever since my sister showed Elliott how to roll over, he has done nothing but. He is so eager to use his new skill that nothing we did before works quite the same way. He arches and bucks when he is placed in his bouncy chair or bumbo seat. He twists and turns when I put him in the swing. I go to get him from his crib and he is propped up on his elbows, waiting for me to pick him up. I'll flip him over to get him back to sleep, and he twists to get back onto his belly.

This week we've been pretty busy. I helped a friend out by watching her little boy for a few hours the last couple of days, and it was funny to watch Elliott's reaction. He seems slightly jealous, which I wasn't expecting. If I happen to hold the other baby he looks very puzzled, as if to ask why HIS momma is holding THAT GUY? I got him up from a nap yesterday and put both boys on our bed and sang some little nursery rhymes to them, and at first Elliott was all toothless smiles like normal. Then he glanced over and noticed we were not alone, and was VERY serious for the rest of our little concert.

I also managed to pick up these handy little baby food trays- they look like ice cube trays, but have lids and detach- and made Elliott a batch of steamed, pureed sweet potatoes. He LOVES them, but his ability to eat from a spoon is spotty. Some days he eats like he's been doing it his whole life, and some days food just dribbles out of his mouth and he gets frustrated with me for letting it go in the wrong direction. Which brings me to another realization. Feeding babies is really, really messy. And bibs are no longer optional accessories. Jack, for one, does not seem to mind this. He has recently taken to finding the last place we laid Elliott and licking the carpet for leftovers. And David and I are just, well, ew.

Beach bum baby

2009-08-14T20:18:00.004-05:00

We went to Oval Beach on Lake Michigan last Tuesday and thus had Elliott's first trip to the beach (but not the ocean). The beach was really pretty and the weather was perfect. I brought literally 5 or 6 bags for all of our stuff, and we got settled in on a blanket and I proceeded to slather- not apply, but SLATHER spf 55 all over Elliott. Then I put him in a wetsuit and hat and hoped he would play on the blanket.

No such luck. He wanted to be entertained, and then fed, but then couldn't focus on eating because of all of the crazy beach distractions (Bird! But, so HUNGRY! Ooh, umbrella, I mean food, I mean new people, I mean WAAAAHHH!) and proceeded to lose his mind for a while. David looked around and we had cleared a thirty yard radius with our screaming baby. I walked him to the water and he was instantly soothed by the waves, but as soon as I went back to our blanket he was inconsolable again.

I finally took him to the car, where he screamed REALLY loud for 10 minutes and then finally calmed down, ate, and fell asleep. I fashioned a little makeshift sun shelter so he could sleep, but as soon as I set him down his eyes popped open again.

I talked David into coming with me to the shore again so I could get a few pictures, and he was almost in a trance from the sounds of the waves.

He fell asleep, and we took turns playing in the water while he snoozed. The wind started to pick up towards the end and when I saw that Elliott's ear had managed to collect a ton of sand, we packed up and headed back to Ann Arbor. Elliott is still as white as before, thanks to my Obsessive Sunblocking, but David and I are sporting matching burns.

Adjusting to the three of us again

2009-08-13T19:40:00.004-05:00

My sister just left us this morning, and I'm already missing her. We basically laughed for 10 days straight, and I showed her the best parts of having Elliott and the parts that , are more difficult. For example, taking a trip to the beach requires intense planning and 5 bags (seriously, diaper bag, two for towels and blankets, one for cold food, one for not cold food), a bumbo seat, 5 tubes of sunscreen, and a very good attitude. I think she has some insight into why I haven't traveled south with him yet.

Anyway, it was so good having her, and Elliott hasn't been nearly as screamy and spoiled as I was expecting. We bought some fabric and sewed some dresses (well, I've only sewn half of mine), she discovered Elliott could roll over, and although I had fed Elliott rice cereal a couple of times, she fed him and we found out he is super enthusiastic about his food. He chased after the spoon like he was tracking it or something

He almost took her arm off after this bite. NOM NOM where is it? Oh, there! NOM.

This is actually a picture David took of him the first time I gave him cereal. He was much more civilized that time.

My freedom is screeching to a halt...

2009-08-09T16:29:00.001-05:00

Elliott can roll! from Nicki Ingram on Vimeo.

Torturing my family

2009-08-06T08:56:00.003-05:00

So my sister is visiting and I am thoroughly enjoying dragging her around to all the things I do on a weekly basis and hoping she doesn't die of boredom. We went to story time at Border's yesterday, but we were too late to actually hear the stories. Then we gathered some materials from JoAnn's fabrics and are going to sew something while she is here. Finally, I dragged her to the yoga class I've been going to. I warned her about the cheerleaders that seem to be able to balance their entire body weight on two fingers, and how in my first couple of classes I was so weak I couldn't do more than half of the poses.

Knowing how I am with Nicole, I was prepared to do some inappropriate giggling- but we managed to hold it together for most of the class. I would notice one of the cheerleaders doing something like this:

or this

and I would giggle when both of us did this instead:

This morning I woke up and Nicole was still passed out on the couch. When she stretched to wake up, she yelled something to the effect of "Stupid yoga...I feel like I got hit by a bus."

Fortunately she is also of the mindset that if it hurts, it must be working, so we'll go back on Sunday!

Four Months

2009-07-31T20:02:00.005-05:00

Dear Elliott,

Today you turned four months old. We went to the pediatrician for a well-child checkup and vaccinations, and I learned a lot of what my gut had already told me. I figured that you waking up twice a night was pretty normal, but there were several books saying you should be sleeping through the night by now, so we started "sleep training"- which is synonymous with torture, I think. You haven't slept through the night yet, but I think the more scheduled day is doing us both some good. You are right on track for most things, and the pediatrician gave me the go-ahead to try cereal if I wanted.

This month had a few unexpected twists. We were back at Peachtree for a little over a month, and my boss decided that I should be home with you rather than back at work. I was really worried there for a while, but new doors are opening up and luckily your Daddy is amazing when it comes to rolling with the punches. Therefore, the two of us have spent a lot of quiet time at home, and the rest of that time I toted you around to various places with other mom's from our play group.

We went to the annual summer art festival with another mommy and baby and had to get creative when the only changing table on the block had a line that wrapped around the building and teenagers loitered in the only convenient places to nurse you.

We went to the Ypsilanti Beer Festival and laughed as Daddy's friends used you to get free beers (this did not work for mommy's friends. Ladies tend to get dirty looks when asking for beer with a baby on their hip).

We went to Borders' story hour with our play group and took up half the store with our strollers.

We went to swanky baby boutiques and took over their play areas too. We've even made friends with several of the moms and their babies, which has been great for me as I try to figure out what I am doing.

You have gotten very strong and prefer to stand instead of sitting or laying in someone's arms. You talk to everyone, shove whatever you can get ahold of in your mouth, and focus on your toys and pictures and people. You have even rolled from tummy to back a couple of times, although I don't think it was on purpose so I haven't recorded it in your baby book yet.

Having you has been a little like stepping into a time warp, where days whiz by so fast that I have to think really hard to figure out what month it is. I remember being younger, waiting until I was FINALLY 10, 13, 16, 18, 21 years old, and then time picked up a little bit after that. But the day I gave birth to you someone pressed fast forward, and I am scrambling a little to keep up. I just seem to think, really? You've outgrown those shoes?! You can handle solid foods? You can support your weight? I'll see enormous pregnant women and try to meet their stares to empathize with being THAT pregnant in the summer, and they just see a normal lady with a chubby baby and I know they must not realize what's coming. That those clothes they haven't even taken the tags off of will be packed away after only being worn twice. That the baby who sends them to the bathroom 15 times a night and kicks them in the ribs is going to be consumed by his jowls and double chins before they know it.

Love,

Momma

The young and the restless

2009-07-30T08:18:00.003-05:00

Sigh. So the sleep? With the plan and the earplugs and the REM cycles? Did. Not. Go. Smoothly.

We didn't get him into bed when I planned, but he was asleep by 9:30. According to the plan, I could feed him again at 3 am, which shouldn't have been that hard. During the day he was doing great waiting for 3 or 4 hours to eat. He woke up at 12:30 and I readied myself to shhhh and rock and bounce him back to sleep. Just not feed him yet. Normally he will grunt and kick when he wakes up, and then let out a couple of half hearted cries to let me know he's awake. I've never tested it to see what happens afterward.

What happens is we wake the entire complex with screams that could wake the dead. David's earplugs were apparently worthless. Shushing, and swaying, and rocking, and bouncing? Did nothing. Just endless and furious wailing, and rooting around like "I know you have them and I can scream all night if you don't feed me." I would look at the clock thinking, It must be one by now. The clock would laugh and read out 12:36. I did manage to keep it up for a half an hour. Finally David said something to the effect of "Why are we doing this?" and I replied "I want to sleep!" I gave up a little after one and fed him, and I cried the whole time. He nursed for twenty minutes, and then slept until 5. Which, admittedly, is progress. Painful, awful progress.

So I fed him twice last night, and he is able to go back to sleep with some shushing (he stirred from 6-8 every 30 minutes or so, but I only went to the crib once. I'm going to try super hard to figure out his napping and eating schedule today so that we can do a better job tonight. I'm also going to be really nice to my neighbors when I see them, lest we get handed an eviction notice or are cited for disturbing the peace.