Fall Colors and What's New.

Every time we'd go to the lake lately, and Elliot would have on his little orange hooded sweatshirt, I'd so wish we'd grabbed the camera for some nice fall shots with the leaves. Finally we remembered, but with these warm October days we've been having, it was just too much to force the sweatshirt for the photo op.
The famous finger point of inquiry.
Check out these fall colors at Promontory Point. Gorgeous. The monkey loves exploring out there.
Elliot has progressed from riding in mom's Moby wrap to hanging on dad's back in the backpack for walks. I think dad likes it as much as Elliot does. (Did I ever post about the summer day when Pat decided to wade up to his thighs in the lake with Elliot in the backpack? And he couldn't find a good spot to escape from?)

I'm feeling the need to apologize for posting so infrequently... school has me swamped right now. However, I left my mountain of grading at school, by accident (sssuuuurrre), so alas, I have a moment to blog with little guilt that I'm neglecting other things. This makes for massive posts... another reason to be sorry.

Elliot had his 15 month check up-- he's at 18lb, 10 oz, and 30.5". Growing just fine. That's actually excellent gain for him since for the last 3 check-ups, he had not gained a full pound (not really close even) and we're at 1 1/2 lbs for this stretch. Happy momma here! But I'll admit I was hoping to at least be at 19 lbs... for some reason...

I really think he hasn't wholeheartedly tried a new food in about 8 months. It's been only banana, egg, yogurt, bread/cereal, cheese, all in and out of favor depending on the phase. Oh, and add granola bars in there as a little variety (ha). Then, on Monday, I got a text from Pat: "I am looking at a kid with a tomato-sauce-smeared face... our little Elliot eats rotini." Apparently, he took a handful of bites for lunch, and proved it to me again with 10 or so bites for dinner, along with mooching some of my garlic bread. Yet, if the noodle had too much sauce on it, he'd push it around with his finger and reject that one.

Pat attempted to slip him strawberries on the sly in his bowl of cereal one day, and Elliot did his common strategy for getting rid of food he so effectively detects and then rejects-- taking both hands and rapidly wiping it off his tongue like it's poison.

Fun developments lately: He has this toy of concentric wood discs that slide onto a peg. For a while, he's been using his index finger positioned inside the disc's hole to feel the peg in the center to drop it on. Now, he has to flip the disc around until it's right-side-up (they're angled to make a cone-like shape), and only then can it go on the peg.

We're beyond the "simply destroy" phase as he's starting to explore putting things back into containers, drawers, on shelves, etc. He'll often respond well to us prompting him to put something back. His current chores around the house are closing the refrigerator door, closing the dishwasher door, closing the dryer door, and if you're lucky, he'll help push the laundry into the dryer if you drape it half-way over the opening.

Last time Grandma and Grandpa Ulrich visited, they brought these really light-weight blocks. The lightness of them actually makes them harder to stack because they get bumped so easy. However, Pat got my attention few nights ago because he glanced over and Elliot had built a single-block tower about 8 blocks or so high. Pretty cool to see. He tried to top it with another one, and when that one made it tumble, he proceeded to wreck it on purpose before we could get the camera. Kinda like that big fish that got away, eh?!

We can hardly get through a day without reading about 25 books. Really. And he's becoming a bit demanding about it, shrieking if you deny him the luxury.

The same attitude accompanies walks when Elliot insists on pointing his little finger out and doing his "I'm asking what that is" noise with a questioning inflection... to every single car that we walk by or that drives by. And if we don't respond with "Blue truck. Red car," he certainly lets you know with an urgent, shrill second request. He seems to always be asking what something is, like he's soaking it all in for when he can utilize the information later.

Beyond just roaming, Elliot loves to climb on the rocks. He doesn't always like holding our hands, but that's a must.

It was funny how at this moment, Elliot had the path all to himself. There were people coming up behind us, though, on bikes and such.

This one's tricky- do you see the other monkey besides Elliot? Look up in the tree.