23-Month-Old Monkey

This massive heat and no AC has forced us to the park for most of the days. (We have one AC in as of today... more to be put in this weekend!) Lots of running through the fountains!

Elliot is crazy about hanging on bars at the playgrounds. He's our 23-month-old monkey. I'll get a video up here of it soon. He's so wiry and spry.

On the word front-- every day there seems to be new little ones. Still no phrases or sentences, but we all are aware this is not his strength. Yesterday, I picked him from Renee's and as we were leaving, he was waving to her dog, going, "Doh(g)... woof woof." I came home and said to Pat, "Oh my gosh! Elliot's got 'woof woof' now for dogs!'" Pat's response: "Oh, yea, he's been doing that for a couple weeks now-- there's a dog at the fence at the park who he imitates." Sure. Keep me in the loop, Mr. Stay-at-home-Dad.

Elliot's getting a bit of pudge on him. Still survives on cereal and banana babyfood; I have no idea how to deal with the monster we've created by letting him be so picky (you all who have picky eaters know-- it's that very fine line between getting them to at least eat and trying for new foods...). He must be getting enough calories/vitamins to develop. We'll confirm with the 2-year-check-up soon.

Truly amazing that we're approaching two years with our munchkin.

We periodically visit the pond on campus where there are 9 baby ducklings with their mommy and some turtles. It's been so cute to watch them grow up. We went a few days ago, and Elliot kept calling all the babies, "Mama" because they don't look like babies anymore! We feed them bread, and usually get a gathering of goldfish too. A favorite outing of Elliot's.

We watched Diane one evening and she got wet when playing in the water at Elliot's bathtime. We put her clothes in the dryer for a bit, and it was really cute to watch the kids play around in just their diapers! When they're 18, they won't appreciate these photos, I'm sure.

We got some little deck chairs for Elliot et al. We also designated our cement wall as his chalkboard and it works really well as a play space. He found that the chalk fits right into the cupholders. We spend so much time on the deck.



One of our neighbors takes it upon herself to try to beautify our surrounding areas and asks for help here and there. Pat went out and helped plant some bushes. This is Elliot, thinking he's contributing to the cause.