Monday, September 26, 2011

The Ebb and Flow.

Well, I think we're officially off our 2-week-streak of being an angel.  The brattiness has returned and so have the timeouts.  C'est la vie of being two, eh!?  Overall, though, he's been fine.  We really enjoy this stage of development-- they seem to develop so much right in front of your eyes.  Good stuff.

 Testing out the Halloween costume-- MONKEY!  Very apropos, eh?  (There's a hood that goes up...)

 Dad and Elliot made a day of it the other day and biked down to Buckingham Fountain (upon Elliot's request).  It was chilly but they were fine.




 I really think these two monkeys have too much fun!  Poor Elliot, once Dad goes back to work...

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Firehouse, Here We Come!

Another night of food progress... it's kinda funny how I am now realizing how easy it was to just feed Elliot cereal every night and not worry about preparing a proper meal or always eating at the same time if he wasn't eating the same food.  We are going to make a conscious effort to force the food more, and force a "family dinner time" when we are altogether for an evening meal on the weekends (Pat has class all week).  Tonight, Elliot ate all his fish AND peas (albeit a very small serving!), and pretty readily at that.  Dinner was done in 30 minutes or so, no real battles, just a few countdowns or "family bites altogther!"  Off we went to the firehouse before bathtime with Elliot beaming, chanting, "Fish AND peas!  Mommy, Daddy, so proud!"!  We're gonna have to get creative with our rewards after the novelty starts wearing off.

 Hard to get good photos in this lighting and with such reflective engines...

The firefighters are so patient and welcoming.


 Chillin' with my iShuffle.
 This reading session with Dad turned into a whole process of seek-and-find... I'll try to get some video up here soon of the process.  We were cracking up.
We have had a wonderful week/2 weeks with Elliot.  He's been pleasant, responsive, and just happy to putz around a bit.  I don't know if this is a phase (and we'll be back to terrible twos soon?) or if the reprimands and such are working.  It seems to be corresponding to the transition to his big boy bed and more foods, so maybe he's feeling empowered or liking the positive reinforcement matched with the punitive measures...??  I do think the increased communication plays a big role.  He might just be growing up a bit.  Sniff, sniff.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Fish and Parties!

Quick update... night before the 1st day of school, and I should be in bed, but I know I won't be able to sleep.  Thought I'd get some photos up here.

The latest:
- He's been doing well with the mattress on the floor, until today (it's been almost a week!).  There's only been one or two instances of me seeing his lamp click on, then off, or the like.  This morning was the first time he opened the door and came into our room instead of us going to get him upon waking.

This afternoon, I saw/heard his door open, peered down the hall only to see him putzing around, something pink hanging out of his mouth (finger puppet pig?), and then the door close.  He did not see me.  Huh, I thought.  A few moments later, I hear him pittering down the hall.  His excuse, "To see mom."  All attempts at napping were in vain today when it ended with a well-timed poop.

- Another food challenge, with fish and green beans this time.  The deal-- eat a serving of either, and it's a trip to the firehouse again!  After an hour+, we did the horribly-looking "I'm gonna hold you down and force this into your mouth because I know you'll like it," tactic.  It started the ball rolling (so mission accomplished) and with gagging, countdowns, clapping, ridiculous-looking dancing for each bite, the fish was eaten.  Off to the firehouse.  He got to sit in the truck, pretend to drive, turn on the lights, and came home with some pages to color and a giant balloon.  What a night!

(He's quite the con-man-- tries to get rewards/treats for things he already does... we made french fries in the oven, and he has been eating these ok.  He looks at me with a grin, "Firehouse?  Eat french fries?"  Nice try...)

- Two birthday parties this past week.  Big hits.  The day after was full of, "Diane's party, NOW."  No sense of time.


- Lots of evenings or trips to the lake lately.

- A cool thing the other day-- it was getting dark, and he says, "Star!" and immediately corrects himself to say, "Airplane."  I asked, "How did you know it was an airplane and not a star?"  He gets a coy grin, no answer, and I ask, "Do stars move?"  A big, self-assured, "Nooooo," followed.


 Making specs out of Play-Doh.

Going to feed the ducks with dad with a bag full of old bread.




 A smooch from my lovebug!



Diane's birthday party was fun.  Great courtyard with plenty of community bikes, trikes, you name it. 


I love these shots.  Of course, they couldn't move without help. 



Anissa lives across the alley and is always hollering a "Hi Elliot!" across the way.  So cute.  She turned 5 this week.  They put the playgym with the slide landing in the pool.  Very cool.  Elliot got pretty tired and it got a little slippery, and after 3 good falls, we called it quits. 




First trip to the firehouse for eating peas.  The second one for eating fish we failed to document.  The firefighters were eating dinner the first time, and I didn't want to interrupt, so we just looked from afar.  Sounds like this past trip was quite spectacular.