Elliott: Year 2, Week 45 (June 27

Elliott: Year 2, Week 45 (June 27 - July 3, 2004)

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Elliott's finally old enough to sit in a booster seat (no straps) and gentle enough to play elmo games on my computer
very typical scene
Elliott's favorite lounge position ("fall down? noooo!")

goober boy
Elliott having fun with Grandma
Elliott and his best buddy, Jasmine ("Jah-min!")

hail!
"ooh, ice balls!"
Elliott having fun outside in the hail/thunderstorm

Who-hoo! Cold water!
Aahhh! Toddler bliss! (I knew there was a reason I haven't fixed the gutter yet!)

Back inside, Dad reads Elliott a story
Helping Mama make pancakes

Elliott's first experience with cornstarch and water (and blueberries)
This stuff is WEIRD!
It's not a sailboat, but it'll do!

Elliott's first motorboat ride
going under a bridge
Elliott was a little overwhelmed by the wind, sun and loudness. Meanwhile David, our friend's 3 month old, enters a kind of relaxed meditative state. Ohm.

Contemplating the open water..
or maybe just gnawing on his life jacket. :-)
Elliott *did* say he had a good time.

Later that night, we drove home via Burlington and enjoyed the
He's starting to pronounce some words more clearly.. he's working on "f" - he now substitutes "th" sounds for "s" and "f", but in a way that really sounds close to correct, not a major lisp.. so bullfrog is now something like "buhthrog".. grass is actually so close to correct you can hardly notice the "grath"ness to it.
Sentences are getting more complex. Today he said "mama, elliott rinkink mama nummy" (rinkink = drinking). He likes to name things, and process things out loud all the time. It's interesting to watch him stand there and try to work out what he wants to say. I can see why some kids end up stuttering. It's hard to spit the words out. I have to bite my tongue to keep from trying to guess what he wants (I'm usually wrong anyway). He gets really frustrated if he says something and I don't know what he's talking about.
He is very curious about gender - he's always saying "he" or "she" and asking me if something is a he or a she. He's very interested in getting the distinction between boy, girl, man and lady correct. If I call him a puppy, for instance, he'll say "no, boy!". If I say "you're a little wiggleman", he'll say, "no mama, wiggle BOY!".
He still hides and wants to be found constantly. He continues to "hide" by hiding his eyes, even when in my lap, in high chair, in car seat, etc. He figured out how to "hide" in his shirt or bib (this can make a mess if his bib's already dirty). He's so into hiding, he says "mama/dada find elliott" even in his sleep! In the car, he asks us to "find Elliott hands", arm, eyes, ears, knees, feet, etc. It gets a little tricky while driving so I'm trying to discourage that game.
He's rediscovering the joy of knocking down towers, particularly lincoln logs, which we just got out again. He can't build with them, but he likes to watch us do it, and then pick up the tower in one piece and drop it.
He's getting better at unscrewing and opening lids. We need to really keep an eye on him. He wants to do things himself now (finally!). If I pull a few crackers from a box, he'll say "oh, Elliott did it!" (meaning "I want to do it myself). If you don't let him do it he gets really frustrated.
He sings all the time - our music box randomly went off as he was drifting to sleep one night (just a note here and there), and he sat up and said , "mukick?" and started singing songs like 'aaahhhh baaaaalllll, aahhh toooyyyyyy aahhhh baaaaalll.... aaaahh... " etc. Mostly his songs are about balls right now, the pinnacle of toy evolution. He sings a lot of nonsense songs too. He can either get the lyrics right, but not the tune, or vice versa. He wants to sing the alphabet song, but he usually says "a b dee dee.." and goes into nonsense after that. He can recognize many letters. Really, the alphabet song is just a giant piece of memorization, totally different from actually "knowing" your alphabet.. just like counting to ten is just memorizing sounds, not understanding numbers. That said, he counted to 11 accurately the other day, for Dad. Dad's counting man. He won't count for me very often.
He can go up and down the stairs fairly well on his own, but he's not to be trusted at all, since he loves jumping and tends to get a little rambunctious at the top of the stairs. we're working on that one. We're finishing a railing to put below out big one, to help him out.
He loves stuffed animals and uses a falsetto high voice when saying "hi bunny". He is doing more pretend play than before, often finding a little animal, and carrying them around showing them things, and making them play with him. It's pretty cute.
He's really cute, have I mentioned that?
His nursing vocabulary is improving too, for better and worse. He'll say "Mama, Elliott want other nummy" and my favorite, "this bump, nummy in there!". He chants "mama nummy" when he's bored or I'm trying to get something done, but it's at least nice that he can tell me what he wants. I'm so glad he settled on "nummy" and not "boob" or some other obnoxious word! He'll tell me when he wants "other dide" too, and when he's all done. Sometimes he'll stop drinking to say "Elliott rinkink mama nummy, yeah!". It's sad that some people say "when a baby's old enough to ask to nurse they should be weaned". I think they're really missing out. The first year had its ups and downs, but this second year is a lot more easy-going and fun (except when I really need to wash the dishes). It's also a great way to comfort and calm him down. I know someone who calls nursing her "toddler-taming knock-out drops". Perfect description.
He's starting to read (board) books on his own, which is GREAT. He still prefers us to read them, of course, and he sometimes has trouble opening them. We love reading to him and playing with him, but it seems like he considers it his personal responsibility to drag us out of the kitchen whenever we're trying to clean or cook. I do things in 2 minute bursts, most of the time.
Elliott LOVES going to the grocery store. Does this mean we don't get out enough? Hope not, I think he just loves seeing the people and other things. I try to make a big adventure out of it, talking about all the food we're buying (produce is his favorite). He listened to me when I asked him to stop throwing the items in our cart, he said "hi" to almost everyone and waved.. and generally had a great time. A random guy in the dairy section said he was cute and had a great personality. He said it so earnestly, I wondered what he was thinking.. like he was a talent scout for nice toddlers or something. It was odd, but appreciated. We'll often pick up a toy or other item and let him play with it in the store (we found a plush frog this time), but he knows it's a "store frog" and it has to stay at the store. He doesn't mind at all when we put it back and say bye bye. I'm sure that'll change, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts. He helped me put the food on the conveyer belt, and helped us "put it away" by tossing it all over the kitchen when we got it home (we're careful to put the produce away first). He ate well too. By the time we got to the checkout, I had two empty organic fruit leather wrappers, an almost eaten croissant, and an open package of milk and straws.. hey, whatever! He seems to have fun no matter where we go. Dropping a package off at UPS thrilled him. Every moment is a teachable moment, honestly. The only thing I can't expect him to do is not talk. He can whisper with me for several minutes, but he can't actually stand to not be talking, asking questions and pointing things out. It's exhausting, but fun too.
OK, so about the pictures.. Elliott's never been that fearful about storms, but just to be sure, we try to talk excitedly about how much fun thunderstorms are to watch, and when the lightening and hail stopped, we all ran outside to play in the rain. It was great fun. Elliott loves the water.
On Saturday, we went to a friend's camp in Alburg, just a short walk from the Canadian border. They have a 4 year old son and a 3 month old son. The visit was great fun, and we all enjoyed going out in their motor boat. Elliott was a bit freaked out by the speed, and snuggled into me, but in general, he had a good time. He didn't even mind wearing the super-wedgie-inducing life jacket. He's just a vocabulary sponge. He loved learning new words for things. We saw some construction equipment they were using to replace the car bridge up there too, which was great fun. He fell asleep (finally, after hundreds of rounds of singing row row row your boat) on the way home, and woke up just in time to see the Burlington fireworks from the Waterman parking lot, where Mike works (and I used to work). It wasn't the best place to see - the booms weren't that loud and the low blasts were obscured, but we sure did hightail it out of there quickly - no crowds. Next time we'll try to go up into the building to get a better view. We saw a gorgeous honey moon rising on the way home. AMAZING. The camera did NOT do it justice, unfortunately.

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Elliott's finally old enough to sit in a booster seat (no straps) and gentle enough to play elmo games on my computer	very typical scene	Elliott's favorite lounge position ("fall down? noooo!")
goober boy	Elliott having fun with Grandma	Elliott and his best buddy, Jasmine ("Jah-min!")
hail!	"ooh, ice balls!"	Elliott having fun outside in the hail/thunderstorm
Who-hoo! Cold water!	Aahhh! Toddler bliss! (I knew there was a reason I haven't fixed the gutter yet!)
	Back inside, Dad reads Elliott a story	Helping Mama make pancakes
Elliott's first experience with cornstarch and water (and blueberries)	This stuff is WEIRD!	It's not a sailboat, but it'll do!
Elliott's first motorboat ride	going under a bridge	Elliott was a little overwhelmed by the wind, sun and loudness. Meanwhile David, our friend's 3 month old, enters a kind of relaxed meditative state. Ohm.
Contemplating the open water..	or maybe just gnawing on his life jacket. :-)	Elliott did say he had a good time.
	Later that night, we drove home via Burlington and enjoyed the
He's starting to pronounce some words more clearly.. he's working on "f" - he now substitutes "th" sounds for "s" and "f", but in a way that really sounds close to correct, not a major lisp.. so bullfrog is now something like "buhthrog".. grass is actually so close to correct you can hardly notice the "grath"ness to it. Sentences are getting more complex. Today he said "mama, elliott rinkink mama nummy" (rinkink = drinking). He likes to name things, and process things out loud all the time. It's interesting to watch him stand there and try to work out what he wants to say. I can see why some kids end up stuttering. It's hard to spit the words out. I have to bite my tongue to keep from trying to guess what he wants (I'm usually wrong anyway). He gets really frustrated if he says something and I don't know what he's talking about. He is very curious about gender - he's always saying "he" or "she" and asking me if something is a he or a she. He's very interested in getting the distinction between boy, girl, man and lady correct. If I call him a puppy, for instance, he'll say "no, boy!". If I say "you're a little wiggleman", he'll say, "no mama, wiggle BOY!". He still hides and wants to be found constantly. He continues to "hide" by hiding his eyes, even when in my lap, in high chair, in car seat, etc. He figured out how to "hide" in his shirt or bib (this can make a mess if his bib's already dirty). He's so into hiding, he says "mama/dada find elliott" even in his sleep! In the car, he asks us to "find Elliott hands", arm, eyes, ears, knees, feet, etc. It gets a little tricky while driving so I'm trying to discourage that game. He's rediscovering the joy of knocking down towers, particularly lincoln logs, which we just got out again. He can't build with them, but he likes to watch us do it, and then pick up the tower in one piece and drop it. He's getting better at unscrewing and opening lids. We need to really keep an eye on him. He wants to do things himself now (finally!). If I pull a few crackers from a box, he'll say "oh, Elliott did it!" (meaning "I want to do it myself). If you don't let him do it he gets really frustrated. He sings all the time - our music box randomly went off as he was drifting to sleep one night (just a note here and there), and he sat up and said , "mukick?" and started singing songs like 'aaahhhh baaaaalllll, aahhh toooyyyyyy aahhhh baaaaalll.... aaaahh... " etc. Mostly his songs are about balls right now, the pinnacle of toy evolution. He sings a lot of nonsense songs too. He can either get the lyrics right, but not the tune, or vice versa. He wants to sing the alphabet song, but he usually says "a b dee dee.." and goes into nonsense after that. He can recognize many letters. Really, the alphabet song is just a giant piece of memorization, totally different from actually "knowing" your alphabet.. just like counting to ten is just memorizing sounds, not understanding numbers. That said, he counted to 11 accurately the other day, for Dad. Dad's counting man. He won't count for me very often. He can go up and down the stairs fairly well on his own, but he's not to be trusted at all, since he loves jumping and tends to get a little rambunctious at the top of the stairs. we're working on that one. We're finishing a railing to put below out big one, to help him out. He loves stuffed animals and uses a falsetto high voice when saying "hi bunny". He is doing more pretend play than before, often finding a little animal, and carrying them around showing them things, and making them play with him. It's pretty cute. He's really cute, have I mentioned that? His nursing vocabulary is improving too, for better and worse. He'll say "Mama, Elliott want other nummy" and my favorite, "this bump, nummy in there!". He chants "mama nummy" when he's bored or I'm trying to get something done, but it's at least nice that he can tell me what he wants. I'm so glad he settled on "nummy" and not "boob" or some other obnoxious word! He'll tell me when he wants "other dide" too, and when he's all done. Sometimes he'll stop drinking to say "Elliott rinkink mama nummy, yeah!". It's sad that some people say "when a baby's old enough to ask to nurse they should be weaned". I think they're really missing out. The first year had its ups and downs, but this second year is a lot more easy-going and fun (except when I really need to wash the dishes). It's also a great way to comfort and calm him down. I know someone who calls nursing her "toddler-taming knock-out drops". Perfect description. He's starting to read (board) books on his own, which is GREAT. He still prefers us to read them, of course, and he sometimes has trouble opening them. We love reading to him and playing with him, but it seems like he considers it his personal responsibility to drag us out of the kitchen whenever we're trying to clean or cook. I do things in 2 minute bursts, most of the time. Elliott LOVES going to the grocery store. Does this mean we don't get out enough? Hope not, I think he just loves seeing the people and other things. I try to make a big adventure out of it, talking about all the food we're buying (produce is his favorite). He listened to me when I asked him to stop throwing the items in our cart, he said "hi" to almost everyone and waved.. and generally had a great time. A random guy in the dairy section said he was cute and had a great personality. He said it so earnestly, I wondered what he was thinking.. like he was a talent scout for nice toddlers or something. It was odd, but appreciated. We'll often pick up a toy or other item and let him play with it in the store (we found a plush frog this time), but he knows it's a "store frog" and it has to stay at the store. He doesn't mind at all when we put it back and say bye bye. I'm sure that'll change, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts. He helped me put the food on the conveyer belt, and helped us "put it away" by tossing it all over the kitchen when we got it home (we're careful to put the produce away first). He ate well too. By the time we got to the checkout, I had two empty organic fruit leather wrappers, an almost eaten croissant, and an open package of milk and straws.. hey, whatever! He seems to have fun no matter where we go. Dropping a package off at UPS thrilled him. Every moment is a teachable moment, honestly. The only thing I can't expect him to do is not talk. He can whisper with me for several minutes, but he can't actually stand to not be talking, asking questions and pointing things out. It's exhausting, but fun too. OK, so about the pictures.. Elliott's never been that fearful about storms, but just to be sure, we try to talk excitedly about how much fun thunderstorms are to watch, and when the lightening and hail stopped, we all ran outside to play in the rain. It was great fun. Elliott loves the water. On Saturday, we went to a friend's camp in Alburg, just a short walk from the Canadian border. They have a 4 year old son and a 3 month old son. The visit was great fun, and we all enjoyed going out in their motor boat. Elliott was a bit freaked out by the speed, and snuggled into me, but in general, he had a good time. He didn't even mind wearing the super-wedgie-inducing life jacket. He's just a vocabulary sponge. He loved learning new words for things. We saw some construction equipment they were using to replace the car bridge up there too, which was great fun. He fell asleep (finally, after hundreds of rounds of singing row row row your boat) on the way home, and woke up just in time to see the Burlington fireworks from the Waterman parking lot, where Mike works (and I used to work). It wasn't the best place to see - the booms weren't that loud and the low blasts were obscured, but we sure did hightail it out of there quickly - no crowds. Next time we'll try to go up into the building to get a better view. We saw a gorgeous honey moon rising on the way home. AMAZING. The camera did NOT do it justice, unfortunately.