Elliott: Year 2, Week 46 (July 4

Elliott: Year 2, Week 46 (July 4 - July 10, 2004)

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the Tower Master engages in advanced applied physics research
believe it or not, they almost never fall on his toes!
Elliott the conductor boy

practicing his "smile"
almost..
there ya go!

I've been working on the railroad..
Hmm, that tomato plant is looking a little leggy ("hiding" is Elliott's favorite game)

rearranging the pillows for a big jump
Elliott just doesn't "get" watercolors yet, but at least he doesn't drink the water anymore!
hmm, testing the water..

finger paints - that's better!
It took a few seconds to convince him that the paintbrushes were optional
Elliott with a mouthful of water (armed and dangerous)

"Well, what are you looking at?"

He loves to go "rolly polly" - especially off the big bed and onto his, and then onto the floor. He also loves to lie with his belly on a kick-ball or beach ball and giggle "rolly-polly!".
In the car, he has a good time saying, "oh mama, trees out there, and mailbox too, and car, and cement truck too, and ...". Construction zones are especially exciting. Our bridge is being replaced, and every time we leave the house, we check on the excavator, steam roller and tractor. Very exciting.
Elliott still dissects lyrics, loves "dongs" (songs). He's likely to ask about any lyric, which somewhat limits the music we can listen to, particularly in the car.. I never realized how many curses and difficult-to-explain concepts like "death" and "life goes on" are just lightly sprinkled into some of our favorite songs. He loves music though, and often asks for CDs or radio, or for us to sing a song or play "mookick".
Words continue to be very interesting. Chocolate sounds like cracker - "cokick" sort of.. so "cokick dookie" is chocolate cookie. "Wendy" and "windy" are almost indistinguishable. He's working on pronouns, and usually says "see her" or "see him" (about dada or mama or Jasmine) appropriately. If he's really upset, he'll desperately cry "dada! See it!". He's experimenting with "me" and "my", but he doesn't really get it yet.
He is getting really frustrated with my inability to understand him, and tries hard to get the sounds right. He used to just stare at me if I guessed wrong, but now he says, "no!" or "NO, mama!" in an exasperated voice. He is pronouncing things very clearly these days though.. he can say "off" and "wendy" and many other words he used to jumble, with perfect clarity. He also settled on a "th" sound for "s", and so instead of other substitutions, he just lisps a bit, which works well. I think he'll get the "s" soon - he almost has it now. He has gotten "l" too, for the most part. Sometimes "y" sounds sneak in where "l" should be, but he's really trying. He gets it in some words, and not in others. We don't coach him much or train him on language, we just repeat what he's trying to say.. so he says "ment ruck" and we'll say "yes, a cement truck, I see it too!", etc.
We've gone to Grandma and Grandpa's house frequently lately, so now when I say we're going to visit someone in the car, there's a good chance his first guess will be Grandma or "GrandpaGrandpa". His second guess is usually "Jahmin".
He LOVES climbing around inside the car. He's competent enough at this (he doesn't fall or get stuck) that I can clean out the car well, while he climbs from front to back, and wanders around. I do need to remember to turn off the wipers, and return other knobs and switches to their former state before starting it back up again. I've actually let him play in the car while I weeded a nearby garden. Extracting him from the car is the tough part. Weirdo.
"Find elliott" is still his favorite game, and he still thinks he's hiding if he covers his eyes. He'll also say "find elliott hand" and "hide" it under his other hand, etc. He definitely doesn't "Get" that if he's in plain sight, but part of his face is hiding, that you can still see him. He also doesn't get the counting thing - if we say "count to five, then go find Dada", he'll yell "Five!" and then run around. Ahh well, we are enjoying this silliness while it lasts.
We went swimming this week at a local exercise club. He loved the idea of going in the pool, but was frustrated that it was too deep, and there weren't any toys. We need to find him a shallower place to play. We were trying it out with Jasmine and Wendy to see if they were ready for lessons. We decided to wait until they're older, and go to the public pool/lake in the meantime and do our own "water adjustment lessons". They mostly want to stand in shallow water and play with toys. Elliott's favorite activity at the lake is throwing rocks into the water and stomping around in the shallows.
As Elliott's language improves, he's come out with all sorts of gems. A few days ago, he was eating noodles and suddenly said, "mama, gone - noonels, in a mouth!". Another time, Elliott and I were reading on the couch, and Dad picked up 3 toys and started to juggle, singing the silly juggling song.. before he was even in eye-shot, Elliott said, "here comes dada!". I can't even record all the cute things he says these days, there are just too many. He also mumbles a bit now. He knows that there are words between the ones he knows, so he will say "mama, uh ahhh.. a ball uhh outside? me?" meaning "come play with a ball outside with me?". One thing I find hysterical is his use of "huh". He's started to say things like "wow mama, big ball, huh?" all the time. The "huh" is a question. I finally realized that he picked it up from me. I often say "wow, big grocery store, huh!". I use it as the end of a statement.. He has also picked up a few less desirable phrases like "oh my gwod" (god with a strong drawl), and "holy cow". We don't say either often, but now and then... the "holy cow" he will say on his own, appropriately. The other night, while he was nursing, he looked up and said, "mountain! milk!". Haha. Not quite. Later though, he said, "this lump, nummy in there". Lump is probably more like it, but nevermind. It's cute, in any case.

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the Tower Master engages in advanced applied physics research	believe it or not, they almost never fall on his toes!	Elliott the conductor boy
practicing his "smile"	almost..	there ya go!
	I've been working on the railroad..	Hmm, that tomato plant is looking a little leggy ("hiding" is Elliott's favorite game)
rearranging the pillows for a big jump	Elliott just doesn't "get" watercolors yet, but at least he doesn't drink the water anymore!	hmm, testing the water..
finger paints - that's better!	It took a few seconds to convince him that the paintbrushes were optional	Elliott with a mouthful of water (armed and dangerous)
	"Well, what are you looking at?"
He loves to go "rolly polly" - especially off the big bed and onto his, and then onto the floor. He also loves to lie with his belly on a kick-ball or beach ball and giggle "rolly-polly!". In the car, he has a good time saying, "oh mama, trees out there, and mailbox too, and car, and cement truck too, and ...". Construction zones are especially exciting. Our bridge is being replaced, and every time we leave the house, we check on the excavator, steam roller and tractor. Very exciting. Elliott still dissects lyrics, loves "dongs" (songs). He's likely to ask about any lyric, which somewhat limits the music we can listen to, particularly in the car.. I never realized how many curses and difficult-to-explain concepts like "death" and "life goes on" are just lightly sprinkled into some of our favorite songs. He loves music though, and often asks for CDs or radio, or for us to sing a song or play "mookick". Words continue to be very interesting. Chocolate sounds like cracker - "cokick" sort of.. so "cokick dookie" is chocolate cookie. "Wendy" and "windy" are almost indistinguishable. He's working on pronouns, and usually says "see her" or "see him" (about dada or mama or Jasmine) appropriately. If he's really upset, he'll desperately cry "dada! See it!". He's experimenting with "me" and "my", but he doesn't really get it yet. He is getting really frustrated with my inability to understand him, and tries hard to get the sounds right. He used to just stare at me if I guessed wrong, but now he says, "no!" or "NO, mama!" in an exasperated voice. He is pronouncing things very clearly these days though.. he can say "off" and "wendy" and many other words he used to jumble, with perfect clarity. He also settled on a "th" sound for "s", and so instead of other substitutions, he just lisps a bit, which works well. I think he'll get the "s" soon - he almost has it now. He has gotten "l" too, for the most part. Sometimes "y" sounds sneak in where "l" should be, but he's really trying. He gets it in some words, and not in others. We don't coach him much or train him on language, we just repeat what he's trying to say.. so he says "ment ruck" and we'll say "yes, a cement truck, I see it too!", etc. We've gone to Grandma and Grandpa's house frequently lately, so now when I say we're going to visit someone in the car, there's a good chance his first guess will be Grandma or "GrandpaGrandpa". His second guess is usually "Jahmin". He LOVES climbing around inside the car. He's competent enough at this (he doesn't fall or get stuck) that I can clean out the car well, while he climbs from front to back, and wanders around. I do need to remember to turn off the wipers, and return other knobs and switches to their former state before starting it back up again. I've actually let him play in the car while I weeded a nearby garden. Extracting him from the car is the tough part. Weirdo. "Find elliott" is still his favorite game, and he still thinks he's hiding if he covers his eyes. He'll also say "find elliott hand" and "hide" it under his other hand, etc. He definitely doesn't "Get" that if he's in plain sight, but part of his face is hiding, that you can still see him. He also doesn't get the counting thing - if we say "count to five, then go find Dada", he'll yell "Five!" and then run around. Ahh well, we are enjoying this silliness while it lasts. We went swimming this week at a local exercise club. He loved the idea of going in the pool, but was frustrated that it was too deep, and there weren't any toys. We need to find him a shallower place to play. We were trying it out with Jasmine and Wendy to see if they were ready for lessons. We decided to wait until they're older, and go to the public pool/lake in the meantime and do our own "water adjustment lessons". They mostly want to stand in shallow water and play with toys. Elliott's favorite activity at the lake is throwing rocks into the water and stomping around in the shallows. As Elliott's language improves, he's come out with all sorts of gems. A few days ago, he was eating noodles and suddenly said, "mama, gone - noonels, in a mouth!". Another time, Elliott and I were reading on the couch, and Dad picked up 3 toys and started to juggle, singing the silly juggling song.. before he was even in eye-shot, Elliott said, "here comes dada!". I can't even record all the cute things he says these days, there are just too many. He also mumbles a bit now. He knows that there are words between the ones he knows, so he will say "mama, uh ahhh.. a ball uhh outside? me?" meaning "come play with a ball outside with me?". One thing I find hysterical is his use of "huh". He's started to say things like "wow mama, big ball, huh?" all the time. The "huh" is a question. I finally realized that he picked it up from me. I often say "wow, big grocery store, huh!". I use it as the end of a statement.. He has also picked up a few less desirable phrases like "oh my gwod" (god with a strong drawl), and "holy cow". We don't say either often, but now and then... the "holy cow" he will say on his own, appropriately. The other night, while he was nursing, he looked up and said, "mountain! milk!". Haha. Not quite. Later though, he said, "this lump, nummy in there". Lump is probably more like it, but nevermind. It's cute, in any case.