Elliott's 1st Birthday (Two months later)

Elliott Paul's 1st Birthday
September 5, 2009

It has been quite a few weeks since we celebrated Mr. Elliott's big day but I didn't want to miss the opportunity to post about the fun weekend we had! Want to make sure I record it somewhere! It was perfect that it landed on Labor Day weekend so both of our families could come help us celebrate! Though Elliott wasn't feeling quite himself after coming down with a cold, he still managed to have a fun time and so did we!

Before I get to the party, here are some things you might want to know about Elliott at 12 months (remember, this is outdated by now and most things have changed!)
Weight: 18lbs 12oz, not even big enough to turn the car seat around yet, 3rd percentile
Height: 29 1/2 inches
Favorite foods: popsicles, french fries, (can you tell he's not the first born???) soy yogurt, pears, toast with butter and jelly, eggs!
Dislikes: most food that is healthy, dairy (well, he probably likes it but it doesn't like him) and he's officially allergic to bananas, and whole wheat seems to make him spit up
Nursing: still twice a day--first thing in the morning and last thing before bed
New skill: walking and running everywhere, climbing on top of anything (including finding ways to get on top of the kitchen table and inside the refrigerator and up on a shelf)
Signs: more, all done, hi, bye, up, puppy, flower, ball,
Words: Dada, that
Routine: Sleeps 8-7, takes one morning and one afternoon nap, plays hard in between
Loves: dogs, driving Caleb's hot wheels cars, playing outside (especially in the front where it's completely unsafe since the street is like 4 feet from our front door!), and DADDY! Daddy is his all time favorite of all people and all things! Nothing trumps Daddy!

Without further ado, here are some pictures of the weekend:

Grandpa Lyle and Elliott

Nana Joyce & Elliott
Family Picture

Uncle Matt & the boys

Grandpa Lyle & Nana Joyce
Grandpa Kenny & Grandma Lou

Cute!
Elliott loves wide open spaces. He ran back and forth across this bridge forever.
All the cakes--"pup"cakes, Elliott's personal puppy cake, and the large puppy for everyone to share!

Bare feet in the backyard is our families favorite.

All of our ride on toys ready for the kids to play with at the party. I think we need a few more, don't you???
Don't you love this?

Some birthday attendees: Papa Red & Owey

The world's best babysitters: Sarah & Rachel Poel

Caleb's buddy Zach

Olivia & Tali

The Poel's, Mrs. Andrea & Nana
Ethan & AbbyOpening presents

Stripped down and ready to eat some cake

What a mess! He ate SO much cake but a lot was just smashed in front of him!

So the next day Elliott was very sick. He had a fever and was just not himself at all. He was so exhausted from all the festivities. At one point during the day I went to the kitchen to get a piece of cake to eat and he took one look at it and threw up everywhere. I think he had bad memories. Later that day I was holding him and walked by the cake and he gagged. Sort of funny yet pretty sad! I think that is what you call too much of a good thing!

We thank God for Elliott Paul and for blessing our family with such a happy and busy little boy. We love you, Elliott! Happy 1st Birthday!

My (Sometimes) Soft-Hearted Toddler

Ben and I are very aware that our two year old is a sinner. You don't have to be awake long in the morning before you are reminded of that! But we have just been marveling lately at the soft heart God has given Caleb. He is rowdy and rough, but sensitive and sweet all rolled into one. May God faithfully work to harness that rowdy and rough stuff to His glory. Today Caleb has been full of sweet remarks and gestures that seemingly are "ordaining praise" to God! If nothing else, it's causing this Momma to praise God for giving her such a charming little boy (and cute, I might add!) Here are some of the comments:

Last night we babysat our dear friends children, Tali & Owen. Caleb LOVES these guys and talks constantly about them being his friends. This morning, before I heard anything else from his room I hear him saying, "Are Tali and Owen still here? Are Tali and Owen still here?" I go in and tell them that no, their parents came and got them last night and he says, "Why did they only stay for a few whiles? I want them to stay all the time."

Before putting Elliott down for his morning nap Caleb says "Just wait, Mom!" and runs away. Soon he comes back and says, "Ok, Elliott. You can go to bed now. I put my blankie in your crib for you to have while you sleep." Pleased by his gesture I commented on how kind that was to consider Elliott better than himself and he said, "I think I should give him Barn, too." (That's his other beloved blankie!) I thanked him again for being so generous and told him that Elliott only needed one of the blankies and that Caleb could keep the other one. He said, "Mom, do you think when Elliott wakes up that he will give Duck back to me? He might want to have it forever. That's ok." Then he went to entertain himself while I laid Elliott down. After I returned to him, I said, "Caleb. I am cold. I think we should snuggle." He said, "Mom, I have a great idea. You can have barn," as he covered me up with it. It is so encouraging to see him be generous with his favorite of all possessions, something we've never asked him to share.

After building a house with mega blocks, he said, "I'm going to be the big bad wolf." Then, he glanced over and saw Daddy's bible laying open on the couch. He went over, pointed to it as if he were reading it and said, "Feefussions (Ephesians!) 4:32--Be kind to one another. Well, I'm the big bad wolf. But I just read that verse that says I need to be kind. So I will not knock down your house. I will be a kind wolf instead."

On our way to deposit some checks in the bank we drive by a different bank where our church's office is. Since our church meets at a school, it is not available for our pastors during the week. Anyway, we often drive by the bank and comment about how Mr. Tab, Mr. Josh, and Mr. Jamie are all working there. Caleb, who is slowly starting to understand that they are still pastors and not bank tellers during the week, will often ask questions about what I think they are doing right now. Today I mentioned that they might be reading the Bible, or they might be studying, or maybe they are thinking about what they should preach about at Church on Sunday, or they might be helping someone. He was quiet for a minute and said, "Mom, that bank is not called National City (our bank) it is called Sunday Bank!"

We love this sweet, funny boy who blesses our family very much!

Caleb Tells All

Think Easter 2010

Some Pictures from Summer

Our baby turns one on Saturday. Can you even believe it? Expect lots of pictures from that! I'll give you more of a "what is Elliott doing" update later. But for now, here are some pictures from summer.

We had a fun, insanely busy summer, part of which included me losing our camera for 2 months. Bummer! Thankfully, my mom is gracious and took lots of pictures (and let me take even more) whenever she was around so that we don't have a huge gap in our (hypothetical) picture albums. She even prints them off for me and spares me a BIG expense! Thanks, Mom! So I have pictures from those 2 months but they are hard copies, making it hard for me to put them online for you all to see! But, my very generous parents felt that we needed a camera and surprised us with an awesome one (our old camera was a little slow and stone-aged like!) We LOVE our new camera, especially how it takes the picture immediately. Fabulous! Much more enjoyable to capture pictures when I don't have to keep recreating the moment... So these are with our new wonderful camera (thanks again Mom & Dad!) Enjoy!

I just like this one because he looks JUST like me at this age. I wish I had my baby book so I could scan in the picture. His eyes aren't brown even though they look a bit like they are in this blurry picture. They are more greenish, bluish, hazelish, swirly. Caleb looks like me and acts more like Ben (thoughtful, contemplative). Elliott is a spitting image of Ben but acts more like me (hyper, flighty!).

Caleb doing some tricks on the swing set. One of his favorite phrases is "Did ya hee that?" (hee=see...still no "s" at the beginning of words)

Elliott hiding under a basket. Check out the ball in the other hand. This boy has a major interest in playing ball and will play a rousing game of catch. He made up his own sign for ball but it's sort of hard to describe so you'll have to come visit him to see it :)

Caleb usually doesn't venture off the swings. He is obsessed. But occasionally he will play on the slide as well. A few times this summer we stuck our little baby pool at the bottom, filled it with water, and let the kids slide down the slide into the pool. They loved it! Caleb thought we were at "a water park." He's easy to please, don't you think?

Here's the E-man showing you his greatest tricks. He is a climber! He'll go all the way up any slide, turn around at the top (scare me half to death) and then go down. Elliott screeches in delight when he sees a park because he thinks we get to go. This kid LOVES the park and has absolutely no fear. If you ever see moms at parks sitting on a bench while their children play nicely on the play set, that will never be me. Not in this season. No sir!

Caleb lives for the hour a day when Ben comes home from work and they get to wrestle. I don't prefer that aggressive side of my sweet big boy when it's just he, Elliott and myself. So the first thing he says when Ben gets home is, "Can we tackle?" Elliott makes a similar sound when the big guys start wrestling as he does when he sees the park and then dives right in. He doesn't want to miss a thing. Watch out--he's a hair puller!

Elliott with Grandpa Kenny. We got a surprise visit from them one Saturday when they zipped over to our house to go house hunting with us. The boys enjoyed getting to spend a few hours with them that afternoon. I'm not sure who loved it more though...


Caleb and Lulu being adorable at a park near our house. Caleb absolutely positively loves our neighbors. We could not be more blessed. If he hears them outside he literally shakes with excitement and is out the door. All day long I hear, "When are Abby & Hee-tan (Ethan) going to come outside? Where is Luly?" They have made some fun memories together.

Signs We Live In The City....

Photo from flickr.com

Ok, well, maybe just one sign....

"Mom will you please tell me a story." (This was the 248,397th time he asked that today. And the 120,230,098th time he asked this week. We tell a lot of stories around here so I dig up memories like it's my job...)
"Sure, Caleb. This is one I've never told you before. Once upon a time, when I was in middle school, I went over to my friends house to work on a project for science class. When we were finished we went outside to play. We decided to ride my friends real, live horse and--"
"Mom, did it have a button?"
"No Caleb, it was alive."
"Mom, how did you turn it on?"
"Caleb, we didn't have to turn it on. It was alive. It was a real horse. It says neigh."
"Mom, was it a farm animal? Were you on a farm?"
"Yes, Caleb."
"Oh. But why did it not have a button?"

Mad Libs

Are you ready? We're going to play a little game. Remember those old word games we used to play called Mad Libs where you insert some words and it makes a funny story? Do they even make those anymore?

Ready? Here we go.

#1 _____________
name of small animal

#2 _____________
preposition

#3_____________
noun

#4_____________
preposition

#5_____________
noun

#6_____________
same small animal as above








Now fill your words into the paragraph below:

Once upon a time there was a young boy. This boy was rather small in stature, so small that his dad would come home from work, look at him and say, "Why is our (#1)_____________ standing on his back legs playing with toys? Oh wait, that's Elliott." This boy, of small stature, liked to rapidly move around the house seeking adventures. On one particular Wednesday morning (not much different than any of the others) in a matter of minutes Elliott could be found (#2)____________ a (#3)_____________ or (#4)_____________ the (#5)______________. Meanwhile, his mother offered up prayers of supplication to a faithful God for protection for her (#6)_____________, I mean boy. The end. (Well, hopefully not!)



So, I wanted to provide you with a correct list of words for the above scenario that is in fact (constantly) true. Ben has referred to Elliott as a cat before, saying that guests will come into our home and ask while looking at Elliott that very question, "Why does your cat stand on its back legs?" You can mix and match the following prepositions and nouns to describe places Elliott has gotten himself recently (no help needed). Trust me, it will most likely apply :)

• on top of a toy tool bench
• under the crib
• over the recliner
• inside the washing machine (ALMOST...I caught him mid-dive)
• within a small box
• behind two shoe racks in the corner of our closet
• beside the toilet
• beneath the toilet
• below the computer desk next to the paper shredder inside the garbage can (all at the same time!)
• through the spokes that run horizontally on our chairs at the kitchen table
• on the seat of a kid's bike (standing up, not sitting mind you)
• up a full flight of stairs (while mom was wiping the breakfast table--we're talking 10 seconds tops!)

This boy is ADVENTUROUS!

So Big, So Little!

Caleb and I like to work on signing with Elliott during lunch. Caleb remembers most of the signs we taught him as a baby and likes to carefully show Elliott how to do them. Sometimes when we're working on one Elliott will start banging his hand on the high chair tray and while I sternly tell him "No." Caleb instead will say, "Elliott, that's not more (or whatever sign we're doing) that's patty-cake!" When we were showing Elliott "so big" with arms above your head Caleb kept insisting, "Elliott is not so big. Elliott is so wittle." Though E-man has been doing this "so big" thing for quite a while, Caleb almost always still comments that Elliott is not big but is, in fact, little. There is some truth to that....

Saturday Doctor's Appointment Stats (like promised):
9 Months
16 lbs 12 oz (around 5th percentile)
27.5 inches (around 25th percentile)

There is some concern because our little guy hasn't gained any weight in at least 6 weeks and has dropped down in percentiles. The doctor, though, is not concerned because this has occurred at the same time as Elliott became mobile. He's using more energy during the day without a big increase in food intake. She is insisting that he is perfectly healthy and that children until they are 2 jump all over the percentile scale until they settle into their genetic disposition. Of course we are not being wise or fair to compare Elliott's size to Caleb's, they are literally opposite ends of the size spectrum, but it's hard not to.

At this point we've been instructed to put aside the food guide pyramid for little Elliott and give him whatever it is that he'll eat, even if that means he only eats 2-3 oz of vegetables and then has 10 crackers, rice chex, and part of a muffin. We're hoping to introduce some milk products back into my diet soon and see if he is bothered. We may even just try a little yogurt for him so that we'll know for sure if his tummy can handle them. If he does well digesting them, Lord please make that happen, we will definitely start giving him more fatty things like yogurt and cottage cheese.

We are praying that Elliott will continue to grow, that he will continue to thrive (he's doing awesome at meeting the milestones so far), and that we will have wisdom in how best to feed him. This little boy is so sweet, so cute, and so loveable. The Lord was definitely sovereign over having us choose his name, Elliott Paul--remember that Paul means small? Like Caleb says, "Elliott is not so big. Elliott is so wittle." But we love every little bit of him!