goodbye ct

Tomorrow Elliott & I leave Connecticut for good (at least for now). Dan will be driving out sometime this weekend. I still have a lot of pics to post of Elliott's CT peeps and our last adventures together, but for now, you'll have to settle for a pic of Elliott flying solo. Goodbye CT, we love you guys. Thanks for all the fun and laughs. Thanks for making Elliott's first year of life all the more memorable.

surprise!

This past Sunday, Dan insisted that I go on an afternoon walk with him & Elliott. After spending all day with these two crazies and getting no time to myself (not to mention the incredible heat & humidity outside), there was no way I was going to go anywhere with them. Dan knew the only way he could get me out the door was to tell me that I had to go because there was a surprise going away party waiting for us at Tammy's house. I felt like I had just been punk'd. I had no idea that this was happening. I am still dumbfounded and wish that I was better able to convey my surprise & gratitude to them for planning such an event for us. Here are the engineers of this devious event:

Tammy, Todd & Sam - the gracious hosts

Jeanette & Salome (Ken not pictured)

Apparently, Jeanette & Tammy had been planning this for weeks right under my nose. I kept having a feeling that one of them sooner or later was going to ask me if I wanted a going away party, and I was adamantly against having one. I guess that's why they made it a surprise party. They even hired Robert, the Toddler Tunes guy, to perform a mini concert for us while we ate and cooled off in the shade. Pictured left to right (sort of): Iwona, Sam, Tammy, Robert, Victoria, Todd, Pawel, Beatrix, Victoria, Ken, Salome, Jeanette, Tshy, Dave, Diego's abuelita, Dan, Elliott, Diego, & Maria

Pictured left to right (sort of): Tshy, Salome, Jeanette, Dan, Elliott, Sarah, Thomas, Robert, Diego, Maria, Mike, Christy, Diego's abuelita, & Bill.

Victoria & Beatrix (Sam, Tammy, Todd & Dave in background)

Salome, Sam & Thomas cooling off in the pool

Victoria, Thomas & Salome

Salome & Thomas

Sam taking a stroll through the pool

Salome & Elliott

Thomas testing out the slide. Salome in background.

As usual, Elliott & Victoria working hard to make a mess.
Salome & Rachel checking out the sand table

Sam trying to bury his shovel

Diego & Maria refueling after a stint in the pool

Elliott, Victoria, Salome & Dan. Dan worked so hard to discretely pack all of Elliott's swim supplies in our picnic blanket. When we left the apartment, I threw it out of the wagon thinking, "why do we need the blanket?" So Elliott ended up having to wear a Dora the Explorer swim diaper with no swim trunks. Not the first time he wore a girly swim diaper.

Elliott & Diego conferencing on what to build next in the sand table.

Elliott pushing Salome & Victoria in the wagon. We keep saying Tammy should get a commission from Radio Flyer. I ended up buying one of these because everytime we went to the playground, Elliott would hijack Sam's wagon and push it around the whole time we were there. And the day after this party, Jeanette went out and bought a wagon for Salome.

Here is the cutest video of Sam ever.

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We're really going to miss all of our CT friends. Elliott has been really fortunate to have such a great group of babies to interact with here & I've been very lucky to have made so many mommy friends in our short stay. Thank you all for the times we ranted about our husbands, compared notes on sleep, breastfeeding, developmental milestones and solid foods. Thank you for all the laughs at the playground, the libraries, the storytimes, toddler tunes, the walks, the swim trips, and the lunches & dinners. I'm sad to think that we won't be around to witness all the babies grow up, but I'm happy for the time we did have together. We're going to miss you all so much.

like father, like son

Dan was plenty due for a haircut, so I figured, I'd give him a mohawk just like Elliott's.

american express commercial

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won't leave home without it, part 2

The past few days, Elliott has kept his American Express card with him practically everywhere he goes. Ok, that's not totally true, he keeps it with him at home, but when we are out and about at the playground or the library, he tends to lose it when he gets distracted by sticks, toys, or other kids. After we leave a place, if he gets fussy, I just hand it back to him and he's cool again. I know I am encouraging his behavior of keeping this thing with him, but I can't help it. It's freakin' adorable the way he treasures this thing. - the way he crawls around with it and will stop to adjust his grip, the way he tries to shove it into every crevice or practices throwing it on the tile floor and picking it up again and again, the way he constantly rotates it three times in his hands making me think he might be developing some sort of obsessive compulsive disorder, and the way he holds it up in the air and yells like he just found some sort of holy grail thingie. Last night, just out of curiousity, we put it in his crib and this morning when Dan went to get him, Elliott had it in his hand ready to start the day. It was the same thing for his nap today as well. I am just amazed that at his age he feels such an attachment to something and is responsible enough to keep it with him for the majority of the day.

In the many, many sleep books that we have read, they all mention getting your child attached to a lovey. A lovey is some object that your child holds most valuable and can be associated with going to sleep or security. That way, instead of associating you with sleep, your kid associates this object with sleep so that in the middle of the night when they wake up, if they have this object with them, they'll be able to go back to sleep on their own. Most kids have a stuffed animal or a security blanket that serves this purpose for them. We tried to get Elliott attached to a blanket or a stuffed animal, but no dice. We always joked that Elliott's lovey would be some sort of hard plastic or metal toy. I really didn't think that it would be a small plastic card.

So of course, we would discover that Elliott's lovey is a fake credit card that you get in the mail AFTER we call the number that takes you off the mailing lists for all these credit card companies. Luckily, we each got one of these cards in the mail, so we have a hot spare in case one gets lost, but the freak in me is starting to worry about when we lose the second one. So I'm putting out a request to all our friends and family and anyone else that stumbles on this blog: If you get an American Express credit card offer in the mail that comes with a fake credit card and that credit card is clear with a blue square in the middle like this one:



will you please save it for Elliott? Let me know and I will send you a postage paid envelope for you to mail it to him. I'd like to create a stockpile of these things to last at least until the 2nd grade. Of course, as soon as I put this request out there, Elliott will abandon the card and we will get swamped with them. But whatever. It'll be fun while it lasts.

won't leave home without it

What do these two pictures have in common?

OK, besides the fact that they are taken the same day and Elliott is wearing the same clothes, you will notice that he is holding an American Express card. Finally, all those useless credit card offers have found a purpose in our lives. Elliott loves the fake credit cards that come in the mail and yesterday, he chose American Express as his credit card of choice. That card went evrywhere with us. From 11:30 am when I pulled it off the shelf and handed it to him, until just after his bath (yes it was in the bath with him), he kept that card with him. He ate with it, he crawled with it, he got his diaper changed while holding it, and he pushed his wagon while trying to slide it between the slates.

Here's a video of Elliott using his walker one-handed while holding his credit card.

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And here's another one from lunch. Ok, this one doesn't focus so much on the card (although it is present). What's adorable about this video is the way Elliott picks up a Kix and shoves it all the way down his throat.

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he walks!

Before I show you Elliott defying gravity, let me first show you a few videos that show the evolution of motion. I've been a little behind in keeping you posted on Elliott's movements. So here goes. First the roll & army crawl. This was two months ago.

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Elliott stopped crawling like a military man and started crawling like a baby just two weeks ago. When he started taking his first steps, I realized I hadn't yet gotten his baby crawl on video. This next video was just taken yesterday and has a special appearance by Victoria. Notice what Elliott's carrying in his right hand.

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And now what you've all been waiting for. It's hard to get a good video while trying to hold a camera, get Elliott balanced, step back, motivate him to move and spot him all at the same time, so you'll have to bear with me. I'll try and get a better one soon. This was taken this afternoon. Notice how excited he looks (and again, what he is carrying in his right hand).

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Happy 95th Birthday Great Grandma Wang!

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It is hard to believe that there are over 94 years that separate Elliott and his Great Grandma Wang. She's waited a very long time for her first great grandchild and really can't get enough of him at this point. What is even more amazing is that he can't seem to get enough of her either. This video is a very telling example of what happens whenever they are around each other.

Feats of Feets

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There are few things cuter than when babies play with their own feet. I'm pretty sure this is a well documented fact. Elliott found his feet when most babies do and put one of them in his mouth, once. Much to my dismay, he never showed any interest in his feet again . . . until now. Witness his new pastime in the car and the stroller, and rejoice!

happy (belated) birthday uncle steve!

Elliott's Uncle Steve celebrated his birthday on the 30th of June, so this entry is a little late, but I think he will understand. Like most of our relatives, Steve doesn't get to see Elliott too often unless we're home in WI. But unlike our other relatives, between work, school, and living the life any single twenty something year-old should be living, Steve & Elliott's schedules don't coordinate very well. Hopefully that will change soon when we move to Illinois. We have a lot of great pics of the two of them together, but the ones here are actually from when they first met back when Elliott was just two months old. They are absolutely my favorties of the two of them together though and I'm sure you'll understand why.

I call this one "Steve and the Fat Kid." Elliott has never looked chubbier.


Steve is the only person that has every been able to put Elliott to sleep just by jiggling the kid on his leg. During the course of a conversation we were having, Steve was just messing with Elliott and twitching his leg like someone with a bad cocaine habit. Next thing you know, we look down and Elliott is completely passed out. Unbelievable.


And then! A little bit later in the conversation, Elliott woke up again. This time, Steve laid him down on his leg and did the same thing. Once again the kid completely passed out. Absolutely ridiculous.