it's bear! (and spatula...and ribbon)

play video

why do i bother buying him toys...

Goodbye American Express card (actually he still usually sleeps with it during naps and at night), hello spatula. We don't bother washing our cooking utensils anymore because Elliott spreads them out all over the floor everyday (its easier to wash the ones we are using right before we use them). Each morning he pulls out each one to inspect before choosing his weapon for the day. Today it was a spatula which traveled everywhere we went: on our walk to the bank & Panera, his first nap, lunch, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Toys-R-Us, his second nap, in the sandbox, dinner, and finally to bed with him. Needless to say, after being used to poke concrete, dirt, and sand, that spatula is now officially Elliott's and will no longer be used for cooking. We'll be taking another trip to Bed, Bath & Beyond tomorrow.

assimilating almost too well...

Last weekend we went to Curtis Orchard to go apple picking and goat kicking. Elliott absolutely adored the goats. This video doesn't really do that fact justice. Notice the chatter, laughter and squeals of delight when he first encounters them. Unfortunately, I didn't get on tape when he stuck his whole arm in the pen to try and give the goats a chestnut or when he scooped up some feed off the ground and actually fed one goat. I did get on tape him picking up feed off the ground and putting it in his mouth, but I chose to edit that out.

play video

assimilating well in Illinois

happy (belated) birthday aunt katie!

Elliott has gotten very into having people pick him up lately and use them as a vehicle to get what he wants or where he wants to go. For instance, he loves airplanes and whenever he hears one flying overhead, he goes to the nearest adult and demands to be lifted up as though getting four feet higher off the ground will make him able to reach up and pull it out of the air. When Katie and Sofia came to visit last week, Elliott was very excited to have another baby around to poke and also another adult around to do his bidding. Right when they got in the door, Elliott walked over to Katie and signaled "up." However, since she's not much taller than him, when she lifted him up, he realized that she wasn't going to be useful in his plot to snatch planes from the sky. He still got her to give him cookies and snacks though, so in his eyes, she's a keeper. Happy Birthday Katie. Sorry this blog entry is a little late. Here's another video of Sofia, Elliott & Katie. Note again the poking of Sofia, the adorable way she looks at the camera, and how Elliott turns to Katie as if sharing an inside joke.

play video

mmmmmm....oreos.....

Elliott didn't go quite as crazy with the oreos as Salome did here or here and especially here, but I thought these pics were still pretty cute.

now back to the blog...

Ok, I know its been awhile. Thank you all for the e-mails wondering what the heck happened to us and why did it seem like we dropped off the face of the earth. Well, we moved to Illinois which is pretty much like dropping off the face of the earth. A lot has happened since we left Connecticut - Elliott had his first birthday, he had his first cream puff at the Wisconsin State Fair, we moved, we settled in, we had visitors. Instead of trying to catch you all up on everything that has happened, we'll just start fresh with the here and now. Also, you might have noticed, I changed the title of this blog from "Daily Observations" to "Some Observations" since I never made any attempt to make observations daily. Anyways, to start you off, Elliott's Aunt Katie & 5 month old cousin, Sofia came to stay with us a couple days and Elliott loved them. Here's a little video of Elliott with Sofia. Sofia shows off her rolling and tummy time skills. Elliott burps, shows off how much he loves to poke Sofia, and gives her Elliott kisses (where he places his forehead against yours and shakes his head back & forth).

play video