Elliott - 8/31/2015

Elliott had bites of cheerios and two servings of banana for breakfast.  For lunch he ate cheese sandwich, no tomato soup, ate lettuce salad, and no broccoli salad.

I took this picture of Sophie and Elliott after he had taken a phone to Sophie, handed it to her, and then started talking on his phone.  It was so cute.  Also, I just want to mention that Elliott has been a good playmate for Sophie and he has provided her with lots of social interaction and entertainment as well!!  Bye Elliott.  Sophie and all of us at Little Treasures love you and will miss you.  We wish all the Minckler Family the very best as you start this next stage of your family life.  I pray it will be a great blessing for all of you.

Two or three times Elliott was stretched out on the yellow bench reading books, playing with a phone, or listening to music on an "iPod."  (Not!)  Cooper went over to him and said, "Hey lazy bug!"  Ha!  Elliott has been a fun playmate for Cooper too and I know Cooper will miss him!  He's a rough and tumble little fellow and he almost always loved it when Cooper would play with him.  Cooper and all of us love you Elliott!!

Elliott was sitting on the yellow bench all alone reading books and playing with a phone.  Cooper joined him first and then Reid decided to squeeze in as well.  Elliott didn't mind at all and actually acted like he didn't notice!  (That's a good example of his temperament!)  There are lots of children that wouldn't sit squeezed in there for one second!!  (at any age and especially at Elliott's age!!)  They are all on their phones again!!

We played outside and Elliott was sitting on one of the bikes trying to reach the pedals.  He was watching Cooper and Reid and was trying to copy them.  He's right at the age where he's starting to experiment more and more with playing like the bigger boys and I'm sure you see that at home with big brother as well.  Your Gary loves you Elliott and I'll always remember your time with me and keep lots of precious memories in my heart.  Love you!

Elliott - 8/28/2015

Elliott ate oatmeal and dried cranberries for breakfast.  He watched Reid and Cooper put their cranberries in their oatmeal and he did the same thing.  For lunch he ate ground beef, elbow noodles, at least half of his peas, and ate applesauce.

You can make up your own caption for this first picture.  I'm going with; "Morning Meditation For Toddlers"  They were playing side-by-side and copying each other's antics.  And laughing.  :)

Sophie watched the boys (Elliott, Cooper, and Reid) push stacks of blocks around the room and she started doing the same thing. Then they built this block sidewalk and she immediately crawled along on it and was grinning all over.  I took a picture of a traffic jam and Cooper was saying, "I'm coming through!!"  Cooper and Reid do a good job of running around Elliott and Sophie (rather than over the top of them!) and they actually have minimal conflict!

Elliott had a pretty good morning although he probably did more whining than usual.  However, as soon as I'd recognize him, hug him, or pat him, then he was good to go again.  I know he's being a bit more sensitive than usual during this time.  It always amazes me how these tiny little people can pick up on stress.  And they have no way to express it except through behavior!

Elliott - 8/27/2015

Elliott had bites of raisin english muffin and ate blueberries for breakfast.  For lunch he ate bites of turkey slice, no sandwich bun, ate green beans, and strawberries.

Cooper and Reid both bring their personal blankets with them to Daycare and of course Elliott knows which blanket belongs to each of them.  He will frequently fetch the blankets.  Actually, it's one of his favorite games - get the blanket and it return it to it's owner.  This morning he took Reid his blanket, but he said, "ere (here) Reid, ere Reid."  That was a first!  Nice job Elliott!

Here's a picture of the Modern Daycare!  Three of the four kids are on their cell phones!  Ha!  I'm telling Reid's Mom (She works for AT&T) this is her new target group.  Soon after this picture Elliott was getting into Sophie's space and she screamed (loudly with a high pitch) at him and it was effective!  He looked at her and was backpedalling!  So (unfortunately) the scream worked!!  :)

I also wanted to mention (before Elliott leaves Little Treasures) how well he has been doing with helping me pick up the blocks.  As a matter of fact, he loves helping and he's really good at it.  I position myself at the block shelf and he brings blocks to me and we do it the same way every day.

Everyone had fun crawling in the tunnel this morning.  You can see Elliott sitting in there looking around.

Elliott - 8/26/2015

Elliott ate half of his breakfast: jelly toast and banana.  For lunch he ate beef & bean burrito, half of sweet potatoes, and half of tropical fruit.  It's interesting how he's been eating way more of his "meat" dish lately.

Here's a picture of Elliott being a true friend; feeding Sophie the doll bottle.  :)  She was a willing participant and they did this several times.  Watching these two kids interact is so cute.  Sophie will hold something out for Elliott to "look" at, but NOT to take it!  (Very typical of this age.  They aren't trying to give it to you.  Although sometimes it works if they know they'll get it right back.)  She'll hold something out, but not let him take it.  He gets the most puzzled look on his face.

We got out the sit-n-spins for the kids this morning - suggestion by Kenzie.  (She's coming here after Kindergarten and today was a short day for her.)  Elliott, of course, experimented with this toy that kept moving!!  And here he is standing up on it!!  Geez!!  I probably don't need to tell you that right after I took this picture Mr. Crash went off head-first!  Then Kenzie built a "train" out of the blocks, but I had to inform her that the Little Ones (Elliott and Sophie) didn't have to sit in their assigned seats!  :)  Ha!

We were at the window waving bye to Sophie's Dad Pat and Elliott was copying Cooper - waving and blowing kisses.  Very cute.  Also, I wanted to mention (again) the importance of routine for Elliott. He totally thrives with it.  Even with things that may seem insignificant to us adults.  :)  For example, when I say it's Story Time, I am getting the books ready, my back pillow in position, and Elliott is pointing up at my foot stool.  He knows what is coming next.  :)

Elliott - 8/25/2015

Elliott ate bites of cinnamon roll and ate canned prunes for breakfast.  For lunch he ate bites of this combo; scrambled eggs, hash browns, cheese, and sausage.

Elliott spotted Cooper's shoes laying on the floor.  (I'd not yet noticed them - or I would have had Cooper take them to the Changing Table or his Cubby.)  Elliott picked them up, carried them to the gate, and deposited them over the gate.  Well done Elliott.

He did his usual morning routine; reading books first and then on to various toys.  He likes playing with the little xylophones like you see in the picture below.  Hey, I get to beat on something and it's acceptable!!  :)

I took this picture when Elliott was saying, "Hi and Bye" to Lauralea.  He said her name over and over this morning and was actually doing a pretty good job with it.  Saying it about the same way as I do!!  Ha!  With two syllables instead of three, but getting both "L" sounds.  "Lor-lee."

He had fun playing outside and looking at Reid's big dog.  And it is BIG.  They just live around the corner and Reid's Dad came to get him about 11:00.  That dog can stand at our chain link gate and rest the bottom of it's chin on the top of the gate.

Elliott - 8/24/2015

Elliott ate bites of kix cereal and most of mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch he ate ham sandwich, several bites of peas, and maybe a bite of mandarin oranges.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and the kids stayed very busy all morning.  Like I mentioned to Mommy Kimberly first thing this morning Elliott was TOTALLY focused on the book rack and charged right by the toys shelves without a glance!  In the picture below Cooper had the little play house jammed full of food toys and Elliott was reaching through the window to check it out.  There is another play house identical to this one, but Cooper was making this play house look WAY more fun!  :)

Micala played with Elliott for several minutes this morning and he was loving it.  Look at that big grin in the picture.  Love it!  Elliott also joined Sophie at the window and immediately started slapping the window with his hand.  So she gave it a go too!  They don't hit the window hard enough to do any harm - to the window or their hand.  (However, banging on the window with toys is not allowed.)  :)

Then shortly before lunch Cooper was scooting around on the floor using his head like a snow plow. Elliott was fine with it for awhile, but he was also getting tired and hungry too, so the morning was quickly coming to an end.  :)

Elliott - 8/21/2015

Elliott ate brown rice and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch he had three or four bites of meatloaf, ate flat bread, carrots, and apricots.

This picture is from yesterday afternoon and we were all giving Layla goodbye loves because she's leaving today....hard day!  I asked Elliott if he wanted to give her a kiss bye and (as you can see in the picture) he came pretty close. He loves the babies and I think he'll like being a big brother.  (Once the shock of not being the baby in the family wears off!  Ha!)

He was definitely enjoying being the center of attention this morning.  I took this next picture when Lauralea was still here and he had our undivided attention!  He was just ricocheting from one thing to the next.  However, if we laughed then he would try to duplicate the antic!  It was all pretty funny and we were doing lots of laughing!  He was bouncing on the mattress when I took this picture.  

Several times this morning he took a big stack of books to the yellow bench to sit and read.  He was also talking on the phones and just jabbering away.  I talked to my Mom and had her on speaker phone and Elliott was saying, "hi hi hi hi hi hi......"  Ok, you get the idea.  Pretty much non-stop! Then he got one of the play phones and kept right on saying, "Hi hi hi hi hi..."