Elliott - 2/27/2015

Elliott ate brown rice and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch he ate meat loaf, whole wheat pita bread, carrots, and apricots.  Elliott was sitting in his breakfast high chair and Cooper said, "That's my Elliott! He likes me!"

Well today's highlight was the Return of Sophie Boyle!  (She was gone for almost two weeks!)  I posted a picture in each blog of Sophie focused on that child.  They were all so excited to see her.  Elliott was standing in front of her seat doing a jig - bouncing up and down with excitement.  And she was so excited to see him as well.  I love how she's reaching for him in this picture!

This picture looks fairly insignificant; However, at Little Treasures this marks an important development!  :)  Elliott made it into the Big Box by himself.  He used the yellow bench for access! Nicely done Elliott!  So why is this a Milestone?  I'm glad you asked!  I use the Big Box for a place where the "older children" can play alone and escape the younger ones.  They frequently take toys and books in there and know they are safe from young grabbing hands.  Well, as the picture indicates, no one and no place is now safe from Elliott at Little Treasures!  Let the fun begin!  :)

Elliott - 2/26/2015

Elliott ate cinnamon toast and grapes for breakfast.  For lunch he ate baked chicken, most of dinner roll, ate hash browns, and cherries.

This is a picture of our morning ritual... shortly after he arrives he wants something to drink to hold him until breakfast.  And he handles it all by himself.  Very nicely done Elliott!!

I love being able to post these pictures!  It's so much easier to tell the story this way!!  :)  Here he is using a phone and going back-n-forth and experimenting with the sounds on the legos table.  Shortly after I took the picture he moved to the toy shelf you can see behind him.  And started moving the phone back-n-forth on it in the same way.  Of course the sound was MUCH more mild and he immediately turned around and started on the legos table again!  Very interesting!

Some more experimenting with sounds - and I've seen him do this before.  He was very intentionally  running his fingernails over the fabric of the big chair and listening to what that sounded like.  He saw me watching him and gave me a big cheesy grin!  Little Cutie!  I love having Elliott in my Daycare!

Cooper and Mia asked me to get out the big Panda Bear and they were having lots of fun rolling and rumbling with it!  And that was totally keeping Elliott entertained!

Elliott - 2/25/2015

Elliott ate most of whole wheat bagel and ate peaches for breakfast.  For lunch he ate ham, mac-n-cheese, a couple bites of corn, and ate apple bites.  He spit out the second bite of corn.  That's the first time I've seen him do that, so I'm assuming he's not real fond of corn!  At least not today!!  :)

I took this picture because I thought it was cute how interested Elliott is in the block tower Mia and Cooper are building.  As the block tower got bigger and taller I eventually moved him back out of the construction zone and out of harm's way!!  :)

I'm thinking....Boy, he sure is interested in one of our posters - he keeps going back to it!  That's so cool! Then I saw he was trying to pick something off his fingers.  Oh, it's tape!  :)  He was working hard at peeling off the tape that was holding the poster to the wall.  Ha!  Now I realize what was so attractive about the poster!!

While I am doing this Blog Elliott is on the step in front of the window watching neighbors walk past with their dogs.  He keeps looking back at me and laughing.  I love watching the pleasure he seemingly gets out of everything around him!  So much fun!  Now he's bobbing up and down listening to the music!  And reading a book at the same time.  Multitasking!!  :)

Elliott - 2/24/2015

Elliott ate waffle and pears for breakfast.  For lunch he ate half of tuna and crackers, half of sweet potatoes, and ate mandarin oranges.   At lunch I told Elliott his cup needed to stay on his highchair tray after he had pitched it off.  Cooper said, "Gary's in charge!  Not Elliott....not Sophie...not Mia!"  Ha!  Notice who he left off the list!?!  :)

Yesterday and today Elliott was holding one of the phones up to his ear and talked a little bit; two different times.  So cute and I love it.  That's the first time I've seen "dramatic play" here at Daycare and it's very age appropriate.  It's also the most common early dramatic play we have seen for probably the last ten years.

We got the tunnel out yesterday afternoon and they had a blast crawling through it and rolling in it.  We don't get it down too often and they love it when we do.  I love the look of determination on his face.  "I can make through here!"

Here's a picture of Elliott reading again and he was being loud!  :)  He also played with the little pianos, the animal toys, and was using the spoon and ice-cream cone like I mentioned yesterday.

Elliott - 2/23/2015

Elliott had several bites of chex cereal and ate mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch he ate about half of his roast beef sandwich, sips of tomato soup, and ate most of lettuce salad.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend so all the kids were busy exploring all morning.  Elliott played with the spoons and ice cream cones several times.  I think it's cute how they'll find one or two things they like and keep going back to those items.

When the kids were in the igloo Mia started calling Cooper "Mommy."  And she wanted protection from that scary Elliott!  "Get that monster away!  Protect me Mommy, protect me!"  Cooper asked, "Like this?"  Mia said, "No, like this!"  (I couldn't see what they were doing.)  Mia said, "I'm scared Mommy!"  Elliott just sat there looking at them with an amused grin on his face.  :)

Elliott was playing with the blocks when I took this picture and he was managing to stack them together.  I love these blocks!  They are big enough and manageable enough for even these youngest ones to stack!  He was pretty proud of what he was doing!

He frequently played with the "pianos" and banged on them along with Mia and Cooper.  He was reading books (LOUD) and brought one over for me, handed it to me, and laughed like it was the funniest thing he'd ever done!  So stinking cute!!

Elliott - 2/20/2015

Elliott ate most of his oatmeal serving and had a prune for breakfast.  For lunch he ate hash brown casserole, half of dinner roll, and ate mandarin oranges.

He was showing-off for Christina this morning; running across the room to the mirror and then looking back to see if she was still looking.  I love his "roaring laugh" when he's in that mode.

Cooper was trying to get this head band on Elliott's head.  So I put it on Elliott's  head and he just grinned at me and took off across the room.

This is what it looked like a few minutes later.  He was playing with the "vacuum cleaner" and didn't seem to notice or care that it was still around his neck.

Cooper was on the floor with his head against Elliott's butt trying to scoot Elliott along on the floor again.  Elliott didn't even act like he knew Cooper was there.  Elliott also watched Mia and Cooper tear apart the block house they built and then they tried to rebuild it.  It was way more interesting and entertaining to watch the demolition instead of the construction!  :)

Elliott - 2/19/2015

Elliott ate cinnamon toast and melon mix for breakfast.  For lunch he ate most of turkey slices, bites of dinner roll, ate green beans, and mangoes.

Elliott is so cute when we start singing.  He starts clapping, laughing, bobbing up and down, and clapping his hands.  He loves it!  He also does the same chuckle and will frequently go past the mirror and watch himself.  Or he'll stop and go up to the mirror for a close-up look!

Here's a picture of Lauralea saying hello to Elliott this morning.  She was getting a kick out of how silly and happy he was being.

He was crawling across the "balance beam" that I posted a picture of a couple of days ago.  Like I mentioned that day I am impressed with how controlled he is with his dismounts.  He even went off head-first one time, but did so very carefully.  He was crawling under climber as well and then going as fast as he could across the carpet, giggling, watching me watch him!

Elliott - 2/18/2015

Elliott ate two servings of whole wheat toast and ate a few bites of mixed berries for breakfast.  For lunch he ate half of his ham, half of crackers, ate bean & bacon soup, and strawberries.

Yesterday afternoon we played outside after snack time and Elliott loves being outside!  I think he grinned constantly for the first 30 minutes.  He eventually got tired and wanted his binky, but he was working so hard all the time to walk across the grass and he was being very successful!

During Story Time this morning he and Mia started saying "Hi" back-n-forth to each other.  It was so stinking cute!  And he did it over and over!!  Their faces were only a few inches apart and I tried to get a picture, but that didn't work of course!  Then he was totally interested in the camera!

He played with lots of toys and was engaged all morning.  I got out the "vacuum cleaners" and Elliott was having fun with those.

This picture was taken after Cooper and Mia were down for their naps.  Elliott had the entire mattress to himself and he was loving it!  He was hanging on to the wall here and bouncing up and down.  And laughing as well!

Elliott - 2/17/2015

Elliott ate whole wheat bagel and ate apricots for breakfast.  For lunch he ate chicken, elbow noodles topped with shredded cheese, peas, and applesauce.

It was so cute when Cooper started "snow-plowing" Elliott across the room because Elliott had his forehead down just like Cooper.  By the time I got the camera this is what it looked like, but I still think this is a cute picture!

Here's a picture of Elliott enjoying a morning cup of milk and he doesn't care that Cooper is resting his feet on him.  Earlier, Cooper was laying on Elliott with his head on Elliott's tummy and Elliott didn't care about that either.  He just kept on drinking!

He was climbing up the little steps to the balance beam where Cooper and Mia jump off onto the mattress.  He's way more cautious than I initially thought he'd be.  And that's not a bad thing!!  Nice job Elliott!

My daughter Christina is here this week (from Louisiana) and Elliott was charming her with those cute dimples!  :)  Christina had fun playing with all the kids this morning and Elliott was crawling all over her - no stranger anxiety with him.  At least not yet that I have witnessed.  (Obviously my opportunities to witness that is quite slim!)

Elliott - 2/13/2015

Elliott ate malt-o-meal cereal and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch he ate bites of ground beef, elbow noodles, apple pieces, and mixed fruit.

I got out this musical toy (in the picture) for Baby Sophie and she likes reaching up to grab it.  (Which activates the music.)  Elliott also played with it and managed to not sit or step on Sophie.  Good job Elliott!  Like I've mentioned before if he is being too rough I always say, "Be gentle."  And I will take his arm and stroke Sophie to show him what that looks like and also what it feels like.  Elliott's natural instinct is rougher than that!  :)  He loves pounding and thumping on everything!  Which is usually just fine except for thumping other people and especially babies.

Cooper's Grandpa and Grandma dropped him off this morning.  Elliott was LOUDLY telling them goodbye when they were leaving.  (We were in the lunch room eating.)  And he was also waving bye. The most enthusiastic waving and "byes" happened after they went out the door.  (of course!)

Cooper poked Elliott's belly button and Elliott giggled.  Cooper said, "He like that!"  He definitely likes it when the other kids show him some attention!

Elliott - 2/12/2015

Elliott ate whole wheat english muffin and a few blueberries for breakfast.  For lunch he ate bites of chicken, bites of crackers, ate sweet potatoes, and cherries.

Here's a picture of Elliott on the table bench!  (I took his pants off when I was changing his diaper and let him run around like that!)  He's becoming a little monkey and loves to climb!  (He's looking at Cooper and Mia play in the big box.)

I just finished feeding Sophie some food and I like how Elliott is using the blocks to boost himself high enough to swipe her toys!  (He still doesn't have his pants on!)  Today was the first time for introducing Sophie to food and Elliott had not seen her in the high chair before and he wasn't impressed!  He was pretty sure that food was intended for HIM!  

I took off my glasses and was rubbing my eyes.  Elliott got real quiet and studied my face and moved backwards a couple of feet.  (At least I think he did - it was all kind of blurry!  Ha ha!)  He was still looking pretty serious when I put my glasses back on!  Who is that guy!?!  :)

Several times he has gone over to the mirror and looked at the little guy in the mirror!  He makes funny sounds, laughs, and starts acting silly.  Who is the clown in the mirror?  :)

Elliott - 2/11/2015

Elliott ate biscuit and peaches for breakfast.  For lunch he ate baked beans, dinner roll, peas, and pineapple.  (Loves that pineapple!)  Actually, he loves food - he's such a good eater!

I mentioned yesterday about Elliott climbing on the bench of the table and then on top of the table.  This picture is a literal example of getting caught with "egg on your face."  :)  I was watching very closely how he tried to dismount off the tabletop this morning and he did very well!  Slid off backwards very much under control!  Good job Elliott!

Here's another picture of Elliott playing with some food toys;  a new technique for eating!  There are all kinds of ways to play with these bowls!  Frequently when he does things like this he will be chuckling and laughing at the same time.  I love his sense of humor!

Cooper and Mia were building towers and sidewalks again with the blocks and going into panic mode when Elliott even looked like he might be headed their way!  "Help us Gary!!"  Elliott was getting tired so I put him down for a morning nap.  He had not been asleep for five minutes when Cooper asked, "Where's Elliott?"  Then Mia asked, "Can we wake him up?"  Ha!  Toddlers!!

Elliott - 2/10/2015

Elliott ate waffle and hash browns for breakfast.  For lunch he ate chicken & cheese quesadilla, carrots, and mandarin oranges.  After lunch Mia was wanting to help Elliott drink his milk out of his cup.  She said, "He wants a drink!"  Ha ha.  So I told her she could hold it for him and he drank quite a bit of it.  He started pushing the cup away and Mia yells, "Hey! He's pushing it away!  That's not nice!!  He needs to drink it all!"  (I think she had an agenda!)  But she figured it out and said, "He doesn't want anymore!!!"  :)  Good job helping Mia!

Mia and Cooper were building a blockade around the igloo as their first line of defense to keep Elliott out of the igloo.  Elliott wasn't even trying to get in, but I was the only one aware of that!  I was actually keeping Elliott on the other side of the room while they were building.  Mia eventually became aware of what I was doing and said, "Gary! You're my hero!"  Ha!  Silly Mia.  She makes me laugh.

When they were done Elliott went over to explore!  Cooper had also stashed a large pile of animal toys behind the chair because he thought for sure Elliott was after those as well.

Elliott gets so excited when the music comes on and we do some dancing and/or clapping.  He starts clapping too and squealing like crazy.  I also want to mention that he climbed up on the top of the table we have in the play room.  He'd made it onto the bench before, but today was the first time to the table top!  :)  He was much more cautious than I thought he might be!  Which is a good thing!!

Elliott - 2/9/2015

Elliott ate half of his cheerios and ate banana for breakfast.  For lunch he ate cheese sandwich, sips of tomato soup, and bites of lettuce salad.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend so everyone stayed busy all morning checking out the "new" toys.  These two pictures show some of the toys that Elliott enjoyed.  In the top picture he has a "syrup" container out of the food toys.  The "syrup" has a little stem of syrup coming out and as you can see Elliott liked the feel of that.

He was also looking at some books this morning and reading those.  VERY LOUDLY!  :)  He really likes his books and I think that's great!  He frequently reads them upside-down, but at this age it doesn't matter at all.  I always tell Lauralea that the kids get twice the mileage out of a book that way!

Here's a picture of Elliott playing with a truck.  Actually he's playing with the "driver" of the truck who happens to be a dalmatian.  :)  If you look at the yellow part of the truck you can see that it's also a "shape sorter."  But Elliott is still a bit young for that, although it won't be very long.

Cooper always thinks Elliott is a "threat" to take his toys.  (Actually, I've rarely seen Elliott taking their toys!)  Today Elliott was walking by Cooper and reached out to steady himself and Cooper happened to be there!  Cooper yelled, "He pulled my diaper!!"

Elliott -2/6/2015

Elliott ate oatmeal and dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch he ate ground beef, elbow noodles topped with shredded cheese, peas, and applesauce.

Cooper and Mia were doing some "Dot Painting" at Art Time and it can be a little rowdy at times.  They get to "dotting" or "thumping" pretty vigorously and Elliott thought that looked like lots of fun. That's an activity I can enjoy!!  So he started banging on the table.  :)

Here's a picture of Elliott at the legos table where Cooper had recently been playing.  Elliott's hand is kind of blocking it, but there was a lego's horse pulling a cart with lot's of blocks built on top.  As soon as Cooper left Elliott moved in with "demolition" on his mind!  :)

Elliott was reading lots of books this morning and it's been a few days since he's done that.  He was even trying a new style - walking and reading at the same time.  And he was reading Loud!  :)

He'll frequently clap his hands as soon as I start singing, "Happy and you know it clap your hands.." For some reason he thinks it's hilarious when I'm sitting down and I start stomping my feet; "Happy and you know it stomp your feet..."

Elliott - 2/5/2015

Elliott ate whole wheat english muffin and a couple bites of blueberries for breakfast.  For lunch he ate most of turkey sandwich, ate green beans, and strawberries.

Here's a picture of our "fun-loving" Elliott I took this morning!!  I was swinging the camera strap in front of him and then gently bopping him in the face with it.  Elliott and I are kind of soul mates - we both get a big charge out of goofy things!!  :)

Cooper and Mia asked for the Panda Bear and Big Bear this morning.  And of course Elliott was delighted as well.  The older kids were being a bit rowdy and Elliott got steamrolled by Panda Bear, but he wasn't whimpering yet!  (I think he soon would have been if I wouldn't have rescued him quickly!)  Mia said, "He's ok!"  (Of course she was the one who rolled the Panda over the top of him.)

Yesterday afternoon Elliott banged his face (hard) into the dress up clothes rack.  I was in the middle of changing a diaper and Mia helped get his binky and helped as much as she could.  She was proud of herself for helping and said, "Elliott's my friend...But he can't have Layla!!"  LOL  Layla is Mia's "brand new" baby sister who is 3 days old!!   Anyhow, Elliott is sure a tough little guy!  He tripped and smacked his face into my shin bone yesterday as well and dang it hurt!  And he didn't even flinch, but kept on going!!

This next story really isn't about Elliott, but there is a reference to him and I thought you might like it anyhow!  I was changing a diaper and I asked Mia to take something to the garbage for me.  She went to the kitchen garbage and pretended to be scared.  And in typical Mia fashion she started singing, "Someone in the kitchen with Dinah...."  Ha ha ha!  Cooper was waiting for her and he said, "It's not a ghost!  It's Elliott!!"  :)

Elliott - 2/4/2015

Elliott ate most of his breakfast: jelly toast and mangoes.  For lunch he ate a serving of bean & beef burrito, sweet potatoes, and tropical fruit.

I was putting ponytails in Mia's hair and Elliott came by to watch.  I have a spray bottle to use for her hair and I shot a spray of water in his direction.  Of course he loved it and stood there waiting for some more. He didn't even flinch when he felt the spray, but started chuckling and laughing.  :)

Elliott played with the legos farm animals and the barns again.  This is one of his favorite places to play.  He also watched Mia and Cooper play on the toy shelves and he tried to climb up on the table.

Here's a picture of Elliott laughing at the after dinner entertainment!!  I was writing notes about what the kids were eating at lunch and I started playing with my pen and making it jump in the air.  He was roaring and laughing so hard.  He obviously found it quite funny!  So I washed him up, took off his bib, got the camera, and did it some more!  :)

Cooper was also giving Elliott the sweetest loves first thing this morning.  That's not nearly as common as Cooper loving on Sophie, but it was so sweet.  Then later he was pushing some blocks and the blocks happened to cross right in front of Elliott and made Elliott trip and land on top of the blocks.  Cooper looked at me and said, "Elliott wants them!"  Uhhh, right Cooper!  :)

Elliott - 2/3/2015

Elliott ate cinnamon roll and a couple of canned prunes for breakfast.  (He loved the prunes, but I only gave him two considering how it may affect him!!)  For lunch he ate several bites of this combo: scrambled eggs, hash browns, cheese, and sausage.  He ate waffle and mixed melon too.

Here's a picture of Elliott playing with some food toys by Baby Sophie.  That's a chicken leg/thigh combo hanging from his mouth and he's playing with a Steak as well!  Good Choices Elliott!!  Mia calls the steak a "chocolate steak!"  For example; "Cooper, bring the chocolate steak!"  Elliott does very well around Sophie - stealing her binky is about his biggest temptation!  :)

Mia and Cooper were wearing the animal masks and here's a picture of Elliott checking out the horse mask.  He tried putting one on - which I knew he wouldn't like - but I put it on him and he immediately wanted that thing OFF!!  :)

Mia and Cooper were doing lots of "hiding," but as usual Elliott really didn't know or care!  He was just getting a kick out of it all anyway!  They were under the table, in the igloo, in the big box, and under the chair.  Mia said, "We're hiding from you, and Elliott, and Sophie!!"

Elliott - 2/2/2015

Just in case someone is looking for Elliott's Blog - He's not at Daycare today.  So we'll have a Blog tomorrow!