Elliott - 5/29/2015

Elliott ate oatmeal and maybe half of dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch I mixed it all in a bowl and he let me feed him (after three or four attempts).  Ground beef, elbow noodles, peas, and applesauce.  And he ate it all.  I knew he really liked this meal so I was confident he'd eventually come around after I got some samples on his lips!  He likes to feed himself and that's great.  This meal is nice to mix together if he'll let me help him.

This first picture were taken yesterday afternoon.  Cooper and Reid were telling Elliott to "PULL!!"  Ha ha!  They weren't thrilled with the lack of progress!

A school bus pulled up to the curb, stopped, and shut off it's motor.  So the boys had to check it out.  Cooper was saying things like; "That's the one my Sissy's are in!"  "Why did they stop?"  "They need some gas!"  :)  I see I could have gotten a little more of Elliott in the picture!!  But you get the idea!

Shortly after breakfast Elliott was walking around with his binky in his mouth.  Hey, where'd that come from?  I distinctly remembered hanging it on his hook in the lunch room.  Reid said, "Me got Elliott's binky!"  Then later it was the same thing with Baby Layla's binky.  Her's was on the changing table and Reid readily confessed to it as well!  He LOVES to help the Babies, but I told him he needs to wait for me to ask him!

Elliott - 5/28/2015

Elliott ate half of his raisin english muffin and ate blueberries for breakfast.  He had bites of everything at lunch: turkey sandwich, green beans, and strawberries.  Reid loves getting the bibs for Elliott and Sophie at meal times.  He jumped up and ran for Elliott's bib and said, "Me get baby's bib!"  So that's one of his jobs at Daycare.

After breakfast Elliott initiated this silly little game of peek-a-boo.  So I had to get the camera.  He is such a fun-loving little boy and I sure love him.  He's a delight!!

Elliott got caught in his own trap here in the legos drawer.  He was ready for me to help him - I'll help you buddy just as soon as I get a picture to document it!!  Cooper and Reid were just out of the picture playing with the legos farm animals and filling the barns full.  Elliott loves coming along behind them after they abandon their projects and he can dismantle everything, or sometimes just continue building and adding to what they have done.  He actually listens very well to me and doesn't try to dismantle while the other kids are still engaged with the toys.

I let Elliott try to use the stamps today at Art Time and he did a couple, but wanted to put them in his mouth.  So we tried some markers while the other boys did stamps, but those went into mouth as well.  But that's just fine and we'll try again soon.  I had to take a close-up picture before I washed off the sticker.  That's actually an upside-down sticker of a bee - well at least a partial bee!  Ha!

Elliott - 5/27/2015

Elliott had several bites of jelly toast and ate mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch he tasted the beef & bean burrito, ate sweet potatoes, and ate tropical fruit.

Elliott was playing in the legos drawer by himself and then Cooper started building with the legos too.  It was only a few seconds before Sophie showed up as well!  Cooper said, "Sophie's squishing me!"  (I think she was kneeling on his leg.)  Elliott loves Sophie.  He was following her to the play mattress and jabbering at her.  It was later in the morning, close to lunch time, and they both were getting hungry so they both had their binkies.  Until Elliott spit his out and snatched her's!  Ha!

Gotta post another picture of Elliott reading books.  This time he chose to lay on the floor and read. And he's even holding the book right-side-up!  :)

Cooper said, "I sleeping under your pillow!"  Of course Elliott wanted to make a game out of it!  Reid was hanging out with his Daddy until 11:00 so the "big" kids were just Cooper and Elliott.  Cooper paid more attention to Elliott today than usual so that was nice.  He even gave Elliott a kiss on the forehead!  Very cute.

Elliott was playing with one of the big red balls and I was feeding Layla.  The ball came by me and I gave it a little kick.  He thought that was hilarious!  So he started bringing balls over and deposit them at my feet for me to kick them.  And he'd laugh hysterically every time.  Several times he'd drop the ball, it would bounce away, but he didn't care.  He stood there staring at my foot anticipating me to kick anyhow.  So I'd just kick the air and he'd laugh!  It was super funny!

Elliott - 5/26/2015

Elliott ate half of his cinnamon roll and ate canned prunes for breakfast.  For lunch he had a few bites of scrambled egg and hash brown combo, ate half of his waffle serving, and had a bite of cantaloupe.

Elliott came right to the window to wave bye to Sophie's Mom and Dad.  And he was saying, "ba ba ba" as well.  Good job Elliott.  Then I took a picture of him hard at work with these stacks of blocks. You can see the stacks (five blocks each stack) on the block shelf.  He takes those and works with the entire stack (or two - four) rather than tearing them apart.  He also read LOTS of books as usual and sat on my lap for all of Story Time as well.

Cooper was playing with the barn and barn animals and sorting baby barn animals when Elliott was peeking through the window at him.  Elliott thought it was funny and was guffawing.  Sorting baby barn animals is serious business for Cooper and definitely not funny!  :)  Cooper was trying to ignore Elliott's silliness.  :)

Elliott was excited to do some more Dot Painting today.  He was using them the right way and immediately started painting.  He stayed on task for several minutes (awesome) and it was pretty easy to see when he was done.  He was intently watching me and starting to stick one in his mouth.  So I gave a warning, but he was ready to be done.

Elliott - 5/22/2015

Elliott had a bite of brown rice and ate raisins for breakfast.  For lunch:  He didn't taste the meatloaf, but ate pita bread, carrots, and apricots.

Reid does very well with the younger kids.  He and Elliott were the only ones here today and Reid was so good to him!  I took this picture when they were both playing on the mattress.

We went for a walk and I pulled Reid and Elliott in the wagon.  They seemed to enjoy the ride, but I was the only one getting any exercise so we didn't go very far.  :)  Reid spotted some birds and laughed at some dogs barking at us.  When we got back to the yard we could hear a woodpecker, but we couldn't see him.  (I think it was probably a Flicker.)  His pecking was echoing so it was kind of hard to tell which way it was coming from.

I posted these next pictures from this morning after we got back from our walk.  The boys were playing on the geo-climber.

Reid was sitting on the teeter-totter and Elliott went over and climbed on too.  Again I was impressed with how careful Reid was with little Elliott.  And Elliott was obviously loving it!

I had to post this picture too because it looks like Elliott is holding up Reid.  I tried to take another picture, but they were in the shadows and the picture didn't turn out!  Reid was in the wagon and Elliott was attempting to pull the wagon!  Ha ha!  Very cute!

Elliott - 5/21/2015

Elliott ate cinnamon toast and grapes for breakfast.  For lunch he had a bite of chicken, ate dinner roll, half of hash browns, and ate cherries.

A few days ago I plugged in the "fish" tank and then was "tickling" the fish and pretending they were biting me!  "Oww oow oww...!"  Reid thought it was hilarious and today said, "Tickle the fish, tickle the fish."  So I was tickling the fish and they were biting me again.  Elliott was watching this time and he was roaring!  He loves the goofy play!

He did lots of block play again and having read-a-louds.  He reads REALLY loud sometimes....so much so I thought he was going to wake up Baby Layla.  But he didn't!  Here's a picture of him rearranging the block building the other boys had built.  Elliott loves these abandoned buildings!  :)  He found this spot to sit in and then he was partially stuck.

I took this picture this morning to show you where Elliott's favorite outside place to play is located!  Right at the bottom of the slide!  Especially the smallest climber.  I've seen so many of this exact age group do this!  It's where all the outside activity is at and some kids want to be in the middle of it!!  I worked and worked yesterday to move him away and distract him and he'd race right back to the same spot.  So today I told Cooper to go ahead and go down and gently bump him out of the way.  And that's all it took!  Elliott didn't like it, but he immediately left to play elsewhere.

Elliott - 5/20/2015

Elliott ate a whole wheat bagel and ate peaches for breakfast.  For lunch he ate mac-n-cheese, no ham, bites of corn, and ate apple pieces.  

Elliott and Sophie were playing in the igloo again - all three days this week!  She was still in the igloo and Elliott crawled out and started running around and around the igloo.  And he'd peek inside the entrance at her every time he'd run by.  It was super cute!  (Primarily because he was chuckling the entire time and obviously loving it!)

Here's another picture of Elliott doing some painting with a brush at Art Time.  He did really well and used his hands to spread paint around as well.  Eventually he started sticking the brush in his mouth, but as you can see by the picture he got his paper covered too! 

The boys (Cooper, Reid, and Elliott) played with the blocks a lot this morning!  They were primarily building very tall towers which I thought was threatening the lives of the babies!  :)  So I asked them if they wanted to build a house.  Reid said, "No; a Fort!"  Ha!  And then Cooper said, "No; a Fort!!"  So we built a fort and you can see Cooper peeking out and Reid diving over the fort walls!

Elliott was circling the fort and giggling the entire time; which concerned Cooper greatly!  "Elliott won't leave us alone!!  Put him in the box!!"  Ha!  Sorry Cooper, but that no longer works!  He just dives out of the box head-first!  (And he really wasn't destroying the Fort; he was listening to me and just running around and around!)  Cooper and Reid had moved their fort and then abandoned it when I took the picture below.  As soon as they left Elliott took possession and eventually Cooper realized what Elliott had done!  I told Cooper it was now Elliott's turn to have the Fort!!

Elliott - 5/19/2015

Elliott ate waffle and pears for breakfast.  For lunch he ate tuna and crackers, bites of sweet potatoes, and ate mandarin oranges.

The street sweeper came by first thing this morning and Cooper and Elliott had to check it out.  (Reid is hanging out with his Dad today, so it's just these two guys and the two babies.)  Elliott was waving his hand and it was so cute.  (Cooper is on his knees if you were wondering why he's so short!)  Elliott was busy reading when I told him he could watch the street sweeper out the window.

I wrote about Elliott loving it when Sophie follows him around.  They were playing again this morning and having so much fun.  They headed right for the igloo again and Sophie stops and starts clapping.

I mentioned above about Elliott reading some books.  He sat at the book rack and read several books and I think it's adorable when he reads aloud.  (LOUD!)  Ha!  He's actually quite dramatic about it all.

Elliott - 5/18/2015

Elliott ate half of chex cereal and ate mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch he ate roast beef sandwich, no sip of tomato soup, and ate lettuce salad.

Elliott had a blast with Sophie after she woke up from her morning nap.  She is moving all over the place now and Elliott was on the floor crawling and she was following him.  Oh man, that made him giggle!  She followed him right into the igloo and he LOVED it!  She was sitting in there clapping her hands.  It was so cute.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this past weekend.  Elliott was checking out all the new stuff and very engaged with the toys.  He liked these cooking toys and all the food.  Reid was putting food in the pans, putting the lids on, and setting the pans on the stove top.  And Elliott was intently watching the procedure!  :)  Thank you for the great example of how to play with the food toys Reid!

Elliott was working hard with the legos again and I got the camera to take a picture.  As soon as I got the camera he stood there and grinned at me like you see in the picture.  Ha!  He wouldn't just sit down and continue building.  He also built with the big blocks, played with the shakers, and listened at Story Time.

Elliott - 5/15/2015

Elliott ate bites of oatmeal and ate canned prunes for breakfast.  (The front of his hair might be a little sticky from laying his face in the prune juice!  Actually, it was more like splatting the paper plate on his own face!  Ha!)  For lunch he ate several bites of hash brown casserole, ate biscuit, and mandarin oranges.

I'm sure you already know this, but shaking his head "no" doesn't mean no.  Ha!  Pretty typical!  "You wanna read books?"  I asked.  Elliott vigorously shakes his head "no" and then comes with his arms held high ready to sit on my lap.

He was playing on top of the play table and I was on the other side.  He said, "Hi hi" and comes crawling over to me.

We had a friend stay last night (and the next two nights) and Elliott warmed right up.  He was on Bill's lap within a few minutes.  Elliott was also delighted that Cooper's Dad Casey wanted to "give him five."  Which, as you know, is Elliott's favorite game right now.  I took this picture when Elliott was watching to see where the company was going.  "Hey, come back and play with me!"

He worked hard at the legos and made the interesting shapes you see in the picture.  Cooper said, "What's Elliott making?"  And Cooper and Reid then went over to watch him.  I'll bet Elliott worked at it for more than 15 minutes.  I LOVE how engaged he gets with his projects.  And apparently the big boys like watching him too!!  :)

Elliott - 5/14/2015

Elliott ate cinnamon toast and had a taste of cantaloupe for breakfast.  For lunch he tasted the turkey slice, ate most of dinner roll, ate green beans, and ate mangoes.

Elliott is funny with his "giving fives" all the time.  He will frequently hear me say "give me five" to Cooper or Reid when they listen to me.  He'll come charging across the room with his hand up ready to get in on the 'giving five' action!  He was trying to give Baby Layla fives which was pretty funny. And he was giving Cooper fives as well which was more successful!

I took this picture yesterday afternoon and Sophie had made it over to where Elliott was playing with a school bus.  She grabbed one as well, and then seemed ready to take ownership of his too!  They just kept on playing and it really didn't matter.

I was taking (or trying to take) the breakfast tray back to the kitchen and Elliott had the gate blocked. He was feeling pretty cheesy and I happened to have the camera with me!  :)  Yes, you're pretty hilarious Elliott!!

Cooper started building this wall of blocks (standing on edge) and it was actually quite sturdy.   It stood up to Elliott messing with it, although he eventually knocked it apart while the big boys were having fun with play dough.  That did not gain him any popularity when Cooper and Reid arrived back on the scene.  But they moved on to building with the little legos so Elliott joined them there too!  He was building beside the big boys and it looked cute.  He was sitting on the edge of the drawer with one foot in the drawer and one foot outside the drawer.  Easier to grab the legos I guess.

Elliott - 5/13/2015

Elliott ate half of whole wheat toast and ate mixed berries for breakfast.  For lunch he tasted the ham, ate crackers, bean & bacon soup, and ate strawberries.

Elliott saw Lauralea loving on Cooper this morning and went running over with his arms held high wanting some loves too.  It only lasted momentarily because Cooper got down, so Elliott wanted down as well.  :)

I love watching Elliott work with 'problem solving' toys!  Like shape sorters and also these stacking cups in the picture below.  He experiments with lots of different ones and will work at them for the longest time! Nice work Elliott!

I'm sure you're seeing lots of play with these building blocks at home, but he never gets tired of them. I love it that the youngest toddlers like Elliott can maneuver these blocks.  The tower you see in the picture below is his creation.  I managed to grab the camera and get a picture as it was beginning to topple over!

Reid was sitting on the couch and Elliott playfully went up and started playing with his feet and socks again just like yesterday.  Reid watched Elliott wander off and start the sidewalk row you see him sitting by in the picture below.  So Reid and Cooper joined him and built two sidewalks.  I thought it was cool because it was Elliott who started connecting the blocks first.  This is a side note you might like; Cooper recognized their sidewalk made an "L" shape and said, "L for Lauralea!"

Elliott - 5/12/2015

Elliott ate half of whole wheat bagel serving and ate apricots for breakfast.  For lunch he ate everything; chicken, elbow noodles, peas, and applesauce.  (I mixed them all together again.)  He let me feed him all of it.  He likes to feed himself, but I've noticed that by lunch time if he's getting tired he actually prefers that I feed him.

Wow!  Everyone is here today!  It is nice to have Elliott back!  I've been missing him!!  Cooper was happy about that and he was cute when Elliott arrived!  He kissed him several times on the head and followed him around for the first 30 minutes.  He kept telling me, "I kissed Elliott!"  It was very sweet how much affection he was showing Elliott.  In the picture below he just went over and sat down beside him while Elliott was drinking some milk.

This tidbit has nothing to do with Elliott, but I thought you might enjoy it anyhow!  My neighbor Willy was out mowing his lawn and he always looks to see if the kids might be at the window.  So Cooper waved and said, "Hi Big Willy!"  (That's my name for Willy.)  Elliott was at the window too, but he was looking, not waving.  This was Reid's first time waving at Willy and I liked his version - "Hi Big Wooly!"  (Willy will think that's hilarious!)

Reid was sitting on the couch and Elliott was standing in front of him tugging playfully on Reid's blue blanket.  Reid just grinned at him and pulled his blanket away.  So Elliott started tugging on Reid's socks.  It was pretty cute because Elliott was intently watching Reid's reaction.  (Which was pretty mild!)  I'm not sure what Elliott was thinking or expecting, but after that he just wandered off to explore something else.  :)

Elliott - 5/1/2015

Elliott ate oatmeal and several dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch he ate everything - I mixed it all together and he ate a lot!  Ground beef, elbow noodles, peas, and applesauce.  This is really the first time he's ate that much meat and not spit it back out.

I think his little butt is doing much better lately - what do you think?  I really haven't held back on the fruit lately, such as blueberries, prunes, etc.  And he has handled it well and his skin on his bottom looks very good.  Maybe it was just a 'stage' and he is getting past that!  That's what I'm hoping for!!

Elliott had a good morning; playing with all the toys and exploring with everything.  He read books, as well as sat for all of Story Time.  He has come running every day this week when it's Story Time.  Good job Elliott!  He also played with pop-up toys, the xylophones, and playing at the gates.  He loves those gates!!  Especially the one going into the living room because it's easier to shake like a wild man!  :)

Sometimes I play with my pen when I'm taking notes for theses blogs.  I'm not even thinking about it, I'm just watching the kids and then I see Elliott chuckling.  He loves it when I make my pen jump up and down.  He makes me laugh!  He is so much fun to play with because he gets a kick out of everything!!

Did I already mention the neighbor's dog in Elliott's Blog?  (That sounds like a line from Dr. Seuss!) If so, I guess you'll be hearing it again! That dog is really loud and sometimes he'll wait until the kids are right at the fence and he's only a few feet away and then it will start barking; loud and aggressively!  It scares Cooper to death!!  Elliott just stands there looking at the dog while Cooper is running for his life, crying loudly!  :)  

Have an awesome vacation and I'll see you on May12th!