Elliott - 6/30/2015

Elliott ate cinnamon roll and canned prunes for breakfast.  For lunch he ate bites of this combo: scrambled eggs, hash browns, and sausage.  He ate waffle and half of his cantaloupe.  Elliott's hair got pretty sticky at breakfast (he was done eating) after he had his plate upside-down on his head! He's been doing pretty well with his spoon like I mentioned a couple days ago and I think it's been helping him to actually eat more as well!

I was thinking about our conversation concerning Elliott's morning behavior and wanting to be held all the time.  Have you been having to wake him up to come to Daycare?  He was really acting tired this morning and I laid him in his crib and he slept until I woke him for breakfast at 9:00.  And he was a totally different kid after that nap!  Very happy!

I'll title this first picture; "Big Brother in Training!"  I've mentioned to you before that Elliott really does good with the babies.  He likes them a lot and likes interacting with them.  In this picture he's just squatting down watching Layla and kind of chuckling to himself.  He's obviously enjoying it.  Later he was playing with Sophie around the igloo.  He liked the fact that she was "following" (crawling) him around and around the igloo.

I think Cooper kind of likes being the "big dog" on campus this week!  He has been very cute with Elliott and likes being the big kid, helping direct Elliott with the toys.  And during bubble play Cooper had very little "competition" while chasing bubbles.  Elliott was just standing and giggling or running right past the bubbles!

Elliott - 6/29/2015

Elliott ate kix cereal and mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch he ate ham sandwich, peas, and mandarin oranges.  And he was using his spoon pretty well at both meals.

Elliott was stretching out his shirt and peering down it.  So Cooper grabbed Elliott's shirt so he could have a look too.  What'd you see? I asked.  Cooper said, "His belly button!!"  :)  I'd never seen Elliott  stretch on his shirt like that, but I think he was trying to pull it up over his head.  (Love the onsies!)

Elliott does so well whenever it's time to get on some sunscreen.  I didn't even say anything this morning, I just held it up for him to see and he came running.  :)  I put it on the exact same way every time and Elliott holds out his arm, then the other arm, and then backs up to me so I can do the back of his neck, ears, and reach around and rub on his face.  I'm a pretty routine person and it works well with this age group!  :)

He was pushing the dump trucks around like he always does outside.  He likes the concrete pad in front of the garage door, but he frequently goes right off with the end result like you see in the picture.  However, you can see he is still smiling too!

Elliott and Sophie were so cute playing side-by-side this morning - inside and outside.  Right after I took the picture below Elliott went head-first into the play house!  Intentionally!  He's done it before, but he's also went out the window from the inside!  And that's a harder landing !!  Geez!  You'd think the pain would be a deterrent!  (And it happens pretty quickly!)

Elliott - 6/26/2015

Elliott ate half of brown rice and ate raisins for breakfast.  For lunch I didn't see him have a bite of meat loaf; ate pita bread, carrots, and apricots.

Cooper, Elliott, and Layla are the only ones here today.  I took this picture after Layla first arrived and Elliott was watching Cooper kiss her tummy.  Elliott is in a very experimental stage and trying to do everything that he can find to mess with.  I cannot leave a gate open or any of my stuff laying around, such as camera, pen, notes, etc.  Cooper has been very helpful in alerting me to Elliott's antics and shenanigans!  Elliott made it out into our living room when I was cleaning up after breakfast.  Cooper was yelling, "Elliott's doing something, Elliott's doing something!!"  Ha!  He wasn't sure what to call it, but he knew it was wrong!

This picture was taken after Cooper moved away and Elliott just looked at her for awhile and then moved on.  He's doing pretty well with being gentle with the babies so hopefully this will all be good training for when he becomes a big brother!

During outside time Cooper kept trying to get Elliott to follow him with the dump truck.  "Follow me Elliott, follow me Elliott!"  And Elliott would invariably head off in another direction!  We also read books, sang songs, and did some painting at art time.  Elliott did quite well with the painting.  I had to leave the room momentarily to check on Layla, but I had a paint shirt on him, he was in the high chair, so I wasn't worried about the results!  He never did get any paint on his face!  Every where else, but not on his face!  :)

Elliott - 6/25/2015

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

I took this picture yesterday because the story behind the picture was pretty hilarious.  It always makes me laugh when the "older" kids try to get the "younger" kids to pull them in the wagon.  Cooper was asking Elliott to "pull me Elliott, pull me."  Elliott came running right over, but climbed right into the wagon and sat down.  Cooper yelled, "No Elliott!  Pull me!"  Ha ha!  At the same time I could hear Baby Layla on the monitor so I went to check on her.  When I walked back out this is the picture I took.  So Elliott got the message.  But Cooper still wasn't satisfied!  "Faster Elliott, faster!"  LOL  I was roaring!  :)

Elliott totally likes to pester Cooper especially.  I haven't seen him pestering Reid much - not yet anyhow!  He was grabbing a legos Cooper was using and he'd run for his life and then stop by the couch, look back, and see how Cooper is responding.  Then later he was playing with Sophie.  She's at that age where she'll hold something out, but really doesn't want you to take it.  Well, she held out her stuffed animal to Elliott and he took it.  But she screamed!  Ha!  He looked slightly bewildered!

We were playing outside and Cooper was watching Elliott crawl across the patio (not sure what that was about) and Cooper said, "He's crawling like a maniac!!"  :)  And he really was crawling pretty fast - kind of like a maniac!  :)

Elliott - 6/24/2015

Elliott had a bite of whole wheat bagel and ate most of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch he ate a bite of beef & bean burrito, bite of corn, and ate apple pieces.

I've already talked to Mommy Kimberly on the phone a couple times today, but I'll blog a note about his sore bottom.  I'll bet it was getting sore earlier and that's probably why he was getting fussy when he arrived at Little Treasures.  Once I got him cleaned-up and some cream on him he did much better. It was obviously VERY sore when I changed him the first time.  He was straining to poop in the breakfast highchair, but he still managed to wave bye to Lauralea.  That was very sweet!

I put him in this onesie you see in the picture and he played in that all morning.  I liked how he was just standing to read at the book rack.  Maybe he didn't want to sit on his sore bottom!?!

And I took this picture later in the morning and he was engaged with toys and playing well.  And he'd even dropped the froggy!!  He was pestering Cooper and talking loudly to him.  Cooper would say, "No!" and Elliott would, "jabber jabber jabber" back at him real loudly!  And Elliott was quite amused by the game of words!

He was standing at the window jabbering soon after he arrived this morning.  The only word I could understand was "Mommy."  He say, "Mommy Mommy" and point down the road, "jabber jabber jabber."  Lauralea and I were getting very amused by his jabbering.

Elliott - 6/23/2015

Elliott ate waffle and two servings of pears for breakfast.  For lunch he ate crackers (no tuna), ate sweet potatoes, and mandarin oranges.

I was looking at yesterday's Blog and the picture I posted of Elliott with the blocks.  I realized I didn't even mention what I wanted to about that picture.  You can see in the picture he has a spoon in his hand and he was using that spoon to pry the blocks apart.  I thought that was very cute because he learned that from watching Reid and Cooper.

Most of outside time was spent pushing this dump truck around you see in the picture below.  He was going from one end of the yard to the other end.

Elliott did do some running, playing with the balls, and playing on the climbers during outside time too.  I took this picture of the boys watching the garbage workers.  It's been a long time since their work schedule has coincided with our outdoor time.  Notice that Elliott still has his dump truck.

Reid was in a mode of pestering everyone this morning - not in a mean way, but still more physical than necessary.  I keep a very close eye on him when he's being playful like that because he's so big. Check out the picture above.  He and Cooper are 6 days apart in age and Cooper is a very medium sized 2 year old.  :)

Elliott - 6/22/2015

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

He was so happy to be back and it was so cute all morning.  He was making the cutest contented chuckling sounds just walking around looking at everything.  We did a toy exchange so everything was new too, and he had lots to do.  He read tons of books and was talking on the phone to "Mommy."  He also said, "Lauralea" when she was still here.  I kept telling him to say "Gary" and he'd point at me and chuckle.  :)  He brought me two books to read, but hauling the books back and forth became a more fun game!  He was pushing the igloo with his feet and chuckling and then scooting backwards while laying on his back.

I posted these pictures of Elliott and Sophie because it perfectly describes the process of them learning through observation and copying behavior.  This was the first time she'd made it onto the table step and she was very proud of herself.

Elliott was having fun playing beside her and loved seeing her again - and I'm making that observation by the constant grin and chuckling sounds!

This picture was taken later in the morning, but Elliott should be proud!  :)  Sophie made it to the table top by herself!  I didn't leave her there very long as she was perched precariously close to the edge!!

Elliott - 6/12/2015

Elliott had a few bites of oatmeal and ate canned prunes for breakfast.  He had a few bites of his lunch: hash brown casserole, biscuit, and mandarin oranges.

Cooper and Reid built this sidewalk and then ran and ran and ran on it.  They were circling around the igloo and they both were sweating profusely before they were done!!  Elliott, on the other hand, had his own agenda!  He insisted on going the opposite direction and wasn't about to do any different!  But at least he wasn't crying when he'd get bumped - over and over!!

And this is basically another picture of the same thing!!  Silly Elliott!  He totally knew what he was doing and was enjoying it!

I included this picture of Reid in Elliott's Blog because I thought you'd all get a kick out of it.  He totally went along with my silliness and was being a Ham for the camera.  This was at breakfast (actually after breakfast) and I told him this was his bowl.  He was more than happy to go back and sit down and pose for the picture!  Ha ha!  (And that's a serving spoon that's in his hand!!)

Elliott had so much fun outside chasing bubbles.  Actually, I think he had as much fun watching Cooper and Reid chase the bubbles.  The wind kept the bubbles blowing across the yard and the older boys were having a blast!  Elliott was chuckling and laughing the entire time.  Also, I wanted to mention when I say, "Come and get your sunscreen," he comes running every time!!

Yesterday afternoon Elliott had just gotten up from his nap and he started fussing.  I peeked around the corner to observe and here was Sophie sucking on his binky.  Ha ha!

Elliott - 6/11/2015

Elliott ate whole wheat bun and half of cantaloupe for breakfast.  For lunch he had a bite of turkey, ate whole wheat roll, no green beans, and ate mangoes.

Elliott stayed so busy all morning - building with the blocks, watching birds, building with little legos, interacting with Lauralea at the gate and giggling, reading books aloud, shape sorter trucks, laughing with Nora at the gate, and Kenzie playing with him again.

Here's a picture of Elliott with Reid's blanket.  Reid was joining Cooper in playing with the large blocks and he just turned around and handed Elliott his blanket.  It was like he was saying; "Here, hold this for me."  Totally shocked me.  Elliott looked at the blanket and then at Reid.  It's gotta be a trap?!?  Ha!  But Elliott strolled off playing with it and I thought that was so cute.

The boys played with some sidewalk chalk outside and Elliott tried for a few minutes, but he primarily wanted to eat it or just play in the chalk container sack.  When I took the picture below, Cooper wasn't impressed with where Elliott was standing.  He said, "He's standing on my chalk thing!!"  The boys also played with the balls, climbers, bikes, and wagons.  Reid saw Elliott pulling a wagon and he jumped in for a free ride; which looked quite hilarious!  Elliott tried to pull him, but finally wandered off and Cooper started pulling the wagon and giving Reid a ride.

Elliott - 6/10/2015

Elliott ate whole wheat toast and mixed berries for breakfast.  For lunch he had a bite of ham, ate crackers, bean & bacon soup, and ate strawberries.

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but Elliott has been helping pick up the big building blocks (or are they called legos?) every time we start picking up toys.  He stays on task and works hard at it. He brings them to me one-at-a-time and hands them off for me to put on the shelf.

I love watching him work hard at putting things together.  Look at the concentration on his face.  He's hard at work!  These types of toys are by far his favorite at Daycare.  He also likes some trucks we have out that are basically shape sorters as well.  As soon as we went outside he started pushing the dump trucks around and was making car and truck sounds.

Kenzie, Cooper's sister, always takes time to talk to the little people.  Elliott was playing peek-a-boo with her when I took this picture.  Earlier, he was sitting in the same place as the picture, watching Jamie (Cooper's Mommy) play peek-a-boo with Sophie.  Elliott was grinning all over the place and obviously getting pleasure from watching other's play.  And he started mimicking exactly what Jamie was doing.

Elliott - 6/9/2015

Elliott ate whole wheat bagel and apricots for breakfast.  He ate half of his lunch that I'd mixed together and was feeding him: chicken, elbow noodles, peas, and applesauce.

Several times this morning Elliott was pointing at birds outside and jabbering about them.  I took this picture when he was watching a pair of morning doves.  I enjoy listening to the cooing sounds of the morning doves.

Baby Layla had just woke up and was hungry and I was busy for a few minutes in the middle of lunch.  So I put the music thing (whatever it's called!) over the top of her and I liked how everyone was so interested in it!

When we were outside this morning I GENTLY bounced a soft ball off Elliott's head.  Elliott loves that kind of play and he was chuckling and we were having fun.  Bad Decision!!  I didn't realize Reid was watching and I had started to take some notes for these Blogs when all of a sudden I'm hit in the head with a yellow (not so soft) ball and NOT so gentle!  Ha ha ha!  I told Reid, "Gary shouldn't have done that Reid; we can't throw balls at people!!"  Especially from point-blank range with high velocity!!  :)

I love Elliott's silly sense of humor.  I'll do goofy things and he'll laugh like crazy.  So this morning I was pretending to laugh and tipping my head backwards and laughing.  Then I'd point to him and say, "Now it's your turn!"  And he'd tip his head back and laugh.  Pretty funny!  Outside I was dribbling the ball around him and he was chuckling while he was chasing it.  Then he held a ball out to me and I started drumming on it with my pen.  And we kept at that game for several minutes.  He gets such a kick out of silly little things like these that we frequently do.  

Elliott - 6/8/2015

Elliott ate several bites of breakfast: bran cereal and dried cranberries.  He had a bite of cheese pizza, bite of corn, and ate tropical fruit for lunch.

Cooper was at the window looking for someone to wave and blow kisses to when he saw the neighbor mowing his lawn.  "There's Big Willy!"  So Elliott and Reid went right over to the window and started looking around.  The kids also watched some birds at the bird-feeder.

Mia is spending the day at Little Treasures today.  She's in the process of switching Pre-Schools and I'm helping with the transition.  Elliott just kind of goes with the flow and doesn't seem to care who else may be here (or who may be gone).  Lauralea's Aunt was also here this morning, but Elliott didn't pay much attention to her either.  He went over and started reading books like usual and playing with the legos and other toys.  Love it.   :)

We had fun playing outside this morning and Elliott decided the bench was a nice place for the truck. I didn't want him to have it up there (in case he pushed it off onto a baby), but, of course, I had to get a picture first!  The little monkey!

He had lots of fun running around outside.  He pushed these dump trucks all over, played with the bikes, with the wagons, and on the climbers.  He really had a good morning and played steady and didn't even ask for his binky close to lunch time like he frequently will.

Elliott - 6/5/2015

Elliott ate malt-o-meal cereal and a couple of raisins for breakfast.  For lunch he ate most of ground beef, most of elbow noodles, ate mixed fruit (large serving), and bites of apple pieces.

We read lots of stories, did some sign language, reviewed the shapes, and colored at Art Time.  Elliott joined us in these activities.  When we are doing sign language I usually show them the sign and then ask them to identify it.  This morning I asked, "Can you show me the sign for thank you?"  Elliott did it first!  That was very cool!  Nice job Elliott!!

We also spent time outside this morning and Cooper was basically trying to drag Elliott around the yard.  What are you doing?  "I want him to walk with me!" Cooper said.  Well he doesn't seem to want to do that!  I took this picture when Elliott got up on the teeter-totter when the 'big' boys were on the other one.

Elliott was experimenting with different ways of going down the slide.  He started off by going down on his belly - feet first.  I didn't get a picture of that one, but here he is on his belly going down - face first!

And here is a not-so-perfect landing.  At least from his standpoint!  It was actually quite entertaining from a spectator standpoint!  And he was laughing so it didn't hurt too bad!!

Elliott - 6/4/2015

Elliott ate half of raisin english muffin and ate blueberries for breakfast.  For lunch he had bites of chicken, two servings of crackers, ate sweet potatoes, and a large serving of canned cherries.

Elliott had moved the step-stool and was using it (good problem solving) to get up onto the couch.  He crawled up there with some books and looked pretty big sitting up there reading all by himself! Earlier he'd been watching Reid use the microphones and the phones and started doing it as well.  He's really good at watching and then mimicking the play.  I'm sure you've seen that at home with Elliott and Noah many many times!

I took these two pictures of Elliott and Sophie because she'd been following him around and was interested in what he was doing.  In the top photo she's just watching him play with one of the stuffed animals.

In this bottom photo she was getting ready to climb the steps and follow him up there as well.  But Elliott turned around and started to play with her.  (She has climbed up the steps and all the way to the wall on the balance beam!)

Cooper has been very concerned lately because the bird feeder has not had any feed in it and he's been frequently reminding me!!  So I got some bird feed and went out to put some in the feeder.  I positioned Elliott at the window so he could watch.  I peeked in to see how he was doing and I saw I'd left the gate open to the living room and kitchen.  Ha!   And he was strolling around in the kitchen acting like he owned the place!  :)

Elliott - 6/2/2015

Elliott ate most of his waffle and ate hash browns for breakfast.  For lunch he ate most of chicken & cheese quesadilla, ate carrots, and mandarin oranges.

I like this picture of Elliott getting into the big box.  He's using what's available!  Ha!  He was standing on the car and boosting himself into the box and then Reid's leg happened to be in the right spot!  Nicely done Elliott!!  (It's called "problem solving skills!")  :)  And Reid seemed to be oblivious to the fact that Elliott was standing on him!!  Ha!

Elliott was laying on the mattress - exactly where the "big boys" were landing when jumping off the igloo!!  They were jumping over and around him and were doing a great job of avoiding him!!  (They were jumping there before he arrived, which is probably why he arrived!!)  Elliott just lay there grinning like it was the safest place in the world to be!  NOT!  :)

Elliott had a good morning, listened well, and experimented and played with LOTS of the toys.  He was also pestering Reid!!  And he was determined to pester him!!  It wasn't a BIG thing, just little pestering things like slyly touching Reid's toys and watching for a reaction from Reid or me!  So I'd move him away and frequently he'd be right back within a couple of minutes.

Elliott - 6/1/2015

Elliott had a bite of cheerios and ate banana for breakfast.  For lunch he had bites of cheese sandwich, drank several sips of tomato soup, and ate his lettuce salad with ranch dressing.

I posted this picture in case anyone was interested in seeing the busted tree branch (the neighbor's tree and another neighbor's car) across the street.  It happened during a wind/hail storm yesterday late afternoon.  On the left side of the picture you can see a huge puddle with a kid playing on his bicycle.

And the cleaning up of the tree mess was the primary attraction first thing this morning.  At first Elliott just wanted to check out the toys, but eventually he started looking out the window too, and waving randomly at.....?  :)

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and Elliott immediately was checking it all out.  He liked this assortment of reptiles; especially the various frogs.  He kind of liked the dinosaurs too, but he was having more fun trying to get some away from Cooper!  Cooper was also laying on the floor twirling his blanket around as Elliott and Sophie were trying to snatch it. (And it was a fun game for them.)

And I can't have a Blog without a picture of Elliott reading!!  I like how he has one leg tucked under his other leg.  Very cute.  Doesn't he look big in this picture?!