February 26, 2008

Holy crap.. we knew Elliot knew some colours and shapes - we could ask him to get the black crayon and he would, or we'd say "Where's the circle?" and he's pick it up... but last night, Jay's dad and stepmom were over and she was asking Elliot "What's this?" to all his crayons and shapes and he said the words for 5 colours and 4 shapes. Wowee, he's just been exploding with words the last couple of days!

Such a little smarty pants, huh! Man, I love this kid!!! We did a word count, and now it's over 35 words, not including all the animal noises and signs he knows. He also has a bunch of compound words - some new, but most of which I somehow forgot about when we were talking about it in the other thread.

It just blows me away how much he knows and is expressing. I'm so proud!!!!! And I'm missing so much of it because I'm at work all the damn time now!!!!

November 24, 2007

I typed up Elliot's accomplishments over the last few weeks for Jay, and when I read it over, I was so proud I had to share!

-Brings his chair over to the couch when I ask, so he can watch TV in the morning.
-Says "please" and "yes" appropriately. Also, he pronounces them "ptheth" and "desh". Often, he signs more and says please, but it's usually hard to figure out what he wants more of because he does it seemingly randomly.
-Says "help" when he needs it - sounds like "hep". Usually said when he's stretched out on the floor trying to reach something under the furniture. When asked if he wants help, he responds with 'desh', sometimes 'yesh' or 'des'.
-Gives mainly closed mouth kisses, saying "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" the whole time.
-Opening doors
-Hanging off the oven door handle (scary!) It hasn't opened yet, but I'm trying to figure out how to attach the latch.
-Climbing up on chairs and other furniture.
-Doing all the actions for "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider"
-"Counting" - if you say 1...2...3...up to 10, he'll chime in and repeat you. Does this in English, French, German, and Spanish. *To clarify - he doesn't say the actual words, just grunts. But sometimes they sound remarkably close!
-Says 'bye-bye' and waves and blows kisses appropriately ('bub-bub")
-Sits forward facing in his car seat.
-Points at things and carries on very animated and passionate conversations with them. Such a babbler!!!
-Madly in love with bubbles. ("Bubbas")
-Drops things and says "uh-oh" (not all the time, but it's damn cute when he does it!!!)


My god, he's growing up!!!!!!

November 9, 2007

Well, I suppose I should finish out yesterday, huh?

Elliot had a 3 hour nap again - he woke up around 12:30. I used that time to get some laundry and cleaning done. I also made a kick-ass chicken/veggie/noodle/rice soup. Yum!

Had a playdate. Unfortunately, Elliot was having a bad tooth day and he bit his friend. I don't think he entirely meant to - he leaned in to give her a kiss and I think he took the opportunity to press his teeth into her head - it wasn't a chomp like he did last time. She shrieked and cried for quite a while and Elliot cried a bit, too. I think he realized a little what he had done. He got scolded, of course.

Went for a walk to the natural food store before supper. Elliot made lots of friends, like he usually does. I had him in the Ergo, and he kept saying 'yeah', so I'd say it back to him and we walked around like a couple of idiots.

K came over just before 6. We played for a bit then Elliot had supper (sweet potato, rice, broccoli, juice, water, applesauce) he was tired and cranky and seemed to be in pain - he didn't want to eat the sweet potato after a while. He had a massive scary coughing fit again. Threw up in his mouth a couple of times but swallowed in back down, the gross little bugger! Had an uneventful bath (until he peed as we were draining the water.) The we all curled up on our bed and red "Green Hat, Blue Hat". He fell asleep easily. (Yes, I drugged him, poor thing.)

K did the dishes while I tidied up. We put a frozen pizza in the over and ate it with salad and we split a can of coke. She gave me a back/neck/head rub while we talked about the direction her life is going. She and soon-to-be-ex have come to a bit of an agreement - they're starting to split of their assets and expenses and household items. It's still very rocky and he is still being a dick, but they seem to be making headway.

Elliot fussed around 8, but i gave him his soother and rocked him and he fell back to sleep. K and I went to bed around 9:30 (we're so old!!) and Elliot had another restless night. He was crying around 1, but was still laying down when I got in there. I put his soother in and he settled immediately. He was up again just before 4, but again, I rocked him back to sleep. That lasted about 20 minutes, though, so I brought him in and nursed him. He drank for a long time then fell asleep, so I carried him back to his bed. We all slept until 7:15 or so.

Breakfast was yummy today! Coffee for mama and K, along with scrambled eggs, pears, milk and juice. Elliot gobbled it all down! Then we said goodbye to K who had to run to catch the bus. Elliot watched Poko (He calls it Po-o) and Lunar Jim and then we played for a bit then went upstairs. He played in the hall while I had a shower and then we changed him and he went down for a nap at 10:30.

And here I am, typing it all out... :)


On the agenda for today:
Few more groceries (cranberry juice in particular)
Play date
The Movie Channel is having a free preview weekend starting at 7 tonight, so I'm excited about that.

A funny story from this morning: When I was putting Elliot down for his nap, Bailey started doing her little meowing routine. I was so mad at her, but Elliot fell asleep anyway. I could see Melon camped out in the hallway, but didn't see Bailey. I figured she had gone downstairs. I went down to start cleaning up and could still hear her through the monitor. Yep, sure enough, I had locked her in the guest room when I closed the door to Elliot-proof the hallway so I could have my shower. She was very happy to be let out!

Elliot had a 2 hour nap. I watched TV. (Should have napped, I know!) He woke up, I changed him, we came downstairs and I started getting his lunch ready. Within 5 minutes, he'd filled his diaper, so up we went again. Lunch was good - soup from yesterday, avocado, yogurt, juice and water. Then we waited for our friends to arrive.

We decided to try the double stroller, so I dragged it outside. (I got grease all over my jeans in the process, bummer!) and we loaded the kiddos in and off we went.

Had a nice afternoon at the mall. The double stroller just fits through the main doors, and larger stores like Sears and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. We got coffee and I bought a onsie at Sears. I wanted to buy a toilet-seat baby proofing thingy, but they didn't have any. We came home and Elliot played for a while.

I was researching charting software online when Elliot started fussing. He had been playing with the curtains. He started squawking so I went to investigate. He was on his belly between the heater and the hope chest, and he was stuck - the heater valve & pipe were on one side of his neck and the fold up play car was on the other side. Luckily, the heater was only slightly warm.

Then he went into the kitchen and was playing with the rolling cart. I heard a bang and he started crying again. He'd backed himself into the pot cupboard and had pulled the cart in to himself. He scratched his forehead and bumped the back of his head on the door handle. Poor munchkin!!!

He had supper (burned freezer soup, cheese, rice, water, applesauce) and then we had a nice bath and read The Going To Bed Book. Sure enough, he started rocking back and forth as we turned to the last page, before I could even read it! He nursed ok then fell asleep.

I'm trying an experiment tonight - he's in a cloth diaper, so we'll see how that goes! I took a large Fuzzi Bunz with it's regular microfibre insert and added a thick hemp insert in the pocket. Then I put the fleece-topped hemp insert in next to his skin. It was able to snap up to the tightest setting, but it's bulky. Fingers crossed for no leaks and a restful boy!!

Elliot did a somersault today! He's been doing little head stands in his bed while waiting for me to change him, and I've taken to flipping him over onto his back that way. Today he was playing around with it in his bed and kicked his legs and over he went. Now I have to worry about him snapping his neck in there!! I guess babies are flexible for a reason...

I watched all my shows from last night today. Nothing on tonight, but I did program the DVR to record a bunch of stuff from the free Movie Network preview weekend.

Ugh. Must got to bed now. Very sleepy. Let's hope there's a positive preggers test in the morning to explain this fatigue!!!

First steps!

We were in the library yesterday with my friend and her kids (13, 9 & 1). her oldest son was playing with Elliot and then put him down on the floor standing up, as he expected him to be fine like that (since his little sister is walking now). Elliot took 2 steps before he reached out to hold on, then another step away from him. it was beyond adorable!

tonight, Jay was bracing Elliot up on the couch and having him "walk" to him,which consisted mainly of Elliot death-launching at him at warp speed. but then El took a few steps. so i sat down with him and we got him to walk back and forth between us. he would take 2-3 steps then go into launch mode. so cute!!

June 24, 2007

Last week, Elliot started repeating words back to us: "Bob" (our stroller), was first, followed by "Up" and most recently, "Sock". At first, it was just imitation, but he has caught on quickly to what "up" means, so i guess that's his first word. YAY Elliot!!!!!


(Actually, 'ball' ended up being his first official word, as it was the first one he said independently. He saw one, pointed , and said "Ball!" all on his own, no prompting.)

June 11, 2007

Elliot started waving and clapping today! So many other babies his age have been doing both for a few months, so it's good to see him finally catch on! He's only done both twice, so hopefully he'll get better in the next few days.

Last week, at 8.5 months old, he started climbing our stairs. Scary! He's very proud of himself. He cruises around the furniture in our livingroom with ease. He always wants to be holding something in his hands when he moves around: blocks, socks, rocks, other toys... such a monkey!

May 3, 2007

Elliot started pulling himself up in his crib yesterday - i knew it was coming, as he's been trying to for weeks now. but yesterday was his first "all by myself" time. (YAY ELLIOT!!!)

but, now he won't stop and this is making naps and middle of the night nursings tricky. we used to be able to put him down, drowsy but not asleep, and he might cry for a second or crawl around a bit, and then go to sleep. but now, he goes into a full roar and pulls himself up to standing and rattles the bars of the crib. he's certainly not going to put himself to sleep like this!

so i've gone back to rocking him or nursing him back to full sleep before putting him down. i know babies wake up to practice new abilities, and i'm hoping that's all this is. and that it will subside once the novelty wears off. but i'm worried that i'm wrecking his sleep habits by putting him down already asleep. (he seems to wake up sooner and more frequently if i put him down asleep. if he puts himself to sleep, i guess he's not so freaked out when he wakes up and i'm no longer rocking or nursing him and he just goes back to sleep on his own.)

but still.... a great developmental milestone for E-man!

He's been creeping around on his belly and also getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth for a month now. A few days ago, he crawled a few paces (without knowing it) because he was trying to catch Melon. This afternoon, he did the same thing, only trying to get another baby. Then, later on, he crawled across our living room floor! But that time, he had a look of triumph on his face. He knew what he was doing, but i don't think it was absolutely clear how he was doing it.

The baby-proofing begins in earnest now. Yikes!

February 26, 2007

Well, we started Elliot on solid foods last week. (Well, "solids" is a bit of a stretch, since the cereal is so liquid!) He seems to like it. He's not as wild for it as we expected, but i think that's just because the rice cereal and oatmeal he's had so far are very bland. Next week, he gets barley cereal, which is also bland. After that, we'll be introducing a new vegetable every 3 days. i think once he gets something with flavour and texture in his mouth, it' going to be a whole new ballgame!

He seems to enjoy the oatmeal more than the rice cereal. He also likes bananas, and apples, and honeydew melon - all of which he's licked, just enough to get a taste. The apple was the best. his whole face lit up and he started breathing hard and flapping his arms. After he's had some pureed veggies, we will start on fruits purees. I just know he'll love them!

February 4, 2007

Yesterday I felt that Elliot had another toothie peeking out. This time it's the lower left (it was the lower right before.) It's still there today, just a corner, but it's sharp! He bit my finger, the little dickens. He's been very whiney, so i think it's hurting him, poor boy. Maybe it's here to stay?

We gave him milk in a sippy cup this morning. Took him a while to figure out that the cup wasn't a toy. Kept hitting himself in the face with it, too. Finally, i took the lid off and he drank out of it like a big boy cup. He never did get the hang of the sippy spout, but he did figure out there was milk inside. Buuuut, once again, it was too close to nap time and he got cranky. We took lots of pictures and some video

January 31, 2007

Elliot spent a good chunk of yesterday laying on blankets on the living room floor. He was rolling all over the place! (Belly to back, anyways...) But then last night, he rolled TWICE from his back to his belly! YAY for Elliot!!!! It's a trickier move to maneuver, and I don't think he's fully figured it out yet, but it's neat to watch.

January 25, 2007

Elliot discovered his feet this week... that's making diaper changes a bit challenging. He grabs at his knees & feet and rolls to the side. I helped him put his foot in his mouth, but he made a face and spat it out. I guess he has stinky feet! Such a little monkey! He's also discovered touch and texture and has been running his hands over different fabrics. It's so neat to watch him learn new things!

January 23, 2007

Elliot is 4 months old already! He had a check up yesterday, and he is 17 lbs 4 oz and 26 inches long. He had immunizations again and didn't even blink! Such a good boy. He didn't have any reactions to the shots either - no fever or irritation. He slept for almost 8 hours in a row last night - something he hasn't done since before Christmas. (His cold really threw him off, I think.)

His measurements now mean he's officially too long for his infant carseat. We need to get a next stage carseat that is designed to stay in the car that we don't have. These types of carseats don't have a handy handle on them, and this will make travel interesting. I think we'll invest in a heavy duty stroller and make it a point of walking everywhere, even in crappy weather.

I've been putting Elliot in his crib in his own room for naps for the last 2 weeks. Over the weekend, we put him there at bedtime. So far, so good, but it's only been 3 nights! I think it's much harder on mommy than it is on him. I've already had a few cries about it. I know he's probably going to sleep much better without the noises and distractions from our room (the cats knock things off the dresser, etc)... but he's been in a cradle next to our bed for the last 4 months. *sniff* My little boy! I miss him already!

Today I bought a white noise machine to see if it would help him nap longer. He usually fusses and wakes up after napping 40 minutes, but with the machine, I heard him fuss once then fall back to sleep at the 45 minute mark. He's still sleeping right now and it's been an hour! Woooo woooo! Let's hope it's a trend.

He rolled over today from his belly to his back 100% on his own. He rolled at 3 months, but we helped a bit - we would lay next to him on the bed and our weight would dip the mattress a touch & help him get the momentum needed.

Look out world, Elliot is coming to meet you!

December 21, 2006

Elliot is sick with a cold - very congested. i have a miserable sore throat. Jay has a runny nose. what a sad bunch we are!

Elliot is being so good. he's not very fussy, but has been sleeping for most of the day. he's only been awake for 6.5 hours all day - yes, i counted, i'm that anal. i'm trying not to freak out over that fact, and that he's had fewer wet diapers today. the good news is he's still nursing and doesn't seem dehydrated at all (drooly, in fact!)

he's not feverish and there doesn't seem to be anything to suction out with the aspirator, but he sounds so congested. we've been bringing him into the bathroom while we have showers so that the steam unclogs him - his nose would run afterwards, so i know it's working. we don't yet have a humidifier or vaporizer, but i think we're ok this time around.

my poor little baby. i hate to think that he has the same sore throat i have. it's terrible to think of him hurting at all. he wouldn't understand why, only that he hurts and mommy's not making it better.

on the progress side, Elliot is meeting more milestones! over the weekend, he started grabbing at his toys. he's really into his hands - looking at them, sucking on them, waving them around. he's vocalizing a lot, too, always chatting or yelling happily. He started actively trying to roll over from his back to his belly. since this is the tougher direction to roll in, we were very pleased! then on Wednesday, on his 3 month "birthday" he rolled over twice, but from his belly to his back. Such a smart little boy! he is still arching his back and kicking off with his feet when he's on his back, so likely rolling from that direction isn't far behind. now we have to watch where we put him down, since he's becoming more mobile!!!

May 3, 2006

I've been feeling movement for quite a while now, but Jay has been having a hard time distinguishing between the extra pulse in my stomach, digestion, and movement. Well! Monday, May 1, we had just finished supper (pizza!) and were curled up on the couch watching Medium and the baby started kicking harder than i've ever felt before. Jay put his hand just below my belly button and within seconds had been kicked squarely in his palm!

Last night i came home and he had bought me tulips to celebrate. Awwwwww!!

After the ultrasound: there's only one baby, so Jay is relieved...i was teasing him about twins, as i was feeling movement on both sides at once!

everything looks great... baby is measuring a bit big: 14oz (standard right now is 10-12oz, i guess) but no one was concerned. i'm measuring a day ahead of schedule, but will keep my Sept. 18 due date!

baby is pretty much horizontal across my belly, and is face down. we actually got to see him/her kick and punch my very full bladder during the scan! head is measuring 6 cm in diameter, we saw the right amount of hands and feet and fingers (the bones in the feet were so cool!)

no pictures or gender determination - they don't do that here, but the tech did keep calling the baby "pretty" and "beautiful", so maybe that means girl???? either way, we'll be happy! (Jay is still holding out for a boy, though!!)

yay! there's a real baby in there!!!

April 22, 2006

18w5d

At 17.5 weeks, I went to look at an apartment with H. It was on the top floor and I thought I'd look over the stair railing and down to the bottom floor, but something stopped me - my belly! Very odd feeling.

Lots of movement happening - feels like flips and pokes. Jay can't feel it from the outside yet, but shouldn't be long now!

April 10, 2006

17w
9.5 TP squares around.

Felt the baby move a lot over the weekend. Saturday, there were lots of kicks (or something) on the lower left of my bellybutton. And yesterday while I was walking downtown, it felt like somersaults - a heavy gas/bubble like feeling that didn't turn into gas. So neat!

My next prenatal is Wednesday. I'm curious to see my weight gain. I don't think it's much, maybe 5 lbs or so.

And our next ultrasound is May 3rd. I'll be 20.5 weeks, and they'll know if it's a boy or girl, but they're not allowed to tell us. Which is ok, since I want it to be a surprise. Jay would like to know, and I'll admit it would make some planning very easy, but I don't think it matters... we're having a baby!!

Maech 23, 2006

14w3d

So I think I'm feeling the baby flutter!!! It started about 2 weeks ago (when it really should have been too early to feel anything). I was making supper on a Sunday night and felt a little "flip" low in my belly, just above my pubic bone.

Since then, I've felt a few little wiggles on the sides. This could all just be gas or things stretching, but that first flip - I've never felt anything like that before!