Big Brother Chronicles - Pets and parking

Well, it's official these are the dog days of summer. It is so hot & yucky outside that we only go to the park or walk or go to the zoo, or do anything in the morning. And that's pretty tough b/c Eli likes to nap somewhere in there, so if he's going to have any shot at a normal day we stay home a lot. Anyway, to alleviate our cabin fever dad scrubbed off my playground and brought it inside. It's a little cramped to be sure, but much better to have it to climb on inside rather than all the furniture. Elliot thinks he can climb on it too and that makes mom plenty nervous.

Well, I'm experiencing another first: I got my first pets over the weekend. We got two fish and put them in my playroom. They are very high maintenance and have already had a scrape with death when the ammonia levels got too high in their water--whatever that means. Anyway, we like to watch them swim around and the are piggies so they are fun to feed, too.

So Elliot wasn't kidding, I really do like to play with my letters. It's a great thing to do inside and in the car (I have magnet letters & a small board that they stick to); I love to put 'words' together and sound them out; sometimes I get it right. The best is to string a whole bunch of letters together and ask: What does that say, mommy? XPRYEPNMBCQRI haha!

Mom has been telling me what some of the traffic signs say to keep me occupied in the car, so I've become something of a backseat driver: That sign says SPEED LIMIT, mommy! Yellow means slow down. That sign says ONE WAY. It says END ONE WAY over there. There are the railroad tracks! W-O-W that says wow! (billboard). P-h-a-r-m-a-c-y: what's that say mommy? Nooooooo parking!!! All in all, she takes it on the chin.

Well, that's all I can think of for now. Hoping for cooler weather soon!
Gavin

Elliot's Update - 7 Months

Hey Everybody!
I'm seven months old today. I'm crawling like crazy and cruising quite comfortably along anything that will hold my weight. Yes it's early to be cruising already, but one good thing about starting so early is that I'm too short to bonk my head on tables when I walk under them and I'm not heavy enough to pull chairs over on myself. I've also been cutting my teeth on letters...no, no, not like that. Mom isn't that much of kook about teaching reading early...I mean literally chewing on some of Gav's letters to help my toofers come through. And really, I would chew on anything, letters just tend to be handy most of the time since that's something Gavin likes to do most of the day.

So we've been experimenting with some various foods since I wasn't really digging the plain Jane veggies mom was cooking up. My favorite way to eat meat is mixed with plenty of avocado--nice and creamy :o). I also like sweet potatoes, finally. Egg yolk is okay, but doesn't taste like much. Other than those, I eat pretty normal baby stuff: squash, peas, rice & oatmeal cereal. I'm almost old enough to try some soft finger foods, but mom made my food just the tiniest bit lumpy today and my ultra sensitive gag reflex kicked in: super big yucky mess.

I'm still not saying too much, but I do like to practice copy mom & dad saying hey and my favorite syllables: oy goy goy goy which I say very easily around my pacifier. :os I've started to wave my fingers, but mom's not sure if that's a howdy doody or the sign for milk. Guess we'll see when/if I start to do some more signs. Of course I still laugh about anything but teething & throwing up.

Oh, fun thing: The Beach - Went to the beach Aug 23. Left home around 4 pm, so we arrived at Surfside at 5 pm. It was perfect timing. We didn't escape the sunscreen slatheration, but nobody got too much sun and it was cooling off nicely. It was also low tide and there was this perfect little section of water for me to play in. It was about ankle deep and protected by a sandbar, so new water came in every now & then but it was nicely protected from breaking waves. So I was able to crawl around all over the place (which was good b/c daddy forgot the blanket) without sand sticking to my hands and mom didn't have to worry about waves breaking over my head. I got a couple splashes in my face from crawling a little to exuberantly, but most of the time I just chased after whatever caught my eye: seaweed, shells, light dancing in the water, etc. What a fun way for a crawling creature to enjoy being outside!! Gavin had his usual hoot of a time scooping wet sand that acts so much like mud and checking out the stuff that washes up on the beach.

Well, better catch a nap.
Later,
Elliot

Big Brother Chronicles - Back in the Saddle Again

Well, I'm pretty much back to my normal inquisitive self these days (what's that sign say, mommy? how bout that one? and that one?? and THAT one????). I am loving the book reading even more now because I get to practice my sight words and sounding out if I want. I'm back to napping and night-nighting with out too much of a fuss...and I don't wake up mad that I'm in the new house anymore. I'm back to playing on my own for more than 26 seconds at a time which gives mommy a little respite during the day. I'm back to only flipping out a couple times a day and for only a couple minutes each time...okay there's an occasional meltdown, but it's not everyday anymore.

We took a trip to Baton Rouge and that seems to have really helped me. I really wasn't so sure that garden of Eden was there anymore. Mom gave me the heads up that we were going and I was really excited about seeing friends & family, but I looked a little bewildered when we drove up to Nana & Poppa's. They told me it was still there and everyone was fine, but nothing reassures like seeing it in person. I had a hoot of a time (tree houses, pool, and fun, oh my!), but I was actually happy to be home once we finally got back (LOTS o driving!!). I'm finally okay with this house being our home now.

And lately I've been counting everything I can get my hands on. I can count all the way to 30, but I unless I really focus I don't always get the orders right. So when I'm just playing it's not uncommon for me to count & count & count a bunch of things and then exclaim with great satisfaction: Mommy, I counted all the way to ELEVEN! The truth of course is that I counted about 57 things, but I ended up saying eleven last, so that's what I counted to.

Elliot finally popped his first tooth out the other day, but you know those cute front teeth in the middle on the top & bottom that usually come out first? Well those are still snuggled in his gums it's one of the next set on top that has made it's debut, prompting mom (that's what I call her lately) to theorize that the other 5 (3 on top & 2 on the bottom) will be out in a hurry to balance things out. We'll see if she's right. Elliot is also cruising all around holding onto furniture (stable and not-so-stable). He can get from one room to the next faster than mommy can keep up.

Gotta git,
Gavin