Feasting Eli Style

So, I started sprouting teeth not too long ago and so mommy thought perhaps I'd be ready for a little texture in my grub. She tried a bunch of different things and got the expected icky-face response, and then I'd start gagging and usually ended up throwing up all over the place. Well, it didn't take her long to wise up and try the texture first so that I wouldn't throw up a whole meal each time, but I still wasn't tolerating any texture, not to mention solids. She started to think that maybe I was just not going to be as easy as Gavin in the whole eating arena.

Then one fair evening a couple weeks ago she got the notion to put some peas on my highchair tray just to see what I would do. You are a genius mommy! Nobody likes to eat peas all ground up; they are perfectly packaged for tiny fingers to grab and tiny throats to swallow. Now, that's not to say one hasn't caught me by surprise and caused a little gagging, but they were a big hit.

It did take some practice to actually get them to my mouth. I'd say I was swingin' at about 2% that first day. And yes, I realize that means 98 out of every 100 ended up in my highchair rather than my mouth. We persevered tho, and within a couple days it was 50/50 and I'm happy to say that I'm now getting about 80% in my mouth--gotta leave SOMEthing for mom to clean up; she sweeps three times per day!

So, the end result of all this work? I ate exactly what everyone else ate tonight: creamy chicken soup with yummy veggies and barley. Mmmmm!

Latest Gavinism

"kumbaYAWN": kumbayah

'Nuf said, but makes it funny to know that Gavin was singing this at the top of his lungs while we were eating outside at the Central Market (nice, but slightly stuffy store near Highland Village in Houston).

Hurrication

Here are some pictures from our hurrication as they are calling it now. They are roughly chronological.

Guadalupe State Park


Playing in Andy & Aubrey's yard


They have rockin' trees.




Daddy made me a swing.


Fredricksburg

Nice romantic bathroom in the cottage...cool rug.
Our cottage was on a working ranch; these Elk are part of the "working" part. We couldn't touch them, but they were very close much of the time.
Elliot in the cottage.
Gavin looking at goldfish in town (Fredricksburg).
Elk are cool.

Labor Day Weekend - Family Time

Meant to post these pics weeks ago. Guess we got all in a tizzy over the hurricane. Anyway, we did some cool stuff over Labor Day.

We checked out Brazos Bend State park. It was a sweltering hot day, but I hiked over 2 miles on my own two feet. There was lots o' sweat and a little bit of whining toward the end of the hike, but I made it and mommy didn't have to carry me. Instead she challenged me to count my step; that distracted me enough to finish the last 250 steps or so.

Next we went to Lake Houston. There is a pretty neat park there and even tho it was still sweltering hot there was a stiff breeze coming off the lake to make it bearable. Did a little walking there, but not nearly as much. ...Oh, and where was Elliot amidst all this walking??? As you'll notice he's riding high in the sky in the backpack carrier. I know! I think mom & dad are slipping with him. He's gonna expect the world on a silver platter now...

Elliot Videos

Some cute Elliot videos

The truck the Briggs gave Gavin for his first Christmas is now a favorite of the smaller Malden manchild.



Here I am making my newest sound. It's longish and of course I don't say much til the end of the shoot.

Mike and Gust

Can't remember if I told you, but I got two fish a few weeks ago. I finally named them...well it was a team effort with mom. She thought we could name them Mike and Gus sort of in honor of the two storms (Ike and Gustav) that have recently effected our lives. So mom mentioned the names to me and I said "YEAH! Let's call 'em Mike and GusT." No matter how many times I try to say Gus it comes out Gust; so Gust it is.

Footnote: Hurricane Ike actually saved Mike and Gust's lives b/c we were having some issues balancing the chemistry of their tank and somehow with 16 days of no interference from us they got it all figured out, so thanks hurricane Ike for saving my fish!

Stump Garden In Honor of Hurricane Ike

So daddy had a great post-Ike idea. He's been collecting stumps for my stump garden. Check it out.
~Gavin

Quiet time with mom

I got up early to hang out with mommy this morning. She thought she'd get some quiet time. We couldn't know what was about to happen...

Everything was fine till she wanted to write an email and I stuck stickers all over her (thanks Nana!!)

...Then she morphed into the sticker monster!!!

As you can see she was very aggressive and dangerous: this shows her in the full attack posture. But don't worry, I contained the situation: a sticker monster w/o her stickers is gentle as a kitten.

~Gavin the fearless monster-tamer

Just a rainy October day

The joy of teething biscuits. What a mess. Yes, he was placed directly into the bathtub.


And this is a moment that mommy hopes will get more & more common as we get older: I'm not teasing Elliot, imagine that.

Classic

We are two studious little boys.

Adventures with Cheerios - Elliot

I got a formal introduction to Cheerios last night. Here is some evidence. Half the pictures came about because mom was trying to capture a good shot of my current crazy dental situation. Check out the chompers...you know you're jealous!!!!

Elliot

Blog News from Emily

Well, I've posted everything back to Gavin's first birthday post and I plan to get the rest on here soon (tho I'm not sure anyone will really care to read that far back...). Anyway, they will all be in one place, pictures and all, so people can glance back if they want. Hopefully I can post a little less content a little more often in this format. For those of you who don't know this all started as emails to friends and family each month and I just recently decided a blog format would work better than jamming mailboxes with pictures and lengthy emails.

Can you tell who's who?

Church anxiety

So, we've been going to our new church for a few months now and everyone seems so nice and there are several kids for me to play with and a super cool play area and very cool blocks and toys and lots of nice people and pretty windows and nice paintings on the walls and nice music and ... can you tell I'm avoiding something? Well, I have this little problem: I'm not so crazy about going in the nursery on my own.

The first few times I as just a wreck: crying & clinging, then screaming & clinging. I felt pretty silly for making such a scene, but it was pretty scary stuff. Of course once I got over the initial separation I had a really good time playing and learning. After a few visits I progressed to doing all that freaking out before we left home and mommy thought we'd have a really terrible time getting me into my class then, but apparently I got much of my anxiety out before we got out of the car, so that meant I didn't cry as much at church, but I sure did have the
I'm-trying-to-be-brave-but-this-is-really-scary look on my face (complete with very sad chin-quivering).

Today I didn't do any crying, but I spent much of the morning at home very quietly hiding under my blanket reassuring myself that I would have lots of fun playing with all my new friends. So I guess I'm making progress, but it really is tough to go out on one's own at first.

Of course mom always comes back to get me and we both enjoy a very big hug and then I show her all the fun stuff I've been doing while she was singing or learning or studying. ...For the record Elliot has never cried once at being left in nursery...but then again he's not to that age yet. We are hoping he has an easier time than I do.

~Gavin

A couple of Pumpkin Patch Pix

Crawling, and teeth, and sticks--OH MY!

Oh, dear, it's been a long time hasn't it? Well, we've been a little tied up. What with the 16 day hurrication and all... We did fine through the storm because we weren't here (doubt we would have slept much if we had been). Our carport collapsed and our power was out for just over 2 weeks, but no major damage. Our neighbors who stayed apparently had a wild time tho, because we lost about 10 trees on our street--we live on a very short street!! Most of them were sizable oaks, so that may shed some understanding on exactly how crazy it got around here. From what I hear much of the area experienced similar stuff.

But, anyway, none of you want to hear about boring hurricanes and dull storm damage!! That's old news. Here's the juicy stuff you're looking for. I (Elliot) am still crawling most places; but I am super fast. I keep trying to get mom to enter me in a crawling derby, but she doesn't really see things the way I do (she walks uprightly after all...). I took my first trip all the way up the steps the other day (I've had many trips interrupted by concerned parents...). Hoo! What a rush. I zip back over there every chance I get, but mom keeps them all blocked off most of the time. It will be all of the time once she gets a gate with a door in it. :o(

I have 5 teeth and more crowding in every day, but I still gag on food with any texture. I am getting adept at the pincher grasp, which means I can put nearly anything (no matter how small and perilous) into my mouth. My latest conquest was a small bit of wicker from one of the baskets in which I keep some toys. Mom was praying all the while she was digging in my throat trying to rescue that little stick. For the life of me I can figure out what the big deal is...she's still in a tizzy about that. Anyway, I was totally back to my normal jolly self after I re-positioned my esophagus, so she and the doc don't think there is too much to be concerned about, but I can't try any more tricks for a few days b/c she's watching me like a hawk. Arg!

Gavin is learning the concept of availability since he seems to think that anything in my (and any other kids') hands is just waiting for him to play with it. He's doing okay, but still has to be reminded 8 thousand times a day. I'm getting so tired of mom asking "Gavin, is that available??" Hhhh!

That Gavin, he says all sorts of wacky things (especially when put up against the cute little sounds I make ;o). Here are a few:

"That is the _____est my ever seen": that is the ____est thing I've ever seen. Doesn't really come through typed out, but it's really cute in person.

"Pepper-ernie": pepperoni (especially cute b/c we have a friend named Ernie)

"Mommy almost comes back": mommy always comes back (exclaimed when mom collects him from the nursery at church; he's still not very good at letting mom and dad go to church, Bible study or MOPS meetings)

"Lets sing another picture": please sing the next verse of a given song

He gets confused about the whole Mr. and Mrs. thing. He called daddy's former boss Uncle Rick because the Mister confused him. Now he's trying to get it straight, but still pops out with a Mr. Jennifer rather than a Mr. Alan (Jennifer's husband), or a Mrs. Andy rather than Mrs. Aubrey (Andy's wife). Maybe he's just old fashioned.

"Women": lemon. This is especially funny b/c Gavin really likes lemons (thanks Josh & Jess), so he's almost guaranteed to shout out in restaurants as soon as daddy's iced tea arrives at the table: Daddy I want your women! I looooove womens!!

Another funny situation happened when daddy arrived home a couple minutes later than normal one day. Earlier in the day mom had been sweeping the back steps and the broom was still near the back door (outside). The combination prompted Gav to run outside and greet daddy saying: "Daddy! You been sweeping around??!!" Which sounds exactly the same as if Gavin had said: "Daddy! You been sleeping around?" Got quite a laugh from the parents.

Oh, me, there are so many more; cute things are said everyday around here. I just can't remember them all...

~Elliot