Photo update-Merry Christmas everyone!!

We got snow for the second year in a row! I didn't think it possible, but the boys had even more fun with it this year! Even Lady Mac got in on the action.

One of Elliot's favorite things is eating ice, so you can imagine how excited he was when he realized that this snow stuff was nothing more than tiny ice bits just waiting for him to eat them.

We dressed up the boys and attempted to take our own Christmas pictures this year. The light was low and the camera was slow, so in frustration we just did silly ones. We didn't want to send out a dozen pictures with each card, so these didn't really work for that, but they turned out fun.

Riding the train at the mall.

Gavinisms from the past few weeks--

Looking at the letter W: "If you turn it over with your head then it's an M."

Flipping through my Bible on the couch: "Mommy, do you want Exodus (pronounced eck-SAWdust)?"

"It's one, two, three sides that make the triangle -- awesome!"

"I'm going to make a lemon miguel pie." He meant lemon meringue.

I came out of the bathroom with a pale colored mud mask on my face. "Ooooh mommy look at you! Look at you!!! You're all colored up. Your face is all colored in white out."

Gavin: "Soy dench poo poo, mommy."
Emily: "What's that?"
Gavin: It's special poo poo, like diarrhea, but certainly different.

Fall is fun!

I knew it had been a long time...look at the date of the last post: Sept 6. Well, It's been a busy month for us around the Malden Territories. Mommy has us on this roaring fall schedule--well relative to our summer calendar it's busy, but we love it. Mondays are MOPS days which is boring meetings for mommy, but we get to go to our church classrooms and have a great time. I don't get to be with Gavin on these days so there have been a few tears at goodbye time lately, but I have a great time w/ all my nearly 2 year old pals. Our classroom is often dark when mom comes to pick me up b/c turning off the lights is wild fun (not tall enough to turn them back on yet...I'm sure that will be just as raucous!). Gavin was bumped up to the 4 year old class for MOPS days and he loves that; he gets to make more crafts and play games---super fun. This past MOPS meeting was especially cool for Gavin b/c he got to go see a firetruck. Someone thought I was too small...hmm. Anyway, he liked that and of course asked questions that mommy couldn't answer b/c she's not a firefighter.

Tuesday is an off day which these days means lots of playing in the yard. The weather is splendid and our yard is even more fun than previously because daddy (with some help from Peepaw and Uncle Daniel) made us a CLUBHOUSE!!!! It is high in the branches of our holly bush and it has a cool railing (great for driving cars on) and steps to climb to get up there. It's fantastic! Even Lady Mac likes to chase us up there. Fun. Daddy also made us a seesaw. It's pretty fun to sit and go up & down w/ Gavin on the other end, but what we really like to do is walk up from one end, balance in the middle and then run down the other side. That gives mommy little heart flutters (especially when I do it), but she just needs to get used to that. We also have a balance beam that is a little advanced for me, but Gavin loves to walk across it. It's a regular outdoor wonderland; I guess we should start charging admission :).

Wednesday is WOW (Women of the Word) Bible study day at our church. Me and Gav get to play in the same class and we love it! We see a lot of the same friends we see at Sunday church and MOPS so it's a good time together.

Thursday is CBS (Community Bible Study) day. We get to walk to this one b/c it's only 2 blocks away (at a different church than ours)! Gav and I are in separate classes for this one, too. Gavin LOVES going to CBS. He's learning memory verses and doing all sorts of cool cool crafts. He has the best time. I really like my teacher, but my class is full of kids that are smaller than me and not as many cool toys as my classes at our church and so ... I tend to get in trouble. Well, c'mon, I like to climb and do rough and tumble things and my classmates just don't get into that stuff. I can't figure out why they don't like being mowed down by my big burly self. Hhh. Oh well, I'm getting there. Each week my teacher gets better and better at keeping me occupied (it's pretty much self-preservation). :)

Friday is another off day. We like to go to the library (if we remember) or we run the errands we've been putting off all weekend. I looove the library, but I'm not real keen on that rule about being quiet. What the...?? Libraries are hilarious fun: what with the rug with letters and numbers, all those cool books, and studious strangers to be met (bugged). I know why kids grow up thinking libraries are boring tho...all this about being quiet. Harrumph!

Speaking of letters and numbers: there are only a few letters that I have trouble identifying. And I let mom & dad in on a secret this weekend: I can already count to 10 by myself!! They were so shocked and proud; I might just have to surprise them with more things like that :). All this and I am still in the point and name phase of talking. I've put a couple of words together, but mostly I just like to point at stuff and try to say what it is. Guess that's why they were so surprised that I can count. Oh, I love to sing too, not really getting words out per se, but it's pretty clear when I'm singing even if the lyrics are garbled.

I still like to eat with a fork and spoon (rather than fingers). I don't like bread. I love black beans. I like fruit and most veggies. I am good at reading regular books but tend to tear up board books. Gavin and I are sleeping in the same room at night now; it's fun. I love trains. I love cars. Daddy getting home is the highlight of my dad; he is so great! I rarely walk; I run mostly. I finally don't make a bee-line for the street every time I walk out the front door; I'm getting really good at following Gavin and it keeps me pretty safe. I really like looking through our photo book of family friends; I am getting better at remembering people even when we don't see them a lot. I am still a really cheerful, friendly and happy kid...a bit more mischievous as the months go by, but it's all in good fun :).

Well, that's it for now, I guess. It's pretty tough to get much more in one update...I'll just have to write more later.

~Elliot

Apples to apples

Which is which? Elliot is a couple month older than Gavin was when we took his picture. Can you guess who is who? :)

Update from Gavin: I'm 3 and a 1/2!

Update from Gavin 3 1/2 years old :) I am learning more and more about time these days, but I get a little mixed up sometimes and say things like: It was my birthday 3 miles ago and when I get big like daddy I'll be 40 pounds like mommy. What??!! I know it needs a little sorting out, but I'm just enjoying talking and sounding as much like the grown-ups as I can. I'm trying to get mommy to teach me how to read a clock (the one with hands, not just digital ones), but she keeps telling me that I need to learn how to count by fives first. Huh? Anyways, I've also been really into directions, street names and compass bearings. We have a nifty digital compass on the rear view mirror of our RAV4 and I love to announce which direction we are traveling in. I am also known to bark out orders like: Take 610 South mom--we need to go South! I'm usually wrong about where we're going, but she's pretty sure that I could direct someone to our house because I recite the turns before we even get to them. What can I say? It's boring just riding in the car; I want to be driving! One sidenote on driving: There is a tollway in Houston called Katy Tollway that we pass a couple times a week. I call it Katy Trollway--always makes mommy smile and think of her dad, my Poppa. :)

So we brought Elliot and mommy to their first pro baseball game a couple seconds ago...I mean a couple weeks ago (I'll get it, I'll get it!!). We had super-duper fantastic seats (5 rows from the dugout!), but Elliot and I weren't really understanding why we should sit still and watch some dudes throw a teeny tiny ball around. Every now and then the crowd would clap and cheer and we could get behind that, but other than that we just wanted to explore the stadium...talk about some majorly cool stuff! Mommy wished we could have watched more of the game, but maybe next time. Though we didn't make it through the whole game we did all have our Astros gear on which was lots of fun.

Well, reading is still great, but now I'm bored with a lot of my baby storybooks and we are taking more trips to the library (which is close by) to get fresh stuff for me to read. Mom tries to hide her freaked out look when I plow through books that are for 5-7 year olds, but that's pretty normal for me. I just like to read and learn--that's it. Here's a video of me reading a library book about helicopters. Mom was trying to cook dinner and sent me to the living room to read until she was done. Then, next thing I know she's in there w/ the video camera -- instead of cooking. Hhh! [more blog after video :)]

I got to go to Vacation Bible School for the first time this year. What a blast!!!! We learned cool songs, made crafts, took a nature hike, played outside and even had a concert in front of our parents! I pretty much just sat on the stage and looked around most of the time--not yet sure whether I'm a natural born performer. It was so fun. I want to go again!

We've been riding with daddy on his bike. Well, we're not on his bike, but Eli and I have a little trailer that we ride in. Elliot belly-aches much of the time because he doesn't like his helmet and it' s hot or whatever. But we are exceedingly cute in our huge, round bike helmets and I never mind looking cute, so I have fun. Besides we get to watch daddy work really hard to make the bike go fast and that is always entertaining.

So for a while I'd ask to play with daddy's cell phone as soon as he walked through the door in the evening. Eventually I realized that was rude (daddy told me) and that I should say "Hi, nice to see you daddy" instead. So for a while I said the obligatory "Hi, nice to see you." and then immediately asked for the phone. Then I realized even that didn't go over too well, so now I have an handful of polite little phrases I say (usually) at the socially acceptable time.
Hi, daddy, I'm so glad you're home; it's nice to see you.
Mommy did you have a nice run?
Mommy did you have fun playing with so-and-so's mommy?
Have a good day at work, daddy.
Sweet dreams, Elliot. Shhh. Go night-night now. I love you.
Hi my name is Gavin Malden; it's nice to meet you.

And finally, just for fun: here are some things mom wrote down over the past few weeks...

One of Gavin's toys plays several short melodies. He named them. I asked him a few times and he remained consistent with the names:
the sailing song
strench go
the sleepy song
drenching trashcan
the video song
strench fan
island mcdonald

Gavin offered to draw a picture of Poppa one day. I corrected him thinking that he was drawing a picture *for* Poppa. He assured me it was *of* Poppa and proceeded to narrate as follows. here's his beard like a big circle and two brown eyes. and now he needs his sword! and this is his bday hat on his big strong head. and this is his arms ... and then i need some yellow for his ears ... big beard. like a big strong man...

A few days ago the boys and Jon were playing w/ balls inside. I try to keep them from throwing inside (Elliot has a killer aim and a really strong arm). Gavin said: We are going to roll the balls and do sports with the balls. We are going to do foolish things with the balls.

Well, that's it for now (5 pages later).
~Gavin

Update from Elliot at 18 Months

Addendum 8-03-09
I forgot to tell y'all that I pretty much only eat with a fork like a little man. It is pretty messy, but it's so uncouth to eat with one's fingers.

Also, though my vocabulary has exploded I still haven't mastered some of the finer points of verbal discourse. For example: if something pokes me or falls on my foot while playing it is sure to get an earful from me, but that pretty much just involves pointing an accusing finger and a string of jibberish. It gets the point across, ya know?
Okay, here's the original update :).

Update from Elliot:
Howdy folks, we've got some ground to cover, so let's get down to business. I'm 18 months old now and woooooweee life is crazy! I have been talking a lot more. I have too many 'words' to keep track of but some of them are: fish, hi, bye (think cowboy accent and you're hearing the way I say bye.), good girl (that's for my dog Lady Mac), Lady, flower, banana, ball, egg, apple, thank you, airplane, truck, tractor, night night, leche (I prefer the Spanish to English here because mom has no problem telling what I'm talking about when I say leche--just doesn't sound like anything else.), water, outside, down, up, bath, triangle, circle, square, lion, monkey, bear...ok this is getting too long, you get the picture. I try to repeat anything and everything and then there are dozens of words I can say whenever. --all that I guess I could have said with "I am talking a lot lately." But, mom, ever the teacher, wanted me to list some off so she wouldn't forget. I love learning about letters (de ja vu anyone?) and shapes and colors. Those little board books with single words labeling colorful pictures were made for me; I spend a good bit of time with them every day.

So my dog Lady Mac and I are really good buddies. She's the baby of the family, not me, and that means that I can chase her, play with her and rough-house with her and I don't have to feel like the youngest around here. We love to run around the house: me screeching in delight and her not really sure if I'm going to attack or just run right by. I'm not too rough with her, so she alwyas comes back for more crazy playing. She's also a lot of fun in the yard, but she only listens when mom tells her to drop something, so I am always annoyed when she takes my ball from me. Guess I'd better learn how to intone the "DROP IT" like mommy does.

Gavin and I have a really good time these days, too. It is to be expected that the younger brother grows up a bit more rough-and-tumble than the older one, but I may be pushing that theory to new levels of danger. I have a pretty incredible record of daring acheievements already. It started with climbing several months ago (you'll remember my triumphant scaling of the dining room table several posts ago.) well, it has continued. I have been able to climb onto big beds for sometime now and they are ever so much fun to bounce on, and even moreso if Gavin is helping me. Sadly, however, they don't make them with safety nets and I've gotten numerous bonks. You'd think those injuries combined with mom's fussing would keep me grounded, but it's waaay to much fun to jump on the bed. I've also grown bored with simply sliding down our small play structure in the yard, it's much more fun now to run down the slide (yes, on my feet) and face-plant in the grass. Or even better, I like to go headfirst through the window-type openings and land on my head. Fear not, I'd never put myself in real danger, I've only got a few inches to fall each time and I like to push my physical body--just to see what it's capable of. Needless to say, we never ever put the playground on the concrete. And again, needless to say, mom is very hesitant to get a larger playset for our yard. Oh, and Gavin actively encourages these outbursts of irrational and dangerous behaviors on my part: he's been known to cheer me on ("Great running Elliot!") and give tips on how to make something even more hazardous ("Put your head through first!").

I am a baller. What does that mean you query? If there is a ball -- anywhere -- I must have it. I beg for them in the store, I whine for them in the car (even if it is a picture of a ball on a billboard; I. must. have. it.), I tackle Lady Mac for them in the yard, I chase Gavin for them in the house. I throw them and roll them and carry them around everywhere. I will sit motionless and watch kids at the park playing soccer or basketball. Did you catch that? Motionless!!! I'm never motionless, not even when I'm sleeping! We have a tyke sized basketball goal in our yard and I throw anything and everything through that basket. I've even started to whine and beg for basketball goals when I see them--even if they are the real deal and hundred miles above my head.

As I approach my two-year birthday, I am gaining an assertiveness [euphemism], but I'm still a really cheery little man. I'm super giggly and smiley. I love to go to the grocery story because there are lots of people to flirt with. I love playing with other kids and adults.

I'm so all about daddy these days. About an hour before he comes home each day I start looking for him and asking for him. And as soon as I see him out the front windows I let out a very loud and high-pitched "GAGA!!!" -- that's how I say daddy. He absolutely must hold me until he gets his dinner and then I scavenge food off his plate and don't let him out of my sight til bedtime. He's the best ever!

I am still working on getting rid of my pacifier. Ugh. It's the bane of my parents' life. I only use it for bedtime...and for in the car........and for when I'm generally cranky. Oh, dear. I guess I'm a little attached. Anyway, I won't be that kid with a paci at 12, but it may be a few more months.

Well, that's basically where I'm at. I'm a happy kid. I like to play. I like to laugh. I love my family. And I like my pacifier. Ha!

Cuidanse (take care of yourselves!),
Elli-bear (mom's latest nickname for me)

Gavin reading about Battle Creek, MI

Gavin taught me today that Battle Creek, MI is called "The Cereal Bowl of America." Who knew?? ...We're casually working on annunciation, but I'm not in a hurry for him to do anything perfectly because he's obviously a pretty self-motivated 3.5 year old. :)

Fun in the Sun

Just some pictures here. An update is looooong overdue, but it will have to wait for a less hectic day...

Cracks me up: The Lady Mac Attack

Okay, not really sure why I think this is so funny, but I can't help cracking up every time I watch it! Our little Lady Mac sleeps much of the time, but about once a day she goes bonkers...

Elliot's camera smile--hilarium!

Deadbeat Blogger...

oh, boy it's been a loooong time in blogger terms. lots has been going on. it's getting warmer and we got outside many times per day. we got a pool and i can't think of any living things that could have more fun in a pool than two young brothers. there was more squealing and laughing than i thought possible...i was in heaven watching them! as an alternative we got a sprinkler, too. it's not quite as fun as the pool, but it makes hot afternoons bearable.

elliot has been talking more. he still has trouble making a variety of sounds, but he's getting the concept. he excitedly points out fish, airplanes, birds, the moon, balls, squirrels, dogs, and several other things. he also is starting (FINALLY) to understand the concept behind "easy! elliot, easy!" which we tend to say over & over when he's slapping someone in the face. he'll dial it down a little and pat their cheek but if we stop saying "easy" he starts hitting again. ...and not one bit of malaice in those smacks, by the way, he thinks people like to be abused. ahhhh.... he's also finally learning not to throw things from his highchair, which is so nice.

unfortunatley eli has discovered climbing and and we are hard pressed to keep him off elevated surfaces. all our dining room chairs are lying on the floor unless in use. looks pretty weird, but keeps him out of danger for the most part. of course we can't very well lay the big furniture on it's side, so he can still do crazy things, but he can't inadvertently tip over the couch, so he's a little safer on the big furniture. sad to say, tho, that he has bonked his head a record time over the past couple of weeks.

well, i'm being summoned outside...gavin needs a playmate b/c elliot is napping. more soon...

--emily

Great Easter weekend visit with Bizettes

Aunt Meli, Uncle Rhett, Leighton & Lexi came to visit with us for Easter weekend. What fun! I especially enjoyed harrassing Lexi in her bouncer and getting Uncle Rhett and Aunt Meli to hold me as much as possible. We went to the zoo; Gavin and Leighton had ice cream cones; we ate lots of yumminess; played outside a lot...had a great time!


At the zoo. Showcasing my mad rockclimbing skill.

That's me on a lilypad in the kids area of the zoo.

Gavin on the yellow brick road (there was some Wizard of Oz thing going on)

Leighton checking out a bird.

Gavin looking at the clown fish--I'm right behind him (that's my hand).

Leighton and Gavin crawling through an aqarium--I'm still to young for that.

We went for an exploring adventure at George Bush Park on the west side of Houston. It was pretty cool and nice and peaceful--a nice way to spend the evening on Easter Sunday. Can you tell me and Gavin are brothers? I bet if mom had kept daddy in the frame he would have had his left arm up, too. Ha!

Crayola John Hancock -- seeing the trend?

Okay, so I thought Gavin's little 'signature' stunt with the sidewalk chalk was a coincidence, but check this out.

Sidewalk chalk John Hancock

I've started tracing letters, but I don't know how to write yet. Even so, I was playing w/ chalk the other day and thought this little doodle looked like my name. I showed mom my "name" and she took a picture, of course. She thinks I must be important if I have a signature b/f I can even print. Ha!

Update from Gavin

Here I am painting. I like to talk about Nana when I'm painting. Miss her...

And here I am tracing the letters in my name; one of my newest endeavors. :o)

So I haven't updated y'all in quite some time. It has been so long that I'm not even sure where to start...

Well, let's start w/ my boy Elliot. He is getting more cool by the day. He laughs at my jokes and he does silly things that make me laugh. He is getting bigger and more stable so it takes a little more to knock him down than it used to. Translation: I get in trouble for pushing him a little less often b/c he doesn't always fall down anymore... I like to take his hand and lead him to my room to play with our toys; he thinks that's fun, too. So all around, we have getting along pretty well and I'm learning how to play nicely and we have a really great time.

I'm still reading away. Mom gave me the comics from the Sunday paper the other day. They are very cool: bright colors, cute pictures and lots of words. The trouble is that they aren't really for kids...at least not my age. There was a lot of things I didn't really understand--and mom says I probably shouldn't understand some of those things yet.

Another thing I like to do with words is spell them out verbally. The other day I was challenging mom to tell me what the letters I reeled off spelled: t-e-c-k-o what does that say, mommy? like that. Well, she started to tell me to tell her what these strings of letters said so off I went: h-o-u-s-o. small pause. "houso!" Boy was she surprised! Ha!

Me and the potty are really good friends. I go visit a million times a day. I have very few accidents anymore. There are toilets everywhere. Did you know that? And there are special rooms for men and women. This has led to many a conversation about the difference between the sexes. Well, it's has been pretty abstract so far, so I still get a little confused at time. A few weeks ago we went to visit one of these public restrooms and out of curiosity I asked a stranger: Are YOU a woman?. Mom was a little embarrassed because apparently it was very clear that he was not a woman. Anyway, luckily, he thought I was just saying something cute and he just smiled and nodded.

We are almost all settled into our new house. We have a super cool backyard with a couple small trees I can climb. Dad tied a swing to one of them just to keep mommy on her toes -- little brothers don't learn to stay back from swings until they are at least 2 years old. It has a big maple tree, a couple of Japanese loquat trees and a big ole holly bush (we're not supposed to play with the berries; they're poisonous). We also have a lot of patio space to ride bikes and roll balls and stuff. I have a new room, but all the same old toys, so although I do miss our old house a lot, our new one feels pretty homey already. We still go to the same church and see the same friends, so this move wasn't easy, but wasn't quite as hard as moving from Baton Rouge.

We get to walk around a lot now. There are parks to walk to and the roads make a big loop in our neighborhood so we can just walk for the fun of it if we don't really want to go anywhere.

Mom wanted to make sure I included this little list of Gavinisms:
NeighborHERD=neighborhood (already a little social commentator)
insurrection=interesting
stumfing=something

Well, I'm sure there are more, but we can't think of them right now.

~Gavin

Don't mess with Texas!

So we took a little exploration trip today to a part of the Houston area we've never visited: the lovely east side--Pasadena really. We weren't really headed anywhere in particular, but I started to see a few signs for the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site, so I decided we check it out.

As we're pulling up to the entry guard Gavin is chattering away about the signs he sees: One has the name of the park; another has the speed limit; there's a Don't Mess with Texas sign (anti-litter for those of you who aren't regular visitors to TX); and one with a schedule of fees, etc. I'm trying to talk Gav through them as we go, but there are really too many, so I give up and decide that a quick overview of where we are would be more pertinent. So I start in: "Gavin, this place is where the battle of San Jacinto was fought. Groups of people came here from all over to have a big fight over who would get Texas." Gavin cuts in and says, "Mommy, you don't mess with Texas; Texas is dangerous."

--Alas, left the camera at home, so no pix.

Trip to BR

We made a trip to BR last weekend. Here are some pictures :o)