Elliot's first symphony

A special treat from our little composer :)

The latest updates

Our little bubbie is growing up so fast, some of his current hobbies include: throwing things on the floor, eating snacks, planking (on floors), disorganizing the recycling, playing harmonica, poking the cats, looking out the window, emptying the bookshelves of those pesky books, putting cat food into the cat water bowl, eating more snacks, taking baths, going to the park, and staring at other kids.

We've had 'look into the daycare thing' on our fridge to-do list for about a month but now that it's Thanksgiving and Christmas is right around the corner, we figure eh, lets wait until the new year. But after that, it's probably time for him to start spending more time with other kids, at least once or twice a week to start. He's absolutely fascinated and loves to play with them (and steal their toys), and it's interesting to see their social dynamics play out when the parents just stand back and observe. Overall he's been having a good time spending the days with papa, doing who knows what (I would be insane by now so kudos to Josh for having survived the daily grind for this long!).

Elliot's latest few developments are that he enjoys CLIMBING things, like the coffee table, chairs, stairs, basically anything he could grip and hoist himself up on. He's also saying 'uh-oh' lately, I'm not really sure where he picked that up, we didn't really say it all that much. He also likes kicking. I blame papa for all that futbol training, now he deliberately kicks at things like the couch, me, the cats, toys, etc.. and the whole 'sternly saying Elliot don't do that!' thing doesn't really work, he just laughs and kicks again, is a little tap on the tush really that bad? I dunno, but discipline sure ain't easy, I wonder if it gets harder or easier when he reaches an age when I'm more certain he does actually understand what I'm saying. Oh and he also loves singing, usually when rolling in the stroller or trying to fall asleep, and of course continuing to dance at ANY musical opportunity.

Pacifier-wise, we've gotten to a point where he basically only uses it for sleeping, which is pretty impressive for 15 months, or is it? I don't really know, but I know pacifier package labels cut off at 18months so that's our goal: to be 100% pacifier-free by then, 2.5 months to go! I think we can do it, imagine if we were those weirdo parents who's 4 year-old still needs one? 

As the weather cools down it's going to get a little tougher to entertain him indoors all day, going outside is usually the remedy for antsy behavior, so we'll need to get creative with our indoor entertainment so advice is welcome here!

Finally, as the day of giving thanks is upon us, I just want to share how grateful I am for all the good things in my life from family to friendships to career, I truly appreciate how lucky I am and I hope you are too, wherever you are in life. Happy Thanksgiving!

Cute pics

I've said it before and I'll say it again, THIS is the most fun age Elliot has ever been! He's babbling all the time (doobe-doobe-doo), copying our behavior, adding new moves like spinning to his expanding array of dance styles, interacting with other kids at the park, doing the downward dog yoga pose when he's upset, and generally doing more fun stuff.

Elliot sings

We knew it was only a matter of time before he discovered where the REAL glory is!




Apparently our apartment is the perfect musical laboratory for future minstrels :)

My kid is cooler than yours

Just another reason Elliot is awesome :)

The boys jammin in their underwear

Ahh, these are the moments I rarely capture, here's the boys jammin in their underwear. Elliot is a virtuoso in the making!

He catches me filming in the first one.



And part 2, Elliot falls at the end but don't worry, he's ok :)



And here's a slightly longer one I call 'will dance for snacks'.

Growing independence

Look at this little guy, he's starting look less and less like a baby and more like... a little boy! Can you tell he got a little bang trim? Yeah we didn't want to do it but those frontal locks were getting in his eyes all the time so i just gave him a little snip in the front, don't worry the golden side curls were left untouched!!

Lately Elliot wants to do all sorts of things on his own, like playing the piano. He uses a small instrument case as a step-ladder and man, does he get into it! He sways and bops his head to the rhythm and he really gets groovin'. In case you haven't seen this phenomenon yet, he also LOVES to dance, he'll easily dance to music that you put on, that's a given. But he also dances to his musical toys, rap music we hear from a passing car on the street, a musical cell phone ring,  background music in a movie, I mean any sort of music at all will get him shaking his little hips and moving to the beat. He's his father's son that one :)

Another thing he likes to do on his own is walking, he's not much of a hand-holder and sometimes when we try to hold his hand (to try to coax him into moving in one particular direction instead of standing in place and poking at ancient gum stains on the concrete), he'll whip his hand away all annoyed like he's NOT a baby anymore!
Actually, pointing at things has also become a favorite activity. He's not quite speaking yet although there have definitely been times where we could have sworn he said a real word but I suppose we're not counting those until he can either repeat it or say it clearly enough so that there is no doubt whatsoever. Aside from mama and papa, I'm pretty sure he has said Isis (the cat), tootsies, hello, yum, and some other random words.

We had fun in the park on Labor Day, and as Josh confirmed, going to the park with Elliot is basically an endless chase in circles and keeping up with the owners of the toys he attempts to steal. I'm happy to say, however, that most of the other children are very generous sharers and it boggles my mind how they understand that he's a baby and that this means that he is forgiven from abiding by the rules of their social behavior when it comes to playing and the ownership of toys. I mean, 3 or 4 year old's will say 'it's ok, he's a baby' and will give him their toys while they do not allow the same courtesy to other children their own age. This is truly fascinating! Elliot himself has no concept of sharing or ownership whatsoever at this point, he sees big shiny ball, he must have big shiny ball, and will walk right up to another kid and blatantly and shamelessly take it right from their pudgy little hands. Oh the cuteness!