Backyard fun

Every time Ed tried to turn the water off, Elliot said (and signed, for additional emphasis), "More, more!"

Trikes

In early June, Elliot enjoyed "riding" his trike near Horn Pond with his calabash cousin, Elijah. So fun.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day rocked. We slept in (we all had minor colds and I was coughing quite a bit, so I skipped the group ride I had planned to attend). Then we took Elliot out for his first ride in the trailer. This is a Chariot Cougar that Ed has been taking Elliot out running in for over a year, so Elliot got really excited and pre-boarded before we had even changed into our bike clothes.

Our first stop was the bike shop.





Then we stopped for yummy sandwiches and coffee at True North. It is far cooler than that awful web site would lead you to believe.



Our final stop was the park near our house. I'm sure none of the other people there thought it was weird that we were playing with Elliot while wearing lycra and bike shoes.





Inspired by this article in Real Simple, I got some nice stitch-bound sketchbooks for Elliot to fill over the years for us. Here's the first page of my "mom book."





My first thought: Wow, this is the best thing ever!! My second thought: How will I ever match this for Father's Day?

It only took 99 tries (literally)

Pro tip: If you think you might want to get a passport for your child, do it before he/she starts walking and thinks that your camera is the ooooonly thing he/she wants to touch RIGHT NOW. GIVE ME THE CAMERA, LADY.

Elizabeth Park

On Saturday, we met up with Ed's mom and sister, Paige (who was visiting from LA), for a lovely day in Elizabeth Park in Hartford. We had brunch in the morning at the Pondhouse Cafe and went back for tea in the afternoon. Yum. (My two favorite "meals.") The weather was perfect and we had a lovely afternoon. Elliot loved riding around on his push-trike and throwing sticks. He's becoming quite a runner too. We all took turns chasing him down and keeping him from: interfering in other people's games of catch, "helping" out in the kitchen of the cafe, and making faces through the cafe windows at patrons.

A trip to the park and new tricks

The sun was out on Saturday, so we took Elliot the park near our house. He loves the swing. And the wood chips.

Elliot seems to be pretty normal for his age, but he's the only child I've spent much time with, so each new skill he picks up just blows me away. Here's some of what he's been up to lately:

- "cooking" for Grammie with his Ikea play kitchen, serving her, then "washing" the dishes
- he sort of says "mama," "dada," "up," "down," and "cracker"
- he asked for "more cheese to eat" yesterday using sign language
- he understands how to pet the cats gently and he laughs and laughs while he does it
- he likes to pretend to turn our dining room light on and off by pointing to it while Ed works the remote
- once, when I was sad because he had temporarily misplaced an awesome toy from his Auntie Heather, he looked at me very sympathetically and then gave me a big hug
- he likes to clap for himself when he's finished something (like a meal)
- he helps me put wet clothes into the dryer and generally likes to assist with everything we do
- he brings his Scootababy to Ed and says, "Up!"
- every night, he pulls a stool up to the sink and brushes his teeth with us -- he gets upset when we make him stop
- he likes to hold Ed's iPod up to his ear and say "hai-yo!"
- he waves bye-bye to the phone after friends and relatives call (we put them on speaker for him)

So again... I realize this is pretty normal, but all this new stuff is amazing to us first-time parents. :) Elliot is more and more fun every day.

Our little nerdling

Elliots honors Prof. Einstein:



And builds molecules with his Daddy:

Snow!

We've had quite a bit of snow out here of late. Over the weekend, Ed took Elliot outside to try out his new toboggan from Grandma. He loved it!

The holidays

We had an early Christmas gathering at my MIL's. So fun, though it's kind of blur since we all still had our colds. Here's Elliot enjoying some quality time with Grandma.



Christmas Day was rather anticlimactic. We'd all gotten norovirus during the previous week and despite quarantining ourselves for several days after we were symptom-free, we managed to pass it on to my dad (who arrived a couple days before Christmas), my sister, and my BIL. I felt so bad for them. So, no Christmas dinner with the family. Instead, Elliot rolled around in wrapping paper at our house.



Once everyone was better, we had a nice visit to the small, lovely Griffin Museum of Photography with my dad and his girlfriend, Sherry.



We had a wonderful visit!

Happy birthday, Elliot!

I can't believe it's already been a year. We celebrated with Ed's family after Thanksgiving dinner and again with local friends yesterday.

Grandma (Ed's mom) made Elliot a bear cake using the same mold she used for birthdays when Ed and his sisters were kids. So cool!



Elliot got many lovely, thoughful gifts. Here is a tricycle from Aunt Paige and Uncle Kevin that he's already taken outside several times.



Yesterday we had high tea, which was so fun that we might have to do it for other birthdays as well. (Probably mine or Ed's -- I assume by next year, Elliot will have other ideas of what constitutes a fun party.)



Elliot loved his cake! He ate a little and threw a lot of it all over the place.



We got him a recycling truck for his birthday, since his favorite toys are the wheels on the stroller and articles in our recycling bin.



The year has been a blur -- sleep deprivation will do that to you -- but it has been amazing. Ed and I have had so much fun and can't wait to see what the next year brings.

Visit from Popo and Grandpa Roy

Mom (Popo) and Grandpa Roy came to visit last week. Elliot loved all the attention!



Popo entertained Elliot while I did some work, but he occasionally came to check on me.



We ate a lot...



Mom and Roy helped Ed rake up all the leaves in the yard.

On our last day, we took some photos in a local park. We had a great time!!

Happy Halloween!

We now interrupt cyclocross season to present a few pictures of Elliot

I can't believe this kid is already 10.5 months old.

Elliot dressed up to meet our friends' new baby, Margot.



The curls were getting mullety, so Elliot got a haircut a few weeks ago. Ed has a real future as a barber. (Scroll to the end to see a good pic of the haircut.)



Elliot is a great napper as long as he's being snuggled.



Elliot loves ice cream, and I'm sure it's partially responsible for the baby chub he's put on in the past month. I think our pediatrician will be pleased.



I can't wait until he can tell us what he's thinking. (My friend Whitney says that he's clearly plotting his escape.)

New skills

Elliot is acquiring all kinds of new skills. He finally got the hang of the sippy cup.



He's started "cruising," which led to the purchse of a baby gate for the bottom of the stairs. Then I returned it because it didn't work with our banister. Got another one, same story. I hope the third one is the charm.



Elliot is a highly skilled cat monitor.



Elliot is also excellent at spoon evasion and graham-cracker crumbling.