Quick Note

We are still on vaca, but I stopped into an Apple store to post. Eli is having a blast in Tahoe; the weather is very conducive to outdoor activities. He spent the day riding his new car/walker up and down the driveway with Grandma Cathie yesterday while Lehr and I hiked 13 miles of the Tahoe Rim Trail. We snuck away for a few hours today to take in a quick iMac class at the local outdoor mall and we just HAD to buy Eli his first pair of Vans... How pathetic are we that even when we steal away for the afternoon he is still at the forefront of our minds!

Farewell

Tomorrow Eli is taking his second plane trip out west. We are looking forward to a week of fun in the sun as we hike and bike (no biking for Eli yet). (Grandma and Grandpa are looking forward to a week of chasing Eli around their house and massive deck.)

Last night Cooper and his parents came over for dinner. No pictures to share this time (the camera batteries were being charged), but the boys did have a few cute moments. We were just commenting on how funny it is that they don't play together at all when they started. Eli and Cooper were sitting on the floor playing with pots and pans and colanders when Eli decided to put the strainer on his head like a hat. Cooper thought this was funny (but not as funny as Eli thought it was!) and 'helped' Eli put it on his head a few more times.

Walk Like a Man

Eli is walking as often as he can. Not without his walker or a proper substitute, however. It's so neat to see him so excited about his newfound mobility. As soon as we walk through the door I'll put him on the floor and he'll race over to his walker. He's even maneuvered a few corners completely on his own (without hitting the walls). But most of the time he collides with the walls and furniture so much you could mistake our living room for a demolition derby rink! The funniest thing about Eli using his walker is the resemblance he bears to a grocery shopper. Not sure why, but his wheels remind me of a shopping cart...

Somersault and Spin

Eli loves to somersault! He's not walking or standing on his own yet, so he can't really set himself up to perform the gymnastics on his own. It usually goes something like this: I will pull him to a standing position and hold onto his hips. I then tell him to put his head down, at which point he puts his hands and head towards the floor while tucking his chin (oh-so-cute). Then I move his hips over his head and lie him flat on his back, completing the roll. He grins and attempts to get in the 'ready' position for another somersault.

In the past few weeks Eli's dancing has become much more animated. Currently he claps whenever he hears music along with his standard head shake. The latest dance move is a one-arm swing: very suave! Eli's other new trick is the sit-n-spin. I'm not referring to the hard plastic toy from our childhood; Eli is his own sit-n-spin. He will sit on the wood floor and spin by pushing his feet around in a circle while leaving his torso (read: butt) in place. This kid is a one-man circus!

Back to Normal

Eli did very well this past weekend while Lehr was on 24/7 Daddy-duty. Not a lonesome tear was shed. However, once I returned, Eli was quick to pay me back for deserting him. He was extraordinarily clingy and whiny Sunday afternoon and Monday. I think that has passed now as he is back to his usual vocal and active self. (Read: the loud bull in the china shop has returned.) His cruising skills have improved drastically in the last few weeks: he now moves around the entire room, using various objects to keep his balance. The picture above shows him using the foot of the bed for leverage which he moved to after the desk, then the chair. He is quite the little monkey!

A Big THANK YOU!

For those of you who have been following my posts, you may remember that this last weekend was my 30-mile 2-day Walk for Breast Cancer. I made it back in one piece and Eli had a great 40-some hours alone with Lehr.

The walk was quite a success. There were approximately 1,000 walkers and we collectively raised over $1.2 million, at least 70% of which will stay in Atlanta to help with research and support for breast cancer patients. For those who have never participated in a walk similar to this, I encourage you to give it a try one year. The experience is amazing, even if you just work as a crew member at pit stops or registration. Thank you all again SOO much for everything. For those who donated, with your help we surpassed our fundraising goal and have helped over 45 local breast cancer organizations with educational, research, financial assistance and support programs. For those who sent me words of encouragement, your support means so much to me and it helped me finish the last stretch Sunday morning when my body was telling me it would rather sit than walk!

Rock-A-Bye Baby

I just realized that I am going to be away from Eli for over 36-hours this weekend (My two-day walk has finally arrived.), and it's hitting me like a ton of bricks. I'm not concerned that Eli will freak out due to my absence. I'm not worried about Lehr's parenting skills. It's not even being away during the day that has me sad; when we visited Tahoe in the spring I was away from Eli for ten-hours a few days. It's the night-times that have me feeling perplexed. I have never slept away from Eli and it's hitting me harder than I thought it would. It's really silly that I'm making a big deal out of this; he sleeps through the night so from 8PM until 7 or 8AM, so in those hours I never see him anyway...

As I was thinking about sleeping away from him for two whole nights I recalled the first night in the hospital after he was born. Eli was born at 8:28AM, so we had plenty of time to hang out before bedtime rolled around that night. At midnight Lehr and I decided to put Eli in the hospital nursery for two hours so we could get some sleep. We were both exhausted and I knew I wouldn't get any rest knowing no one was standing over Eli making sure he was still breathing. Ironically, as soon as Eli left the room I was unable to shut my eyes. I couldn't sleep knowing he was not with me, which was odd because looking back I don't think I really 'got it' yet (the love/bond thing). I think I dozed for a total of 20 minutes before I finally went and got him again at 2AM. So here I sit thinking about the upcoming weekend and wondering how I'll sleep knowing Eli and I are separated by many miles.

Ridiculous, I know. Random, I know. But as Lehr can tell you, my thoughts usually have about six degrees of separation. Sometimes (much to his *delight*) I ask him a random question or share an out-of-the-blue thought with him and then explain to him how I got there. For this random though the issue of sleeping away from Eli came to my mind as I was considering bringing some Tylenol PM to the hotel tomorrow night. I often have a hard time sleeping (no clue why), and I want to be sure to get enough rest for my walk. Then I started thinking about how I was going to sleep in general without Eli in the next room.... Random thought over (for now). I promise.

Boys Will Be Boys

This morning there was a touch of fall in the air so I was finally able to dress Eli in long sleeves. Since we were going for a walk outside I put a new shirt on him that I bought on sale over the summer. He was very intrigued as he has not worn long sleeves since he was about seven months old (he probably doesn't even remember that). He kept pulling at the sleeves the whole car ride there...too cute! (Check out the one-sock look also: Eli pulled the missing sock off in the car.)

Eli's new favorite toy is the pump for my exercise ball. He loves that he can put the black spout in his mouth and make funny noises. What he likes even more is when someone compresses the pump and air blows on his face or in his mouth. This contraption is right up there with the cardboard diaper box I gave him the other day. He spent lots of time exploring the box inside and out, finally using it as a walker. When Daddy got home we took turns pulling Eli in the box (it's big enough for him to sit in). This was especially fun when Lehr spun Eli in a circle for several seconds, making Eli completely dizzy. When the spinning stopped, Eli (still in the box) tilted his head all the way to the right side, as though he couldn't keep it up. I was laughing, but I felt sorry for his confusion so I picked him up. The poor little guy was like a newborn: he couldn't keep his head up or control his back. I told Lehr not to do that again....unless he had the video camera rolling.

Eli had a little haircut last night. Not his first official, since he doesn't have that much hair, but two snips were cut. Eli's hairline is so defined, much like Lehr's, and he had two or three little hairs that were significantly longer than the rest. I finally cut them last night. He resembles Lehr even more now.

Bumps and Bruises are here! Eli often uses his head to navigate while he crawls which means I hear "BUMP" several times a day as his head meets the wall. You may remember my entry last week about the fork holes in Eli's forehead... Well they're gone but now he has a big bruise on his cheek from falling into the table corner earlier this week. Also, Eli has become quite fond of forcefully falling down. When he lets go of the table or his walker or the chair he tends to heave himself, hands outstretched, towards the hard floor. That's just another bruise waiting to happen.

Missed Milestone

It wasn't until I went to the pediatrician last week that I even realized Eli was getting himself to a sitting position on his own. When he first started his army crawl, once he got himself to all fours he was stuck there. He could roll, but he couldn't get himself into a seated position. That was two months ago and now he is going from sitting to crawling to pulling up to lying on his back....basically everything. When the doctor asked me if he was sitting on his own I had to think about it. I hadn't witnessed him do it, but I see him crawl and then the next minute he's sitting, so I answered yes. As soon as we got home I started watching him carefully to see if he was indeed moving to a seated position, and if he was, how was he doing it? It's quite a cute process, actually (what a shocker!): he pushes his butt back until he's sitting. The main time he displays this behavior is when he crawls over to his book shelf, pulls off all of the baby books (the ones he's "allowed" to pull off), and sits down to read.

Also, he is clapping much more. It's very common for me to look in the rearview mirror and see Eli clapping and swaying his head side to side. Go White Boy Go White Boy Go!!!

How Will You Remember?

Cubs Win!

Well, not exactly, but it would have been nice if they had!!

Eli went to his second Cubs game tonight. Although the seats were not as good and the fireworks were absent, he still had a great time. Tom, Megan, and David joined us this evening, so Eli had a lot of friends to play with and sit with during the game. He even made friends with the fellow Cub baby in front of us!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame...

That's right. Eli went to his first Cubs game tonight, which also served as his first Braves game. Although the Cubs had quite a poor showing, Eli brought his A-game. This kid never ceases to amaze me. He has a short nap this morning before his music class, and an even shorter one this afternoon for reasons unknown. But instead of acting fussy and overtired during the game, he was happy and entertaining the entire nine innings. He even managed to flirt with and wave to many women seated around us. Of course once Lehr finished a beer, Eli had to play with the bottle (read: pretend to drink from the bottle). We've obtained quite a collection of beer-drinking pictures so far, also seen here and here. We got a surprise at the end of the game: they had Friday Night Fireworks at Turner Stadium. This was great news considering we missed our Fourth of July fireworks this year. Eli seemed to really like the spectacle. He sat on Daddy's lap and pointed to almost every explosion. He even bobbed his head to the music from time to time. He managed to keep his eyes open all the way back to the car (2 1/2 hours past his normal bedtime), and even though he fell asleep on the way home, he didn't cry at all when I stumbled around in his nursery trying to change him before I put him down for the night. At one point I was trying to get his Cubs shirt off and he patiently took his thumb out of his mouth and 'offered' his arm to me to pull the sleeve. What an angel...

Just Another Injury

So Eli is still eating with a fork at least once a day, but today was a less than successful demonstration of utensil control. Inbetween bites, when the fork was unloaded, Eli hit himself in the head with the end causing two small fork holes in his forehead. (You have to look really closely at the picture to the left. The spots are above his left eyebrow; click on the picture to enlarge.) I was instantly reminded of Steve Martin in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (Freddy was his character's name, I believe) sitting at the table with a cork at the end of his fork to prevent such injuries. Add this to the scratches under his mouth (no clue where they came from) and the blisters and scratches covering his right foot (products of crawling on concrete): this kid is a bruiser!!

Nevertheless Eli put on quite a show of signing "more" repeatedly at dinner tonight. The motivation? Fresh porcini ravioli....the kid loves it enough to perform as his parents ask.

Afternoon at the Park

We have had a wonderful reprieve from the oh-so-hot temperatures recently. So much so that I dared venture outside with Eli after 1PM today. We went to his favorite park for some playground action. Somehow we timed it right so most toddlers were napping, and school kids were not quite home yet because the park was pretty empty. There wasn't a piece of equipment untouched by the time we left. Eli especially loves the slide. He rode it a few times by himself and then proceeded to 'ride' it his preferred way.

Sick Day

Eli woke up with a stuffy nose and some coughing this morning, so instead of going to a new Mom & Me meeting at the church, we stayed home. (I didn't think that would be the best impression for Eli to give the other children. "Hi. I'm new here. Don't mind me as I wipe my mucus on you...") It's no surprise he's under the weather given the amount of people (and children) he was around this weekend. No biggie: his first of many colds I'm sure. To make the time in the house worthwhile, Eli and I had fun using his walker and his keyboard. Here are some clips:

#1: Eli playing his keyboard:


#2: Eli babbling a language only he can understand:



#3: Eli walking with his walker (no audio):

Labor Day Weekend

Eli's weekend was quite action packed! He spent his weekend hanging out with friends from church, catching up with family he hadn't seen in a while, walking with his walker at the park, exploring every corner of the church nursery, swimming, mountain biking, running errands, and celebrating Cooper's First Birthday. What a celebration that was! Cooper and his dad share a birthday, so the celebration was actually for both of them. However, Cooper was the only one eating his cake with his hands. His cake-technique was far different from Eli's. While Eli focused on the icing and ended up with cake all over his face and arms, Cooper ate a good amount of the actual cake and stayed pretty clean.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COOP!!!

Mirror, Mirror...

Since Eli is still a little short of the 20-lb requirement to ride front-facing in the car, his seat still faces backwards where we can see him through his own rear-view mirror. The last few weeks have been an exploration phase for Eli regarding mirrors, particularly the one in the car. He's always been able to see other people in the mirror, as they approach the car, or as they look at him while driving, but now he sees his own face. Eli really enjoys staring at his own face and he often leans forward to touch his reflection when I first put him in his car seat. Today we were in the car during lunchtime, so Lehr was in the backseat (carefully!) feeding Eli while I was driving. That was pure entertainment for Eli as he had never before watched food go in to his mouth, nor had he seen his own face as he chewed, swallowed, etc. Even after the meal was finished Eli continued to open and shut his mouth, all the while looking at his image in the mirror.

Needle in a Haystack

When Eli went to the pediatrician for his one-year appointment this week, they ordered a routine blood test to check his iron, etc. However, they do not perform those tests in the office, so I had to take him to a lab offsite. Today was the big day and Eli passed with flying colors. I brought him back into the little room and the nurse told me to sit in the chair with him on my lap. From there she tied the rubber around his arm and told me to hold him tight as he would most likely start to squirm and buck. Around that time another nurse came in to help hold his arm. The needle went in and Eli didn't even flinch. Then the blood started to be drawn and again, not a tear or yell or anything. He just kept staring at the nurses as if to say, "Is that all you've got?!?!" Neither of them could believe it. They said they'd never seen a baby act so nonchalant during a blood draw. (One that yielded four tubes of blood, I might add. The needle was in for a good two minutes.) To top it off, on the way home Eli pulled the gauze out from underneath the band-aid and then pulled the band-aid off. It was as if he didn't want anyone to think he was a sissy in need of protection on his boo-boo. (He did have a tattoo, after all!) What a trip!

Today was also Eli's first music class. Though he has enough musical instruments in the house to last him several years, I knew he'd enjoy the socialization and singing from someone other than his off-key mother. Indeed. He really seemed to like clapping his hands and watching everyone else do the same.