HamFam 2008 - Day Two

We all fought over who could watch Reagan (at least, I thought it was a competition). She is the MOST content child I have EVER met. Really. She is happy to be propped up somewhere surrounded by toys. What a great little girl. And her laugh is hilarious.
Eric was very happy to find Nerts friends. We played and played and played. We also discovered that some people (Michael & Ab; Becca & Aunt Lisa; Lydia & Eric) don't make the best partners, but play well with others. Why is that? Joe and I, however, pretty much blew everyone else out of the water. We're just cool like that.
The second cousins bonded over sippy cups, squealing, and many toys. Uncle Tom's side of the family kept commenting on how much Elijah ate. ("Wow! That boy really can eat!") My family said things like, "Reagan! You are such a good baby!" Elijah can't help it if he has a hearty appetite and a loud personality, OK guys?

HamFam 2008 - Day One

A good ole' HamFam Reunion was in store for all of us this July. The blazing hot outdoors and the frigid indoors kept us all moving - constantly changing clothes or switching locations in order to achieve a normal temperature. Much time was spent on the screened-in porch, which is probable where I would live if it were my house.

Elijah was willing to brave the outdoors more than most, primarily because of the CATS!, whom he greatly loved to "pet". Almost as alluring was the pool Mom and Dad had set up for Elijah. A good thing about being in the country is you can use whatever swimming attire you like - a swim diaper, a real outfit, a cloth diaper, or - as Grandpa advocated, but we didn't attempt - your birthday suit.

80 Years and a Sandbox

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Our friend Papa invited us to his 80th birthday party. We love him so much that we were, of course, ready to celebrate. Much of the party was spent in the sandbox as Elijah had yet to experience the joys of digging and digging and digging. He tried to eat the sand a few times which always resulted in much crying.

Another "it's a small world" connection was made at this party too. An in-town-for-the-weekend grandfather was telling me of his travel plans. It ended up that he was heading to the very retirement village, over twelve hours and several states away, where my own dear grandparents live! As a special treat, our friend Laura sent a chocolate cake and pictures of my grandfather's namesake with our new friend. The retirement community was abuzz with the story a few days later....really! (Oh, and they want the chocolate cake recipe, Laura. Is it OK to distribute it?)

Happy Birthday Papa! We are very happy to have you in our lives!

Grammie & Grampa's

A little vacation was had by all when we received the "Parents of the Month" prize one Wednesday evening. We won free overnight babysitting, a delicious dinner at Red Robin, a thorough van cleaning, a baby-free Saturday morning, and pre-arranged pick-up and delivery arrangements for the baby. It was probably one of the best gifts I have ever received. (So, if you have a daughter-in-law, you should totally copy this idea!)

Elijah, Grammie, and Grampa also had a good time.
Swinging in the back yard (thanks Gordons!):


Playing in the park:
Swimming with a squishy! water! ball!: Elijah LOVES these balls!
Hiding under the dining room table:
Thanks for the date night Grammie & Grampa! We really enjoyed it!

My Little Boy

I LOVE THIS BABY!

Sweet Little Elijah,

You are now fourteen months old and such a delight to your Daddy and me. This month you started saying just "Maaa Maaa" instead of "Maaa Maaa Maaa Maaa Maaa." You have also used "Daa Daa" on many occasions to specifically address your Father. Your faces changes, and you get really excited when I mention Daddy's name or say "Who's here? Who is it Elijah?" when Daddy comes home. And Daddy has been coming home a lot to take naps during his lunch break. Many days you have wakened from your morning nap first. I say, "Guess who's here? Guess who is here, Elijah!" and you immediately start looking around. Then you spot Daddy on the bed and start pointing and doing your excited grunt. I will place you on the bed by Daddy's feet and watch you crawl up to Daddy's face, so thrilled that he is home. So far, it has always made Daddy wake up in a good mood too!

After a two week strike, you are back to giving Daddy real, slobbery kisses. You have (mostly) stopped biting me while trying to give kisses. A few days ago, I was sitting on the living room floor cutting out an insane amount of coupons. You would waddle from me to under the kitchen table, pause, then quickly waddle back to my side with an open mouth and a loud "aaaaaagh" to give me a kiss. It was so funny and sweet; I am sure my laughter encouraged you to continue this for several minutes.

You are communicating like crazy. You can give signals for "please," "thank you," and "all done," but you manage to communicate much, much more than that. You even use voice inflections with the "mmmuuugh" sound in the back of your throat to communicate. Your pointing, excited laughing/exacerbated "please" sign, and movement of the large tub of animal crackers has gained you many a snack.

The toy animal train still scares you even though you can turn the music off and on by yourself. The self-propelling action of the train is, I think, what frightens you. You have just started to really push your little cars across the floor. It is so cute and boyish when you do it! You especially love your little ladybug, popping car. Your favorite toys, however, are in Momma's desk: the baby stapler, large clips, and rolls of tape are continually exciting to you. You also like to pull out all the cards and envelopes from the stationary drawer. The phenomenon of emptying things - bags, drawers, chests - is captivating to you. I usually let you make these messes because I am glad that you are curious. I basically follow you around the house, allowing you to make one mess so I can clean up another. But I love it. When I get frustrated, I often think, "But what if I didn't have a baby to make all these messes!"

Fishing a clip out of the toilet, matching cards to envelopes, wiping oatmeal off the floor, washing your tray three times a day, spraying off your diapers, taking flowers out of your mouth, finding Mr. Moose, reading Happy Birthday Maisy! eight times a day - you are worth the effort it takes to do all these things, a million times over.

I love you,
Momma

Closets

Daddy: Shhhh. Let's hide from Momma. She won't see us. Door closes.
Momma: Where is the baby? Knocks on closet door. Where is Elijah?
Daddy: Opens door. Here I am!
All: Loud, excited screaming.


How much fun have you had in a closet lately? Here at our home, we are making GREAT use of our closet space (in many ways, actually). Elijah has discovered the joys of "hiding" in the closet. Actually, he is "hiding" everywhere. He frequently crawls under the kitchen table, into a closet, or behind a rocking chair to hide. You are able to easily find him, however, because:
1. He is always visible, and,
2. He is laughing hysterically the entire time.
He thinks it is especially funny to hide in select spots when someone is chasing him. I laugh because he always pins himself in a corner.

Growing up in a two-story house presented many opportunities for fun. As we would frequently ascend the stairs at the same time, my brother would try to hit us in the butt on the way up. Abigail and I soon picked up on the glee of hitting the unsuspecting bottom. It didn't hurt and it wasn't scary, but I would get so frantic just thinking that someone was going to get me, that I learned to sprint up the stairs, often with no small amount of squealing. To this day it is difficult for me to go up the stairs in front of someone, lest they grab my butt.

Elijah doesn't quite become paralyzed when he hears "I'm gonna get you!", but he does immediately start laughing and looking behind him. Or he just falls on the floor squealing. He is definitely my child.

A New Friend

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord. The fruit of
the womb is a reward. Psalm 127:3

She likes him already~:-)

Kitchen Helper

My walking, squatting, squealing, into-everything, little man is learning to be a big helper. Yesteday he threw away several dryer sheets for me, all by himself! On Monday, he answered the phone (by knocking it off the receiver, mashing the talk button, and doing some heavy breathing)!

That's right - we are still using cloth diapers.

A Spend-the-Night!

This is so fun! Come on friend!Hesitant at first, Matthew soon proves to be macho man in the water.
"If you have a pool, friends will come." OR "This is how we meet our new neighbors." [Aside: Our new neighbors are super wonderful! They have a little girl exactly Elijah's age. I consider this family a great blessing!]
Bath time is fun! (Who took this picture?)
We encourage Matthew to climb on all the furniture.
Matthew teaches Elijah how to use a fork. Elijah uses a fork independently for the first time. It is good to have smart friends.

These boys know how to eat...and eat...and eat!!! I text Charlotte, letting her know that her son has a tapeworm.

They have a POOL!

"Poppa, I'm gonna push Mr. Eric in!....He said I could!"
This little boy loved playing in the water:

International Puppet Festival

Although we did not actually get to SEE a puppet show (tickets, although free, sell out early!), the puppet festival was really fun.
Elijah was able to stare at lots of other children,
explore a huge new place,
help Daddy make a puppet,
watch a personlized puppet show,
pull books off shelves (thankfully, I know how to reshelve books - thanks to being a former RCPL volunteer....holla!),
walk, walk, walk,
ride a plastic whale,
watch a man do funny tricks,
hear live music,
see his first display of clogging,
and watch a fine display of banner waving.

There was a lot going on.

Our apologies to the sweet little girl who kept being pinched in the arm by my son:
(eek...anyone want to have us over to play?)

Dinner Date

Our friends had us over to play! Abiel helped ensure our time was not dull with his own contributions of excited noises. They made me laugh.

The boys are just starting to learn to play with one another. (read: We are just starting to have lots of lessons on sharing.)

Thanks for a fun evening! We'll be back soon~;-)