Basketball q&a

Elliott keeps an old basketball trophy of mine in his room. He sometimes sleeps with it. Tonight he got it down from his shelf and put it in his bed. Just as I was about to pray with him, he said "Let me do it." I thought he meant pray. "No, I just want to talk about it." He meant the trophy. This ensued:

Why do you jump when you shoot? Why do you bend your knees to shoot? Why do you wear those shoes? Why do you shoot the basketball into the basketball hoop? Why did you win this? What did you say when you won the game? What did you say before you won the game? Why did Daddy get me this bed? I don't like beds. I want to sleep on the floor. How fast did you go when you dribbled the ball? Where is the blanket with you playing basketball on it? Why did we stay in the place with no stairs last night? (a hotel room)

He might be on his way to being a reporter ...

The first time we met

William is going through some separation anxiety issues, so he is crying at bedtime. Tonight Elliott came downstairs from his bedroom and said "Mommy, William needs you!" I knew Elliott wouldn't be able to go to sleep with William still crying, so I just brought E. up into my lap to wait with me. We were sitting at the computer, so we pulled up the pictures of his birth (not his actual entry, rest assured!) We have an iPhoto album of pictures of the two of us together for the first time, minutes after his birth, as well as him with various family members later that day. He loves hearing me tell him about the first time we met. He also loves looking at himself as a newborn and seeing who all came to see him when he was born.

What a joy to look at these pictures with him. I'm finding more and more as a parent that the best moments are spontaneous. These childhood years are fleeting, and we often have to steal moments when we can get them. Sure, he should have stayed in his room, but had I forced him back upstairs, I would have missed out on a very sweet 10 minutes with him looking back at those newborn pictures and reinforcing to him, in many ways, of how loved he has been from his first minutes on the planet. (William stopped crying in 10 minutes, by the way. He used to be such an easy sleeper, now he is fighting tooth and nail to stay up).

I certainly value routine and schedules, but I delight in the moments that come when I can just focus on the child and not worry about the time or what I think I "should" be doing. I've had to remind myself that no parenting police are going to come barging in at 8 p.m. asking why my children aren't asleep yet.

(Is it ironic that I am writing about this in the context of another child crying it out alone in his bedroom? Let's not spend too much time thinking about that one ...)

A Tale of Two Slides

Back on a warm day in March, we took Elliott to Shoup Park for the first time. He was just 13 months old and this little slide was high adventure. 

Throughout the summer, Elliott mastered bigger slides, tunnels, bridges and stairs. He had never, however, taken a trip down the BIG slide at Shoup Park. Until Saturday. What a difference five months makes in a little boy and his courage.

Elliott at 18 months

Elliott will be 18-months-old tomorrow, on the verge of all things toddler. The so-called "verbal explosion" usually starts at 18 months, as does a big jump in physical ability (climbing). 

Lately, he's been saying more and more words and communicating better non-verbally. He's obsessed with shouting "ON!" to get us to turn on the TV, computer, radio or record player (yes, we have a record player in our living room and Elliott is a big fan).  He's added "thank you" to the words he often says, but still just does the sign for "please." And, much to my dismay, he now knows a little four-letter word: "Elmo." 

He's a sweet boy who is prone to being a major ham for our friends and often to complete strangers (especially women). He likes play dough, but isn't keen on coloring. He loves music and dancing, trips to the park and to the mall play area. His favorite game continues to be playing with balls, but chasing the dog with a broom or some other dangerous item is a close second. He hates sitting in shopping carts or his stroller; he prefers to be free.  He doesn't like his diaper changed or to put on clothes, unless they are hats. The kid loves hats. He likes watching two music videos that we found on the Rolling Stone video podcast (Sara Watkins and Dan Auerbach). He is a drug fiend, always begging for more Tylenol or gas drops.

Happy half-birthday Elliott! 

My son and his balls

Elliott shows us affection. Hugs, kisses, smiles. 

But we are nothing - nothing - compared to his beloved balls.

No, no, not those. 

The basketball, the bouncy ball, the soccer ball, the tennis ball, anything round he sees elicits an automatic proclamation of "Ball!" 

It's enough to drive you batty. I have considered taking them all out of the house and putting out a few more of his other toys to promote diversity. Affirmative action for cars, stuffed animals, anything but the favored majority.

But we live with this obsession. Now that it is summer, the ball obsession has led to an obsession with being in the backyard.  He tries with every ounce of strength and determination to shoot basketball. Of course, the ball just rolls off his hands just above his head. We will post video of that soon.

A group from our church organizes weekly trips to parks across the Dayton area every Tuesday during the summer. Today we went to Lofino Park in Beavercreek, off Grange Hall near Shakertown Road. The park includes a fenced skate park. A young guy was skating and some of the kids went over to the fence to watch him. Then they laughed and chanted "He messed up!" when he fell.

A tough crowd!

You can see Elliott watching intently along with the other kids.

"NO!!!!!!!" and other expressions

I have failed at keeping a log of Elliott's milestones. I have no real idea when he started to do things, just vague recollections (I blame it on sleep deprivation for the first 10 months of his life). I'm going to try to start doing better. So here is a list of words he is saying

* "NO!!!!" I hear this many, many times a day. But, he probably feels like he does, too.
* "Ball!" a big fan of balls, Elliott also says this a thousand times a day.
* "Bailey" our dog
* "Meow" he picked up this word from a song and rhyme we often sing. Now he points to cats and says it. It is his only animal sound, although I am certain he knows more but just keeps them under lock and key.
* "Two!" I count "1" and he says "Twooooo" and then I say "Three!!" and he kind of squeals the number three.
* "Hello" I heard him today saying this into a toy hammer as if it were a microphone.
* "Bye"
* "Dad, Daddy, Dada"
* "All done/All gone!" He's just started saying this phrase this week, throwing up this hands and saying and then clasping his hands together with a smug little smile.
* "Shoe" He says this every time we put on shoes.

Maybe there are others? I can't remember.

Zoo

We took a half-day trip to the Cincinnati Zoo over the weekend. We met up with my uncle and his family as well as my sister. I'm not a huge fan of zoos, but I do like them more than I did B.C. (before children). There's something more interesting to me now about the animal kingdom - I think the whole process of carrying a child, delivering it, nursing it and watching it develop has made me more appreciative of animals and their instinctive behaviors.

Elliott was interested in some of the animals. He and his cousins were able to pet and brush a goat. We pestered him until he hugged it. We sound ridiculous on the video - "Hug the goat, Elliott! Give the goat hug! Hug the goat!"

Vacation

I know it's a few weeks late, but here are some pictures from our vacation to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

The whole family went, including Elliott (of course) and even Bailey. We stopped in Chicago first to visit our friend Suzelle, who was kind enough to let the whole crew stay there, and fed us a great meal (pork wrapped in bacon, what could be better?). We stopped at Yolk for breakfast before heading up to Wisconsin. If you're ever in Chicago and want a great breakfast, go there, and trust us, one omlette will feed two, if not more.

We stayed in a little bed and breakfast in Lake Geneva called Eleven Gables Inn. It was very nice, and one of the few places that didn't mind a baby and a dog, plus it was just a few yards away from the lake and we had our own patio.

The lake was very nice, and they have a rule where everyone that builds a house on the lake has to leave room for a path, so that the public can walk all the way around the lake. But since it's 22 miles around, we didn't quite make it all the way. Lake Geneva was a getaway for many of Chicago's elite in the 1900s (Wrigley, Maytag, Marshall Fields family) so there are some large and beautiful homes around, and many do elaborate landscaping along the path. Since we weren't going to walk all the way around the lake, we took a boat tour while let us see pretty much everything, and was Elliott's first time on a boat.

Other first's for Elliott were going outside of the states of Ohio and Kentucky (he added Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin to his list, for those keeping track) and also got to play on the beach in the sand for the first time. Even though it was a bit chilly, Tracy put his feet in the water a little and he enjoyed it. Speaking of water, another fun Lake Geneva fact is that it is the second deepest lake in Wisconsin (~140 feet) and one of the clearest, allowing you to see the bottom of the lake in as much as 30 feet of water.

While we were in the neighborhood, we went up to East Troy and had dinner with our friends the Schroeders, who recently moved to Milwaukee. East Troy was so great, we headed back there Wednesday to visit the Elegant Farmer store. We bought some fresh curds (really fresh cheese that squeaks when you eat it) and the world's greatest apple pie. That is not hyperbole, their apple pie in a brown paper bag is one of the 10 wonders of the food world (along with bacon and breakfast tacos).

Below are a few of the pictures from our trip, and you can see more on our WebGallery here.

This Little Piggy Went to the Market

We took Elliott down to the Webster/2nd Street Market in Dayton, which also has a farmer's market. It's always crowded, even at 9 a.m. on Saturday, but that's a good thing. I'm glad there is a place in Dayton where we can go and get locally grown food, and enjoy coffee and all kinds of food from non-chain restaurants.

We grabbed some vegetables for ourselves, and some to puree in our new food processor for Elliott. It's nice to be able to feed him baby food like sweet potatoes where the only ingredient is sweet potatoes.

We also ran into some friends of ours that were decked out in their Ohio State (or should I say, "The Ohio State") gear for the game. As always, Elliott tries to be the ladies man, going for the older women.

Elliott's Hairdo

After I gave Elliott his bath Friday night, I decided he needed some extra style.  Some may say I'm just compensating for my own follicular shortcomings, but I think it looks good.

Hazard

Elliott and I spent nearly two weeks in Hazard while Tim traveled for work. We had a great time visiting with family. We, well I, enjoyed good food, including a scrumptious spread of fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, potatoes, green beans, fresh cucumbers and green peppers, sliced tomatoes and cornbread, not to mention spice cake and two pies.

We visited with just about all of our family, even stopping along the way to see Kara and Braden and on the way home, Katie and Tim's parents.

Here are some pictures:

Milestone Alert: Elliott rolls over

Elliott rolled over tonight for the first time. After months of being satisfied with a fairly sedentary lifestyle, lately Elliott has been scooting around on his bottom, however, he hasn't shown any signs of rolling over. Tonight, when I was pretty much exhausted and in a rather cranky mood, I tried to pass him off to Tim. But Tim was on his way into the back yard to finish up some yard work, so I begrudgingly carried Elliott upstairs and put him down on a blanket on his bedroom floor. He has two blocks that he has become rather interested in lately so I put them down to his side to encourage him to move toward them and potentially roll over. I was shocked when he actually flopped over from his stomach to his front. I think maybe God was telling me to stop being annoyed with being a mom and to appreciate all of the cool things I get to see by being with him.
He rolled over a few more times and I called for Tim to come see this stroke of genius. Tim brought up the video camera so we could preserve it for the ages.

Here's his shining moment (excuse Tim and I for sounding like complete dorks)

Never change

Though you told us in our high school yearbooks to never change, we've totally ignored that advice time and time again.  This is no exception.

We're trying out the whole Blogger thing now in addition to (instead of?) our .Mac account, primarily because it is a pain to only be able to update the website and blog from a single computer.  So for now, check here to get your fill of Tracy, Elliott and me, though we will keep posting pictures of Elliott to our WebGallery (because unlike the blog, you can upload from anywhere).

Enjoy.  Or something like that.

Tim