at the doctor's office

Eliot was wearing nothing but a diaper. I had endured twenty minutes of Eliot slapping the closed door with is hands screaming, "door! door! OPEN! DOOOOOOR!" Dr. Stansell had finished his exam and left the room to get us some samples of Triaminic. He left the door open. So I figured, ok, let's just leave it open. Certainly he won't get far. Sure enough, Eliot lingered in the doorway for a second and then escaped to the hallway. I stayed where I was in the exam room. Moments later I saw his face peep around the corner, and he came back in. He strengthened his resolve and ventured out again. "Are you going to leave me in here?" I asked. He looked at me and then continued walking. "I'm staying here, Eliot." He paused and continued another few steps. "ok, then," I said, "if you're leaving you're going to need the car keys." I jingled my keys in the air. He came back in, grabbed them and ran back into the hallway. Suddenly I heard a little voice around the corner. "NO! NO! NO! Nonono!" His little naked body came running toward me and leapt into my arms. Dr. Stansell walked into the room, just as calm as always, with a big smile on his face. I shrugged, "well I figured he wouldn't get far." Doc agreed, "we have very few successful escapes around here."

18-month update

We had our 18-month checkup this week. Eliot is 25 pounds and 33" tall. Still 75% taller than most, but right on average weight-wise. Eliot walked down the hall to the exam room repeating, "no. Nononono." He was very calm and continued walking. As we passed each nurse, each patient, and even Dr. Stansell himself, Eliot looked them in the eye and solidly said. "no. no no no." Everyone knew exactly where he stood on the visit. Dr. Stansell warned us that this would be our worst visit. His age, combined with the three shots that he was to receive, was a recipe for disaster. It wasn't as bad as I figured it to be, though. When he went in he was totally healthy. His ears, nose, eyes all clear. His breath was normal and his physical development was right on course. When Dr. Stansell asked if he knew some of his body parts and animal sounds I could answer with certainty, a resounding "YES", considering that all I hear all day long is, "Eye. Ear. Eh-bow. Nee..." Unfortunately, the shots he got have made him a little under-the-weather today. He's been running a fever, and generally feeling yucky all day. He wants to sit in my lap and only eats banana-flavored items (popsicles, yogurt, whatever, so long as it's banana flavored.) He fell asleep on the floor tonight about 7:15 - most unlike him, even when sick. He laid his little head on a pillow with his bottom in the air, as I gently rubbed his back. I don't think I've ever seen him do that before. We'll probably be up at 5AM with a completely healthy kid, ready to start the day.

Eliot loves bananas

He calls them "Mannies". Actually, he loves all fruit. Right now he's in hog heaven, since it's summer and we get to eat fresh peaches, blueberries, strawberries and cherries. I try to give him a variety of fruit so he can develop different tastes. Last week Aunt Holly gave him his first blueberry. At first he looked at me, shaking his head, "no. Nonono." I tried to put it to his mouth and he just blew raspberries at me. So I smushed it up a little and when he stuck his tongue out to blow a raspberry I smeared the innards onto his tongue. "EEEEEEE!" he screamed. Then he smacked a couple of times and his face turned from anger, to thoughtfulness, then a huge smile. He smacked a couple more times and said, "More! More!" I have not been able to keep him away from them since.

Eliot loves Elmo

I mean LOVES Elmo. He says, "Eh-mo! Eh-mo!" He will sit and watch an entire episode of Elmo's World, eyes a-glaze. When it's over he'll say, "Byeee, Ehmo!" and dance with the theme music. A couple of weeks ago, Deenie bought him two Elmos. One was a stuffed Elmo that has been inseparable from Eliot ever since. He has now taken to going to sleep with Bearbear in one arm and Eh-mo in the other. This one we call "Primary Elmo". He also has a smaller Elmo that can go in the bathtub and swimming pool. This one is "Secondary Elmo", since he's usually wet. He also has "Tertiary Elmo" which is just a very small Elmo on a keychain. Last week we thought we had lost Primary Elmo. Luckily Secondary Elmo held him over. Much to our relief, we found his Primary Elmo over at Holly and Mike's house on Sunday. Believe me, the reunion was joyous!

retrospection

I've been looking back at old blog entries this week. This entry, for example, about how he rolled over while reaching for a block. That's right, this time last year he was just learning how to roll over. Now he runs around all over the place, saying words, laughing and playing. Here's what he looked like last July. He was just starting to eat baby food. Now, just a year later, he's learning to use a spoon all by himself. I'm so glad I have maintained this blog so I can go back and see. It's better than a baby book! Watch this week for several "What Eliot Loves" posts.

music request

Yesterday Eliot and I were in the car, driving home from school. We were listening to music together with the windows rolled down. His favorite CD is "Buzz Buzz" by Laurie Berkner, featuring the hit song, "Buzz Buzz". From the back seat he started saying "buzz buzz, Mommy, bzzzzzz!" "I don't have that one with me. We'll have to listen to this instead." He was insistent. "bzzzz! bzzzz!" I was very apologetic. "I can't, Eliot, it's not here." Then he said, "Winnow! Winnow!" pointing at the sunroof. I looked up and there was a real, live, actual bee flying around the window. "BEEEE!" he shouted. I laughed, rolling open the sunroof to let him out. From the backseat he waved, "bye, bee. Byeeee!"

numbers and letters

Eliot has been learning his numbers and letters. He particularly enjoys naming the letters on T-shirts. Whenever he sees us wearing a shirt with letters on it, he'll point and say, "E!" You see, every letter is "E", just as every number is "2" and every color is "yeh-yow". Here's an excerpt from my morning:
Mom: Eliot, let's count the blueberries. I'll start. Ooonnnee...
Eliot: Twwwooooo....
Mom: Threeeeee....
Eliot: Twooooo...
Mom: Fooouuurrr....
Eliot: Twooooo....
Mom: What color are these BLUEberries?
Eliot: yeh-yow!

Eliot got the memo!

This explains everything! It's all clear to me now! Eliot must've gotten this memo, as well. Thanks to finslippy for uncovering the truth about Operation No-Pants.

hurricane party

Lauren and her parents came over yesterday for a little hurricane party. Granted, it was very mild version of a hurricane party both indoors and out. Anyway, Eliot was napping when they came over, but when he woke up Lauren was a fabulous big sister. Read about it here. To finish the story, though, when Lauren heard Brian coming up the stairs she told Eliot (still in his crib), "uhm... I gotta go now" and went running from the room. The cuteness that ensued upon Eliot's waking was a sight to behold! Everything that Lauren did made Eliot laugh infectiously. He tried to copy her when she jumped, somersaulted, and ran around the house. They rolled the ball to each other and ate chips with salsa. Eliot followed her around like a puppy. Considering he'll never have a real big sister, we are very lucky to have Lauren as a stand-in.

politician in training

So tonight Eliot and I went to dinner with Grandmother. We hit this great little Chinese restaurant where Eliot turned me into a total liar, eating all the chicken he could shove into his mouth. Here I thought he had decided to be a vegetarian (on moral grounds, I'm sure) but no. I guess I just didn't have the proper mix of rice and MSG that really got him going. Also he ate half of my eggroll, which, uhm, HELLO! That was MY eggroll! If he had wanted one he shouldn't have lead me to believe that he was a finicky eater. When we were finished he had rice all over his rear end. I had to let him walk out by himself with the rice affixed, so I could brush it off when we got outside. On our way out he felt the need to announce he was leaving to the entire establishment. As we walked, he threw his hand over his shoulder nonchalantly, saying "bye!" as we passed each table. When we got to the door he turned around and screamed, "BYEEEEE!!!" at the top of his lungs. Yes, Eliot, the restaurant says goodbye to you, too. I'm sure they are sorry to see you go. =)

grandpa eliot

He looks a little like an old man - plaid hat, striped shirt, and nothing from the waist down. Guess who picked out his outfit all by himself?

welcome to toddlerville