Botanical Gardens

Last week we went to the Botanical Gardens with Lauren and Aunt Steph. The kids had a great time running around and getting some much needed exercise. Aside from almost crashing a wedding, Eliot was very well behaved. See pictures here.

he knows what he wants...

Brian brought Eliot home from school today. I was ready for him at home. I had juice ready, and dinner - meat sticks and corn. He came up the stairs asking for juice. Check. Juice ready. Then he said, "eat." Ok, meat stick and corn. Check. He looked at me like, "uhm. Mother Dear, what is this gruel that you have presented before me? I don't think so." But that's not what he said. He said, "eggs." That's all. Just "eggs." I said, "I didn't make eggs. I made meat sticks. That's what's for dinner." He answered with a simple, "eggs." Now, I don't know how many times I've heard "pick your battles." So I figured this was the perfect time to put that theory into practice. Well, at least it wasn't cookies or cake. Eggs. That I can agree to.

my child is a genius, part 156

We were playing with Primary and Secondary Elmo. They sat side by side. Eliot sat before them. He studied them, slowly moving his eyes from one to the other. Finally he said decisively, "Two Elmos. (pause) One... Two. Two red Elmos." I affirmed, he turned back to The Elmos. "Two orange noses." By now you see that it's true - he is definitely a genius. But if that weren't enough, here's more proof. He continued, "RED hands! RED Toes! (*laughter*) TWO ELMOS!" he screamed. I'm telling you, he's definitely headed for the gifted class.

what time is it?

It's Nekked Time!
Now, I've heard of this before - kids who love to run around naked. But this is the first time that we've actually experienced it. Last night after dinner, Eliot started pulling at his clothes as if they were trying to strangle him. First he pulled at his shirt. He created such a ruckus that I had to remove it. Then he started crying, "PANTS! PANTS!" So off they came, too. Down to his diaper, he was still unhappy. He pulled at his diaper, crying, WAILING. "EEEeee!" he screamed. So, off came his diaper. Finally comfortable, he was free to run about the house totally naked. He made laps around the living room, smiling ear to ear. We went about our normal night-time routine, only naked. He ate bananas, watched Elmo, read books - all in the buff, fanny shining. Hey, tons of fun for everyone... Tonight everything was back to normal. He had no desire to remove his clothes or run naked. Oddly, it was an isolated incident. Strange boy, he is.

beach pictures

I finally got some beach pictures up in the gallery.

Lauren Elbows

We have a copy of this picture on our refrigerator. Well, we USED to have it on our refrigerator. Now it lives wherever Eliot is. He calls it "Lauren Elbows". He carries it around the house with him, putting it by his plate when he eats, by his toys when he plays or just next to him when he reads a book. I had to rescue Lauren Elbows from an almost certain doom last night, as Eliot almost dropped her into the bath. Sometimes he'll forget where she is and he'll come to me and ask, "Yah-wen Eh-bows, Mommy?" We'll look around till we find her.

trip to the beach

We just returned from a trip to the beach with Mom and Gaines. We had a wonderful time!! The weather was beautiful - perfect beach weather. The water was mostly clear and the air was crisp. We had a little issue with these biting flies that kept us off the beach quite a bit. But every now and then the wind would shift and we could go down there for a little while.

I wouldn't say, though, that Eliot loved his first encounter with the beach. On Thursday when we arrived, we looked off from the balcony and taught him to say "ocean". First thing Friday morning he ran to the deck and exclaimed, "ocean!" So, we walked down there. Now, he didn't hate it either - there was no screaming or anything. He tolerated being there. But he absolutely did NOT want to be put down. Whenever we tried to put him down he'd lift his feet as high as he could, so they were higher than his little bottom. After we'd been there for about five minutes he spontaneously started saying goodbye to things. "Bye ocean! Bye sand!" I'd point out the wildlife and he'd immediately say, "Bye fish! Bye crab!" I handed him a seashell, which he promptly threw back into the water, "Bye seashell!"

Nonetheless, he did not fuss when we ventured back down to the beach the next day. Deenie brought a kite, and on Saturday afternoon, Aunt Gaines got in the air. We all went down to the beach to watch. Eliot loved it! He would hold on to the string and make it glide left and right. After that, every time he saw her he'd say, "Gaines? Kite?"

That night, Brian and I got to go out to dinner, while the three of them had a little shrimp-boil. Although, Eliot didn't eat much shrimp - mainly just corn. Gaines taught him to shuck the corn, then he took each piece to Deenie one at a time. He was very excited when it was finally cooked and ready to eat. Mom said he ate a whole cob and a half. But somehow he had decided that it was too hot to handle. She would say, "it's ok, Eliot, it's cool now. You can hold it." And he'd look up at her with his hands folded in his lap. "HOT," he'd insist. So Deenie had to hold the cob while he ate.

We all hated to say goodbye Sunday morning. It was yet another beautiful day and we didn't want to leave. But it was nice to get back home and get back to the regular routine. We can't wait for our next trip!

labor day

We went to Boca Raton for Labor Day to visit the folks down there. We had a GREAT time. Eliot did a lot of swimming, partying and running around. Daddy did a lot of golfing. Visit the pictures here.

eating raisins

Eliot relaxes in the Orlando airport, eating some raisins before our next flight. Uhm. Ok, when did my baby turn into a little boy? Were any of you watching, cause I think I missed it!