PotD Week Fourth Installment

Eliot and Brian were playing with sidewalk chalk. You should see our front porch! It's one big mural. Anyway, it turned out to be a great time of day for pictures.

PotD Week Third Installment

This is a picture of Eliot with his stylist - Ted. Eliot used to be a little more apprehensive of Ted, but he's grown to like him quite a bit (as you can see here). I guess he knows as well as anyone that a good stylist is invaluable!

PotD Week Second Installment

Today I have a three-for-one special. Eliot tries different sunglasses. There was a very similar photo last year, but then again, it's always a very similar scene in our house. In the first picture, Eliot always says, "I look like Mr. Wonka!" which I find odd, because he's never seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Where did he GET that?!
The last picture was taken on Easter. The bunny brought him these glasses. He's a SUPERSTAR!
The middle one... well, that's just his regular old self wearing his everyday glasses.

Second Annual PotD Week

About this time last year I found myself with lots of miscellaneous photos, so I decided to do a Picture of the Day Week. Well, friends, I find myself in the same situation again this year. So, without further ado, we're presenting The Second Annual Picture of the Day Week.

In the first installment, Eliot helps plant tomatoes. We cleared out a bed in the back yard and planted tomatoes, peppers, carrots and all manner of good stuff. Eliot (with his gloves) was a big help. Note: this is actually before the garden was cleared of all of the ivy, so you can still see the vines. It's all clean now.

Eliot, Boy Genius, explains Special Relativity

Eliot watches a show on Noggin called Wow Wow Wubbzy. There is a character on the show that wanted to learn to dance. She was having trouble, so she decided to build special legs that would dance for her. She put them on and voila! She was dancing! Daddy said something to the effect of, “look at her legs move!” And Eliot says, “No, Daddy, her legs are staying still. It’s her mechanical legs that are moving.”

Eliot's perspective

I let Eliot play with my camera phone one day while we were waiting in the drive-through. Here are some of the pictures he took. It's great to see his little perspective.

Hmmm. Looks like I've lost my shoe.


Nope, not in my hand, either.

Hey, Mommy? Have you seen my shoe?

Teacher Appreciation Week

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at Hand in Hand. Considering we REALLY appreciate our teachers (like, REALLY) Eliot and I got busy in the kitchen making cookies. And eating a lot of cookie dough. Here's the card that I made to go with it. Of course, there was a nice note inside also.

Swimming

Well, we’ve started swimming lessons again for the season. Eliot’s taking them at the Lakeshore Foundation with a group called Swimwell. The owner/operator is Mr. Calvin and I’m here to tell you – he’s great. He gets all of the kids excited about swimming. The first week was a little rough for Eliot. We all know he’s a little shy around new people and he was not at all happy about going into the water without Mommy. I had to leave the pool area so Mr. Calvin could work with him without distractions. The next week was a little better, though. I told Eliot that I would stay in the pool area if he promised to do what Mr. Calvin says and NOT CRY. At first I was a little worried. As we approached the pool Eliot’s eyes started welling up with tears. He covered his mouth, trying not to cry. He was afraid that I’d leave if I saw him cry. I leaned down and reminded him that everything was going to be okay, and he would have a good time. I told him to look for me by the poolside and I’d give him the ole “thumbs-up” if he got scared. Tentatively he ventured in to the pool and when he saw that I was keeping my promise, he warmed up quickly and enjoyed his class. By the third class he was just fine. He trotted off into the pool with only a halfhearted “bye” and a quick wave over the shoulder. He glanced my way a couple of times to make sure that I was still there, flashed me a little thumbs-up, and got back to work. Already he’s showing some progress. But I’m not surprised, being the little fish that he is. I’m really hoping for a full-on swimmer before the end of the summer.

one liners

While discussing Eliot’s friend Adeline, who recently moved to Oklahoma. “You know.. We should drop her a line.” Where on EARTH did he get that?! (Update: answer – from The Beatles. “When I’m 64”)

While discussing Randall – the bad-guy monster in Monsters Inc. “He’s not very nice. Can we poke him with forks?” If this is the most violent he ever gets, I suppose I should be grateful.

Overheard…
Daddy: That toy is under the light. Do you see the light?
Eliot: Yes, I see the lights – they are all pointed at ME!

new girlfriend?

Before I picked up Eliot from school, Caitlin’s mom arrived. As Caitlin was leaving, Eliot jumped up out of his chair and ran over to her. He cupped each of her cheeks in his wee little hands and firmly planted a kiss right on her lips. I was very happy about two things – first, Caitlin’s mom is one of Eliot’s old teachers, so she knows he’s mostly harmless, and second, that it was Caitlin’s mom and not her dad. I questioned Eliot about it when we got in the car, “is Caitlin your sweetie?” “No..” he said, “she’s just a friend.” IS THIS HOW HE TREATS HIS “JUST FRIENDS”?? I think I should be concerned about the future.

art show 2007

We went down to the Art Festival last weekend, just like last year. And, just like last year, Eliot’s favorite part was the bellydancing. Right as the dancers were about to begin, he realized he needed to go to the potty. He was very nervous and confused about what to do, having never been faced with this dilemma. I promised that I could get him to the potty and back and not miss the dancing. He reluctuntly agreed, so I swooped him up and practically jogged to the porta-potties. We were in and out in a flash. I swooped him back up and rushed through the crowd back to the children's area. As we weaved in and out of the crowd Eliot strained to look at the stage, urging, "Mommy! Here come the bellybuttons! Here come the bellybuttons! Hurry!" Luckily we made it back in plenty of time to watch the dancing.

Eliot was awed by the big fountain at Linn Park. We also had great fun making collages with Lauren and Sarah and looking at all the beautiful art. We bought Eliot a great robot print from one of the artists. While the bellydancers were very nice, MY favorite part had to be the weather. It was warm in the sun and cool in the shade – just perfect. We were there for several hours but I could have stayed longer. As it was, though, Eliot was exhausted by the time we got home, and Brian and I were pretty beat, too.