In memory of the mullet

CIMG1432
Originally uploaded by amykwelias.

On Brad's birthday, he convinced me to cut Elias's hair. Elias has been sporting a very trendy mullet since around December, 2005, and it has just been getting better and better with back hair growing longer and longer and front and sides in a steady holding pattern. Brad had brought up cutting the back a few months ago, but I think what sealed the deal for him was when Santa called him a girl. I don't know why it would bother Brad, what with him in long locks for so many years, but it did. So, on Brad's birthday, he convinced me that I should cut his hair so that Elias can see that it doesn't hurt and then, if all goes well, cut his hair too.

So, I start cutting Brad's hair with Elias on his lap. Brad is saying, "Don't cut there. Cut here. Okay, cut Elias's hair. Cut where your fingers are." Before I knew it, I was cutting off all of Elias's back hair. :-(

I really hadn't planned on it. It's like, I just want to push away all of those firsts, I guess, because the more firsts that pass, the more he moves away from being my baby to being my little boy, to being my boy' to being my adolescent, to being my young adult, to ...you get the picture. It's all just going by so fast. I think he does look just adorable, still, but there will never be the first haircut again and his hair will change and never be the same and I will miss it. And his mullet was beautiful, and there's nothing wrong with being called a girl. He's just beautiful and soft and sweet.

Christmas

Christmas came and went at the William's household. It was fun, but what can I say, the kids still think Santa is a freak and they are more interested, in many ways, in the bubble wrap that comes around the present than what's inside. There were some winners this year for Elias, depsite having to really coax him into unwrapping his gifts:

1. The triangle instrument (Elias wants to carry this around with him whenever we leave the house. He doesn't play the triangle, though. Mostly just holds it.)

2. Mousetrap-The Game

3. Replacement sugar bowl for his tea set

4. Basketball hoop and net

He's really enjoyed the books and puzzles and other toys, too, but has really taken a liking to these.

Yesterday, we went to OMSI with Oscar and there were literally 20 billion people there. It was a chaotic mass of miniature humans running to and fro, away from their parents beckoning them back. Ugh. This was not the day to go to OMSI. However, despite the crowd, we did fairly well until the very end when Oscar and Elias got into a tussle over some dehydrated peaches. First, Oscar throws himself on the floor because he is not allowed to hold the original bowl of peaches. Then, when offered some peaches in a secondary bowl, grabs the bowl and flings the peaches all over us. He proceeds back to the original bowl that Elias is still clutching. I intervene, to help stabilize the bowl. Oscar's mom comes to the rescue and removes Oscar from the bowl. But then, from out of nowhere, I find that Elias and I are now in a tussle over the bowl. I'm thinking, "NO! THIS ISN'T WHAT I'VE MEANT TO HAPPEN!" Elias is looking at me, screaming at me. I try to release the bowl to keep it from exploding everywhere. It's too late, Elias pulls the bowl and peaches are released into the atmosphere! In the midst of all of this, Dahlia is trolling around the floor eating peach and cheddar bunny debris. Nice, nice ending.

Funny little guy

While waiting for Daddy to show up at the restaurant this evening, Elias was entertaining himself with the packets of sugar. He was shaking them and respecting what we had discussed that shaking them and pretending to use them was okay. He excited shook the granulated sugar and looked at me and said "That makes a beautiful sounds!" tee hee.

sleeping prince

After being denied access to mommy's milkshake, things started going downhill this evening. He's been up there with dad for about 10 minutes crying, shrieking, shrill-screaming. I have debated going up, but feel as if I may have already done enough. Ugh. I believe yet again, we are moving into another phase.

Today was a great day. We got lots of errands done and everyone stayed pretty much together through it all. Problems began at nap, with an inordinate amount of kicking and hitting (what it this about?). After a great deal of rearranging and discomfort, Elias settled in to a position and gave in to sleep. He was holding onto my earlobe at the time. His limbs lighten and eventually, his hand just flops down on my face. I stealthfully sliver from under the blanket and look at him sleeping. Everybody always talks about watching their babies sleep. I know I haven't done this nearly as much as I should. He looks just like Brad when he sleeps. And, it's hard to image that he was so frustrated just a few minutes prior. So peaceful, my sweet.

Grandma Jean, Tiger and Tag

Today, we had one of our conversations about Grandma Jean and how she isn't here anymore. It started with a Christmas Tree Ornament, one that we had inheritied from Jean's vast Christmas decoration collection. It was a monogrammed one, and when we were putting it up on the tree yeaterday, I told Elias that it had belonged to Grandma Jean because it had her name on it. This morning, he pulled it off of the tree and said, "Momma, this one is Grandma Jean's. She's not around anymore." And this led to Elias remarking that she was at her house "cuz she's not around." We talked about how Grandma Jean was very sick and died, like the fish, which I had already forgotten the names of, but he chimed in with "Tiger and Tag (MAN, that boy has got a memory)." We talked about how Grandma Jean doesn't have a house because she died and is no longer around. A few minutes later, while I was in the kitchen, Elias followed me in, still holding the ornament and really trying to understand what it really meant to have died, he said to me, "Grandma Jean is not around." I said that was right. Then he said something like, "Grandma Jean loved Elias very much," and I said, that was right too.

Here we are

 

Ball begins with "B"

Elias has started to do the most amazing thing...he has started to identify the first letter of some words by sounding them out. It started with Zoo and Zebra and Organic. We just kept going from there, identifying Bowl, Baby, Popcorn, Pear, Refrigerator, etc. A whole bunch of words! He's pretty amazing! That amazing mind!!

Q: How many hours does mommy have to spend putting me to sleep?

A: 3.5 hours

Tiger is DEAD! A very sad evening for the Williams house

Craziness, goldfish and more craziness

Elias has been pushing my limits of sanity lately. Last week was the first week in a long time that I felt like there was no way in the world I would survive his toddlerhood. Alas, this week seems to be off to a bit of a better start. Maybe it is partially because Brad and I have decided after watching the hurricane of last week pass through our house, that maybe Elias is ready to turn this whole independence thing up a notch. Our first move in helping to build/foster independence in our toddler: purchasing a goldfish and bowl with the hopes of teaching/giving opportunities for caring for something (feeding, cleaning, etc) as well as learning more about fish from first hand observation.

So, on Friday after a very mediocre nap, the kids and I venture out to the pet store. Once inside, we take pause to adore the little white mice running on the wheel and sleeping little pink noses pressed up against the glass. Elias took quite a tumble off of a little step stool, he was so excited to watch the mice. Next, we walk over to the fish. I was aghast by the living conditions of the poor common goldfish. Literally thousands swimming on top of each other! I tracked down a guy to scoop us out one, but at 29 cents a pop, sprung for two! Mr. Independence decided he wanted a "black" goldfish. So, the guy, seeming a bit exasperated by the fact that we were asking him to select specific fish among the thousands, first scooped out a gold fish with black fins. We decided that one could be for Dahlia. We sent him back in for another. This time, he was able to bring out a nice, black goldfish, along with a few dead ones that were floating at the surface (gross). The luke warm fish guy put the fish in a plastic bag (tied ridiculously, I might add) and sent us on our way. At home, we excitedly prepared the bowl and poured the fish into the water. "What are their names?" I asked Elias. At first, I don't think he understood. He was calling them both "Tag" or something like that. After asking for more clarification, we decided that the orange one was Tag and the black one was Tiger.

Both fish had been acting peculiar since we put them in the water...they didn't want to eat! Then, the orange one started to swim to the surface to breath air. Then, the orange one started to form white dots. YUCK!!! Then the water started looking pretty bad, and still, we had yet to see a fish eat. Well, today, when we arrived home from the indoor park, the orange one, Tag, was laying at the bottom, dead, not resting, DEAD after all of three days in our home. What in the world??? So, it's sad because we hardly got to know her/him, but it has provided an opportunity to talk to Elias about death and when he wakes up from his nap, we are going to have a flushing ritual for Tag.

When I told Elias the fish was dead, he said something like that we could go to the store and get another fish for Dahlia that was "NOT DEAD." I tried to explain that "NOT DEAD" was actually "ALIVE." That sparked alot of talk like "Mommy is ALIVE, Dahlia is ALIVE." I chimed in the Elias is ALIVE, too. To that, he said "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO." Then, he would move the bowl around, causing Tag to shift a little and he'd say "Tag is swimming! Tag is swimming!"

Oh, yeah, and before Elias accepted Tag was dead, he told me we could give him some medicine and put a bandaid on him.

So, the moral of this story may be to splurge for the $3.29 fancy goldfish. We'll see how long Tiger makes it.

Crackin' me up these days...

It's official, Elias IS something else! He has really been blowing my mind with his actions lately and making me laugh all the while!

Big discovery of the day: flopping down face first on the bed is mucho fun!

Aw, POOO!

Early on in the Peace Corps, I accidentally kicked my much coveted apricot facial scrub, smuggled in from the US, down the pit latrine ("kamo"). It was one of those moments where you're filled with such an urge for a "do-over" at the loss, but really, can do nothing but laugh at how silly it really was to a.) try to pee in the dark without a flashlight, and b.) set things of such great value so close to the hole.

We had a repeat situation State-side this morning. Elias managed to drop his adult size battery-operated tooth brush down the sink. In my and Brad's scurry to accomplish morning tasks before Brad heads to work, we took our eyes off of the little silly stinker for a few minutes while brushing his teeth. The next thing we hear is his little sweet innocent voice chirping, "My toothbrush feel down the hole! My toothbrush fell down the hole!" Our response, "What hole??" only lead to the discovery that yes, in fact, and quite frankly, against all odds, the adult size battery-operated toothbrush is lodged just out of reach in our bathroom sink drain. Who knows how long it may remain. Water seems to pass it just fine.

Elias and his carving bud

 

Brother and sister wagon ride

 

Elias at the pumpkin patch

 

hello, i'm cute

 

 

Sinatra in the making

Elias has started singing like crazy lately. All of those songs I've sang to him over and over and over are being chirped back to me over and over and over again! Ba ba black sheep, red is rojo, bingo, old macdonald, itsy bitsy spider, Gigantic, etc. He likes to sing it loud and proud!

Elias has also started to put puzzles together. Although Brad says he's been doing it for awhile, I disagreed. He picked up pieces out of the box - without any help - and searched for the match. The last time we tried, he was just jamming random, unmatched pieces together...real progress.

There are lots of things Elias does that amaze me everyday. I'm so lucky to be home with him to witness all of the amazing feats as he develops.

The continuing battle between head and concrete...

...concrete appears to be maintaining a strong lead. PLOP! Down on the head again today. Dang, I swear it's been three weeks running with kerplunking on the same spot right in the middle of his forehead, not fun. Thank goodness his head appears to be built for that kind of abuse, so far. I can't figure out why he doesn't use his hands yetto break the falls? Hum?

Oak's Park

We went to the amusement park today. Elias didn't ride any of the rides, as I expected, but he got a real kick out of the roller coaster, and spent much of the morning running away from me (boy, was that fun). He had so many accidents today, tumbling down some stairs, bonking his nogin once while shielding Dahlia from his new scratching her cheek thing, and having two ZAM!s while walking home from the park, resulting in two bloody body parts (elbow and knee) and three other scratched up parts (other elbow, knee and cheek). It was almost more than I could bear.

To make matters worse, I forgot to ask for a decaf, had a super large caf coffee and still feel buzzed up on the caffeine, almost to the point of being sick most of the day. We had a pretty awful napping experience with lots of crying and poor Dahlia, feeling he effects of the caffeine. What a poo day!

Two stats for the big guy

Weighing in at 28 lbs., 36 1/2 inches tall, Elias Roark Williams! He's a funny little bug who, oddly enough, seems to nap better when Dahlia and I snuggle up next to him. Hummmmmmm...haven't figured that one out yet.

Elias on top of the world

Elias turned two today. How amazing??? His b-day proper was rather status quo. We went to the children's museum with Nana and cousin Shaun, out for pizza and home for a nap. His party this weekend was super eventful fun. More will follow about that once Brad downloads the pics. This picture depicts last week's outing to the zoo with Grandpa Ron and Grandma Dea. Ron hoisted Elias up on his shoulders when we went into the Elephant hut, just in time to see the elephants being hosed down and fed. He was just crazy about the whole day, Grandpa and Grandma were great!

Elias is really becoming the best big brother ever! And Dahlia adores him, would rather watch him than anything else. It's exciting seeing this relationship blooming!

Elias has a brilliant mind. He has started singing songs and telling stories. I love him so much.

Elias ate with chopsticks tonight!

Sleep at last

Elias has been really struggling around the sleep issue. He just resists and resists so seriously trying all of our patience. During naps, I've been resorting to cradling him in my arms and stroking his hair after a good struggle. His head will rest on my chest right beneath my chin, it's very sweet. And, after 10 mintues or so, his little hands and legs will start to twitch, letting me know that la-la land is close by. He doesn't resist my holding him for long, he settles in and sometimes strokes my arm, too. This evening, I settled him in with the story of his birth. His limbs were twitching before he was even born.

Oh, the wonderful adventures of being two!

Okay, so it's not official yet, but boy oh boy does it feel like we have ourselves a wonderful, emotional roller coaster, precocious little stinker of a two year old. He's curious, independent, driven, demanding, loving and caring, rageful, testing, articulate and wonderful, yes wonderful, even when he just screams and screams and screams all day long and the neighbors must be thinking I am engaging in some form of toddler torture. I love him to pieces and especially when I have and take the time to just be with him and watch his little mind go. It is quite amazing. Patience, that's the key and I have to remind myself of this a million times a day. Then I can appreciate him for all he is: the purest little being on earth.



We've been keeping a low profile these days, trying to adjust all of our changes and to reestablish our relationships. It's been hard but good. It gets better all of the time.

Elias has really started playing, hard core. Playing catch, playing with his kitchen, exploring objects around the house. He has started chosing his clothes, if he feels like it, requesting to play certain games or eat certain fruits, especially this (I offer him an apple, he says "How about a plum or apricot or pear??"). This morning he told me that he wanted to do art. When I asked him what kind of art, he told me he wanted to use stamps. So, we went to the store, bought some stamps and went to work. This is great fun!!

Elias has started to take some interest in potty training, too, which I am delighted and also exhausted by because of the vast number of accidents that are, to say the least, more unpleasant to clean than a dirty diaper. We are going with it, though. He is really very aware of when he has to go and also has exhibited self control. Now, it's just a matter of him rememvering to do it and us being consistent about helping him to remember. Some days, I just don't have it in me. I guess I don't want it bad enough, yet.



Elias has started showing some fears about certain things, fears about noise and unfamilar things, like we went to a music show for kids. The band was a pirate band, and Elias was so afraid that we had to leave. Any loud situations he heads for the door. He also has some trouble around sleeping, fighting falling asleep, in particular, but I think it is pretty standard at his age. I think it is the separation, lately I've been holding him and stroking his hair until he falls asleep, that closeness seems to help.

He's as cute and sweet as a pea. H ereally loves Dahlia so much. He loves stroking hair and holding her hand, especially when I am reading him a book. He always says hello to her first thing when he wakes up and is always excited to introduce her to people who have not met her. When he needs attention, he knows how to ask for Dahlia to be put down, though. I can't believe how much he has grown. I miss the little, chubby cheeked baby sometimes, but feel excited all the more for what is to come with him with each passing day.

fun in the sun

one recent sunny day, poolside fun turned silly when elias started filling his potty with cold water and then sitting in it!!!!

the dust settling...

finally, things are getting back to normal around here. and it shows with elias. my, how we treasure our little routines. it is amazing how much independence elias has had to take on. some days, he manages, others, like this morning, he really starts doing stuff to make me nuts! like today, he threw cheddar bunnies all over and then "cleaned them up" he said, by flinging them all around the house. he took forever to leave the house, but once we did, the day was good.

we played at heide and piper's place today after music class. elias was looking pretty tired once we got home. so, we all three ventured upstairs to nap. it was a three ring circus! boy, can i perservere. after an hour of shielding dahlia from kicks and trying to quiet down grunts from all around, both were asleep. i amazingly rolled out of there with dahlia without waking elias, who went on to have a lovely 2 hour nap. i felt kinda guilty for making him stay up there and lay down, but a friend and fellow mother of 2 assured me that we all do it. whew.

and enters Dahlia...

Elias's sister, Dahlia, was finally born one week ago today. Elias seems quite smitten with her. His adjustment to sharing me and Brad is a different story. Actually, I think he is doing okay, but there has definitely been an increase in crying and acting out. Might as well correlate with being 20 months. Nonetheless, Brad and I spend alot of time worrying about how we may have potentially ruined his life.

Brad's been home all week and it is pretty scary thinking of how in the world I am going to do it! I think we will all work it out, it just scares me.

One (of many) cute thing Elias has been doing is wearing Dahlia's polka dot socks. They are a little small, but I think it helps him feel more connected to her. We also recently purchased a little guitar for Elias. He has started to play "I love you" song for Dahlia. He also likes to play the Buenos Diaz song. Speaking of which, his spanish is really taking off, faster than Brad and I can keep up! He's really an amazing sweety.

Rocks

Elias is feeling a bit under the weather today...way to cooperative, a little lovey and very snifflely and snotty. Although he put up the good fight around nap time, I really don't know how the nap thing will work with baby. Maybe it will go away which will be very sad because I know he needs it. We'll have to wait and see, I guess.

Anyway, I've been noticing more and more around the house little piles of rocks. And the other night, Brad said, "What's this rock doing up here?" I believe the rocks are Elias's first collection. He picks them up from the yard, from on walks, or from the park and sticks them into his pockets, into my bag, or just carries them around and eventually, they end up somewhere around the house. Last night, I gathered all of the rock piles from around the house into one bowl! Practically filled it! He's really pretty clever, isn't he?

Family and friends

"Baby born soon?"

Waking up is always a crap shoot with Elias. Some mornings, he's happy and playful, others, he's demanding and grumpy. This morning, I awoke to little boy whispers (I forget what he was saying). Then, he crawled over to me, laid down in the nook of my arm and put his hand on my huge belly. "Baby born soon?" he questioned. Then, he talked about hearing the heartbeat, doing a little, beat beat beat impression, he reviewed how my blood pressure had been taken at previous doctor's appointments, and then just wrapped his little arm around my massage lump and cuddled with me for a little while. He giggled as I tickled him under his chin and called himself my tickle bug, too.

I can't remember everything else he had to say, but it was just one of those mornings that reminds me that everything is really going to be great for our family. :-)

Funny little one

I wanted to write about so many things, but it seems like when I have the time, all of the funny, quirky little elements of your personality, Elias, blend into something non-specific. Responding to your Dad's latest post reminded me of something funny and clever you do right now. I think I started, but you have taken it to new heights!! Here's how it goes:

I've said things like "Pee-you, you are smelly, Smelly Smellerson." or " You've made quite a mess, Messy Messerson." Well, now, you do it, with just about anything! When I say I love you, you say Lovey Loverson. When I call you bub, you say, Bubby Bubberson. Stinky Stinkerson, etc. It just blows me away how you have started to make these generalizations on your own, and it is just too darn cute!

The other thing you do, especially around eating, is that when you ask for something, like a fruit leather, but I don't have any, then you start negotiating and say back to me "How 'bout cheddar bunnies?" I guess I must do that to some degree with you, when I am trying to negotiate around eating. It's just too funny to hear it coming right back at me! Much love my cuddle bug.

Cute pics of sweet boy

The dangers of daylight savings

I never really cared either way about daylight savings, but having a child changes everything! Elias's adjustment resembles that of a person on a mission in space or maybe of someone displaced to Alaska in total light or darkness. Nonetheless, Elias is holding firm to one hour earlier, especially around bedtime. Tonight, I finally went upstairs after a good solid hour of crying, loud, determined crying with Brad. Elias did not want to go to bed. His body continues to believe it is 8:00PM instead of 9:00PM. Finally, at 9:47PM, he gave in, stopped crying, and fell asleep to my very boring rendition of The Little Red Hen. THANK GOD! The irony is that he continues to wake up right on schedule - 7:00AM. Where is the justice in that?

Elias has also been unbelievably unsteady. I am again going to blame this on DST. On Monday, I think he fell, head first on his latte spoon. It's a lovely shade of green, at present. No amount of arnica could stave off a good, solid bruise. Yesterday, he pressed against a peg board in the garage and knocked off a wrench that clipped his eye and nose. How awful it is to be a parent sometimes. The overwhelming responsibility. The constant worry. I really worry about all of the potential hazards, most unforeseen, no amount of babyproofing can protect him from the dangers of the world. Phoey! Maybe documenting these moments will help Elias not to suffer permanent scars. Oh, yeah, here's another recent incident that freaked all of us out: We were at Lowe's, Elias was walking around the aisle we were in and apparently found an on/off switch on an air compressor without us noticing. Of course, as any good 19 month old would do, he flipped the switch, unleasing the loudest, most alarming noise, really, really scaring him, and both Brad and I. I swooped him up and ran away from the noise and checked all of the his fingers, face and arms. He will still bring it up, talking about how I turned the noise off and about how loud the noise was.

That settles it, I'm going to have a custom sound proof, puffy, bullet proof, slash proof suit from head to toe fashioned for the little man that will grow with him until he is at least 18! Then we can focus primarily on protecting his mind from evil.

The spoon recedes...

For about a month now, Elias has been wielding a great, black plastic spoon that came with our espresso machine. It's almost a scoop but more rounded. Anyway, I've noticed over the past two days that he's been getting a little careless with it. Before, he would have sooner been caught dead than without that spoon death-gripped between his little fingers. He's been leaving it lying around, unattended and not even thinking of it. Is his passion for the spoon, the "latte spoon" as he refers to it, on the dwindle? I guess we will see.

I've thought for some time that the spoon really makes sense as a transitional object. It's just so darn functional! He can eat with it, dig with his, catch water in and drink water and mud and other substances from it. He can hold objects in it, it fits in his pocket. He can also touch objects with the spoon first that he's not sure he wants to touch with his fingers (like the doggie next door or mommy's belly- once he rubbed lotion into my beach ball belly with his spoon). I guess the limitation, that I think he's beginning to realize, is that it is often difficult to hold the spoon and climb up/down stairs, or use crayons with the spoon, etc. It just gets in the way. I'm sure it will play itself out in a few weeks.

Big changes

Elias stopped breast feeding one week ago today. He came down with a cold and was, I think, struggling to breathe and just threw in the towel. "What was the point anyway," he must have thought. "Nothing's in there for me." As a result, we've had challenges on several fronts, primarily the nap front. And, not to mention the emoitonal challenges that this end has brought up in me, like how my role changes, what do I have to offer him anymore, what does he need me for? (That's probably the biggest) Next thing you know, he'll be asking to sleep in his own room. And as much as that might be a dream for some parents, I'm just not there yet. What's the rush, ya know? He'll be sleeping most of his life away from me. I'm in no hurry to speed up the inevitable. For me, I think Elias's growing up and growing more independent will likely be a difficult load to tow.

On the nap front, we are averaging about 1 hour of work to get that boy to fall asleep. Of course, Brad can do it much easier since he can walk him around until he nods off. I can barely carry him at all given my lumpy baby belly, and not to mention the tremendous pain I am currently experiencing in my back. So, I sttruggle to read him a book in the dark (black-out curtains are crucial for nap) and then sing to him as he wiggles and squirms and fits sleep with all his might. I know he's tired, he can barely keep his eyes open, so he struggles to sit up where it is only natural to open his eyes. It was better today, less angst. I'm glad for that. When Elias is expressly unhappy because of something I am doing, it is very hard to not be filled with question. I'm quite certain that he needs a nap, so I need to keep reminding myself that it is for his own good and he'll be better off for it, for sure. Hopefully, we'll work out the kinks on this process just in time for his baby sister's arrival!

Elias brought home the very worst cold last week, from which Brad and I were both struck down. I fought it as long as I could and just caved on Sunday morning. I still feel as though my head in stuck in a fish bowl, but I do feel so much better. I am determined to not be sick again. It's time for operation hand sanitizer! When we went to grocery store today, I washed Elias's hands both before the cart and after and wiped down the cart. I HATE being sick and just can't go through it again. What an awful position to be in!@?

On the larger front, we moved at the end of January and have just recently gotten internet/DSL again. We are finally settling in, with gobs and gobs of work remaining. I just have to look around and remind myself how bad my back hurts and that things will get completed in time. I'm not a very patient person so this whole experience with the bad back and the cold has been painfully challenging. Oh well, we're all on the mends, with Elias ahead of all in his recovery, so I'll just need to slow down and take care of what it most important. Our family and myself.

Elias the chatter box

Elias is talking more than I can count words anymore. He asks for just about anything he wants and mostly it is understandable. He can say thank you and please and can also say bless you when you sneeze, except it comes out "blah blue." You get it, though, and he gets it. It has been really amazing because in some ways, Elias hasn't changed that much from my perspective 17 months. But, in fact, he really has and he is quickly turning into my little boy and turning away from being my little baby.

Yesterday, we played with clay for like 45 minutes! I made little balls and handed them to Elias while he placed them on a piece of construction paper and flattened them with his finger, with each one, making a sincere grunt. I was very impressed with his level of attention and interest.

I also am amazed by Elias's memory. He will bring up things that happenned days earlier, and almost always, when I ask him to tell Brad something specific about his day, he will do it. He has also taken to cleaning up quite nicely, and will do things I ask, like take something to daddy or go to the bathroom for a diaper change if I ask him to.

One of the things I am enjoying most is cuddling at night. We will usually start out sleeping in different places, but as the night progresses, Elias stirs and is quickly calmed/soothed by me taking him close to me in my arms. He continues to wake up in the morning with lots to talk about. This morning, the topic was identifying my body parts in the dark: eyes, nose, mouth, leg and knee were priority.

Oh, he has taken to kissing and hugging my belly, the baby in my belly. It is so sweet. He is soo sweet and good. I love him so much, sometimes it is as if I'll burst.

Christmas

It's hard to believe that Christmas already came and went this year. Nothing about our lives felt like Christmas, at least not to me. The move has really made us bonkers. I will look forward to next year when Elias can find lots of goodies under the tree and in his stocking at home. That will be nice.

For Christmas proper, we went to Las Vegas to visit Dad, Lynn, Jocelyn and Jillian. Elias impressed them with his speaking skills. He called Dad "pa" and could call to Coco and Puddles. He really liked the dogs, except would get bugged by Coco's relentless licking and jumping. Elias enjoyed pulling ornaments off of the tree (which Grandma Lynn did not appreciate), switching the TV and Christmas lights on and off, and playing in Grandpa's rock garden.

All in all, it was nice seeing family, as it seems that as the years pass, it gets harder and harder to connect. I suspect we'll be home next year, with our two bundles, maybe venturing out to Salem for some hours to enjoy the folks in Brad's family.