Halloween!

Eli had a great first Halloween! With Eli's "theme" for his nursery being frogs, we dressed Eli in a froggy costume. It fit him perfectly, and it was super cute. Eli seemed to like it, and didn't even try to pull off the "froggy head" hood part of the costume as he tends to try to do with most hats we put him in. The costume was also nice and warm, which was nice, since it was right around 40 degrees outside -- a nice clear autumn night.

"Grandma Manda" came over to see Eli and help hand out candy at the house while Eli and I went out for his first trick-or-treating! (Missy was out leading her BSF class.) We got some good pictures of Eli in his costume on her camera -- I'll update this post when she sends them along. Pictures now included!

Eli wasn't too sure what we were up to as we approached the first house. There were several little kids inside (including a princess, a Star Wars Storm Trooper, and a Michigan football player -- Go Blue!) and Eli wasn't quite sure what was going on. Is this a day care? Am I being left here? He cried just a bit, and I reassured him that everything was ok! We got a piece of candy in Eli's pumpkin bucket -- provided by Grandma, the same one that I used when I was little! -- and we were off to the next house!

After that, Eli got the hang of things very quickly! It's dark outside and close to bedtime but I'm getting to run around outside! There are cool lights and glowing pumpkin faces out here! People are giving me stuff to put in my bucket! There are other kids out here too! This is fun!

I didn't need to carry Eli at all. He ran along the sidewalk from house to house like a pro, and happily carried his bucket of candy for people to put treats in. We made it all the way down our short street, and up and back a portion of the next street before we headed back home to see Grandma again. We rang the doorbell and said "trick or treat", and Eli was excited that this time it was Grandma opening the door!

Grandma also took Eli out for some brief trick-or-treating, and I got a nice picture of the two of them when they came back inside.



Afterwards, Eli went back over to the front door and made his "let's go out!" noise -- he wanted to do more trick-or-treating! It was getting late, though -- after 7:30 (which was really more like 8:30 to Eli's internal clock with this past weekend's daylight savings time change), so Grandma headed back home while I put Eli to bed.



We had a great first Halloween! It was a shame that Missy couldn't be there to see Eli while she was off being good and leading her Bible study -- but at least she gets to help eat Eli's respectable "haul" of candy!

First Phrase?

Eli has had the hang of waving "bye bye" in reply to Missy or I saying "bye bye!" to him for a while now. Recently, Eli will also sometimes reply "ba ba" (his version of "bye bye") while he's waving.

This morning when I left for work, Missy and Eli were in the kitchen finishing up breakfast. When I waved to Eli and Missy as I usually do and said "bye bye!", Eli replied to me, "ba ba ma ma!" ("Bye bye mommy!")

Eli does seem to confuse the terms "ma ma" and "da da" in reference to Missy and I respectively sometimes... it was still very cute though, and the first time we've heard Eli string different words together! He can work on getting the gender right next time. :-)

Bedtime is easy now!

For the past month or so, Eli has been doing wonderfully when it comes to going to bed at night. Our bedtime routine is pretty much unchanged: a bath if necessary, change diaper and put on pajammas, read a few stories, lights out and rock with mommy or daddy in the rocking chair briefly, and then into the crib for the night.

Although the routine is unchanged, Eli is really making it easy on Missy and I these days! He's now very content to have just a minute or two of rocking once story time is done, and then he quietly lays right down in his crib. Missy and I can leave the room as he falls asleep on his own.

Previously, Eli wouldn't be happy with Missy and I leaving the room before he was completely "out". We'd need to either rock him in the chair until he was asleep in our arms and then stealthily (read: slowly and carefully!) lay him down in his crib without waking him up, or at least lay him down in his crib and then just sit in his room (in the dark) for 15 minutes or more while Eli fell asleep.

So now, while it was nice to be with Eli while he fell asleep at night, bedtime is much less of a "chore" for us -- we have that much more time to get things done around the house and relax after putting Eli to bed at night!

Here's the Scoop.

The last few weeks have been a little hectic around here to say the least. I've barely gotten all my Bible study and household tasks finished each week, so our blog has fallen to the bottom of the to-do list. Since it's been a while I thought I'd just post some highlights of the goofiness that is Elijah.

Elijah has decided that putting his sippy cup in other things and drinking is hilarious. Case in point - first in his breakfast bowl:

Then in Daddy's shoe:

Elijah loves drinking out of straws now (and blowing bubbles), and likes his straw sippy cup quite a bit. Only problem is that he has also discovered that if you turn the straw cup upside down and shake it all over the hardwood floor there is quite a strong reaction from Mommy. :)

A few weeks ago I was reading to Elijah and sitting on the floor when he decided he wanted a different book. I apparently wasn't switching fast enough, so he grabbed my free hand with one hand, grabbed his book with his other hand, and then put the book in my hand to read. Now he does that all the time. Guess that's one way to make sure Mommy reads the book that you want!

Elijah's also developed a habit of walking around with his hands behind his back - either clasping each other or raised backwards. I don't know why he does this, but when he's looking for a new activity to do he'll walk around the house with his hands backwards like this. I think it's really cute. But I'm his mother, so I think all his little quirks are pretty cute.

Just this week Elijah has started laying on his tummy to play with books or his new favorite ABC block puzzle. He will be sitting and then suddenly lay on his tummy, scoot himself backwards a few inches, and then continue playing. Maybe he saw a kid in nursery do this? Once again, Mommy thinks it's pretty cute.

Jon's Mom brought over the wooden slide that Jon and Jeremy had when they were little and assembled it in our living room. Elijah absolutely loves climbing up the ladder, sliding down the slide, climbing up the slide, and rolling his balls down. And if you slide one of his stuffed animals down the slide he thinks that's pretty funny. I think it's pretty funny to, so I guess I know where he gets it from!

Whee!

Weekend in Ohio

A few weekends ago Elijah, Mommy, Grandpa, and Grandma headed down to Ohio to visit my Uncle Gerry and Aunt Cheryl and cousins Kelly and Stacy and Stacy's boys Tyler and Joshua and to celebrate Stacy's 30^th birthday!

Mama's hitting the town!
The weekend was such a treat, since I got the chance to head off with Stacy and Kelly all by ourselves on Saturday. Kelly treated Stacy and I to pedicures at the spa for our birthdays (did I not mention that I'm turning 30 in a few weeks too? Must have slipped my mind!), and we had a fancy schmancy dinner out - just the three of us! The spending the whole day with my two best friends was so relaxing and rejuvenating. A big thank you goes to Kelly for the idea of the weekend and the pedicures, and also to my parents and Stacy and Kelly's parents for watching the boys for us on Saturday so we could get time together.

On Sunday the whole family headed off to this giant craft show called Yankee Peddler, where the artisans are dressed in period costumes and their arts and crafts are true to the yankee days. One of the best things aboutthe show is the food though - it's everywhere and its nummy nummy!

Joshie and Elijah in their strollers!

Joshie had a concert just for him!

Elijah, Tyler, and Joshie did great playing together over the weekend, and were great at the fair too. Elijah even fell asleep in his stroller, which is pretty uncommon for him!

Playing in the fountains that Elijah and Grandpa found!

The last time we visited Ohio Elijah was getting over being sick and wanted nothing to do with the boys, wanting only to stay glued to Grandma's side. This time though he was shy at first but then warmed up and played. Since Eli's an only child right now, and is only in nursery once a week, he didn't quite know what to make of the boys running around. When Joshie would take a toy from him he would step back and then look around like, "What just happened to me and what am I supposed to do now?" At the end of our visit Elijah was taking his fair share of toys from Joshie though. Boys will be boys!

The boys playing together!

Elijah found a toy trumpet - Daddy will be so proud!

Now that I'm staying home (and Stacy is a stay-at-home Mom too) I'm hoping that I can go down and visit some times during the week and the boys can play together more often. Then Stacy and I can have fun together during the day and Kelly and I can visit at night. And I'm already saving up my money for Yankee Peddler next year!