A Rainy Day

It's wet in Portland today....really wet! But, Dan and I decided to brave the rain to take Elliott to the zoo. I think we were half crazy. Not surprisingly, the zoo in Portland was nearly deserted. In way though it was nice. We were the only people viewing the Polar Bears, the Elephants and the Monkeys. Unfortunately, the Lions weren't out for display. That was really the whole reason we went to the zoo :(. Still, it seemed that Elliott had a good time. He is much more aware of the animals and did get excited when they would walk around or swim. One of his favorites was the Owl, he's big into Owls right now. He tries to say "owl" but that's a pretty tough word for him. I'm not sure I can even describe what he says, but he's trying. Elliott also likes turtles. There is a picture of a turtle above his changing table and we talk about it daily. In the NW exhibit they have a bunch of turtles they are trying to save...they are teeny tiny!

This is a terrible picture of Dan and Elliott - I can't ever get good shots with my phone.


Baby Turtles (I like how they are stacked):


Hopefully everyone else had less wet weekends :)

First Hair Cut!!

You heard that right, we gave Elliott his first haircut this past weekend. In reality we probably had about 30 individual hairs trimmed from around his ears and on the left side of the back of his head. Poor kid, his hair is really very fine and not too much has come in yet. But, it was looking a bit scraggly. Our niece, Brooke, asked if he was going to be scared. Nope, didn't even notice what was going on.

In other news, Elliott just went down 1/2 of our stairs completely unassisted! That's big in his book. He is usually very hesitant when trying out something new. Once he's done it a few times then he becomes very brave.

Dan and I went on a semi-date last night. We saw Avatar 3D. The visual effects were pretty amazing! There was a babysitting party here while we were gone. Apparently it was very exciting and E did all of his good tricks for the g-parents and great g-ma Jane. Well, the weather is really nice out today - for Portland in January - so maybe I'll take the crabby boy out for some air.

My first bike!

Here is a video of Elliott riding around our house on his new Radio Flyer scooter that he got for Christmas. Also, he does some of the growling near the end of the video. Enjoy :)

He can't steer very well, so there is a lot of bumping into things. Luckily it's not all that hard.

Where do the days go?

Umm...is it really the 12th of January already? Wow, where has this month gone already!?

Here is Elliott on New Years day. We got together with Dan's family because Lauren and Justus were in town after spending Christmas with Justus' family in Buffalo, NY. Elliott bashed his cheek on his bookshelf that day :( He's naked because a few new teeth have been coming in and the drooling has been out of control.


I babysat for my sister, Amy, last week. We had Cameron and Caleb over for about 4 hours. This was the first time I watched Caleb. He loves his mom, and hardly anyone else, so I was a little nervous about how it would work. But, he did great for the hour I had him before he went down for a nap. Yay for naps!! Cameron and Elliott played together really well. Cam just wants to play with Elliott's Thomas track - even though he has about 15 Thomas tracks at home. Our track is special, apparently. We had a good time but both E and I were tired when the boys left.


For Christmas Elliott got a Little People Farm and a table to put his toys on. E likes to be a daredevil and will climb up and stand on the chairs. A few times we have found him on the table! Is it bad to want him to fall so he understands that he will get hurt? Here he is hanging out with both:


E also likes to hang out in his "fort". A box we got after shopping at Costco that has a can of paint in it because I was clearing the floor to vacuum one day. He loves it. Weirdo!


Elliott has been talking a bit more. We think he says apple (appa) and will now growl all the time. Sometimes - when he feels like it - he will hoot like an owl and moo like a cow. He is walking so much better now and is getting much more brave. He likes to stand on the couch with his hands above his head in victory. We are still working - slowly - on how to climb down stairs. Our stairs are hardwood so I've been slow to teach him. But, now that I heard Caleb knows how, I think Elliott should learn as well.

I'll try to be a better blogger the rest of this month.