Big City Boy

Kelvey has been traveling a lot for work this summer so instead of being apart from Eli for 2 weeks during back-to-back trips, Eli and I packed our things and joined her in New York. Eli and I still had to entertain ourselves during the day while Kelvey toiled away at work, so we strapped on our skinny jeans and off we went to take in as much glitz, glamour and evils of the Big Apple as we could. The first day was bright and beautiful so we decided to spend most of our time in Central Park. We hit a lot of the playgrounds and played in the little water fountains but didn't get to see some of the more famous sights because even the park was a little overwhelming for Eli to take in with the large number of kids that were out enjoying the day as well.

The rest of the trip was pretty rainy so we decided to spend a day indoors at the famous FAO Schwarz toy store. On the way, we passed through Times Square so I could show Eli all the flashing lights. Because Eli was at stroller height, he was more interested in what was passing by him below on the street than everything that was way above him. I actually felt bad walking around the city with him in a stroller because he spent most of the time with his ears covered and I was constantly worried about him being at the same level of all the cars' mufflers. We probably should have taken a taxi more but I thought to myself, "Meh, as long as he doesn't have a seizure or start coughing up black stuff he's probably fine". Anyways, Eli's favorite part of FAO Schwarz was hugging all the enormous stuffed animals but I loved seeing him play on the famous floor piano. He didn't know what to do at first and just stood by me watching all the other kids run back and forth, but there was a small window when Eli was the only kid on the piano and I was able to get him to run across it. He didn't really notice that the keys were making noises and lighting up beneath him, but then again he wasn't heavy enough to light up all the keys he stepped on:

We also went to the Toys R US in Times Square and Eli was enthralled with the giant animatronic T-Rex in the Jurassic Park section. Did you know they have a full size Ferris Wheel in the center of the store?! Crazy. We were able to spend a little more time with Kelvey on our last day and explored the city some more together, but I think we were all worn out by then. Thankfully Eli slept the entire flight back to Austin and we didn't have to end the trip with a fussy baby on the plane.

By the way, I love this picture of him in Times Square because he looks like one of those cliche poses of a dashing young model fresh off the bus and full of moxie, just trying to make it in the big city.

Sweeps Week

When I was a little kid I remember telling my mom I wanted to be a sack boy at the local grocery store because it seemed like an easy enough job and I could just talk to people all day long like the teenagers I saw doing it. Well it looks like Eli is following in his dad's high aspirations for employment because he has already started his training to become a master of the custodial arts. He has been taking hold of our little broom every chance he gets and will walk around the house trying to sweep up the entire floor. He even grabbed a broom at the restaurant we went to this past weekend and tried to bring it to the table to show everyone. He's pretty coordinated and, hopefully, with a little more practice he can start earning his keep by doing some proper chores because his mooching off of us is starting to get annoying. We've already started a college fund to send him to the most prestigious janitor school in Texas. After that all he will need is some crazy sideburns and a hula girl tattooed on his forearm, then he can start sprinkling sawdust on the puke of any school he wants.

A day in the life of Eli

Now that Eli has become more "little boy" than "baby", he is not as dependent on Kelvey and I for entertainment. He can go where ever he wants and can pick up things up, manipulate them, and take them where he wants. We still need to keep him from trying to play with the stove or walking around with our laptops or pushing the lock button on our car keys which makes the car horn honk repeatedly which causes the dogs to bark like crazy thinking someone is outside our house . . . but it is actually really cool to see him become more inquisitive and creative in his play on his own. This video sums up a day in the life of Eli as he finds new ways to play with things (like pulling clothes off of furniture or climbing through a fallen chair) and rediscovers the simple joys of other things (like how comfortable it is to lay on his belly):

By the way, the chair fell faster than I could react. I'm not really a bad parent . . . honest. I waited to see if he would cry but he didn't so I didn't bother interrupting his playing.

Eli turns 1!

Believe it or not . . . Eli is now a year old! It is hard to believe that a year has past already, but when I look at our little man I can't help but notice how much he's grown and how he's not a little baby anymore. I've always heard people joke that it goes by too fast . . . but they're right. I forget how tiny he used to be and how he would just gaze at us for hours because he couldn't do much else and was just absorbing everything. It's been tough trying to live moment to moment as Eli reaches new stages of growth and development and become a whole new kid every few weeks. On the other hand, each new step he takes makes him so much cooler and me so much more proud of him. Right now, I'm happy that he can ask me for a hug, cling to me when I hold him, and freak out over how tasty a cupcake can be. By the way, I'm not shoving the cupcake in his face in the picture. He loved his first taste of sugary cupcake so much that he grabbed my hand and buried his face into it with gusto. He had a death grip on my hand and would not let go as he chomped away! It was the best part of the whole party. More pictures of Eli's first birthday party and cupcake extravaganza can be seen on our flickr page. Also, here's a video of us singing Happy Birthday to Eli on his real birthday:

Countdown to 1

It has been a whirlwind of a month as Eli makes a mad dash to reach as many milestones as he can before he turns a year old at the end of the month!  Normally I would break things up into separate entries, but for now I am going to throw it all at you like a robber throwing hot coffee at your face to make a quick gettaway:

1.)  Eli finally has a tooth coming in!  It's a little tough to see in the photo, but rest assured there is a tooth coming in on the bottom left of Eli's mouth (his left, not stage left).  It may not look like much of a tooth right now, but you can definitely feel it when he bites down on your shoulder or finger.

2.)  Now that he has a tooth coming in, Eli has been taking his mealtimes to the next level by chomping down on a variety of crunchy foods. Quesadillas, cheese sandwiches, Cheerios, crackers, french toast and pancakes . . . the kid can't get enough of 'em.  He likes the solid foods better because he is able to feed the little pieces to himself at his own pace and, I assume, they feel good rubbing against his gums.  We still feed him pureed fruits and vegetables to give him a balanced diet, but lately he has been begging to try feeding himself these sides as well.  We haven't given him full reign of the spoon domain because his coordination is not quite perfected, but he is getting better.

3.)  And finally . . . the moment you've all been waiting for . . . Eli has taken his first steps!  He has been cruising around the coffee table, couches, and dog crate for awhile but a few weeks ago our nanny said she saw him take a few steps on his own.  Kelvey was next to witness him taking a few steps on 3 different occasions but I never got there quick enough to see it for myself and the times that I did see Eli try to walk it just looked like he was falling forward or taking a lounging dive into the dogs.  Since we were convinced that Eli was ready to take the plunge into support-free walking, Kelvey and I took every opportunity to coax Eli into walking towards us and eventually our efforts paid off.  We can now say with confidence that Eli is starting to walk!  Next step: DANCING!

Eli Takes a Stand

Eli has been doing a pretty good job of scooting around the house while holding onto things, but every now and then he gets so distracted by something he picked up off the coffee table that he doesn't always realize that he is standing without any support. Today I was able to trick Eli into standing on his own and was surprised to see how long he actually did it for! I called Kelvey over to video tape it as I tried to get him to do it again:

Hopefully he will be walking by the next post, but for now I am happy enough to see his new parlor trick.

Fun in the Sun

Let me start by saying this: Last year's summer SUCKED. We sweated and cursed our way through a drought filled summer and a total of 68 days of 100+ degree weather. The sweltering heat made for a very uncomfortable summer with little opportunity to go outside, especially with a newborn Eli. Thankfully El Nino has provided us an amazing start to this year's summer (keep in mind this is Texas and our Summers start earlier than the rest of you) and the weather has been breezy and beautiful! This makes for very happy days with our own little nino.

We had a good start to the summer a few weeks ago when we took a trip to Pease Park to join the annual celebration of Eyeore's Birthday, a tradition that started in the 70's when a few hippies decided to skip class and play in the park. FYI, the party hasn't changed much in that a good 75% of the party population is made up of hippies or people engaging in typical hippie activities (if you know what I mean *nudge*nudge*). Anyways, it was a rather lovely day of enjoying the outdoors, people watching, and dancing to pulsing beats of the drum circle:

Last weekend was even better. We woke up, poked our heads outside and said to each other, "It's a perfect day for trip to the ol' watering hole". So we got Eli into his Lil' Swimmer swimming diapers and headed to the neighborhood pool. Eli hasn't been swimming since Aug. 2009 so we figured we may have to carefully reintroduce him to the water again so he didn't freak out and ruin our chances of coming back to the pool again. We slowly dipped his toes in and lowered him in little by little until he was up to his chest in water. It helped that Eli was mesmerized by all the other kids splashing around at the pool. Eli was most comfortable lounging on me like a floaty or bobbing around in Kelvey's arms, but he really loved being pulled through the water while we made motorboat sounds. When it got a little toasty in the sun, we moved to our shady spot under a tree and let Eli explore a little. When we got home we were a little scared that Eli got sunburned, but it turned out he was just a little flushed from the heat, a trait he gets from his mom. Hopefully he won't end up looking like George Hamilton by the end of summer.