Sea World - Day 12

Today we gathered the family (including grandma and grandpa) and headed to Sea World for Goddard Day (Elliot's school).  We went last year when Elliot was 6 months old and there wasn't much he could do.  We were pretty excited about all of the possibilities this year, especially since Elliot has recently gotten into Sesame Street and they have a Sesame Street Bay of Play for kids his age, that I planned on spending most of our time at.

First stop was to see the dolphins.  They have a really cool pool where the dolphins swim around.  Elliot really liked this last year.  He was just as excited this year.  He got splashed by a passing dolphin, which made him giggle.  He pointed out the dolphins to us and tried his hardest to actually say dolphin.  It was pretty cool - unfortunately pictures didn't do it justice because the little guys were back in the water after a jump when the shutter finally clicked.  Oh well, the memories are still in my head.

Then we changed El into water gear to go play at the splash pad.  Along the way we ran into all of our Sesame Street friends - Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie, Zoe, Rosita, Telly and we even found Big Bird and Elmo.  Unfortunately, most of the "life size" people in costumes scared the bejeezus out of Elliot.  He would high five the characters but wanted nothing else to do with them, even Elmo.  Oh well, maybe by next year he'll enjoy them.  So we found the splash pad and Elliot was not a fan!  He treated the water works just like the bath and clung to Sam, not allowing daddy to put him down.  Sam and I were so sad that the main reason that we came to Sea World scared the heck out of our little guy.  So, we hung our heads down and decided to look for something else to do.  On our way out we found a little splash pad for kids under three.  Don't know why we didn't see this before.  Elliot and I sat in a chair near the little bubbling water spouts.  Then he surprised us by getting down and going over to the water and splashing in it.  Finally - he was enjoying the water.  I got some great pictures and Elliot had a wonderful time splashing about.  He even had fun climbing the giant cargo nets and playing on the "under 3" playscape.  After all of the playing we headed to the car and set our sights for home.  We weren't at Sea World very long and didn't see any of the shows, but my little guy had a wonderful time playing.  That was really the only reason we went.

I can't wait to see how he is next year!

Elliot watching the dolphins

With Cookie Monster

Bert and Ernie with Elliot and Grandma

Playing in the water

Night Night Rituals - Day 8

Every night after dinner, usually Elliot gets to play for a few minutes in the living room. Play for him consists of bringing us books to read to him. He's so funny because he'll bring books and insist that you read them, only to walk away a page or two into the book. After a bit, Sam will ask Elliot if he's ready to go "Night Night". Elliot will walk (or run) to the gate at the bottom of the stairs and slap it until daddy comes and opens it. He then climbs up the stairs, usually saying "bye bye" to me still sitting on the couch. I'll ask for kisses, which he'll blow to me as he is climbing the stairs. Tonight, Sam asked for help getting Elliot ready for bed (Sam cut his finger on the food processor blade and wasn't sure he had the dexterity to change a diaper). I of course obliged, looking forward to finally being able to put Elliot's clean clothes away. Sam helped him brush his teeth and then I change Elliot and Sam gets his dressed in his jammies. We sing the Shema to him and Sam and Elliot settle in for a marathon book reading adventure. During this ritual, we always end with the same book. Elliot knows that when daddy reads Pajama Time, it's time for sleep. So Elliot tends to ask for more books, I guess as a stall tactic before getting to the final book. If he's really tired, we won't even make it through the final book before he has wiggled off Sam's lap and is standing by his crib.Over the last couple of weeks he has had a cold off an on and we have been pushing the fluids. Extra fluids tends to lead to more wet diapers during the night, which leads to Elliot waking up once or twice. We have a ritual for that too. That's where mommy gets to shine! I will pick him up, change his diaper, turn out the light and then we rock. We sing two songs - "You are my Sunshine" and "Hush little baby". I usually ask him to "lay down keppe", which he does on my shoulder while I sing. After that, he is so good at going back to sleep.Tonight Elliot didn't want to sleep. Sam read him at least five books and he even came to me to give me hugs and kisses, but was not thrilled about being put in his crib. So, I had a bit of mommy time with him. We rocked and I sang and put him down, but apparently he still wasn't ready. Five minutes after he stood up at the edge of the crib crying, daddy came to the rescue. Daddy hugged him, told him it was "night night time" and laid him back down. Less than a minute later he was out! My little man is such a good sleeper.After going through a period of time where Elliot would wake up every 45 minutes and we would have to sleep on the couch with him, we tried sleep training and it has been the greatest thing ever. Hence why the nighttime ritual is so very important. This is my favorite part of the day - my son is sleeping peacefully in his bed surrounded by love and I have time to be alone with my thoughts and be alone with my husband.Good night sweet prince!

No is the new Black - Day 5

I have a toddler. With that comes lots of exercise from chasing him around the house. It brings lots of detective work in trying to decipher what it is he's trying to say. It attempts to teach patience when your loving child learns the word "no". It's cute at first, and usually meaningless. "Elliot, do you want to take a bath?" "No!" That I can handle, that makes sense to me. However the word "no" has taken on new meaning. "Elliot would you like some milk?" "No!" (As he's reaching for the milk). We thought that maybe he wasn't understanding the meaning of the word and was just enjoying saying it, but at least 8 times out of 10 he's right on target. At least we're getting a glimpse of what it will be like to have a defiant teenager! He's also turned into quite the climber. We have been child-proofing more and more as he gets bigger and to be quite honest, we're running out of places to put things so that they are out of his reach. This afternoon I was sitting on the couch and he was playing in the kitchen. He likes to bang on a metal chair in our kitchen, so I let him have his fun. Things for quiet for a minute and I turned to look in the kitchen. You can imagine my surprise when I saw Elliot's head over the half wall. It clicked to me that he was standing on something and could fall. I don't think I've ever moved faster than I did into the kitchen to snatch him before he fell off the chair. I then watched him a number of times climb on the metal chair to a standing position. My heart almost stopped. Now the metal chair must be folded when someone is not sitting in it. So scary! I guess this is what I have to get used to with boys. He has no fear!

Happy Birthday Israel - Day 2

Tonight my little family visited the Dell Jewish Community Center for an Israeli Celebration, in honor of Yom Ha'atzmaut! They had seven "cities" to visit with arts and crafts at each city. We were given a passport and at each city, we received a stamp. When all our cities had been stamped we received a t-shirt from the PJ Library (the wonderful people who send us books each month). Elliot recently received the book Good Night Israel, which he wants read to him at least 10 times a day. The book takes us on a trip through Israel, stopping at all of the sites. It's really cool. We were hopeful that the "trip" tonight would jog his memory of all of the places in his book. Wishful thinking on mommy's part. He was too distracted by all of the older kids running around, and all of the other little kids, and all of the things to destroy, and all of the places to run!!Unfortunately, it was poorly conceptualized by the JCC folks and even more poorly executed! Oh well, we got falafel, we made art and we got to see lots of other kids Elliot's age. I think the highlight for Elliot was playing outside on the Elliot-sized playground. As soon as we got home, Elliot ran for his book. I'm sure after the 500th reading, both he and I will have it committed to memory. Only a few more reads....So, Happy Birthday Israel! You look fabulous for 64! We hope to visit you someday. And now for some pictures of my little traveler.

Should I be Angry?

As parents it is our job to protect our children, right? We childproof, we childproof some more, we move scary objects up above where our children can reach, but then they get taller and we childproof again. In addition, we yell "no!" an awful lot! We are trying no to be the parents who just yell "no" at our kids to get them to stop. We want him to understand why he shouldn't do something and that it's dangerous, breakable, ours, or just not his. His school uses "walk away" to get children to stop what they're doing and basically walk away. We decided that we should also try this at home. My friend also uses "danger" to get her son to stop what he's doing. So far, neither of these are working with our very independent toddler.

Case in point - Elliot has a fondness for both the oven and the dishwasher. When he first was able to climb onto the open dishwasher it was cute. I'm sure we clapped - I know we took pictures - but basically we did nothing to dissuade this behavior. Elliot also has an affinity for the knobs on the oven. Scared that he would accidentally turn on the gas, ignite the flame, etc., we removed the knobs. Effective for him, annoying for us. Ah, the joys of childproofing. Currently, he will run to the oven and still try to open it, turn the knobs (or where the knobs were). I will say to him, "Elliot, walk away". After the 2nd or 3rd time, he will run to me for a hug. I love the hug, but unfortunately it's a game to him. He will hug me and then race right back to the oven. This evening he has his foot wedged on the drawer at the bottom of the oven and was attempting to climb it. I must mention that we had just finished baking so the door had to be at least somewhat warm still. "Elliot - danger!"...nothing. "Elliot, please listen to mommy - walk away. Hot!"...nothing. At a much higher volume, "Elliot - no!". This finally got his attention. He at least turned his head at me, but still he went back. Any ideas faithful few followers?

Another case in point (I felt horrible about this one) - I spent this past weekend as a single parent as Sam was out of town for a few days. (TMI coming at ya) I have realized that there are things that you must include your toddler in if there is not a safe place to put him and no other adult in the vicinity. Unfortunately, I had some sort of stomach issues that kept me running to the bathroom. This was fine while he was eating or napping (he was contained then), but became a problem when he was awake. So what's a mommy to do - I took him with me. So there he was, playing with everything he could put his hands on in our bathroom when he spied a gross penny from behind the door. In true Elliot fashion, he picked it up and in even truer Elliot fashion, he gave it to me. I attempted to toss it in the trash but missed and it lodged itself in the funk at the baseboard of our sink. Elliot once again felt it necessary to retrieve the nastiness. I began with "Walk away", which led to "danger", which went to "yucky" and finally ended with a scream from me to get his attention. My poor child sat on the floor of my bathroom with a quivering lip for a few minutes, which then erupted into tears, lots of tears. Tears that could only be helped by holding him...while I was on the toilet. Not my best work but it got the job done. He left the nasty penny where it was.

In addition to attempting to climb the oven tonight, my darling son "the mimicker" mocked his mother. This is where I address the title of this post. In response to "walk away", my son gives me his version of "walk away", with much less annunciation. "Danger" received more of the same. The kid sassed me! I'm so proud that he is learning new words daily and can repeat what I say, but should I be angry that he is mocking me? He tests boundaries and it's hilarious. After being told to "walk away" from the dishwasher, he ran to me for a hug, then returned to knock on the open dishwasher door once, all the while staring at me and going in slow motion. I fought hard to stifle my giggles. This kid is so damn smart it kills me.

It's too soon to expect that a toddler has the ability to listen to me, right? I have learned that I can't reason with him, so I guess I can't be angry. He is, after all, only 16 months old....going on 17 (years)!

New Words

Elliot is becoming a little mimic. Which for us means we need to watch our mouth. I swear "that's bullshit daddy" came out of his mouth the other day. Who knew that he actually pays attention to the things that we say (ha!). So the other day, Elliot was doing this funny little walk in the living room. He was raising up on one toe and kinda limping (?) and we didn't know if he was hurt or epileptic or just developing a bit of a pimp walk. Then we listened to the fact that he was actually saying something along with the limp. A faint little "dump, dump" came from that determined little boy. Then it hit us, he was jumping! He must've learned this in school, because I don't recall teaching him how to jump or the word jump, but jump he does. I really need to get it on video, because it's the cutest thing. It's evolved a bit over the weekend as well. Now, he raises both feet up on his toes, swings his arms and looks as if he's trying to take off. All the while saying, "dump, dump".

Back to the mimicking - this morning he looked at me and said "hi" (hi and bye are his new favorites) and I replied, "hi baby", to which he replied, "hi baby". Oh my gosh is he cute! Today he said "eyes" and actually pointed to his eyes. He very clearly said "Grandma" the other night and I thought my mom would have a heart attack. For those who don't know, since the day my child was born, my mother would say to him, "say Grandma". Our of pure stubbornness, he would reply "daddy", "mommy" and even "grandpa" (and sometimes even "bubbe") but he finally got out a grandma. He points to his belly and says "beh-yee". Oh, my heart is melting. He leans back in your arms and squeals "whee". Where is he getting this stuff?

The word count is getting extremely long as he is learning at least one new word every day. He repeats just about everything. His response to "I love you" is "Bye" (methinks he has picked this up from listening to phone calls). He still gives great hugs and now he blows kisses and makes this cute little fish kiss by sucking in his cheeks. I love this little man...

Mr. Independent

My son turned into an independent little man today. His new favorite "toys" are all of the new Sesame Street books that mommy found at Target (Dollar Section - what, what!). I've gotten somewhat exhausted from reading them over and over and over. I practically known them by memory. However, Elliot does not get tired of them. It definitely warms my heart that he's loving books, but when he wants to be read to, you must stop what you're doing, sit down, put him in your lap and read. Today was different. Today, he handed me the book, asked to be picked up and put on the couch (in Elliot-ese), moved from my lap to next to me on the couch, took the book from me and started "talking" to the book and turning the pages. I can only imagine that he was "reading" to himself.

It was amazing! I was so proud of him for being able to entertain himself with the book, and at the same time was a little broken hearted that my boy no longer wanted me to read to him. I tried to take the book from him at one point, saying, "want mommy to read to you?". He emphatically shook his head, saying "no!" and went back to his happy page turning. I guess it helps that he adores "Elmo" ("Ahh-Mo!") and can point him out in every book. So the question is now - why did we spend so much money on toys when apparently the greatest toys are the $1 books? I'll never understand kids!