A Walk In the Woods

Eventhough Eli's been in the woods many times, this was the first hike we went on where Eli could actually walk by himself for at least some of the hike. It was a pretty short hike, but it took a long time. Eli had to stop and look at everything. He was so curious and so intrigued by everything he saw. And he saw some pretty cool things: butterflies, bumblebees, spiders, flowers, nuts, sticks, leaves, trees, mushrooms, moss, rocks, a praying mantis, and a caterpillar. I think it was a very good day for Eli.

Leading the way...


The butterfly was so into the thistle, he hardly even noticed Eli. Eli was just about to grab it when in flew away. But, he gave Eli plenty of time to look.


Eli loved the caterpillar until we had him hold it. He did not want it crawling on him and tried to shake it off.


The only thing better than throwing rocks is throwing rocks into the water. Eli didn't even notice that the water was freezing cold. All he wanted to do was pick up the biggest rocks he could find and toss them into the water.

At the Rose Garden

The roses are in bloom at the Park of Roses near our local library. Eli really is a flower fan. When we go for a walk, he always stops to check out the flowers. He touches the petals, smells them, and if I'm not quick enough, picks them and tries to put them in his mouth. He usually loves flowers with button-like centers (daisies, coneflowers, black-eyed susans) best, but I think he fell in love with the sweet, sweet smell of the rose. He walked around the park sniffing like a dog, his hint to us that we needed to help him smell the roses. Here are some wonderful pictures of our day.

I should mention that Eli took a pretty good digger today. Here are the pictures to prove it. Poor kid can't get a break. He was sick all week with a fever and the first day he feels good he falls on the sidewalk and tumbles off the curb.


Eli showing us his sniffing.


Leaning in to smell the roses.


Playing with the petals.

Bubbles!

Ky has a "Bubble Generator" that spits out hundreds of bubbles a minute. Eli loves chasing after the bubbles, popping the bubbles, and just looking at the bubbles. Bubbles are such wonderful things!

Eli's Best Friend

Everyday Eli plays with his friend from next door, Ky. When they hear each others voices, they yell each others names "Li, Li" (Ky's name for Eli) and "Da-Da" (Eli's name for everyone). Ky likes to come right up to our window and yell for Eli to come and out and play and Eli always yells something back in his own jibberish that Ky seems to understand. They hug, chase each other, swim together, play with bubbles, wrestle, play catch or kick the ball and, as seen below, play with each others cars. It really is a sweet friendship. Ky, however, will be starting school again on Tuesday so Eli will only see Ky in the evenings. I think Eli will be pretty bummed. I'm pretty sure when they boys are older they'll have a tin-can telephone stretched out the window as their rooms are right next to each other!


Ky pushing Eli.


Then they switch and Eli will push Ky.

Eli's New Birthday Presents

Eli got some fun gifts for his birthday. Here are his favorites.

Dennis and I got him his first pet, a fish. Eli named him Bubba and loves looking at him. Currently, Bubba is off limits as Eli's favorite thing to do with Bubba is hit the side of the bowl so the water splashes out and Bubba rocks in the waves. But, he still loves to sign fish and point to Bubba.


Eli's Aunt Pat gave Eli this fancy Rock, Roll 'N' Ride trike. He likes all of the features and asks numerous times a day to be taken for a ride. Then, he'll decide half-way through to stand up and ride, then he'll want to get off and push, then he'll want to ride, then he'll want to push. It takes about 1/2 an hour to get down the sidewalk. Oh, and he loves to push his best friend, Ky, in it. (I'll show those pictures later.)



Eli has grown out of his baby hooded towels, so we broke down and got him a gigantic puppy hooded towel. He's soooo cute.

The Walker

While visiting ND, Eli became a walker which was fun for grandma and grandpa, but Dennis missed all of the excitement. Once we were back, he would take a few steps here and there, but because our house is so small he couldn't practice all that much. A week ago, he started really walking everywhere, but his balance wasn't so good. Now, he can walk great distances and stand himself back up after he falls. He loves to walk on the cement because it's even, but it's not so good when he falls. He walks on the grass too, but falls a lot more. It's been so much fun watching his new-found independence and now I'm wondering why I really wanted him to walk so badly. Good-bye babyhood, hello toddlerhood.

Look out!


He's so proud of himself.

Eli's First Birthday

Eli's birthday party was a success! He invited friends over for a backyard bbq. We had hamburgers, hotdogs and all the trimmings. It was so much fun watching him walk around in his birthday hat and visiting with all of his friends. A fun time was had by all!

Eli, playing the good host.


Playing with Luke.


All of the party goers. (Its sooo hard getting a good picture of little movers.)


Time for cake.


The thumb test.


More cake, please!


I can't seem to get enough...


Finger lickin' good.


The cake before it was destroyed. I'm so proud of it. It was my first attempt at cake decorating.


Opening gifts this morning. He was way too pooped to do it last night. This gift, a sea animal book, fit our fish-theme birthday party perfectly.

Happy Birthday, Eli!!

A year ago today...


Today...

More Belly Than You Need To See and Eli

A girlfriend took some photos of my growing belly and some great mommy/baby shots. I'm officially in the home stretch as the third trimester has begun. I'm sure I'll be expanding.

Minnesota Lakes

Eli and I are in ND visiting Grandma and Grandpa. We went to Detroit Lakes to take a ride on Great Uncle Ron's new pontoon. Eli loved being on the water and he did really well on the whole 2 hour trip except towards the end he really started to hate the life jacket.

Dipping our toes.


Enjoying the view.


Yea! I love boat rides.


We also went to Bemidji. Eli took a dip in the shallow water and was swimming up a storm. He loves to dunk his head, blow bubbles, and drink the water.

Taking a ride.


Eli says, "I love this."


Drinking the delicious water.

Quick Trip to Cincinnati

Eli and I are heading to ND for two weeks without Dennis. So, we decided to have a fun family weekend together before we leave. We decided Cincinnati was a great choice because it's close and we've never been. Here are some highlights.

We spent quite a bit of time at the Newport Aquarium. Eli loved it and pointed to everything. Here he is in the shark tube, which was sooooo cool. We even got to pet a shark!!


A big shark!



Pointing (again) at the clown fish.


We enjoyed the ribs at the famous Montgomery Inn. Everytime he took a bite he made a sour face, I think the BBQ sauce was a bit too much for him. And he hated that bib, it only lasted long enough to take the picture. We also ate atCincinnati's own Skyline Chili, which neither of us liked very much. Eli loved the oyster crackers, but that's not a very good reason to go back to a restaurant.


Traveling with a baby, we now notice a lot more parks than we ever have before. It's a great way to give Eli a break and wear him out before we get in the car for a long drive or go to a museum. Eli could spend hours and hours and hours climbing, crawling, and cruising along. We spent a long while at the children's museum which will be great when he's about two. I think Dennis and I liked it more than he did and we were wishing we were six so we could enjoy it a little more without looking so foolish. We also went to the Natural History Museum and Freedom Center. But, Eli could have done without them. He would have been just as happy sitting in his stroller looking at the big buildings and bridges downtown or looking out the window at the hotel. We were on the 17th floor and the windows went all the way down to the floor so Eli was face to glass admiring the view. (I was having visions that the glass would somehow pop out and my baby would plummet to his death.)

Curly Sue, Driving, and Splash Park

I have no idea where Eli got his beautiful hair from as neither Dennis nor I seem to have it. It's so beautiful that I refuse to cut it no matter how many times he's called a girl which happens to be a lot!!!


Eli looks very toddler like in this picture. Sigh. He loves to drive and wave.


It's been hot and humid here in the mid-west so we took Eli to the no-depth splash park to cool off yesterday. I guess this is the next big thing in community parks instead of pools as you don't have to have a life-guard on duty and it's easy to maintain. It's just a bunch of sprinkler-type gizmos that kids run through and the bigger kids looked like they were having a blast! I think the best part is that its free. It definitely cooled us all off.