3 year and 1 year appt

stats:

eliot:
height: 27"
weight: 18.9 lbs

james: 37"
weight: 29.5 lbs

they say lucifer was as beautiful as the morning star

appearances can be deceiving, can they not ;). Here is James fully engrossed in a few minutes of his favorite new movie ('my friend totoro'). The blue on his belly is paint. Its been very hot here, and we have been roasting without air conditioning, thus the minimal attire.

he speaks too!

when we were in hyannis I commented to joe that I thought eliot was saying hello when he waved to people (making a sound like heeeeeyyyyyoooouuu). I realized 2 days ago that he is also saying 'look' (yoooooooouuuuukk) when pointing to things. I think this confirms it! So first word was mama a few months ago (boy knows what is good for him lol). second demonstrated his social niceties. third shows his curiosity in the environment. Its only a matter of time before he starts saying 'tree' (he is quite the arborist)

Eliot's first birthday

It is so hard to believe that Eliot has spent an entire year on this planet. He is such a delightful kid, full of mischief and curiosity, and completely fearless. He was not a huge fan of his birthday cake (organic blueberry cake, made with oat flour), though was captivated by the flame on the candle. He kept trying to grab it. Good thing Joe is quick lol. He was also completely in love with the bows on top of his gifts. He spent a lot of time curling and twiddling them, to the chagrin of James who was desperate to know what was inside lol. Overall, we had a great day :) Happy birthday Eliot Jude! We are beyond thrilled you are part of our family!

misc pics

since I have been so negligent

news article

it would be awesome if our gov't started taking this approach as well. I hope Sutherland succeeds in this initiative in the UK. There are safe ways to co-sleep, and these should be taught to all new parents, especially given that babies sleep much sounder with mom nearby, and a recent study estimated that the majority of parents ended up co-sleeping at one point or another (likely out of desperation, which is how we started when J was 2 days old lol). Better to teach parents how to be safe than make ridiculous fear based decrees. There are numerous advantages to co-sleeping, including lowered SIDS risks, more sleep for all involved, etc.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1083020.ece

ETA: NEWSFLASH!!! E JUST TOOK 3 INDEPENDENT STEPS!!!!!

our vacation

Lets jsut call me distracted these days, and forgive the fact that I am not 1. posting often and 2. posting un-processed snapshots taken with Joe's camera.

We spent a week in a beachhouse in Hyannis (on Cape Cod). It rained nearly the entire week, but we still were able to go out in the grey and hunt for hermit crabs, walk through the town and seaport, and eat at the many good restaurants around. We visited the cape cod children's museum during a torrential thunderstorm, and had a lovely visit from my friend kelli and her son seth (which luckily coincided with the one sunny day).

In other news, E is standing independently, shakes his head no, and knows a smattering of other sign language. He says "mama" but thats the extent of his interest in language. He points to learn words, and given his love of climbing might prove to be an excellent tree climber. He is very interested in balls, cars, and instruments such as the cymbals and drums. He has a narrow repertoire of books he enjoys, though he loves them completely (as in will scream if we read a different one in his general direction). His other interests include biting (which he thinks is hilarious), trees, waving to strangers to ascertain their reactions, tasting food and spitting it out, and wresting with his brother. It is hard to believe he will be a year old next week.

James is getting very interested in imaginative play, specifically relating to dragons, pirates, billy goats, trolls and bears. He loves to read, has his own made up language (which I strongly suspect does not have any grammatical rules and mostly involves sounds such as "bop" and "ning-ning"). He has a great interest in the world around him. He has a fantastic command of English for his age. He enjoys screaming, running away from his tired mother, all fruits and vegetables, chocolate, his friend Seth, and general silliness. He is quite a performer and will sing, dance, and play instruments with gusto. He also offers reasonable alternatives for most things he does not want to do. He is very proficient in the art of getting adults to come around to his line of thinking through compromise. "compromise" I should say. There are times when he is quite the dictator. As all toddlers should be I suppose. It is even harder to believe he is nearly 3.