If you want some reading material and a look into our days, please read on.
I keep a journal for Elliott to record our days and to remember how quickly he is growing and changing. I wanted to share an entry to Elliott because he is just so funny right now.
Elliott,
You make me laugh all day, every single day. I wish I could adequately describe how much I love you, how happy you make me, and...seriously, though, how much I love you. Even on the days that you test your boundaries, throw numerous fits, and exhaust me--you know, the days where I'm excited for bedtime--I still love you, miss you while you're sleeping, and long for you to wake up and play with me again.
You make me laugh in the morning before I even see you. I hear your little voice coming from your room. You sit in your crib and talk, sometimes for up to an hour. You make yourself laugh, you play with your elephants, and you bang your head against the wall (don't ask why). When I come in, you smile. I open the blinds and you immediately sneeze from the sunlight. You clap twice for "up" and I get you out of bed. You hug my neck, and it is awesome.
You make me laugh as we go downstairs. You begin to talk about all your dreams from the night before, I'm just sure of it. You smack your lips for "milk" and I get your sippy cup. You make me laugh when I put you in your highchair and you either cover your ears while I blend a smoothie or impatiently wait for the toaster to pop your bread back out. I laugh as you tell me your toast is too hot and pretend to blow on it. You usually want to "drink coffee" which consists of putting your mouth on my mug and inhaling the delicious aroma of my coffee for a few seconds, then looking at me like you're quite proud of yourself. Some mornings I laugh when you get your Cheerio cup and share your Cheerios with me, Hadley, and Hazel. You feed them to us one-by-one.
You make me laugh when you start to play by yourself when I clean up breakfast. Sometimes you get your toys, other times you get into the pantry or the baking drawer. You ride your Jeep, make smudges on the sliding glass door, crawl under the dining room table, or find your shoes. Oh, your shoes make me laugh. You say "shhh" and hold up your shoe and your foot. When you do that, we are required to put them on your feet. You are obsessed with shoes! Or sometimes you don't play at all and instead "help" me clean the kitchen. You make me laugh when you empty the dishwasher or when you try to start it by pushing every button.
You make me laugh when I change your diaper and your clothes. If I am changing you, you throw a complete tantrum. You hate it. It's a battle. And usually I get frustrated and then...laugh. Because it is simply ridiculous. You know it's going to happen despite your loud protests. Once we wrestle, you calm down and help me get your clothes on. Then you hug my neck really tight and I hug you right off the changing table.
You make me laugh when you watch me get ready in the mornings. You go to my closet and try my shoes on, take everything out of all the drawers you can open, and then copy me while I put on makeup or do my hair. Most days you end up with some make up on your face and your hair gets brushed numerous times. Sometimes you just walk around the whole upstairs dragging my blow dryer. And whenever you get into something or do something cute...you clap for yourself!
You make me laugh when we go out each morning. You sit in your car seat and put on sunglasses or try to sing with me and the radio. Sometimes you read a book for our whole drive. Wherever we are going for the day, you are excited (unless I'm leaving you for a little bit...then you scream). You hold my hand when we are somewhere unfamiliar and drag me around while you explore the store, the park, or wherever we are. You squeeze my fingers so tightly sometimes they just about go numb. You make me laugh when you play with other kids. All your interactions are simply fun for me to watch. You get really quiet whenever we're away from home. People have no idea that you talk my ear off most of the day.
You make me laugh at lunch time. You now are obsessed with your booster seat at the dining room table. You drag around your chair and climb into it all the time. Sometimes you try to put your bib on by yourself. You now eat with a plate and fork for every meal and you're getting a bit better at it! You make me laugh when you refuse to turn your fork around, though, and desperately try to get the food in your mouth from the opposite side. You also make me laugh when you try to get the food on the tines, give up, pick it up, and put it on the tines with your fingers before eating it. You usually have a full meal waiting for you in your bib pocket by the end of a meal. You are still a picky eater, which makes me cry more than laugh...but every once in awhile I have to laugh when we make you try a new food and you stick your tongue out and scrape off the food with both hands for the full dramatic effect. Also, I have found it to be less frustrating when I just choose to giggle over how ridiculous you are with loving a food one day and refusing to touch it the next. Mealtime is a true battle three times a day.
You make me laugh on the stairs. You are adamant about closing the gate. Heaven forbid we walk up or down the stairs without closing it behind us. You refuse to go down the stairs by yourself (backward and on your hands and knees), so we have to escort you down so you can walk like a big boy. Sometimes you stand at the top of the stairs and scold Hadley for barking, which you may have seen me do from time to time. You try to run down the hallway. It ends up being more like a waddle with added sound effects, and it makes me smile every time.
You make me laugh in your playroom. I usually sit at my desk and work on my own projects, so you play by yourself. You climb up your slide now, which you are very proud of. You rock on your airplane rocker and turn the propeller. You kiss all of your stuffed animals! You also sit on your rocking chair and read books aloud. I chuckle when you are doing your tool puzzle because you'd rather use the hammer like an actual hammer than put it back into the puzzle. I always wonder what you're thinking about and what you're learning. You're so curious!
You make me laugh after nap time. I'm usually a little sad that nap time is over because I never get everything I want to done before you wake up. But you are good at helping me finish chores. You just watch the vacuum and follow it. You put clothes in the dryer--and open and shut the dryer door a hundred times. And...well, that's about all the chores you're actually helpful at. But after nap means we have just a little bit of freedom before dinner. At the very least, we take a little walk to the mail boxes. You make me laugh when you insist on holding Hadley's leash. She is the perfect size for you to walk. You usually take a break and sit on a curb or someone's front step, not because you're tired of walking just because you like that there are seats the perfect height for you everywhere we go.
You make me laugh when you say "Dada" when Daddy walks in the door. You don't say "Mama" all day long, but you say "Dada" over and over again when you see him. The two of you make me laugh while you rough house in the living room while I cook dinner. Usually you get tickled, chased, and picked up by your feet a lot.
You make me laugh at dinner time. You figured out praying just recently. Instead of getting into trouble for the minute our eyes are closed, you now hold our hands and I think you like it. You want in and out of your booster numerous times during dinner. You haven't figured out that you don't get to be down and still get food, but we're working on that. You make me laugh when you find the loudest toy to play with while we finish eating or crawl underneath the table and wait with the dogs for food to drop.
You make me laugh at bath time. No matter how cranky and tired you are, bath time makes everything better. You suddenly get energized with a second wind and love playing for as long as we let you. Lately, you drink a lot of bath water...it's gross but it's your favorite thing to do. You make me laugh so hard when I wash your hair and make funny hairstyles with the sudsy hair, because you look at yourself in the reflection of the faucet and giggle! So, we normally do several crazy hairstyles per night. You make me laugh when you taste your toothpaste. I don't know why it is still so funny and cute, but there is something about those tiny smacking lips that just makes me happy.
You make me laugh at bedtime. Some nights are hit or miss with bedtime--sometimes you want a story and sit in our laps and point to pictures and turn pages and really enjoy it, sometimes you don't; sometimes you shove your "silky" under your chin and let us snuggle, sometimes you don't; sometimes you even fall asleep while I rock you, sometimes you don't. But the things you ALWAYS do that make me laugh are kiss your stuffed animals to sleep and blow us kisses when we say "goodnight." Then we usually laugh downstairs when we can hear you talking to yourself for the next few minutes.
You make me laugh even when you are sleeping. As soon as you go to sleep, I remember something funny from the day and have to tell Daddy all about it. We both laugh. Then we usually say how cute/perfect/wonderful/easy/entertaining/etc. you are. And we usually say it more than once. We talk about how much we love you, how excited we are for you to become a big brother, and all the things we want to do with you as you grow up. You're usually the last thing we talk about before we go to sleep, and we both go to sleep praying for you.
This is how you make me laugh and I don't want to forget these things. I love to make you laugh all day long, too. Your laugh is the best! I know you will make me laugh each day and I look forward to all of them.
I love you, my silly boy.
Love,
Mama
You make me laugh at lunch time. You now are obsessed with your booster seat at the dining room table. You drag around your chair and climb into it all the time. Sometimes you try to put your bib on by yourself. You now eat with a plate and fork for every meal and you're getting a bit better at it! You make me laugh when you refuse to turn your fork around, though, and desperately try to get the food in your mouth from the opposite side. You also make me laugh when you try to get the food on the tines, give up, pick it up, and put it on the tines with your fingers before eating it. You usually have a full meal waiting for you in your bib pocket by the end of a meal. You are still a picky eater, which makes me cry more than laugh...but every once in awhile I have to laugh when we make you try a new food and you stick your tongue out and scrape off the food with both hands for the full dramatic effect. Also, I have found it to be less frustrating when I just choose to giggle over how ridiculous you are with loving a food one day and refusing to touch it the next. Mealtime is a true battle three times a day.
You make me laugh on the stairs. You are adamant about closing the gate. Heaven forbid we walk up or down the stairs without closing it behind us. You refuse to go down the stairs by yourself (backward and on your hands and knees), so we have to escort you down so you can walk like a big boy. Sometimes you stand at the top of the stairs and scold Hadley for barking, which you may have seen me do from time to time. You try to run down the hallway. It ends up being more like a waddle with added sound effects, and it makes me smile every time.
You make me laugh in your playroom. I usually sit at my desk and work on my own projects, so you play by yourself. You climb up your slide now, which you are very proud of. You rock on your airplane rocker and turn the propeller. You kiss all of your stuffed animals! You also sit on your rocking chair and read books aloud. I chuckle when you are doing your tool puzzle because you'd rather use the hammer like an actual hammer than put it back into the puzzle. I always wonder what you're thinking about and what you're learning. You're so curious!
You make me laugh after nap time. I'm usually a little sad that nap time is over because I never get everything I want to done before you wake up. But you are good at helping me finish chores. You just watch the vacuum and follow it. You put clothes in the dryer--and open and shut the dryer door a hundred times. And...well, that's about all the chores you're actually helpful at. But after nap means we have just a little bit of freedom before dinner. At the very least, we take a little walk to the mail boxes. You make me laugh when you insist on holding Hadley's leash. She is the perfect size for you to walk. You usually take a break and sit on a curb or someone's front step, not because you're tired of walking just because you like that there are seats the perfect height for you everywhere we go.
You make me laugh when you say "Dada" when Daddy walks in the door. You don't say "Mama" all day long, but you say "Dada" over and over again when you see him. The two of you make me laugh while you rough house in the living room while I cook dinner. Usually you get tickled, chased, and picked up by your feet a lot.
You make me laugh at dinner time. You figured out praying just recently. Instead of getting into trouble for the minute our eyes are closed, you now hold our hands and I think you like it. You want in and out of your booster numerous times during dinner. You haven't figured out that you don't get to be down and still get food, but we're working on that. You make me laugh when you find the loudest toy to play with while we finish eating or crawl underneath the table and wait with the dogs for food to drop.
You make me laugh at bath time. No matter how cranky and tired you are, bath time makes everything better. You suddenly get energized with a second wind and love playing for as long as we let you. Lately, you drink a lot of bath water...it's gross but it's your favorite thing to do. You make me laugh so hard when I wash your hair and make funny hairstyles with the sudsy hair, because you look at yourself in the reflection of the faucet and giggle! So, we normally do several crazy hairstyles per night. You make me laugh when you taste your toothpaste. I don't know why it is still so funny and cute, but there is something about those tiny smacking lips that just makes me happy.
You make me laugh at bedtime. Some nights are hit or miss with bedtime--sometimes you want a story and sit in our laps and point to pictures and turn pages and really enjoy it, sometimes you don't; sometimes you shove your "silky" under your chin and let us snuggle, sometimes you don't; sometimes you even fall asleep while I rock you, sometimes you don't. But the things you ALWAYS do that make me laugh are kiss your stuffed animals to sleep and blow us kisses when we say "goodnight." Then we usually laugh downstairs when we can hear you talking to yourself for the next few minutes.
You make me laugh even when you are sleeping. As soon as you go to sleep, I remember something funny from the day and have to tell Daddy all about it. We both laugh. Then we usually say how cute/perfect/wonderful/easy/entertaining/etc. you are. And we usually say it more than once. We talk about how much we love you, how excited we are for you to become a big brother, and all the things we want to do with you as you grow up. You're usually the last thing we talk about before we go to sleep, and we both go to sleep praying for you.
This is how you make me laugh and I don't want to forget these things. I love to make you laugh all day long, too. Your laugh is the best! I know you will make me laugh each day and I look forward to all of them.
I love you, my silly boy.
Love,
Mama
