Fun Times

We've had quite a few fun family outings lately. Last weekend we went to the KC Zoo. And earlier today we took Eli to Deanna Rose. He loved both and we had such a great time. His love for animals is infectious :) How can you not think that goats are cool when Eli's laughing hysterically at feeding them? Or running up to the fence and saying "HI!" to each and every one of them... Such a personality for a 17 month old. Anyhow, I thought I'd post a couple pictures from our adventures since I tend to take way too many pictures.

Busy Busy

Aaron and I have both been working a lot this week. I was filling in at work in the preschool room several days. And Aaron is apparently working with some short deadlines this week and has been at the office more than we'd all like him to be. But we're very much looking forward to the weekend and some quality time together. We might take a trip to the zoo tomorrow since it's FINALLY going to cool off a little. No more 100 degree weather- thank goodness!

Some highlights of the week:

*Ali came up and celebrated her birthday with us last night. Ross and Randy were here as well and we had a fun evening. Cheesecake Factory always puts a smile on my face :)

*I'm reminded why I love working with children when I'm with the preschool age. For example, we were talking about feelings this week. I took each kid aside one at a time and had them tell me what makes them happy and sad and wrote it down for their parents. Some of the funnier ones include: "I'm happy when I'm in a corn maze" "I'm happy when the rainbows don't disappear" "I'm happy when.... flowers!" The sad ones were, of course, less funny because the children were truly sad in these situations. One little boy actually told me that he's sad "when my mommy isn't so nice to me" :( If that isn't a reminder that our children are people too - and can tell other people what their mommy's and daddy's are like at home - I don't know what is! Definitely made me sad and made me give Eli some extra loving that night.

*Not-so-fun news is that Eli got bit twice by friends in daycare this week. It's obviously not the end of the world. And he initiated one of the incidents. But still not so fun for him.

*And finally, I forgot to post earlier that we went down to my parents' last Saturday for a birthday party and had a marvelous time. We took Eli to my grandparents' pool during the day and had lots of fun with Uncle Macey, cousin Brooke, and cousin Robin. We then had dinner in at Macey and Heather's house and it was delicious! All in all, very fun (albeit short) trip.

Accomplishments

As I was updating Eli's baby book this weekend, I realized that I haven't been quite as diligent about writing down some of the milestones as I should. I have all the big ones, of course. But who keeps track of their pregnancy? Or the first time he claps his hands together? Are parents really supposed to be able to fill out ALL of these "firsts"???

With that in mind, I figured I should document what he is currently (at 16 months) capable of doing. If you're not interested in what my kiddo can currently do, don't bother reading any further. This is honestly as much for me to look back on later when I can't remember he was like at this stage in life. (Also, keep in mind that I make no guarantees that he will perform any of these tricks for you, should you see him and ask him to. At home, he talks and performs on demand. In public, it's a crapshoot.)

*He can say multiple words: side = outside (his first real word), baw baw = ball, doggie, mama, daddy, dirty (as in, his diaper's dirty. he learned that one at daycare:), bye-bye, cracker, go!go!go! (said while running), uh-huh, hi, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

*He also can make a few animal noises. A dog says: woo, woo, woo. A lion says: roar! And a duck sort of quacks :) He can also point to and identify many animals. We still work on this a lot, but he's getting a lot of the basic objects and animals down.

*He can now - thanks to Daddy - give and blow kisses. It's done w/ a "mmmwa!" sound and is super cute. He'll also give you a hug if you ask him for one.

*He no longer thinks walking is all that cool. He runs EVERYWHERE.

*He LOVES the pool! Thank goodness he inherited my love of water, instead of Aaron's disdain for it.

*He also dances :) He loves music and stares at the tv when we have CMT videos on in the mornings. Aaron and I joke that he's already into blondes, because he tends to pay more attention when Carrie Underwood or Miranda Lambert is on.

*His little personality and sense of humor is developing more and more all the time. He's what I would describe as an easy-going, generally very happy kid. Loves new situations and people. Sometimes has to warm up to someone if they want to hold him. But he can't get enough of flirting with strangers in Target.

3 P's

Do you ever have those days where you think you're in the homestretch, only to have the crappiest evening ever? My day was going perfectly fine. Good day with Eli. Had lunch with some friends. Work was exhausting, but fine. It's a Thursday, which means that Aaron was playing softball. So I get all the Eli night-time duties. Again, this is normal. Manageable.

Then 7:30 rolls around. Eli had been in a great mood, even though it was nearing bedtime. And we go upstairs for his bath. I generally let him run around without his diaper for a few minutes before his bath, even though it's pretty much asking for trouble. But I'm generally of the "what's the worst that can happen" mindframe. Well, tonight I found out exactly what is the worst that can happen. I'll spare you the gory details. But suffice it to say, he managed to get two different types of P-words on the floor. Yes, pee and poop. Needless to say, I was less than pleased. Particularly since I had to clean it up - off the floor and him (yes, it's even more disgusting that he stepped in it). Thank God it was bathtime and he was going straight to the bath after that. But still. It had been a perfectly lovely day up to that point. And of course I had to be home alone to have to deal with it with no help.

So that accounts for 2 of the 3 P's from the title of this post. The last P is much less disgusting and dramatic. I managed to tip over my pop off the coffeetable and get it all over the leather couch and floor. I cleaned it up with relative ease. But I just couldn't believe I managed to get 3 different types of P-words on my carpet in one evening. I think it's definitely time to go to bed and pray for a better day tomorrow...

Observations

1) As I read my other friends' blogs (all of the 3 of them that I read regularly), I realize that I haven't changed the look of my blog in forever. Thank you, Ben, for that reminder. So I am attempting to find a new look that I like. I probably won't keep it with this one, but I'm too tired to keep playing with it tonight.

2) We have VERY few pictures of Aaron, Eli, and me that I like. We tend to take tons of Eli. And then a few of him and Aaron. And even fewer of Eli with me since I tend to be the photographer of the family. This is something I'm going to have to work on since I don't really care for the current picture on here. But the other one was hopelessly outdated. Considering Eli was 3 months old in the last one, I think it was time for an update.

3) Unrelated to the blog. I just realized today that Eli has gotten in 2 new teeth that I was previously unaware of. He has two towards the back on top that recently came in. So he now has 9 teeth total. It's hard to keep track because he hides them so well!

Busy Weekend!

We've had a pretty crazy summer so far. Lots of weddings and showers and such. And because of that, we couldn't remember the last time we'd done anything "fun" together, just us as a family. We hang out every evening and do the normal dinner and playing. But on the weekends, we've either been traveling or going to special events. Or we do the normal errands and chores. So I took it upon myself to commit the whole day Saturday to just having fun as a family. We started off the day at Monkey Bizness in Shawnee, which is a really cool indoor jungle gym type place. Eli was able to do a lot more of the stuff than the last time I took him. And Aaron really enjoyed playing with him there, since he had never been before.

After that, we went to Fritz's for lunch. If you live in the KC area and have kids, you should definitely go. The food is delivered by trains on a track that runs about a foot below the ceiling. Eli was completely mesmerized by it. We decided that if we ever wanted to put him on a diet, we'd just take him there for every meal. Because he was too distracted to eat hardly any of his food. The trains blow their whistles every time they bring the food out and Eli would just stare at them all the way around the room.

We also went to The Toy Store on Mass St. in Lawrence, which is huge. The toys were a tad overpriced. But they have a huge selection for kids of all ages. Their basement also has just about every kid's book you could want. And trust me, it's hard for me to be impressed by the number of books. I always think there should be more. But they basically have a children's bookstore in their basement, along with lots of cool science kits and other resources for teachers/parents.

To top the weekend off, Eli and I went to the Legends on Sunday with my mom and Ali. Aaron was studying so he didn't "get" to go along. But we had a really good time. And I think Ali and my mom kind of got a taste of how exhausting Eli can be while trying to wrangle him in public :) I told my mom at one point that she could let him out of the stroller if she watched him and he immediately took off running- lol. I suppose I could have been a little more specific in my warning that she should "watch him" but I guess she figured it out quick enough :) I'm pretty sure he went back in the stroller pretty quickly....

Anyhow, I took some pictures throughout the weekend and the link is below. We hope to start making it more of a priority to do these kinds of things together more often.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022280&id=65100372&l=8de3c6504f

2 Weddings in 2 Weeks

June has been crazy for us. I previously posted about my friend Leah's wedding. And now I am happy to report that our second wedding went off without any major hitches. I was a bridesmaid in my friend Kara's wedding this past weekend and the wedding was at Camp Wood YMCA in my hometown. It was absolutely gorgeous and couldn't have been a nicer day. While it was windy, it kept it from getting too hot - an important factor since it was an outside wedding. Kara was so beautiful and made it through the weekend with only a few tears ;) (I know you read my blog, Kara, so I'm being generous here on the emotional front lol) Anyhow, I think I finally figured out how to post a link to a facebook album. So here it is:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022191&id=65100372&l=ba1b38690d

I apologize for the sheer amount of photos. I usually go through and select only the better pictures to post in an online album. But there were so many of them, that it was just easier to hit "select all" and upload them. So enjoy!