Beading

We worked on fine motor skills today by stringing big colorful beads on a shoelace. Elijah tried doing this a few weeks ago and he couldn't figure out how to pull the lace through correctly. This time he did really well. I think he managed to get about 10 beads on the string, but 6 of them randomly fell off when he had the string hanging off his highchair. 

First Big Pool

I don't have a waterproof camera so we didn't get any pool pictures. We (Grandma DeShon, Elijah, and I) only swam for about a half hour because Elijah was too cold. He was shaking for several minutes when we decided to get out of the water and then it started raining on us while we were trying to dry off. He really liked swimming until we got to deeper water then he had a tight grip (with arms and legs) around me. A few times we were able to get him to splash, kick his legs, and float around on his belly. His favorite part was "jumping" into the water. Can't wait to try again on a warmer, sunnier day.

Small vs Large

We let Elijah hold the laptop on his own lap to watch a digger video. He was impressed.

Basket Reading

Elijah emptied out his toy bag and sat in it. Then he wanted his books and helped me sing the song that goes with the bulldozer. He says "dozer", "morning" and "report." (Note: imagine these words in toddler-speak.) I sing the part of the song, "They call him bulldozer...or dozer for short. Every morning...for work he reports." He was also able to located about 15 different items in his "250 Words" book on one page. 

Own Room

Our new AC was installed today so everyone is sleeping in their own rooms tonight. When we put Elijah's mattress back in his crib, we put him in there and he was jumping around loving it. Tonight he had trouble going to bed...not because he was back in the crib, but because he didn't get to watch another digger video (we already watched 2). I think we watch plenty of digger videos...

"I Climb"

We played at the indoor climbing park today since our house doesn't have AC and outside parks are too hot in the afternoon. Here's Elijah holding on tightly to the frogs eyes so he doesn't fall off the back. He had other good climbs too, but I was too busy spotting to take a picture.

Softball

We went to watch Daddy play softball at the park. When we first got there we went on the swings, took a couple trips down the slide, dug in the rocks, and ran around on the play equipment. We headed to the field once the game began. Here's Elijah watching Daddy through the fence while Daddy was playing shortstop (yes, Erik is in the picture too...he's that little red blob). Go Dada!

Small Group BBQ

We had a BBQ with our small group from church tonight. Elijah had a blast eating beans and hot dogs. He also liked playing with all the big kids who aren't usually at our small group. Here he is playing basketball on the back deck. The older kids were great at sharing with him...we need to work on his sharing with others.

Long Hot Day

 

 

We had a very long day today with Grandma & Grandpa DeShon and Grandma Shelly. After staying out late last night, Elijah still woke up at a normal time and enjoyed playing outside for a long time in the morning with Mommy and Grandma DeShon. He suffered in the heat a little and woke up early from his nap with a tummy issue. Then we went over to Grandma Shelly's party and tried to stay inside with the cool air. Nigh' nigh' time is shown here with a few digger songs. 

Friend Train

Elijah and Remi played together well tonight. Here they are playing with Thomas the Train. Both of these boys are going to have a new sister later this year.

One Bedroom

Here's my artsy picture of the day, mainly because I didn't use flash and did some minor editing. He's a cute sleeper.

We'll be getting a new AC/Heater for our house on Wednesday, but for now we're sharing one room with a window unit to keep cool. Thank you to a couple from our church's small group for providing the unit for us. Elijah did a great job at falling asleep on his mattress without the crib around it. I thought he might want to leave the bed and play, but he went right to sleep. Maybe our transition to a big boy bed won't be too bad.

No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service

It's still very hot in here. We have to get a new AC...sometime next week. Our house has several fans going, the attic fan running, and some windows open. At least it's cool over night. This is flip flop, diaper only weather inside our house.

Same Face

This is how Erik copies Elijah's 'cheese' face. He has to show all his teeth and squint his eyes.

Tiny Slide

Elijah has outgrown his little slide that we keep in his room. He still likes to sit on in, climb around the steps, and hit the hanging baseball. However, sliding doesn't quite work anymore because he's getting too long. I guess this toy is almost ready to be put into storage and brought out again once his little sister is big enough to play with it.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Erik! You're the best dada for our little Bud-Do. Thanks for being a great role model and parent for him. I can't wait to see how awesome you are with our baby girl.

Balloon

80 Degrees Inside

The video here is of Elijah watching to 20 Trucks DVD that we got from the library. We figured if he likes diggers so much, then he'd like to watch other trucks too. He's shirtless because it's over 80 degrees inside our house. Something is wrong with our AC.

After watching the video/songs about diggers and trucks, Elijah decided to help me with the laundry. Look how good he is at folding clothes.

Flash

Elijah gave me a weird look when I took his picture. I asked if the flash bothered him. He said 'flash' and poked his eye as seen here. I asked if the flash was getting in his eyes. He said 'camera' then went back to pretending to nap in his box with his blanket. 

Lime

We went out to eat and Elijah ate a ton of food. He didn't like the lime.

Tunnel

We brought out the caterpillar tunnel for Elijah to crawl around in. Now that he's older, he likes to stand up with it around him, fling it around the floor, and playing extreme peek-a-boo.

More Road Work

The resurfacing has begun. Right now they have the far side of our street newly paved. Elijah was watching out the front door - I even put sunscreen on him this time. Then it got way too hot and I just opened one of our curtains in the living room so he could watch the trucks. Now he's climbing up and down our couch to watch the trucks and play with his other toys inside. I even had him chanting "Go! Go! Trucks!"

S'mores

We tried to eat some s'mores this afternoon for a summer snack. Elijah did not like the sticky mess. I thought he would like s'mores because he likes marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers. However, he traded his s'more for just a regular marshmallow. We'll try again some other time.

Wedding Tie

Erik and I went to Danielle's wedding last night and we left Elijah at my parents' house. We didn't get home until and couldn't get cell phone service at the reception, so I'm posting this morning for yesterday. This picture is right before we left. Elijah is wearing Erik's tie. He thought the tie was interesting, but he really liked playing with the tie clip.

Knock

"Knock?" Elijah asks me with a grin after building a tall tower. In our house, we encourage knocking big towers over as long as you can get all the blocks down. Earlier today Elijah faked like he was going to knock a tower over before he actually knocked it over and he said, "I funny." He's understanding humor a little earlier than I thought he would. This picture is Elijah trying to knock over a tower with a beach ball. 

Bye Bye Grin

Daddy had to leave after dinner to go to the Royals game. We watched out the window and gave Daddy our crazy wave and 'I love you' hand sign. Elijah always does better with good byes if he can wave to a car leaving.

Baby Girl

Around 20 weeks of pregnancy, my doctor's office schedules an ultrasound. We found out that it's a healthy baby girl. She was wiggly the entire time, and she waved at us when I asked the tech to get another shot of her little hands. If you look at the top picture you can see her fingers right in front of her eyes. In the bottom shot, she took a big yawn. We also saw her feet, thigh bones, arm bones, kidneys, top of her head, spine, and heart. All measurements were good and my due date hasn't changed - still October 22nd. 

Road Construction

Our street (uh, avenue) is being resurfaced and that means loud trucks and a bumpy path for now. As soon as we were home, I took Elijah out to the road to look up and down at the various trucks and workers who were destroying the old surface. He waved at the men in the yellow sweeper truck and we said hi to one of the guys walking by. Then we went inside and Elijah watched the trucks for 45 minutes (!) from the front door. 

Monkey Boy

This is the first time Elijah has been in a tree. He had been trying to climb the trunk while we were playing outside this afternoon. I even got a little video of him getting a little way up on the fat bottom roots, but the video was on my phone and didn't turn out too well. When Erik came home from work, he put him up in the tree (just inches out of the picture). We even let him try to hang from a branch. This kid is just like his tree climbing parents.

Denim Diaper

This is one of the few things we will splurge on: denim diapers! We've only bought two packs ever, but I just think they are so cute. It's like pajama jeans, only baby style. Elijah is modeling them with a white polo...trendy! 

Rainy Park

Yesterday we decided that we would all go to the park today. A different park than the closest park that we tried to go to last time. So we looked up a new park that's just a couple minutes drive from us. This morning Erik had to get his Jeep looked at for a while, then lunch, then it was Elijah's nap, so park time would be in the afternoon. It was getting cloudy, so I go to weather.com to see if it's going to rain. For our zip code, it said 0% chance of precipitation for the rest of the night. We start to leave and Erik feels two drops of rain which makes us decide to bring some rain jackets just in case. We're at the park for less than 10 minutes before the rain picks up into a good sprinkle and we leave. It's not raining at our house so Elijah and I play in the driveway for about 15 minutes before it starts raining at our house. Maybe tomorrow will give us better outdoor weather...