I am posting this video because it is really funny, but only with the following disclaimers:
1) Patrick had just opened the bottle and had not taken a drink, so Elijah is not actually getting anything off the bottle.
2) We would never allow any child to drink beer.
With that said, enjoy a good laugh!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Bible stories
Elijah has two baby Bible story books that we read out of for family worship. So far, he doesn't seem to be paying a whole lot of attention to the stories. (Which seems a little odd, since he pays a lot of attention to his other books, but maybe there are too many stories for him to remember them from one reading to the next.) He does have a favorite picture in each book, though - "Noah and the Polar Bears" (Genesis 9:11-16) and "Paul Falls Off His Horse" (from Acts 9). Elijah has to find the polar bears before he will listen to any other story in that book. He also cracks up every time he finds Paul. (I don't remember Paul's conversion as comical, exactly ... where does he get this stuff?) I'm a little concerned that he isn't picking up on the critical points here. Ha! Maybe one of these days he'll show some interest in the story other than which animals are in the illustration.
"Noah and the Polar Bears" from The Bible in Pictures for Toddlers
"Noah and the Polar Bears" from The Bible in Pictures for Toddlers Eating
I've been trying to get some video of Elijah in real life so you all can see and hear what he's doing these days. Here he is eating, practicing using a fork, talking a bit about eating, and generally being silly. Lately, he spends a lot of meal time doing goofy things to get a laugh, or just laughing at himself. I don't mind that a bit - I know he's still eating a lot, and it's fun!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Elijah on the phone
Here is a little video of Elijah chatting on the phone with his grandparents - he walks when he talks, just like Daddy. He likes to make the circuit from living room to his room over and over.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Happy Birthday, Piper!
Yesterday was Elijah's cousin Piper's first birthday! Happy birthday, little girl - we love you.
Here is a little video clip we took of Piper when she was just a few hours old. So cute!
A recipe and other randomness
The other night we made Chicken a la Queen (recipe courtesy Rachel Ray) for the second time. We really like it! I think the combination of red bell peppers and asparagus is fun and different (although it can be hard to find both of them for a good price). Elijah loved it too! We used Pepperidge Farm puff pastry and the ratio of puff pastry (3 servings) to Chicken a la Queen (4 large Patrick-sized servings) didn't come out quite right, but Elijah and I had the leftovers for lunch today with toast instead and that was good too - in fact, Elijah preferred it that way. (Although to be fair, he is completely obsessed with toast right now and would eat it with anything.) He had a lot of fun dunking his toast in the soup (or whatever you want to classify this as) and slurping it off.
Yesterday my cousin Melissa referred me to a blog that I think is awesome - The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks. The blog is great, and only serves to encourage my rather strange passion about correct punctuation. At least I know that I am not alone. (I first found this out when a friend recommended the hilarious book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves.) Now I want to start a blog of misplaced apostrophes! By the way, friends, please do not freak out that I am over-analyzing your blogs, emails, etc for incorrect punctuation - it only really makes me crazy when people publish it. I know I am a horrible speller and even tend to be rather informal and liberal with dashes when writing for fun, so I can't judge. But if I were printing a huge billboard, I would have someone proofread it first!
Yesterday my cousin Melissa referred me to a blog that I think is awesome - The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks. The blog is great, and only serves to encourage my rather strange passion about correct punctuation. At least I know that I am not alone. (I first found this out when a friend recommended the hilarious book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves.) Now I want to start a blog of misplaced apostrophes! By the way, friends, please do not freak out that I am over-analyzing your blogs, emails, etc for incorrect punctuation - it only really makes me crazy when people publish it. I know I am a horrible speller and even tend to be rather informal and liberal with dashes when writing for fun, so I can't judge. But if I were printing a huge billboard, I would have someone proofread it first!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Yes, we're still here
I know, I need to update the blog. I've taken a bunch of video in the past couple days trying to capture some of Elijah's funny just playing around things for you all to enjoy, but it's going to take some time to edit it all down to something reasonable to post.
In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures from today (sorry about the fuzziness).
Elijah sitting at the table in a grown-up chair, while Mama ate breakfast (again).
Wearing my maternity puffer vest like some sort of arctic king
Also, Melissa at Our Side of the Mountain tagged me to do this silly thing:
Rules -
"The essence of Berowne is in that insouciant line, uttered upon meeting a French lady-in-waiting in Navarre: "Did I not dance with you in Brabant once?"
Love's Labour's Lost is a superb and exact title, but Did I Not Dance with You in Brabant Once? would have done almost as well, since it conveys the outrageously high sophistication of this comedy. The play's opening speech, addressed by the King of Navarre to his fellow "scholars" - Berowne, Longaville, Dumain - has all the stigmata of a comic Baroque: (long quote from the play here)."
Patrick picked up Rick Steves' Ireland 2004.
"However, his chief surveyor, William Petty, knew good land when he saw it and took a quarter of what is now County Kerry as payment for his valuable services marking the "lands down" on maps. His heirs, the Landsdownes, created Kenmare as a model 18th century estate town and developed it's distinctive "X" street plan. William Petty-Fitzmaurice, the first Marquis of Landsdowne, and landlord of Kenmare, became the British Prime Minister who negotiated the peace that ended the American War of Independence in 1783."
As I typed this, I realized that I do actually have a couple of books "nearest" to me right here - Toddler Bargains by Denise and Alan Fields, which is a very useful book in it's way, but not written in a traditional paragraph style that I could even try to do this little exercise on, and A Godward Life by John Piper, which is also just a bit odd on page 123, but here it is:
"Paul: Take what, Timothy?
Timothy: Your words, what you say in your letters.
Paul: Do you mean the black marks on the parchment?"
Personally, I love all of these books and would recommend any of them. (OK, maybe I would recommend Rick Steves' current Ireland book if you were planning a trip, rather than using the 2004 edition endlessly. I am just attached to it because of the reminder of the trip that it took with us.) Yes, we have a strange and interesting collection of books around this place. I guess that reflects a bit on the person collecting the books - ha!
In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures from today (sorry about the fuzziness).
Elijah sitting at the table in a grown-up chair, while Mama ate breakfast (again).
Wearing my maternity puffer vest like some sort of arctic king
Also, Melissa at Our Side of the Mountain tagged me to do this silly thing:
Rules -
- Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages.)
- Open the book to page 123.
- Find the fifth sentence.
- Post the next three sentences.
- Tag five people.
"The essence of Berowne is in that insouciant line, uttered upon meeting a French lady-in-waiting in Navarre: "Did I not dance with you in Brabant once?"
Love's Labour's Lost is a superb and exact title, but Did I Not Dance with You in Brabant Once? would have done almost as well, since it conveys the outrageously high sophistication of this comedy. The play's opening speech, addressed by the King of Navarre to his fellow "scholars" - Berowne, Longaville, Dumain - has all the stigmata of a comic Baroque: (long quote from the play here)."
Patrick picked up Rick Steves' Ireland 2004.
"However, his chief surveyor, William Petty, knew good land when he saw it and took a quarter of what is now County Kerry as payment for his valuable services marking the "lands down" on maps. His heirs, the Landsdownes, created Kenmare as a model 18th century estate town and developed it's distinctive "X" street plan. William Petty-Fitzmaurice, the first Marquis of Landsdowne, and landlord of Kenmare, became the British Prime Minister who negotiated the peace that ended the American War of Independence in 1783."
As I typed this, I realized that I do actually have a couple of books "nearest" to me right here - Toddler Bargains by Denise and Alan Fields, which is a very useful book in it's way, but not written in a traditional paragraph style that I could even try to do this little exercise on, and A Godward Life by John Piper, which is also just a bit odd on page 123, but here it is:
"Paul: Take what, Timothy?
Timothy: Your words, what you say in your letters.
Paul: Do you mean the black marks on the parchment?"
Personally, I love all of these books and would recommend any of them. (OK, maybe I would recommend Rick Steves' current Ireland book if you were planning a trip, rather than using the 2004 edition endlessly. I am just attached to it because of the reminder of the trip that it took with us.) Yes, we have a strange and interesting collection of books around this place. I guess that reflects a bit on the person collecting the books - ha!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Brrr....
It's definitely January around here. Yesterday the high was 17 degrees! Today we are hoping for 20's. Elijah got all bundled up and was nice and cozy in his warm layers. Nana got him these great fleece-lined jeans - he was a little bulkier than normal, and a lot warmer.
The other morning I was going through Elijah's clothes - getting out the next size that he is growing into and packing up the small sizes to hand down to a friend. Elijah saw me putting away his Elmo adventure outfit, which includes this cool puffer vest. He snatched the vest back out of the bag and insisted on wearing "Melmo" until lunch time. I guess you don't have to watch TV much or at all to get to know Elmo - he is everywhere! Elijah has an Elmo toy at Nana's house, and has recently discovered that Elmo is also on his disposable diapers, some of his clothes, and his cracker box. He just loves Elmo and I think it's hilarious - especially when he runs around the house hugging a diaper and saying "Melmo."
Monday, January 14, 2008
Updates
Elijah started feeling better on Friday and his appetite is really back with a vengeance today. I had to add an extra snack this morning because he was so hungry!
I've been feeling a lot better lately, too. There are still times when I feel sick, but they are getting more rare, especially if I eat as often as I should. Hooray! Now I'm just really hungry all the time.
We got a questionnaire when we took Elijah for his 18-month check up to see how he is developing in several categories. I thought some of them were kinda funny (funny strange, not comical) but maybe that's just me. Elijah "passed," but didn't get all of them. (Not that I'm worried about it.) Here's how we answered a few of the questions:
Without showing him first, does you child point to the correct picture when you say "Show me the kitty," or ask, "Where is the dog?" Yes. This is one of our favorite games to play now when reading books. Elijah also points out some of his favorite things without being asked. (Balls, cats, dogs, horses, bears, etc.)
Does your child say two or three words that represent different ideas together, such as, "Mommy come home," or "Kitty gone?" (Don't count word combinations that express one idea, such as "bye-bye," "all gone," and "What's that?") No. All of Elijah's two-word combinations are used as one idea - for instance, milk is always, "More milk," and all books are now "Bear book." I'm not worried about it though - E is learning new words every day and speaking more clearly all the time. I'm sure that he'll start putting them together too.
Does your child turn the pages of a book by himself? YES! He's been doing that since he was 8 or 9 months old. Seriously. (Does he get extra points for doing these things early?)
Does your child walk down stairs if you hold onto one of her hands? No. Elijah is tall for his age, but steps are still pretty big. Besides, why would I purposely try to teach him to walk down the stairs when he can do it safely and well by himself? He'll be running and jumping down them soon enough! Another one of these questions is about using chairs or stools to climb to something he can't reach. Again, why would I teach him that any earlier than he would figure it out himself? It sounds like asking for a whole lot of trouble to me.
Anyway, Elijah has been doing lots of fun things lately and I think it's amazing how quickly he's learning and growing right now. One of his new favorite things is an animal puzzle that he got for Christmas. He does it over and over every day and is getting really good at it. He also loves to read his "bear books" and do all of the animal noises. He is very good at identifying the animals and likes to go find all the lions or bees or elephants around the room - he even remembers where they are in different books! We're having a lot of fun.
I've been feeling a lot better lately, too. There are still times when I feel sick, but they are getting more rare, especially if I eat as often as I should. Hooray! Now I'm just really hungry all the time.
We got a questionnaire when we took Elijah for his 18-month check up to see how he is developing in several categories. I thought some of them were kinda funny (funny strange, not comical) but maybe that's just me. Elijah "passed," but didn't get all of them. (Not that I'm worried about it.) Here's how we answered a few of the questions:
Without showing him first, does you child point to the correct picture when you say "Show me the kitty," or ask, "Where is the dog?" Yes. This is one of our favorite games to play now when reading books. Elijah also points out some of his favorite things without being asked. (Balls, cats, dogs, horses, bears, etc.)
Does your child say two or three words that represent different ideas together, such as, "Mommy come home," or "Kitty gone?" (Don't count word combinations that express one idea, such as "bye-bye," "all gone," and "What's that?") No. All of Elijah's two-word combinations are used as one idea - for instance, milk is always, "More milk," and all books are now "Bear book." I'm not worried about it though - E is learning new words every day and speaking more clearly all the time. I'm sure that he'll start putting them together too.
Does your child turn the pages of a book by himself? YES! He's been doing that since he was 8 or 9 months old. Seriously. (Does he get extra points for doing these things early?)
Does your child walk down stairs if you hold onto one of her hands? No. Elijah is tall for his age, but steps are still pretty big. Besides, why would I purposely try to teach him to walk down the stairs when he can do it safely and well by himself? He'll be running and jumping down them soon enough! Another one of these questions is about using chairs or stools to climb to something he can't reach. Again, why would I teach him that any earlier than he would figure it out himself? It sounds like asking for a whole lot of trouble to me.
Anyway, Elijah has been doing lots of fun things lately and I think it's amazing how quickly he's learning and growing right now. One of his new favorite things is an animal puzzle that he got for Christmas. He does it over and over every day and is getting really good at it. He also loves to read his "bear books" and do all of the animal noises. He is very good at identifying the animals and likes to go find all the lions or bees or elephants around the room - he even remembers where they are in different books! We're having a lot of fun.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Sicko
On Monday night around 2 am a strange coughing noise came over the baby monitor. "That's a new one," I thought, and went to investigate. After I picked up a whimpering Elijah out of his crib, I realized he had been vomiting and that we were both now covered in it (spaghetti, among other things - lovely). Fun. Patrick came to help and we changed E and his whole bed. So Elijah is sick. Thankfully, he's not done much throwing up since, but he's also had some diarrhea and is just feeling crummy. Poor kid. He's been really tired, but having trouble napping so that's not helping anything. He actually ate a whole piece of toast and some apple for dinner tonight (after holding down a few Cheerios here and there all afternoon), so maybe we are on the way out of this thing.
Mmmm ... dry toast
Mmmm ... dry toastMonday, January 7, 2008
18 Month Checkup
- a picture of Elijah smiling about his animal puzzleElijah just went in for his 18 month well-baby visit. He is growing, which is great. His height is in the 82nd percentile, and he weighs just over 25 pounds. I think the two smallest Tanner cousins are about that weight too, but are only 7 1/2 months and 14 months! We are excited that he has gained weight since his one year appointment. The whole milk trend will continue. Otherwise, the doctor said that everything else seems to be going well. Oh, one more very happy thing - there were no shots this time! I don't think that trend will last...
On a side note, the mountains got slammed with a nice storm this weekend, while we didn't receive any snow here in town. There were at least two ski resorts that got 48 inches of snow in 48 hours. Hooray!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
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