slapdash updates

[First photo is just a nice sweet one where he's showing off the full range of tongue motion from the frenectomy. I'm so glad we had that done. He loves playing around with his tongue! His top tooth hadn't popped through yet in this photo, but his two underneathers were there. Second photo is his new favorite activity that we actively discourage but obsessively supervise because he loves to try to pull himself up on the coffee table and then just lay into it with his teeth. I don't know why he prefers the table over his teething rings to such a great degree. ANYWAY...]

Because I just realized that I'll be away from easy computing for the next week and it's been awhile. We very last-minute decided to load up the kid and all associated stuffs he needs into a rental car and head to Minneapolis for Thanksgiving!

And one Ms. Bernadette Miller will get to meet her nephew for the first time!!

But what Elliot's been up to: he's crawling with a vengeance, pulling himself up on everything stable or not-so-stable he can get his chubby little hands on, really enjoying crumpling up paper and hanging up on his grandparents, chewing on all sorts of surfaces...including ME while nursing and something has to be done about that or we will be weaning really soon and I don't think either of us are ready for that yet. But I'm talking two blood blisters today!

But the bright side of that is that it couldn't happen without his 3rd little tooth, this one on top! His grin looks so different now.

What else? He doesn't whistle anymore, but he clicks his mouth by sucking air down low on one side. That didn't make any sense, but if you see it you'll get what I mean.

Okay, must sign off now because I still have a bit of work to do and then packing, but my next post will be about Thanksgiving with all five grandparents and all six aunts and uncles.

We are blessed, truly.

"Mama won't understand..."

I was in the kitchen cleaning up while Brendan and Elliot were enjoying a nice fall afternoon in the front yard. I heard them come in, I heard Brendan say the quote above, and I walk in the living room to find what these pictures only begin to describe. I've said it before, I'll say it again, the Dustbuster is the single best household purchase ever.

But how can you even be frustrated at that face?

Thoughts on Halloween

And they're going to be brief, because I'm about to toddle off to bed, but...

Oh, what a cute day today was! Elliot has a Nittany Lion costume (Penn State's mascot) and we justified buying it because it's going to be his snow suit, too. It's all plush and furry with paw prints on the feet, a long tail, a hood with little lion ears on it, and it's got a little paw on the bum, too. When I dropped him off at daycare, all the other kids were dressed up, too....there were lady bugs, supermen, spidermen, wizards, princesses, a Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, a bumblebee or two. They invited me back for their Halloween parade, and I'm so glad I went.

Elliot was the only really little one there today, so they had him in one of these indestructible four-kid buggies. He was strapped in, looking as calm as could be, just gazing around at the circus around him. His buggy-mates were a few kids who had disabilities that prevented them from walking very quickly or far, and he looked like such a little man with these older kids! His seat-mate kept patting his head and he took it like the cool customer he is. I'll add pictures to this tomorrow.

You know, I just can't wait for the day when he can burst into the house and yell "Mama!" and grab me around the waist, but I am so in love with this little person he is right now. This little person who recently discovered how to play peek-a-boo when he's wearing one of my winter hats that fall down over his face, or smack his lips like he's trying to blow a kiss, or do this sitting-up scootch that he's adopted as his primary mode of transportation instead of the crawl which usually sends him backwards instead of where he wants to go.

He's darn near perfect, if you ask me.