The Peanut Tracker

In lieu of actually writing something (sorry, haven’t had time to breathe much this month), please accept more pictures as a peace offering…

(Click ‘em for the bigger versions.)

Hi! (10.26.08)

"Elliot, what happened?" "I don't know, Mommy." (10.25.08)

The family (10.19.08)

Some chubby cheeks right there. (10.25.08)

Not so impressed with the Tigger outfit... (10.28.08)

A little more impressed with Tigger now... (10.28.08)

-T

Quick update.

No time to write much tonight…

It’s beginning!

He’s been standing on his own for two or three weeks now. This last weekend he stood up all by himself–without using anything for support–from sitting on the floor to standing on his feet. And he can stand for quite a long time.

Also, he’s been trying to walk for weeks now, but earlier this week he started taking a step or two before toppling over. This weekend he took 4 steps without falling–one big step and three shuffle-steps–from his Leap Frog music table all the way to Daddy’s arms a few feet away. And today he traveled two steps, stopped, and stayed standing in the middle of the floor!

I’m tellin ya, it ain’t long now.

-T

Elliot turned 9 months old yesterday!

Happy 9 months, Elliot!

Tania and Elliot (10/19/08)

-T

A few random but recent photos to keep my hind parts out of trouble!

Can you believe how stinkin’ big he’s getting?

(Click ‘em for the bigger versions.)

I just thought this photo turned out cool.

He's upright and mobile now. Not walking unassisted yet, but he gets around on the furniture.

Always trying to play Daddy's djembe... Our little drummer boy!

Elliot on the piano-toy-thing. If you look closely, you'll see his first tooth. (Try the bigger version!)

-T

Some popcorn thoughts ‘n’ happenings:

• Elliot is saying “Da-da” now. Well, pretty much; he’s still working on his pronunciation. But he totally knows who Da-da is. Heck yes. Tania will have me on speaker phone and Elliot will laugh and usually say “Da-da” somewhere during the beginning of the call. It’s awesome! (He’d already been saying “Ma-ma” for quite a while now. He loves his Mama!)
• His second tooth on the bottom is threatening to poke through any day now. It’s been hard to get a decent picture of the one exposed tooth, though; it’s not really big enough yet to see easily. Soon enough.
• Elliot had his first nasty cold. (Well, minus the one when he was only a month or so.) And he did not much enjoy it. No sir. Poor kid wasn’t sure what was wrong with his nose. All that snot sloshing around in his sinuses and blocking his breathing, disrupting his (already oft disrupted) sleep–yeah, not so high a fun factor there. Nor did Elliot love the cold “maintenance”. Many snot-extraction missions were completed, using the dreaded B.A.D. (Booger Annihlation Device).
• For the first time, Elliot waved bye-bye to me this morning when I left for work. We do the same waving bye-bye routine every morning, but today he laughed and swung his little arm up and down when I said “Bye bye, son” and waved. That was awesome, too.
• It’s interesting; we’re starting to see little pieces of Elliot’s personality coming out now. For instance, Elliot isn’t usually much interested in the whole mimicking thing. It’s not that he doesn’t get it, either. He just doesn’t care to mimick; he’d rather be doing his own thing. He’d rather learn on his own. He prefers to uncover new abilities by himself. Often, when we try to get him to mimick something, he’ll put on this dry expression, as if to say, “Uh, what am I? Your little monkey?” Then he’ll laugh and try to climb up my shirt. I love it.
• Balance is starting to happen; standing unassisted is getting closer (though still a ways off). Although, for now, he climbs up anything and everything, getting himself easily into a standing position. He’s even walking along things a bit, like the sofa, chairs, etc.
• Leaving for work every morning stinks. Saying goodbye to my little boy and my wonderful wife, after only seeing them for a few minutes during the morning scramble–well, it just stinks. Sigh. Such is life; such is the double-edged sword of blessedness.

-T

Elliot’s first little tooth broke through yesterday, and the second is close behind. Both are on the bottom, in the middle.

We’ll try to get a photo, but it ain’t gonna be easy.

He’s got chompers now!

-T

Happy 8 months, Elliot!

-T

No, I’m not a new mom. I’m not even an old mom. Heck, I’m not even a potential mom.

So, now that we’ve got that squared away…

Caitlin’s latest discoveries were just too good not to share:

1. I become completely incompetent at changing diapers in the middle of the night. (The other night I put the diaper on inside out, but it was after I fixed it that Cash and I were covered in pee. Figure that one out?!)

2. When you’re carrying around a baby in one arm, your foot automatically becomes another hand. (Quite handy when loading the washing machine, I might add.)

3. Why is it when I start to sing my son a song, it turns out to be either 80’s rock or the Star-Spangled Banner?

4. I am terrified of the bulb syringe. You could suck his brain out with that thing!

5. While a poopy diaper makes me proud, I was totally grossed out by the umbilical cord and eye boogers.

6. If I don’t burp Cash after he’s fallen asleep nursing, and instead hope to put him in his bassinet still sleeping so I can get some shut eye, those darn hiccups will wake him up every time!

7. It’s totally unfair that Mick has to go to work all day while I get to spend my day with the most handsome little boy ever. We miss you, Daddy!

-T

Wow! I can’t believe it’s been close to 8 months since Elliot entered this world! My, how time flies!

Well, this is the very first time I have had the time and energy together to be able to write a post since Elliot arrived on the scene.

So life has been great–lots of ups and downs, but overall great. I love San Antonio, TX. The people here are great and there is just an overall great feeling here. YES, it is hot here, but it’s not too bad.  Soon the weather will cool off and I am soooo looking forward to it.

Our good friends had their first baby 10 days ago, and we’ve been really exciting for them. Now, being parents, we are really able to appreciate babies, parenthood, and all that comes with it. As we awaited news about their new baby, Tobias and I started talking about how much our love has grown for our little Stinky Toes. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve loved Elliot from the minute he was conceived, but our emotions of love have grown and will continue to grow with each passing day. For me, the “feelings” of love were not instantaneous the moment Elliot was born (they were there, of course, but not like they are now). I had no frame of reference from which to imagine having and loving my own child. (From all accounts it seems to be the same when one adopts.) It’s amazing how with each passing day my “feelings” of love grow. It’s been really neat to get to experience this type of love–a selfless and deliberate type of love. I am a better person because of getting to love Elliot. Thanks to our little Stinky Toes, I now know what it is like to love a child, and I know that with our next one the feelings of love will be there even before he or she makes a first appearance.

Elliot is a really great kid and we are so enjoying seeing him grow and develop into his personality.  We are so sad that we are not able to share that–in person, anyway–with all of our friends and family.

Tania

Some updates a la quick:

• Elliot is crawling. Yep, full-on mobility. He turned pro overnight. No more scooching or fish-out-of-watering. Needless to say, Tania and I are out of breath half the time…
• Elliot has passed the 20 pound mark.
• Some sleep is actually taking place is our household. However, it’s too late; we’re already scarred: sleeplessness is torture, and sleep is merely a prelude to torture.
• Evidently a thoughtful citizen of San Antonio considered it awesome to remove the catalytic converter from our CR-V during the wee hours of the night last week. What a nice surprise that was. As was the cost of parts and labor that forced me to fall back on insurance. Hooray for pathetic metal thieves.
• I’m trying to learn life-ninjitsu. Two classes, a full-time job, and a family create one heck of a juggling act. So maybe I’m actually just a clown. Hmm. Anyway, of course it’s a two-person/parent job, so Tania is a ninja too. (Undoubtedly even more so.)
• Arrrrr! There be teeth in them thar gums! In non-pirate speak, that means two lower teeth are pushing up in Elliot’s chomper. Should break through in a couple weeks or so.

-T