Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from the Man in the Yellow Hat, Curious George and all of us!

 

So, for those of you who didn't already know, E is the Man in the Yellow Hat for his second Halloween. The Man in the Yellow Hat is Curious George's caretaker and friend.

Little E was pretty oblivious to most of the costume; he didn't mind being dressed in yellow from head to toe. He didn't even bother about the tie much, he even found it soothing to rub against his face when he was tired. The hat he didn't care much for though he was better about wearing than I had expected.

He did not like the stuffed George though. He hasn't, not from the moment we bought it.

He loved the plastic George cake topper from his birthday. The PBS Curious George show is a huge hit. E really enjoys the books about Curious George. Our boy is typically a fan of stuffed toys; he grabs them off the shelves in stores to hug them.

He won't have anything to do with the Curious George doll. In the picture above, he sat there frozen, almost as though he was afraid of it. Typically he throws it.

Oh well.

He does love to hug the pumpkins. All 3 of them, but mostly the big one. The one he desperately wants to pick up. The one that weighs almost as much as him. The one the Mav painstakingly painted.

Here are a few more pictures. Our Mother's group took the little ones on a parade through one of the local nursing homes today -- we got some great pictures from that. Hopefully we'll get a web album or 2 up soon with some more pictures from today.

 

 

 

Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Juice

E's prize for best costume was a Mr. Potato Head kit for turning an innocent pumpkin into a swashbuckling pirate. Or something like that.

The ball patch

No matter how many times I say "yes, they look like balls but they are pumpkins" E points to each and every pumpkin he sees and says "Baw" (E speak for "ball"). He's a huge fan of these orange balls.

We went to our local pumpkin patch on Sunday (also the local apple orchard). E was delighted by the sea of balls though he has a knack for finding the rotting ones.

The giant turbines that turn the midwest into a winter wind tunnel were on so we didn't linger. We picked three pumpkins and hit the road. (Well, almost -- we needed apple donuts and apple cider to support local business and good old American tradition).

We took refuge from the wind and our slice of sweet Americana with a short trip to our favorite international grocery. The store owner was so impressed with our handsome, well-dressed youngster that he gave little E a cookie.

E likes cookies.

Almost as much as pumpkins balls.

First Prize!

E's Halloween costume won first place (among boy costumes) at a party this morning. The party was put on by the mother's group we belong to and the competition was pretty stiff. There was a pirate, a monkey, a monster, a zebra, several tv characters I don't know about (yet?), and several others.

He got a prize; you'll it see in pictures eventually.

I bet you're thinking "ok, great but I want to see this prize winning costume."

Since I took the morning off I have to get to work now. Sorry. Maybe later. Maybe we'll make you wait until Friday. What's it worth to you?

Holy Cow

cow lick, that is.

E had his first professional haircut this weekend. All went well; you can see the process below.

That's a lot of hair!

That's not a lot of boy.

So far so good.

Haircuts are serious business.

Reminiscing about his days with long hair.

Ta Da!

He may look sophisticated but he still plays like a wild child.

Good job Dinosaur!

E and I spent our rainy afternoon at the library. E goes for the toys more than the books but we always check out some board books to bring home. I choose the books. Sometimes my choices are appreciated, some times not.

One of the four new books hit it big. It is about a dinosaur cleaning his room and E let me read it to him. Actually read the words on the pages. All the words. Twice!

E's usual method for "reading" books is to flip the pages as quickly as possible or else to point to all the pictures saying "dis?"

The little boy was still enthralled at the end of the second reading so I started to improvise. I pointed to the nice clean room and the broom-wielding dinosaur and said "Good job Dinosaur, your room is nice and clean".

Little E clapped.

A job well done deserves clapping. E knows this well. He sees it a lot.

Perspective

We ran into a friend and her 2 little ones yesterday while sitting in the waiting room at our new doctor's office. It was the first time I got to meet the newest member of her family; a small boy only 2 weeks old. So, so cute. So, so small.

Little E was sitting in a chair next to his Dad and eating a snack, looking quite like a little boy, not at all a baby. Seeing the tiny baby made E look all the larger.

Our friends headed home and the nurse called for us. My boy toddled on through the doorway. He stood on the scale to be weighed; no more sitting on the baby scale. He then wobbled down the hall holding his Daddy's hand until we reached the exam room.

Wasn't it yesterday that my boy was the one wrapped in a blanket cradled in my arms?

He's grown so fast. This makes me a bit sad until I see a picture like the one below.

He is still so very small. So much left to grow. So many more cuddles, tickles, tears, adventures, ...

and trips to the doctor.

Little E's fever stuck around through the weekend so we got him in to see the doctor on Monday. Nothing to worry about; he has/had a throat infection, a virus that causes a fever for 4-5 days. The doctor sees about 5 cases of this a day during the summer and E lucked out and got the milder fall version. It explains the recent lack of appetite although the 3+ teeth pushing through,including at least 2 molars, might be contributing to that also.

The only real treatment for a virus induced sore throat is milkshakes. Little E likes both strawberry and banana.

We were mostly back to normal today. He's still teething but the fever is gone. Whether or not he's feeling better depends on your perspective.

Reuse or Recycle

The first R in the "save the environment" mantra is Reduce, but when referring to coffee, that's not happening any time soon around here. Recycling is good but reuse even better. Here little E demonstrates that coffee cans make both wonderful bongos and fashion accessories. Don't those blue containers emphasis those big eyes? I think Maxwell House should consider this photo for a new advertising campaign. I'll sell the photo rights for either a college fund for the boy or a lifetime supply of coffee for me.

Asleep at last?

Such folly, trying to make plans when there's a baby in charge. I was all set to get little E off to school on time today, go in to my office (my real office on campus), get some good work done, meet a friend for coffee and generally have a rare non-mommy out-of-the-house morning.

Little E woke up with a fever of 102.

The poor little guy was mellow and cuddly all morning but ibuprofen got him back on his feet and smiling in the afternoon. Until today we've exclusively used acetaminophen with excellent results but it failed us today.

I was going to write more but E's not sleeping well tonight. He thinks he wants to get up and play. I guess that's a side effect of the medicine; he feels better and has pent up energy from a day spent lounging.

It's hard to reason with a 14 month old, to tell him he needs rest to let his body fight off the illness.

It's hard to put a sick child in his crib and listen to him cry when he wont rock or snuggle or eat or drink or do anything but run around.

It will be harder still to repeat the process should he wake up again before morning, if I don't get some sleep myself.

A couple more pictures ...

We should have suspected the boy was getting sick when he slept through the camera flashing in his face after napping for 3 hours yesterday.

Some things never fail to cheer the boy up.

Just thought we needed another picture here

 

A boy and a box

The pictures really do tell the story.

Little E took the folded up box from the recycling pile. He played with that thing for nearly 20 minutes, dragging it from room to room. So, if you're looking for gift ideas the whole family will enjoy, you can't go wrong with a box of beer.

And we're back ...

Busy weekend, work commitments, and a non-stop toddler all conspired to keep me from getting this video posted until now. Here is 4 uncut minutes of dancing, drumming, and dinosaurs. Pardon the mess and the low lighting; it was just before bedtime.



If you watched the video you saw that little E knows about dinosaurs. I asked the same question the next day, "where are your dinosaurs?", only he wasn't wearing his dinosaur jammies at the time. He looked at his tummy, pointer finger at the ready but this time found no dinosaurs. He raised his little hands in the air and shrugged. No dinosaurs there. Can't be sure where they run off to. Oh well.

Sneak preview ...

Its too late and I'm too tired to get it posted tonight but we've got some video of new dance moves. Also, dinosaur jammies score big and boxes can be fun for the whole family. Confused? You won't be after the next episode of E Eats Everything.

more pictures !?!?

So the pictures I posted yesterday were for his "birthday". Here are some more from the past week.

The dear child, too young to remember the ordeal that is winter in an old drafty house, enjoyed the first of the furnace's efforts for the year.
Until the metal grate got a bit warm.

The bare shoulder look is the latest in naptime fashions.
I'm not sure how he accomplished this alone his room. Maybe Bunny helped.

Every young child needs a potato ricer to play with, no?
Isn't it nice that bibs now come with cup holders?

The Mav took this one. I just like it, that's all.

So, what is the kiddo up to these days?
Trying hard to increase his vocabulary. He points to the pictures in books, saying "dis?" meaning "tell me, dear parent, what is the word for this object". He recognizes and tries to say a great many "b" words; bike, balloon, ball, button, ... but mostly they all sound like "bah". E thinks pumpkins are balls.

He rode in his first Flintstone-style car (the kind you move with your feet through a hole in the floor). He spent nearly 20 minutes pushing himself backwards while smiling and waving and having a blast. He hasn't figured out how to make riding toys go forward yet.

He shared a toy today for the first time under my watch, maybe he does this at school. He willingly handing a toy to another child because he was asked.

I think I need to change the title of the blog because E is quite a finicky eater these days .He rejects almost all meats and cheeses and some grain products. He wont drink milk unless it has full-strength ovaltine added. I shouldn't really complain; he eats pretty much all veggies and fruits with gusto. He does eat cereal and crackers. Goldfish crackers are his current favorite. He'll do just about anything for "fee-shees".

He loves being outside. He loves to go "bye-bye". He loves playing with trains. He's happy but not in an over-the-top always giggly way. He's friendly, if not quite outgoing. He's active but enjoys quiet reading and snuggling. He's a good sleeper; usually getting in one 2 hour afternoon nap and 10-12 hours through the night.

He does not like mechanized rides. He is not patient. He does not like getting his diaper changed, no matter how wet or dirty the current one is.

He likes to watch soccer on tv. He can kick a ball pretty well for only having 20 lbs to put behind it.

He likes anything with buttons.

He likes to wear me out. Goodnight.

The Mav made a new movie

I wont ruin the surprise and tell you what it is about. I think you can probably guess the star. Enjoy!

You can find a higher quality version here

14 Months Old

A day late but not a dollar short. Here are some pictures of little E at 14 months old.

Gone fishing

Not that long ago I wrote proudly about how little E likes to put things into other things. Such independence, such spatial reasoning, such a head start to cleaning up his toys.

I was naive.

Today E went fishing. In the toilet. With a cat toy.

He only had a split second. We climbed the stairs. I shut the gate behind us and put something down in my room. That was all the time he needed.

In went the cat toy.

So we've got one of those kids.

Oh yes, about that cleaning up dream. I handed E a block and asked him to put it away. He took my hand and we walked over to the block's home. I told him to put it in the tray. He said "nah" and walked away.

He's never said "no" before. He doesn't even seem to hear "no". He shakes his head sometimes but mostly because it's fun and makes him dizzy.

I guess we should look for a toilet shaped toybox.

No more tears

He didn't cry today when I said goodbye and left him at school. This was the first completely tearless day though the duration and intensity of his sobbing had been lessening over time.

E loves going to school. He'll walk right to our front door when I tell him it's time to go. Once there he gets right down and heads for the toys. The past couple of days I've been able to observe him playing when I pick him, before he notices me. He's having a blast. The teachers love him. The school director tells about the funny things he did when I pass her on my way to his classroom.

E's even starting to play with the other babies. Kind of. He and little Miss B were sort of chasing each other yesterday. E's been known to help little Mr. C defeat nap time isolation by sticking his fingers in Mr. C's crib. (I'm not allowed to interact with the other kids though lest E's "that's MY Mommy" alarm go off.)

The crying was hard on me. I know he's having fun but those sobs hit every nerve in my body. I would wait just outside the door, out of sight, until he was settled but it was still hard to walk away from my child knowing that he'd be happy if only I'd pick him up.

So, no more tears. Great right?

Mostly, but to tell the whole truth it was kind of nice to know how much I was needed, loved, missed.