Daddy's got a Droid

Dana has been really excited about getting a new Droid phone. I wasn't quite as jazzed, but he was right... it IS great having a really nice camera on your phone. My Blackberry camera is not very high resolution, but Dana's new phone takes great pictures. And he's been snapping lots of pics of Elliott this week. Here are some of my faves...

Elliott was a real trooper at his 18-month check up. He was actually have a lot of fun I think... until they gave him three shots. Then the fun was over. But, Dana got some cute pics before the trauma.

On Friday, Dana and Elliott spent the day with Jess and her kids. He loved spending time with his cousins, as usual. Someone needs to get this kid some siblings!

Tonight Elliott had a playdate with a little boy Declan who lives in our neighborhood who is 2 days older than him. As we walked to the playground I realized I had forgotten my camera... but Dana had his phone! Ok, I'll admit, I was wrong to give him a hard time about the phone. It is coming in handy for the blog!

Elliott went down the slide by himself like 10 times -- this was a first and I was holding my breath the whole time. But, he did fine and he loved it. Then the boys went on the swings together for a while. Elliott tired of the swing first and Declan cried when Elliott moved on to do something else. So cute.

It's very likely that these boys will wind up in the same class at school in a few years. Then we'll be able to look back and say that they've been friends since they were 1-year-old. Awww. Dana didn't take any pics of the boys together -- maybe that would have freaked his parents out if we were snapping his picture for our blog?!?! But, here are a couple of Mr. E.

Who's Your Auntie

Thought you'd all enjoy this post from Jess's blog:
http://heroldpartyoffive.blogspot.com/2010/09/whos-your-auntie.html

A few more from Bmore

Thanks to Aunt Harriet for sharing a few more pictures of Elliott enjoying himself in Baltimore last weekend. I love that Nana B is still out there playing football!

Dana and I got back today from a long weekend trip to Nantucket for a wedding. It was my first time on the island. It's as nice as everyone says it is! Lots of Dana's high school friends and their wives were there and we had a great weekend catching up, eating out, and celebrating the marriage of a couple that has been dating for 12 years. Yes, 12 years!! Wow.

We couldn't wait to get home to see Elliott though. He stayed with Grammi and Papa and I'm sure missed us far less than we missed him. We originally planned to stay on the island until this afternoon, but we decided to take the earliest ferry off the island this morning -- Dana even managed to get up and on the boat at 7:30 after being out until 3am. Impressive. And we were able to spend the afternoon hanging out with Elliott. Totally worth the early morning.

That's officially our last weekend trip of the summer. Summer was fun, but exhausting, and a part of me is kind of glad to see it go. I'm looking forward to hanging out at home a lot this fall. I have to do some work travel next month, but other than that I plan to stay local and spend lots of QT with my boys.

Baltimore Baby

Elliott and I got home yesterday from a super fun visit with Nana and Grandpa. We flew down Friday morning and it was my first time flying solo with Elliott... Dana has always been with us before. I was a little nervous. People kept trying to reassure me by saying, it's a short flight. And I just kept thinking, yeah, an hour-long flight is short... unless you're holding a screaming toddler the whole time.

But all of my worrying was for nothing. Elliott was on his best behavior. We played with his football and ate a snack in the terminal before we boarded. When we got on the plane, I chose an aisle seat near the front. A woman was already sitting in the window seat and I tried to sound confident as I told her, "He won't be too loud, don't worry."

When we pulled away from the gate, I was relieved to hear the announcement over the intercom that we would be arriving early. Then things took a turn for the worse... we sat on the plane for half an hour before taking off. Ugh. This COULD have spelled disaster, but no. Elliott decided he was ready for a nap and mercifully fell asleep while we waited, and didn't wake up until it was almost time to land. We were sitting on the aisle and he wanted to look out the window while we landed. The very nice woman sitting in the window seat invited him to look out her window, so he happily sat on her lap while we landed.

On Saturday, we spent the day in temple for Yom Kippur. Elliott didn't love this, but he tolerated it. Dana flew down in the afternoon, and after temple we had a yummy break-fast with him, Nana B, and Aunt Harriet. The rest of the trip was filled with fun new toys, long walks around the neighborhood, and lots of hugs and kisses from Nana and Grandpa.

Elliott was kind to me on the flight home too. Dana had to stay in Baltimore for work for a few more days, so we were alone for the flight again. And, again, Elliott decided the plane was a great place to take nap. This time he didn't wake up until after we'd landed. A little angel. I'm sure my day will come when I'm the one with the screaming child on the plane. But I got off easy this weekend, and I am thankful for it.

Catch Up...

I have a little backlog of photos from the end of summer so I'm playing catch up tonight. First, I got some pics from Molly from the night she and Brian came over for dinner with Jess and Jay a few weeks ago. I love this series of Elliott. He went from charming host, showing off his toys...

To party animal, chomping on blue tortilla chips...

To a sleepy boy up past his bedtime. But still adorable...

After he went to bed, the adults enjoyed a good meal, and some good laughs. Molly is the only one who always manages to get a good group shot, even if it means propping up the camera and setting the timer so we can all be in the photo.

*Note how we now use a train table as our coffee table. And with absolutely no shame.

These next photos are from one morning last weekend when Dana let me sleep in a little and took Elliott to the playground in the morning. He LOVES his new sneakers -- they're actually hand-me-down Sketchers that light up when you walk. Not something I would purchase myself, but I LOVE hand-me-downs. So, we're both happy.

These last pics are from Labor Day, when we went out to Jess and Jay's house. Elliott played in the sandbox with Nate, hung out with Jack and Remy, and of course got some QT in with Grammi and Papa too.

This weekend we went to Remy's 6th birthday party. It is so stinkin' cute to see Elliott with Remy. He adores her. A few times he went up and gave her big hugs -- both arms wrapped around her waist and his head resting on her chest. So sweet.

The other main attraction this weekend was taking looooong walks through town pushing his toy lawn mower. He suddenly loves this toy, after not caring for it much after he got it from Nana and Grandpa. People were cracking up as he pushed his lawn mower down the street past Starbucks, through a crowd at a fundraiser run/walk on Wellesley college campus, and even up and down the aisles at CVS (no, I didn't need anything there, he just marched right in like he owned the place, and roamed the aisles with his mower for about ten minutes, then walked back out.) Kid cracks me up.

Surprise!

I know I said I probably wouldn't post this week but... surprise!! We are in the United lounge at LAX waiting for our flight (we got to the airport a few hours early because the drive from Santa Barbara was shockingly traffic free), so I decided to do a quick post. Auntie Jess sent me a few pictures of Elliott and Nate hanging out together at the Cape this weekend. Looks like Elliott was having a great time while Mommy and Daddy were on vacation!

What cuties! I especially like the one of Elliott doing "cheers" with his cup. He picked up on the concept of clinking together cups and yelling cheers very quickly... he doesn't yet understand the part about taking a drink after saying cheers, but that's ok. I can't wait to get home to give my baby tons of hugs and kisses. Just one red eye flight away!!

Summer Hiatus

Sorry, I didn't take a single picture this week. Actually, I didn't take a single picture last week either -- I just mooched off of Jess and Jim's pictures from Cousin Fest. But, there aren't even any pics to borrow this week. And, I might as well give you the heads up now that we're going to Santa Barbara for a wedding next weekend, so I'll probably skip posting next week. Call it my summer hiatus from the blog.

We had a really fun weekend -- I'm wishing now that I had documented it with some photos! Last night we had Jess and Jay, and Brian and Molly who are visiting from Chicago, over for dinner. Elliott stayed up a little late so he could hang out with all of his Aunties and Uncles. He was lovin' life -- the adults were in the living room having chips and dip, and Elliott was roaming around from room to room carrying a plastic plate, which he would periodically through like a frisbee or bang against some piece of furniture. And every few minutes he would stop by the living room to grab another chip to snack on before heading off to play again. It's great that he is finally able to just hang out with the group and play on his own for a bit -- he seems so grown up to me all of a sudden.

Then, after he emptied the entire bowl of chips onto his plate, Auntie Jess took him up to bed and we didn't hear another peep from him all night. My how times have changed!

We had so much fun with our company last night, that Dana and I both used part of Elliott's morning naptime to nap ourselves -- a rare, but sometimes necessary, luxury. Dana left this afternoon on a business trip, and it was rainy here today (thereby ruling out our usual weekend activity of taking long walks) so Elliott and I spent the afternoon out and about. We started by getting his hair cut -- think lots of tears and loud shrieking. He was not a happy camper -- even the toy car and the bubbles didn't distract him. Fortunately, the folks at Snip-Its are used to such meltdowns, and snipped-it quickly. He looks very handsome now. And was smiling again before we even walked out the door.

From there we went to the mall for a little while -- it was like Christmas-time in that place. I seriously have never seen the mall that crowded other than the holidays. So, we didn't stay long. Instead we headed to Toys R Us, which I've discovered is a great place to kill an hour or two with the little guy. I just let him loose and followed him around the store. He grabbed toys off the shelves, played for a few minutes, and then happily put them back and moved on. I'm sure at some point he'll start asking me to BUY him something. But, for now, he's happy just roaming the aisles. He took a bouncy ball out of one bin and we spent a good 25 minutes with him throwing the ball, chasing it, throwing the ball, chasing it. Good indoor fun if you ask me.

After about an hour and half romping around in Toys R Us, we went to Chipotle (Elliott's fave) for dinner. By the time we got home, it was time for a bath and bed. We had quite a full afternoon! Elliott was exhausted when I put him to bed, and I'm ready for an early bedtime myself. Tomorrow morning I'm flying solo without Dana (who usually does Elliott duty in the AM)-- these mornings are always interesting, when I have to take a shower, blow dry my hair, get dressed for work, put on makeup, feed and entertain Elliott, AND get out the door by 7:30. If Elliott slept until 7 like most kids, it wouldn't be an issue -- but Elliott prefers to have finished his breakfast before the clock strikes 6. Wish me luck!