Happy (!) Easter

We took the kids to the Kennett Square Easter Egg Hunt at Anson B. Nixon Park this morning. Graham stayed warm strapped onto Mommy, but Elias got to join in the fray.

This picture is deceiving, as the place was CRAWLING with kids. I was a little worried Elias wasn't going to be able to get any eggs since he had to compete with the hordes of other children. Luckily, the 4 year olds and under had their own area for the hunt, and the organizers imposed a four egg limit on participants to make sure everyone had a chance to find at least one egg. Elias outdid himself, as you will see from our photo essay on Flickr. Just click on this picture and follow along.

New pictures

I added a few new pictures to Flickr including such thrilling captures as

Graham Goes Godzilla on Elias' Tower


and

A Bug Lands on Elias.


I've been trying to get a picture of Graham's new teeth - yes, TEETH, he has two now - but he's been a little shy about showing them off.

Happy(?) Easter

Yesterday the Easter Bunny came to the Kennett YMCA for an Easter party. Elias is not fond of the Easter Bunny. As soon as he saw it walking down the hall, he covered his eyes with his hands so he wouldn't have to look at the abomination.



As you can see from the picture, Graham was unimpressed. Elias can be seen clutching Graham's arm - I think he's actually trying to protect his baby brother from the evil bunny.

Graham Crawls!

Yesterday evening, attracted by some tools Elias was using to "fix" a broken doorknob, Graham figured out how to crawl. He actually crawls a little bit, and frog-hops a little bit. He's quite good at it for a first timer!



Huzzah for Graham!

Get up. Stand Up.

Annoyed by the amount of media coverage Elias has gotten in the last two days, Graham decided to seize the spotlight again today by executing one of his most amazing feats to date: pulling up to a stand for the first time. His prize? The TV remote control which had previously been out of reach on top of the ottoman. That and this gratuitous blog post.

Way to go Graham!

In other news, there are unconfirmed reports that Graham's first tooth has finally emerged. Though he has refused to comment and will not submit willingly to an inspection, we believe it is his lower right central incisor. We will update this story with new details as they become available.

Edited to add: Well, I wrestled him to the ground and pried his mouth open. Yes, he has a tooth! You can just see the top of it at the gum line. My baby's growing up. *sniff*

Elias Finds the Lollipops

Today after we got home from school, I retreated upstairs to Graham's room to nurse. Elias was messing around downstairs, and, bad mother that I am, I figured he was probably wrecking something, but as long as I could hear banging and clattering, then he probably had not gotten to the scissors and started doing surgery on himself or the dogs. Graham and I were lost in our oxytocin-fueled daydreams when Elias appeared at the door with his best I'm-Going-To-Be-Charming smile plastered across his face. He was rubbing his chest in a big circular motion, which means (as those of you doing Baby Signs will know) "Please"

"What do you want, Elias?" I asked.

"A lollipop," he replied hopefully.

Uh oh. Well, without going into too much detail, let's just say this:

Prehalloween trip to Target + mommy with sweet tooth = bag of 300 mini Tootsie Pops stashed in a drawer in the dining room

So Elias had (finally) found this bag. Trying to buy time to think of a new hiding place for the tootsie pops, I drew him into conversation.

"Where did you find the lollipops, honey?"
"The drawer"
"How many lollipops are in there?"
"ALL OF THEM!!" He was about to burst.

I went downstairs and let him pick out a blue lollipop from the bag, but told him he couldn't eat it until after lunch. I was forgetting, of course, that on the spectrum of self control, Elias is far closer to chimpanzee than he is to adult human. He promptly sat down on the floor and started picking at the wrapper.

"Honey, don't unwrap it until after lunch"
"It's unwrapping itself!!" he cried helplessly.

A few minutes later he had managed to pull off the entire wrapper and was lovingly gazing at the bare, ready-to-eat tootsie pop he held in his hand. I was peeking at him from the other room and when he brought it to his mouth called out, "Don't lick that yet, honey!!"

"I just need to touch it with my teeth!" he explained, exasperated. Silly mommy.

some things about Elias

The following is a short conversation Elias and I had as I got him out of the bath this evening.

Elias: I blame you, Daddy.

Me: Me? What do you blame me for?

Elias: I blame you for me.

Me: I made you the way you are?

Elias: No. I'm like you!

Ouch.

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On another note, Elias and I have been getting along really well lately. I haven't raised my voice to him in almost two weeks, and although I have given him a few of timeouts, he's been pretty cooperative. One main thing is that he's back to saying "Bog Dammit!" when he finds himself in a situation where someone, perhaps me, might say something that sounds similar. He first picked this up in December, but had mostly forgotten about it until last Saturday morning when I took him out to run errands. When I was getting him out of the car at the drugstore, I managed to drop the prescription for my medicine in a large, deep rain puddle, and as well I dropped his bottle of water, which then rolled under the car behind the rear wheel. I let loose with a barrage of swears much to Elias' delight, and he started repeating them immediately and joyfully. Oops.

Anyway, thanks to more timeouts, he now knows "Dammit" is a naughty word, so he tries to say it slightly differently - say, "Mammit" or "Babbit." He likes alliteration.

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Speaking of timeouts, Elias also has gotten in the habit of giving Wendy and me timeouts whenever we are doing something he doesn't like. This only worked the first time, when Wendy tried to model good timeout behavior by going to the timeout spot and sitting quietly. But he still gives them out pretty indiscriminately. My response now is always, "You can't give me timeouts. I'm Daddy and you're Elias, and only mommies and daddies can give timeouts." This works all right unless he is feeling particularly ornery, in which case he responds, "No, I'm Daddy and you're Elias, and you get a timeout!"

Eight Months!

Today was Graham's 8 Month Birthday! He celebrated by going for a walk outside (in the stroller) in our glorious 65 degree weather, trying cantaloupe for the first time (big thumbs up from him, by the way), and playing peekaboo. We've enjoyed some good peekaboo sessions before, but today he figured out he could hide himself by pulling the towel up over his face. Too cute.

Happy birthday Graham. I can't believe you're going to be 1 in just a few months.

Hair on Fire!

Graham's normally unruly hair was particularly wild and voluminous today.