Uncles!

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Kimberly

Elias is lucky to be able to see two of his uncles quite often. Uncle Greg got home last night from Arizona. It’s his first trip home since he started his new job as a helicopter tour pilot at the Grand Canyon. When we arrived to hang out this morning, Elias looked a bit leery of Uncle Greg at first…(Uncle Greg had some spectacular morning hair and looked like he had woken up not long before we arrived.) But within a few seconds, Elias was excitedly pointing to the pictures of Uncle Greg on the wall showing that he recognized who he really was underneath the morning-ness.

Then commenced playtime. Elias was tossed and carried and bounced and blasted off like a rocket in fits of giggles…only stopping long enough to say and sign “more, more.” Poor Uncle Greg got tired…but maybe it will give Daddy a break for a few days.

Watching Elias with different members of our family is so much fun. It’s so wonderful to see how he interacts with everyone in a different but special way. Grandpa Bartle is the only one he plays the special ball-chase game with, and with Grandma Bartle he does the Wheels on the Bus book/song and the recycling (it sounds weird, I know…you just have to be there). With Grandma Smith he does puzzles and emphasizes drinking water. Each Uncle and Auntie has something special too. He finds something fun and different about each person.

Tonight he’ll get to see Uncle Scott and Auntie Kristy, so more fun will soon commence!

Posted in family | Leave a comment

The Great Ant Massacre

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Kimberly

This morning Nathan and I were privileged to walk in the Portland Walk for Water. More on that another time, though. This post is about the great ant massacre, which happened later in the day. When we got home from the water walk, we put Elias down for a nap. After he woke up, I got an afternoon snack prepped for him, and got his water bottle out of the diaper bag. As we were sitting down to the table, I noticed an ant crawling on his water bottle.

At first I thought it was a little weird…and a little gross…but then I thought to myself…”Where there is one ant, there are usually more ants.”

So I went to check the diaper bag for more ants. There were tons of them! Of course in the couple hours since we had gotten home, they had spread out a little. Luckily, they hadn’t spread too far yet. Just in our entryway. We moved all the ant contaminated stuff to the bathroom, and I furiously started vacuuming ants (and I’ll admit a bit of dirt) around the entryway. There were probably at least 100 of them.

In cleaning out the diaper bag, I found one tiny piece of pretzel…maybe an eighth of a mini twist pretzel….in a side pocket. Elias hasn’t even eaten pretzels for months since his doctor told us they are choking hazards. One stinking tiny six month old piece of pretzel! How could that have caused so much trouble?

After a long ant massacre on my part (Nathan was trying to distract Elias…he was a bit disturbed by my slightly crazed behavior) we decided to take a break and head to the park for the last bit of warmth and daylight. Lots of fun ensued, but when we got home, there were still a steady trickle of ants coming from the diaper bag. Nathan is trying to convince me that this is not the end of the world…and I know it is not…but I’m just paranoid that they will find the kitchen.

I’ve only found a couple in the last hour or so…so hopefully we are nearing the end of this great ant massacre. Only time will tell.

Posted in family | Leave a comment

This Is How He Wakes Up

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Kimberly

Elias rubs his eyes just after waking up from his nap.

I want to remember the little things. Of course I want to remember all the milestones for Elias such as when he started walking…or his first word…things like that. But I want to remember the little things too. I want to remember the way he strokes my face as he is falling asleep and the way he says “my-nee” when referring to the cat. I want to remember the way his lips pucker out when he says “uh-oooohhhhh” and the way he stands hanging over the railing when looking into the wetlands.

Elias is still pretty tired in this shot. He's not chatty or smiley when he wakes up. He just takes it all in...and enjoys a quick snack before getting on with his day.

So yesterday when Elias woke up from his nap, I decided to catch some of it on the camera. His warm, soft, pink cheeks. His slightly messy hair. His somewhat sad expression. The way he rubs his eyes. I want to remember it all. Sometimes just snapping a picture helps me to look closer with my own eyes/ears/heart too. It’s that intentional action that helps me to really pay attention. I hope I remember it all.

Posted in Parenting | 1 Comment

Teething

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Kimberly

Elias has ten teeth. Eight in the front and two molars on the right side. He has an eleventh coming in…a molar on the left side. It is causing him so much pain! He’s had fussy days while teething or sick in the past…but today is different. Today he’s screaming and crying. I just hate seeing his little face crumple as the tears spill over his plump cheeks. All I can do is hug him and kiss him and sing to him and rock him. His growing body still fits nicely against mine. I scratch his back as his hiccuping sobs wane away. We look at a book (or twenty) as the tears dry. But then a few minutes later it starts all over again. My poor boy…at least he was able to get down for a nap. Let’s hope it lasts a while!

Posted in Kids | Leave a comment

A Photographer In the Making

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Kimberly

Elias has always liked the camera. Sometimes he is actually able to get the camera in his hands and play with it. The other day, though, was the first time he figured out how to actually take a picture. He took about twenty pictures….most of them were extreme close-ups of his thumb. There was also a not so flattering picture of me, and a similar one of his daddy. I thought this one was cute enough to share. A photographer in the making?

Posted in Kids | Leave a comment

Child Carrier Backpack

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Kimberly

Getting the pack all adjusted in the parking lot

Nathan and I have wanted to get a child carrier backpack for some time now. We want to be able to go hiking and get outdoors when the weather gets nice without having to worry about Elias wandering off the path or getting poison oak or something. There will be plenty of time for him to walk on his own. For now, we’ll get more hiking done if he rides.

We were lucky enough to get a nice backpack on clearance. It was still a bit spendy so that will give us incentive to actually use it a lot. Hopefully it will last through multiple possible future children as well. We decided that yesterday was a perfect time to go for a trial run. We want Elias to get used to it, and we want to figure out how best to comfortably wear it…that sort of thing.

Daddy gets a turn.

The Tualatin Hills Nature Park was the closest place I could think of to test out our backpack. We drove there and spent a little time walking through the trees. Elias loved it! I think at first he thought we were just being silly, but then when he realized that he really did get to ride in there for an extended time he just enjoyed himself, the scenery, and the sounds. (Lots of birds and some MAX trains).

Here are a couple more pictures just for fun:

Nathan made me do this. I think I just look too relaxed to make it look convincing....

Elias enjoying the walk in the back pack.

 

 

 

Posted in family | 1 Comment

Parenting is Teamwork

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Kimberly

Parenting is teamwork. I could go on and on praising my wonderful husband, and how good it is to have a partner like him in raising our child. He changes diapers and helps with chores and plays with our son. He lets me take an extra long time getting ready on the weekends so I don’t always have to feel rushed. Although I take care of Elias the majority of the time during the week, we truly are a team in that we make decisions together and we work together in parenting. But that is not actually the point of this post. I mean teamwork in a broader sense.

We are so blessed to have a team of friends and family who are helping us raise Elias. From all the family in town (think of all that free babysitting!) to dinner with friends, to people at church, Elias has such a loving group of people to help him grow and learn. He loves playing in the nursery at St. Bart’s, and it is so much fun to see him interact with everyone at coffee hour. He makes his rounds, so to speak, making sure to get smiles and hellos from as many people as possible. Then he goes to play on the stage and show off his new skills such as stomping (or now he is currently working on jumping). It is humbling to see the joy he brings people…as all children do. Elias is so lucky to have so many people who pay attention to him and love him. Thank you, everyone, for being part of team Raise Elias!

Posted in Parenting | 3 Comments

More Fun With Cousins

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Kimberly

Cousins driving the bus together!

Elias got to have more fun with his cousins this week. They were back in town for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We’re really hoping their house sells soon so that they can move out to the Northwest more permanently! It was so fun to see them, and it was a real joy to watch Elias playing with his cousins. He seemed more comfortable with them from the beginning because he recognized them from photos. I think playing with them really gave him a boost in social

Everyone going down the slide.

development. It seemed that this week at library story time he was much more interactive with the other kids. He ventured further away from me than he ever has before, and he didn’t shy away from the other kids as much. That being said, he still wanted to sit on my lap most of the time.

Anyway, we went to the Children’s Museum on Tuesday to have the kids play and explore. They all loved the slide and the water play room. On Wednesday we just had fun playing at home. It all went by too fast. Hopefully we’ll see them again soon! Here are some fun pictures of the cousins playing:

Peek-a-boo in the tree house

Fun at the water table. I think Nathan actually had the most fun here...and he got a little frustrated when the little kids' plans were different from his own. 🙂

Fun at the light tables.

Posted in family | Leave a comment

Seize the Moment

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Kimberly

Sometimes you have to just seize the moment. It’s something I’m trying to do more and more often as a parent. I like structure as much as anyone else, and I think it’s healthy for kids, so I try to keep to some sort of routine for Elias. We brush our teeth twice a day. We have a bedtime routine and a morning routine. But I also want to be the kind of parent that can seize the moment. I want to be able to recognize when we can throw the routine out the window and just do something fun. I want to live in the joyful moments and create our own fun.

You can barely see the snow falling in this picture. Toward the end of our walk, the snow was sticking, and when we got up to the Children's Museum, there were inches of accumulation!

Tuesday morning was a special morning because Nathan took a vacation day from work. Nathan’s sister and our nieces were back in town and we had plans to go to the Children’s Museum with them. We looked out the window early in the morning, and it was snowing. At first it was just snow mixed with rain, but then we had a full blown “snow” on our hands. Being March 13th, it was quite remarkable. I thought to myself, “wouldn’t it be fun to go feel the snow on our faces….to truly enjoy it outside rather than just looking longingly from inside?” Then I thought…what’s to stop us? So I suggested the idea and Nathan thought it would be fun too.

We bundled Elias up… pj’s and all… in his warmest winter coat and hat. He got one more chance to wear those fun Lightening McQueen light up snow boots. Although we weren’t outside for long, I know it was all worth it. Elias had fun leading us on a walk across the wetlands bridge. He had fun feeling the snow on his hands and face. He had fun looking out over the bottom rail of the bridge into the overgrown cattails. We created a special moment for our family. These will be the times we remember.

Posted in family, Parenting | 2 Comments

Caught In The Act!

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Kimberly

Sometimes I put Elias in his room to play so that I can shower. We have a baby gate that goes across his doorway so that he stays in the “safe zone.” No cats, no breakables or chokeables…you get the picture. Normally he just plays in there. I hear him over the monitor talking to himself or playing with blocks. Occasionally he gets mischievous and unpacks a dresser drawer or two…but that is the extent of it.

My apologies for the horrible picture...When I went back to photograph his markings, I didn't want Elias to feel I was encouraging drawing on the doors...so I tried to do it fast. This is just some of the door markings. It was on the walls and the gate as well.

This morning I rounded the corner and found him with his back to me….coloring on his door. My first reaction…I admit…was to think how cute it was…so I ran to get my phone to snap a picture to text to Nathan. I snuck up on the little guy, and took a picture. The click startled him. Elias turned around with wide eyes, and immediately dropped the crayon. Then he adopted his best innocent face, pointed to the black crayon markings, and said, “uh-oh.” When I didn’t respond he said, “uh-oh” three or four more times for good measure. My little stinker totally knew it was naughty!

I undid the gate, took the crayons, and put them back in the closet while explaining to Elias that “we draw on paper…not on the door” when I saw that he had also drawn on the wall next to the closet. Oh dear….

When I told Nathan about the incident, his biggest concern was that Elias had chosen to draw with black and orange. Green was discarded on the floor and yellow was still put away in the closet. I guess I’ll have to spend some time baby proofing the closet now that he can open the door!

Posted in Parenting | 2 Comments