Saturday Morning- Playing Outside

Saturday Morning Matchbox Cars

Eli and I set up a track for his matchbox cars this morning.

He alternated driving his car along the blocks and "cleaning" them. This kid loved to clean.

Grandma/Eli Tree

My dad planted a tree in memory of my Grandma and in honor of Eli. Last July I took a picture of Pop and Eli next to the tree. We took the second year picture this weekend. What a difference a year makes... for the tree and for Eli.

2009, 9 months old

2010, 21 months old...wait, there is more tree...

Mim's Birthday Weekend

We went up to Milton this weekend to celebrate Mim's birthday. Nathan and Katie also came up, and it was great being all together. Katie filled me in on the wedding plans thus far- so exciting!

On Saturday morning, Eli helped Pop and Daddy wash cars. He was a very good helper and was rewarded with a popsicle.

Time for a treat. He kept rubbing the popsicle on his lips and then licking his lips. He wouldn't take a bite.

We spent so much time outside this weekend, even though it was HOT! Eli liked his whale pool more this time around.

Mom's birthday dinner (that she made!)was great- crabcakes and filets. Here is Kevin browning the crab cakes.

And here's Eli at his favorite spot in the kitchen. He loves looking at the pictures. We ask him to find certain people and he does a really good job.

Happy Birthday Mim! Eli and I have been practicing the happy birthday song for weeks. He did a really good job. "Happy to you. Happy to you. Mi-im. He sings it in tune, but you can see that he is missing a few key words.

The song to Mim almost didn't happen. Right at dinnertime, Eli had the worst tantrum I've ever seen. He hadn't napped well that day, but still. Holy moly. It was a remove-him-from-the-dinner-table-and-take-him-upstairs screaming tantrum. But then he managed to get it together to sing for Mim.

Soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Bish

Sweet Riley

Taking a stroll with Nan's walker

My baby...up close!

Super Pop to the Rescue!

Poor Eli has had a fever since Saturday night. He has no other symptoms- just a fever that ranges from 101-104. He was stuck to me like glue all day on Sunday. I knew he wasn't feeling well when I saw him lay down on the couch and take a snooze at 5pm.

I talked to my mom on Sunday and she said that she wished she could come down. Often she and my dad will come down and watch Eli if he’s not feeling well. But she had some appointments this week for Nan that she couldn’t miss. No worries- that’s what vacation days are for. But Pop called back a few minutes later and said he’d come down. So a few hours later, Pop arrived at our doorstep.

Pop and Eli had so much fun. Eli did really well- as long as the Motrin didn’t wear off. According to Pop, he and Eli read about 100 books, went to the pool one day (he watched him Monday and Tuesday), went for longs walks, and played with Eli’s new kitchen. I had to laugh when my dad called me and said, “I’ve raised two children. I’ve changed a lot of diapers. Eli’s diaper today ranked in the top 5 of all time.” Too funny. I guess his illness has made him a little “irregular.”

We were sad to see Pop leave last night. We appreciate that he dropped everything to come down and watch Eli. It was a huge help this week, especially since Kevin and I both had meetings today. We waved as Pop drove away. I said to Eli, “Say bye to Pop.” He waved and said, “Bye Pop.” I said, “You’re going to miss Pop, aren’t you?” He looked at me and said, "Mim!"

Oh silly boy. Thank you Pop for everything. We're looking forward to seeing you all this weekend!

21 months!

21 months!

Here's what Eli has been up to lately (besides looking cute):

• He loves the song Happy Birthday and tries to sing along. Emphasis on "tries."


• He runs everywhere he goes. He has one speed... scamper.


• Swimming at the pool- he's a big fan of filling up a bucket and dumping the water out of the pool


• If you ask him a question that he doesn't know the answer to, he raises his hands with his palms up and looks around.


• When you ask him where something is, he says "Um, dare!" and points to it. He loves pointing out all of his body parts and then yours too. If you ask him where his belly is, he HAS to pull up his shirt to show you that it's right"dare."


• He's learning all the movements to "itsy bitsy spider" and gets very excited when we practice it.


• He loves to wrestle and horsey rides.


• Eli can say I love you (sounds more like "I you") thank you ("tank tou") and bless you-he's really just had a big vocabulary explosion this past month or two. He can say say a lot more names now. He's great with Mim and Pop (sometimes he says "Meem" instead of Mim. He can say "Tatie" for his future Aunt Katie. He also can name his two friends from daycare, Daschel and Shazy (Shahzad).

5th of July- Blueberry Picking

On Monday the 5th, Kevin's parents and Bill, Julie, and Mina came over for lunch. We then went to Butler's Orchard for some blueberry picking. It was about 150 degrees, but it was prime picking time. We nearly melted but managed to pick buckets of berries.

On the tractor shuttle out to the field

Mina was the best picker. She found the biggest ones!

Eli ate so many that I thought he would turn blue.

And he shared some too.

I'm thinking of all the yummy things to make with these-

lots of blueberry pancakes, blueberry teacakes....

4th of July

We stayed in town over the weekend of the 4th and met up with Kevin's cousin Joseph, his wife Esther, and their kids Nathan and Noah (from Chicago). We also met up with Joseph's sister Lisa, her husband Jim and their kids Lucas and Isabella. We met up at a creek at the Smith Center and then spent the rest of the time at Lisa and Jim's house (and their neighborhood pool!)

Here are a few pictures from our day.

Joseph and Noah

Nathan

Loving on Isabella