Highlights from Nanna & Poppy's visit

Eli had a blast at his first visit to the A.C. Gilbert's children's museum:



Temperatures hit 100 degrees so Eli spent a lot of time naked and in his pool:

Nanna bought Eli a swing after seeing how much he loved it at A.C. Gilbert's museum (see previous posts). Now he has one in his own backyard:

Eli is teething pretty badly so he got to eat his teething biscuits whenever he wanted. Needless to say, they are the most disgusting things you have ever seen. They cover Eli in a seal of slime:

And Eli learned how to sit on Poppy's shoulders:

Eli can't wait for them to come back!

A "crawler"

Today Eli spent some time in his new classroom at the YMCA. He will be in the "Crawlers" room. He can't crawl yet, but he will be 8-months-old and that is when they move the kids to that room. He was there for 4 hours and he liked it. There were lots of new toys for him to play with but many of his same friends were there. He will spend some more time there Friday and then that's it -- he will officially be a "crawler" next week.

Willow Creek Railroad

On Sunday, Eli, Nanna, Poppy and his friends rode the trains at Willow Creek Railroad. Eli had so much fun that he fell asleep on Poppy during his fifth ride on the train and then he even stayed asleep when I picked him up. That is the first time he has done that, and I loved it.

Dancing in the rain

Yesterday we got a thunderstorm. We could hear thunder but couldn't see any lightning. It started pouring when we brought Eli downstairs for breakfast. That is a pretty rare thing here in Salem.

I brought Eli outside to show him the rain and then Michael cranked the music and danced with him. He thought it was SO fun even though the rain was dripping all over his face.

Two busy days

Eli has had two very busy days with his Nanna and Poppy. Yesterday we went to the park in the morning and he tried out a rocking horse at the playground. He also had a good time on the swing. In the afternoon we went to the Riverfront Carousel and he rode it twice, although he seemed skeptical about the whole thing both times.

Today we went to the A.C. Gilbert's House children's museum, where Eli watched himself in the mirror and played with all sorts of new toys. He is going to love that place when he is a bit bigger! We also put him on the swing there and he absolutely loved it. He was making all kinds of faces and laughing and he wanted to be pushed harder and harder. At night he took a swim in his pool and remained in a great mood.

Betcha anything he sleeps well tonight.

Harvest Fest in McMinnville

Eli got to ride old farm equipment and old cars at an agricultural festival in McMinnville today. He also saw a huge turkey and some mules. He loved it!

Not crawling but rotating

While Eli was on his belly on the floor of his nursery this evening he started rotating around. He was pushing with his feet -- he wasn't going forward but he was making 180-degree turns. It was quite impressive. I think he was showing off for Nanna and Poppy, who are visiting for the next week.

Laughing

Eli and I laughed and laughed today. He was sitting on the floor in his nursery and I was holding one of his soft blocks. I threw it up in the air and said, "Where did it go?" and then it would fall back down between us. It must have seemed like the block came out of nowhere to Eli. We just played that game over and over again and we just laughed and laughed. I could have done that for 4 hours with him :)

He was pretty fussy in the afternoon -- I think his teeth were hurting. So I gave him a foot massage with some Burt's Bees apricot oil and he calmed down a bit. I kept telling him how much he needs a foot massage to release all of his tension and it struck me as very funny that a baby who can't walk yet gets a foot massage. We laughed about that also.

Eli loves the Statesman Journal

Eli loves paper. He loves to tear it and rub it on his face and try to bite it. While Michael and I were trying to get Eli to crawl this evening, he just kept reaching for today's Statesman Journal. He had so much fun once he got his hands on it.

A baby toothbrush

I bought Eli a toothbrush today. We haven't tried it yet, but it sure is cute. I read somewhere that we should be brushing his teeth and gums after every feeding. Yeah, like I have time for that! I am pretty psyched when I brush my teeth before noon (on days I don't go to work).

Mardell's good-bye BBQ

Our friend Mardell, who just moved to Helena, Mont., just e-mailed me these great photos from the good-bye BBQ that we threw for her. I basically posted all of them.... so just indulge me :)

Sitting up, chewing on socks and perhaps some new teeth

I had to change Eli's crib sheet the other day because he wet the bed. I thought his crib looked so cute I had to take a photo.

He is doing a great job sitting up these days. We've been stacking up soft blocks and knocking them over. For the first time today it seemed like he was trying to knock them over, instead of reaching for one and then accidentally toppling the stack. He was having a good time and I couldn't even get a tall stack going -- he was one step ahead of me.

This afternoon when I needed to put some laundry away in our bedroom, I threw Eli a pair of his socks to amuse him for a second. He loved them! He was chewing on one end and pulling on the other end. Of course, his sock was soaked with drool in about 10 minutes but Eli didn't mind. He was having so much fun I was even able to read him two stories without him trying to put the books in his mouth :)

He's been pretty cranky the last two days and I think he is close to getting some new teeth. At least I hope that's what is going on or else that's just his personality coming out :)

Jogging stroller milestone and a sleep setback

We took Eli for a walk in his stroller again today and he sat facing forward. This time he didn't cry at all, he was just mildly fussy when we first started for home. I think he is getting used to his jogging stroller -- especially because he can see where we are going instead of where we have been!

Of course, after I blog about how great Eli is sleeping, he has to make a liar out of me. Last night, he woke up around 2:45 a.m. and wouldn't go back to sleep until 4 a.m. We changed his diaper and Michael sang to him and he still cried pretty hard. I think it was because we had that big family nap on Saturday and he wanted to nurse to sleep again. But he went to sleep perfectly tonight and smiled at me after I put him down. I guess we will have some rough nights sometimes...

Sweet Saturday

Today was wonderful. We left early to drive to Corvallis to visit Ted, Christy, Anders and their new baby, Nora. We lounged at the Corvallis Farmer's Market for several hours -- eating yummy cheese and bread and fruit. Anders, who is 3, was riding his bike super fast around the cool water fountain in the park. Nora slept peacefully in my arms for a bit. Eli ate a ton, as usual :)

Then Eli and I went to a baby shower for Kate Evans. A little girl named Savannah was quite smitten with Eli and kept coming over to talk to him, try to give him jelly beans, take his socks off and perform other very important tasks. Eli was very happy and smiled and squealed at everyone.

Michael and I were pretty tired by the end of the day so we put Eli down for a nap and then fell asleep ourselves. But Eli woke up while we were still exhausted and I just brought him into bed with us and we took a big family nap. Eli was nursing the entire time and it was quite sweet. We slept until almost 7 p.m. (Eli's bedtime is usually 7:30 p.m.) Then we took the dogs to the park. I brought some food along for Eli, who is always hungry! He ate these tiny pieces of banana and he was very careful about chewing each and every one. In fact, he is always trying to get his two lower teeth into the banana piece to cut it into smaller pieces.

Oh, important sleep update: Eli has been basically sleeping through the night all week! A few times he has woken up once between 7:30 p.m. and 7 a.m. and Michael has been able to sing him part of a song and Eli goes back to sleep. Michael doesn't even pick him up or anything. Amazing. We feel great :)