HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I'll let the photos speak for themselves mostly but it was a very eventful Halloween, with costumed-kids at daycare (including Yoda) and all of the chaos that is trying to get 4 babies into a photo in their cute Halloween costumes.

Spanish bedtime storytime

Eli went to the library for his bedtime story tonight.

We picked up Sarah and Elliot and drove to the library for their Spanish bedtime storytime, where we sang the itsy-bitsy spider and some other songs (I can't tell you their names because I don't know enough Spanish myself. One day, Eli will translate!). Eli got to shake a fancy rattle with the other kids, listen to Halloween stories (I could see the Jack-o-Lantern in the picture, OK?!?) , and watch all the other kids run around.

It was fun and it wore him out! He fell asleep in about 10 seconds after I put him in his crib.

Great Aunt Gail visits

Eli's great aunt Gail has been visiting since Friday. It has been the most gorgeous weather since she got here -- about 70 degrees and bright and sunny. We've taken advantage of the good weather to go to a pumpkin patch, a cool park in Silverton and Bush's Pasture Park by our house. Can you tell that Eli is having a blast?

Today he found the built-in bookshelves in the living room. He pulled many, many books off the shelves and had a blast doing it.

Other things Eli loves right now: Playing with the showerhead while he is in the tub and getting sprayed with water from it.

Oh, and did you know Eli was going to be a monkey for Halloween???

Post ear infection and nose picking

Eli was terrific last night. He took his amoxocilin (seriously, do they put crack in that stuff? Eli shivers he is so excited when I pull out the bottle. And when I take it away, he cries.) Then he slept from about 9 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. He was happy all day today and took 2 long naps. He didn't need Tylenol at all today.

He has been doing this really cute thing for awhile now -- while I feed him a bottle before naps or bedtime he either plays with my finger or touches my lips. Tonight though, he found my nose. Boy was that fun! I think he will learn to pick my nose before he learns to pick his own :)

It's the ear

Last night Eli woke every 2 hours. One time he woke after an hour. I gave him Tylenol diligently every 4 hours, but he couldn't stay asleep for the full 4 hours. I tried rocking him in the rocking chair but he would just moan and cry and writhe around. It was so sad and confusing because we didn't know what was wrong and he usually sleeps through the night. I was so out of it that one time I gave him only .8 ml of Tylenol instead of 1.2 ml because I was reading the dropper wrong.

As soon as I arrived at work, Noelle at daycare called to ask where Eli's blankie was. "Oh dear, at home." So I drove home to get it, but when I delivered it to him, Noelle told me that he had a 100-degree fever even though he was on Tylenol. I had already made a doctor's appointment but Michael had to leave work and stay with Eli at home.

The doctor found that Eli has an ear infection in his left ear. Poor guy. He is on antibiotics and Motrin but he just woke up after being asleep for only 1.5 hours. Uh oh, another long night for Eli and his parents...

Walking! and a visit from Grandma

Eli's grandma Myra came to town this weekend, and Eli definitely put on a show for her. We got him a walker to practice holding on and taking small steps and he loved it. He was squealing he was so excited. It took him a little bit to get used to it but now he knows he has to move his feet forward. It is still tough for him to do it -- sometimes his foot ends up on the wheel of the walker, sometimes it ends up on top of his other foot and sometimes he ends up dragging his foot so that he is trying to stand on his tiptoes.

Grandma Myra and Eli played catch one night and Eli kept grabbing the ball when she rolled it to him. It was also a squealing moment! Every time he caught it, he would squeal and seem so proud of himself.

The night Myra left Eli was having a tough time. He woke from his nap super cranky and then fell asleep on my shoulder watching Sesame Street on our computer in the office. I quietly put him in his crib upstairs and he stayed asleep for another hour. But something is definitely bugging him. Today he took a good morning nap and was happy after that, but he only slept for 40 minutes for his afternoon nap and woke very upset. He couldn't stop crying and I had to rock him for awhile and get him to go back to bed. Even then he only slept for 45 minutes. Michael put him to bed for the night and Eli was just screaming and wouldn't take his bottle. I was able to get him to drink 4 ounces but even then he only stayed asleep for an hour. Then I went up again and rocked him and sang to him but he couldn't get comfortable. He would moan and move around and cry. I was trying to get him to fall asleep on me again but he wouldn't. (I loved it when he fell asleep on my shoulder -- that was a first since he's been in his crib.) Let's hope he sleeps through the night...

Other funny things Eli is doing:

* He loves to drag his fingers across the pages of books to hear the squeaking sound they make. He also does it on the slide at the playground when I let him go down on his stomach, feet-first.

* He has been trying to hug me lately. We will be playing on the floor and he will squeal and sort of throw his whole body into mine. He buries his head in me and seems so happy. It is way better than an typical hug :)

* He is trying to hold onto things and "walk" around. Today he was holding onto his walker and reaching for the ottoman. He actually grabbed the ottoman and stayed standing!

* He is much better about imitating people now. When Myra was saying "pa" to him, he said it right back. Today I was making the sounds for kisses and he was trying to mimic me.

* The other day he was on the changing table and I started saying, "ah-boo" over and over again and he was giggling and giggling.

Cardboard box fort

Eli and I had great fun today playing in the most spectacular of forts: the cardboard box. I cut windows in the sides and Eli sat inside the box and opened and shut and windows and I would say "peek-a-boo" when he opened one. He has been obsessed with doors lately -- always opening and shutting his bedroom door, which makes me worry about his fingers -- and this was a great, safe way for him to have fun opening and shutting a door! Sometimes he would stick his hand out the window and touch my face. He was smiling and giggling the entire time.

Then at the table we took some cute photos that I had to include.

Feet

For Eli's morning nap, I gave him his bottle, read him a book and lay him down in his crib. He immediately rolled onto his side, stuck both feet way out through the slats in his crib and fell asleep. I was so worried that he would wake up with his feet stuck and start screaming but it seems like he figured out how to get them out without freaking out. It was quite funny to see his little feet dangling in the air.

In the afternoon we visited Kate and her 2-month old son Henry. Eli was fascinated with Henry and jumped up and down when he saw him. At one point, he army-crawled to Henry and kept touching his feet. He liked those cute little toes.

In the bathtub and while I was reading him a book before bed, Eli kept trying to use his feet to pick things up. In the bathtub it was a yellow barrel. In my lap, it was the book. He looks like such a monkey when he uses his feet like that.

Big boy bath, not yet

Eli tried taking a bath for the first time in the full bathtub last night. He liked it a lot, but he has no fear and his parents were a bit worried he would end up under water quite suddenly. He did get a mouthful of water at one time. I think we will still be using the baby bathtub for a bit.

Ebbs and abs

Eli doesn't have signs right now of hand-foot-and-mouth disease -- thank goodness. He did sleep for a long time this afternoon: 21/1 hours!

In the bathtub before bed, Eli was on his knees facing the tile wall and practicing his sounds. He said "ebb," "ebb," "ebb." Then when I put him to bed and came downstairs, Michael and I could hear him practicing his "b" sounds some more. He was saying "ab," "ab," "ab." He still starts everything with a vowel, but we are hoping those consonent sounds come soon!

Hand-foot-and-mouth disease

The teachers at daycare think that hand-foot-and-mouth disease, a common childhood virus, is going around daycare. I am praying that Eli doesn't get it. I guess the symptoms are sores on, guess where?!?!, your hands, feet and mouth. Apparently the sores in the mouth can be so bad your child doesn't want to eat. Oh dear, that would be terrible for a boy who loves to eat!

We put him to bed early tonight and we are hoping he sleeps away any sickness. Go Eli!

Burping and giggling

At lunch today, Eli burped in between bites and I giggled. (Yes, I realize that this is not appropriate behavior at the table, but I can't help it.) My giggle made him laugh, which made me laugh. For a good 3 minutes, we were sitting at the table laughing at each other laughing. The harder he made me laugh, the harder he laughed. It was like we were both in on some silent joke. I loved it.

When Michael got home from work and we ate dinner together, Eli did a similar thing with Michael. Michael was making faces at him and Eli kept laughing and laughing, which made Michael laugh. It was so fun to watch.

For the first time today, I dropped Eli at the Kids Court, a daycare room at the gym. I went to yoga and Eli played in the playground. Apparently he did well in the room so I am planning to do that more often. It gives Eli a change of scenery and I get some (desperately needed) exercise.

NW Kids Club

Eli tried out the NW Kids Club today. It is an indoor playpark that has a huge sandbox, tricycles, a slide and playground area. In the infant area, there are soft cushions to roll around on and infant-sized toys. Stefanie and Alex met us there. And I ran into Brandi and her son Tiernan -- Brandi was in my ball-bouncing mamas exercise class last summer when I was pregnant.

Eli had a blast playing with new toys and I had fun getting out of the house. Eli gets bored and cranky when he is in our house a lot so it is good to know there are some places to take him this winter. The only thing is the cost: $5.50 to get in. Ugh. I think they run coupons a lot so I am going to have to search for those :)

Eli is getting really good at high-fives. It is so amazing to see how he learns things like that. I am hoping he starts learning some of the signs I am trying to teach him: so far I've used the signs for water and milk with him.

Library card

Eli and I went to the library today and he got his own library card. He thought it was a very fun toy and chewed on it for a bit. We checked out seven books with his card -- two of them are the same series of dinosaur books that he loves. The one we own is "How do dinosaurs say Good Night?"

When I read him the "How does a dinosaur eat?" book, he seemed confused and then kept reaching for the one we own. It was like he was saying, "this is not how this book goes!"

Pumpkins, pigs and .... naptime!

Eli went to a pumpkin patch for the first time today with Sarah, Elliot, Alicia and Rowan. We went to EZ Orchards north of Salem. Eli loved the baby pigs, who were snorting and oinking the entire time. A small goat nippled on Eli's foot and he thought that was pretty funny.

We looked at pumpkins in the pumpkin patch and Eli even stood up by himself for a good 3 minutes while leaning against a particularly big pumpkin. He looks like such a big boy when he is standing without help. We didn't do a hayride, but Eli sat on a big stack of haybales. He didn't really like it -- the hay was poking him and he wanted off!

The trip must have really worn him out because he fell asleep on the car ride home and stayed asleep for another 2 hours and 15 minutes after I put him in his crib. Whew, pumpkins and pigs really make ya need a nap :)