Shellburg Falls hike

A spontaneous trip to Shellburg Falls today was fabulous. Eli hiked 4 miles without complaining; Ewan fell asleep in the carrier on Dadda's back; and the waterfall was gorgeous!

Brain size

Eli is very very obsessed with dinosaurs these days. All he wants to do is play with his dinosaur figures or read books about dinosaurs. We get lots of library books about dinosaurs, and many of them discuss their brain sizes. An apatosaurus, for example, has a brain the size of a walnut. Suprising, given it is one of the largest dinosaurs that ever lived. Anyway, I am not sure that Eli understands exactly what a brain does or is. But he likes to talk about brains and brain sizes. When we wear helmets for riding bikes, he says he is protecting his brain. Today, on our way to Toddler Time, Eli told me to run. Mama: Oh, Mama can't run today. Eli: Why? Mama, pausing because she is so tired. Eli: Cuz why your brain is too small?

Conversations with Eli

One of my favorite things to do is figure out how Eli's mind works. If you have or had a 3-year-old, you know what I mean. 3-year-olds think about things very logically, carefully and literally. It is hysterical to watch that process. Here are some examples, but of course, there are thousands more that I can't remember:

Turning leaves into gold

Eli said he wanted to save his money so that he could go to Africa. This has been a theme for some time -- he wants to see lions, elephants, cheetahs and giraffes.

I told him he had to save a lot of money because it is very expensive to fly to Africa.

Eli: But how will I make money? Will I go to work with Dadda?

Mama: No. You could do things like mow people lawns or rake their leaves when you get bigger.

Eli: Yeah! I can do that!

Long pause.

Eli: Cuz why, we make money out of leaves?

Turning Ewan into a grown-up

Eli got a magnifying glass from his Grandma last month. In the bathroom one morning, he held it up to Ewan.

Mama: Oh, does Ewan look bigger?

Eli: Yes! He looks like a grownup!

A sheep joke

In the car, on our way up to the Oregon Zoo, Ewan is babbling loudly in the backseat: babababaabaababa.

Eli: We should leave baby at a farm.

Mama is about to say, "That's not very nice Eli!"

Instead Mama says: Why?

Eli: Cuz why, he is a sheep!

Animals for eating versus animals for everything else

For several weeks, Eli was very interested in categorizing animals into the ones we eat and the ones we don't eat.

Eli: Do we eat sea turtles?

Mama: No.

Eli: Oh right, cuz why we would break our teeth on their hard shells!

Ewan is 9 months old!

Ewan turned 9 months old 3 days ago!

He now crawls around on his belly. He is working on getting up on his knees -- he rocks back and forth trying to get the momentum to lurch forward. So far, no luck.

He puts everything into his mouth. We've fished leaves, paper and onion skin out of there. Ugh.

You might mistake his nursing for wrestling. He is up on his feet, rolling around, grunting and pushing with his arms -- all while attached to the boob. It looks quite ridiculous, but I guess it works for him.

He says all kinds of semi-words: mamama, dadaadda, bababa, gagagagaaga.

Ewan still is a pretty bad sleeper, and Mama still can't get used to it. Especially when she has to answer "why?" at least 7,500 times during the day by Ewan's older brother.

He's still got his very bright blue eyes -- yay! And his smile is as big as ever, although it still only contains two teeth. He's working on getting some new ones very soon.

He likes to eat puffs, likes to feed himself (mostly unsuccessfully) and doesn't much like to sit in his high chair unless he is starving.

He's getting big super fast and I can't believe he is almost a year old!

Gentle sawing

Eli, getting frustrated trying to put the blade on his chainsaw: Argh! Daddy can you help me?

Daddy: Right now?

Eli: Yes, cuz why I want to saw my brother.

Daddy: No, we don't saw people.

Eli: No no Daddy. Just very very gentle sawing!

Ewan is 8 months old

Ewan turned 8 months old this week, and boy is he ready to be a big boy! He started crawling this week -- pulling himself across the floor. He loves to stand up and hold onto your leg (with support on his back too!) And he keeps getting up on his knees, pulling himself up. You can tell he is super proud of himself too because he flashes these huge smiles when he moves around.

He doesn't have any more than 2 teeth, but those teeth are almost fully in. He doesn't have much more hair either.

His sleep is slowly getting better. On a really good night he'll wake up around 4:30 a.m. and nurse and then go back to sleep until 6:30 or 7:30 a.m. On a bad night, he'll wake up around 1:30 a.m. and then again around 5:30 or 6 a.m. Overall, much better than several months ago when he would wake up and then not go back to sleep in his crib.

He's eating lots of solid food and he just started eating chicken and turkey.

The funnest thing that Ewan is doing is babbling like crazy -- he says babbabab, dadadada, (but not mamamama...)

7 months old

Ewan turned 7 months old on January 23.

The most exciting thing that has happened in the past month is that two bottom teeth pushed through his gums. It is cute!

He weighs 18 pounds and 4 ounces. He doesn't look fat but he sure is heavy. Especially when Mama has to carry him on her back all the way to the park.

Snow day (not in Salem!)

On Tuesday, Michael had a furlough day and we decided to drive to the snow. Turns out snow is 1.5 hours away! We had a grand time sledding, and making a snow fort and snowmen. Ewan had a great time nursing in the snow :)

The lesson of the Lorax

One day, Eli and I read "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss. I love that book. I mean, how cool is it that there is this little guy who pops out of the tree stump and says, "I speak for the trees for they have no voices."

Eli said he really liked the book too. I beamed with pride. My little 3-year-old guy loves trees! And birds! And barbaloots (frisking about in their barbaloot suits!) And understands how the Once-ler's factory spoiled the Truffala tree forest and the lake where the humming fish live.

Later that day, we went for a walk to Bush Park. On the way, Eli found a big stick.

"An ax, actually, Mama."

And he used it to cut down all of the trees on the way to Bush Park and then all the trees in Bush Park.

"Just like in The Lorax, Mama!"

Shy

Eli has been going through a shy phase. When we meet new people he feels scared or nervous. Even when we are with people we know, he hides behind my legs and doesn't want to answer questions. We knew it would be hard on Eli to have so many family members in town in December because of this new phase (and we had several major tantrums as the result of overstimulation) but he seems to handle the situation pretty well, especially after a few days of adjustment. Case in point:

After feeling a little shy around his Aunt Jessica the first day, Eli and Daddy read books together upstairs. At one point, Eli stopped Daddy and said:

"Daddy?"

"Yes Eli."

"I'm getting used to shy."

Eli feeds his brother!

Eli loves to help with baby Ewan. He hadn't expressed much interest in helping to feed him until this December (he usually is a bit grossed out by the baby's messy mouth). Ewan loves his brother so much that it is super exciting when Eli feeds him.

Ewan is 6 months!

Ewan turned 6 months old today.

He is still a super smiley baby. He now recognizes Mama and Dadda and gives Dadda the biggest smiles ever. His hair is coming in more and it looks dark. He still has his blue eyes. No teeth yet!

He is eating solids -- rice and oatmeal cereal with pureed pears, apples, bananas or peas. He hasn't been sleeping great but we are working on that. He is out of his too-small bassinet and in the pack-and-play until we get his crib set up. We are waiting for Eli's big-boy bed to arrive.

He can sit up by himself for a few seconds and he is very interested in all the toys around him. He immediately puts everything in his mouth.

He is very cuddly, and it seems like he wants to hug me sometimes. He also grabs my face and wants to shove the whole thing in his mouth. Too cute :)

At his well-child check, we found out he is 18 pounds (55th percentile) and 28.5 inches (95th percentile).

Happy half-birthday Ewan!

Eli is 3!

I cannot believe Eli is 3.

He blows me away when he uses words like "unravel" (as in "I am unraveling these Christmas lights") and "pleased" (as in "Grandpoppins will be so pleased when they see their bed!" after helping to put on the sheets) and "recognize" (as in "Mama, help me turn my shirt around to see if Grandma can recognize what's on my shirt.)

He also tries to reason his way into anything he wants: like cookies, hot chocolate and playing during rest time. His reasoning is often very good but sometimes makes no sense at all.

He is very opinionated about what he likes and doesn't like: He told a friend's father that he didn't want to go play in the train room, he likes to build -- he is a building man!

He still has temper tantrums, sometimes very very long and raging temper tantrums.

He is sleeping in his crib-turned-toddler-bed right now but we are waiting for a twin mattress in the mail, and as soon as it comes, he will be in a big-boy bed. He still wakes up at night calling for Mama or Dadda or a glass of water but he'll go many nights without any wakings.

We had a birthday party for him earlier this month but he knew his birthday was on Dec. 22. When we went swimming at the Kroc Center in November, he saw the climbing wall. We found out that you had to be 3 to go on the climbing wall and Eli wanted to go as soon as he turned 3. We made a special trip on his birthday and he had a blast. He tells everyone how high he climbed (about as high as Mama!) and we went back to the wall 6 or 7 times to keep trying.

Eli's 3rd birthday party!

We celebrated Eli's 3rd birthday early this year. We had a total blast!

Ewan rolls, Eli praises

About 3 days ago, Ewan rolled over and he hasn't stopped since! You can tell he is super proud of himself because he gets this huge smile on his face once he is on his belly. YAY Ewan!

In another first, Eli told me I was a "nice mama," yesterday. It was cute and sweet when he said it: we were cuddling on the chair in his room.

An airplane to Minnesota

Eli loves to build things. Last week he built an airplane out of blocks and lots of animals boarded. They were going to Minnesota. Check out the video to find out more about their trip.

This kid needs a toolbelt!

Ewan is 5 months old!

Ewan turns 5 months old today.

For the past month he has been a terrible sleeper -- giving me a 2- to 3-hour stretch and then waking every 1- to 2-hours after that. Ugh! But we starting giving him some mashed banana about 4 days ago and he already is sleeping better. I'm getting about 2 3-hour stretches. Today we gave him a bit of mashed avocado -- he doesn't like it nearly as much as banana but he ate it. About 2 weeks ago we tried some homemade rice cereal and he wouldn't eat it at all. He wants to get straight to the good stuff!

His hair is coming in and his head is super soft because of the fuzz. He still has his blue eyes. His smiles are getting bigger and bigger, if that is possible. He definitely feels happiest around his family and loves watching us interact. He also loves sitting in his exersaucer with a mirror next to him. He talks and laughs at the baby next to him :)

He hasn't rolled over again, but we are helping him practice by giving him tummy time. We are also helping him to sit up on his own, but it still seems like it will be awhile.

Eli is still super sweet with Ewan (wait until Ewan can regularly grab Eli's toys!). The other day during a walk Eli said: "When Ewan grows up, he will be a Mama; when I grow up, I will be the Daddy."

Eli also talks a lot about what he and Ewan will do together -- swim, take baths, and sleep in the same room. Eli is VERY excited to get bunk beds with his brother. He likes the idea of sleeping on the top bunk because he is bigger.

At Ewan's checkup

Ewan saw the doctor today for his 4-month checkup and here are his stats:

At 15.9 pounds, he is in the 53th percentile for his age.

At 27 inches, he is in the 95th percentile for his age.

With an almost-17-inch head circumference, he is in the 55th percentile for his age.

He is almost too long for his bassinet now! We are going to have to transition him to a crib...