Elliott's first Christmas, part 1

Today was Little E's first Christmas in Connecticut. And, actually, first Christmas ever. We'll have another one in Kansas next week but this one was good practice.

First, there was the stocking. Elliott didn't get any stamps but he did get some teething biscuits, a wooden car, and the egg shaker that he loves from music class.


Elliott's big gift was a new car seat. Since he probably doesn't care that much we figured he might like the box. Seems we were right.


Smallest Santa ever.


A recycling truck!


A new hat just like dad's!


Uncle William sent a talking alphabet wheel that was a big hit.


Zoey and Elliott wish you all a merry Chistmas!

Holiday Fesivities

We had a big weekend of socializing and errands. Elliott was pretty much a trooper, despite the rain and cold, except for a small crying fit on the way home Sunday night. But, by then I wanted to cry too. On Saturday night we had an impromptu dinner with the Larrymoyers at Sidecar. It used to be that A seemed so much bigger than Elliott -- it's weird how much they start catching up to one another after a while.




Saturday we saw E and E's new apartment with the fancy views and then had a yummy brunch. Elliott wanted the Juevos but had applesauce and sweet potato instead.




Afterwards we did some Xmas shopping. I guess the first Xmas is the only time you can take a kid shopping for their own gifts. Although from this photo he looks like he might realize what's up....

Elliott's first snow

You can't see it in the picture but while we were walking into the apartment yesterday the rain turned to snow. Pretty exciting stuff.

Tool time with Elliott and Malcolm

I kind of felt like a visitor at Santa's workshop, watching some little elves make Christmas presents.

Elliott is almost 8 months old

October has been a big month. Elliott's first Halloween was big fun, although you wouldn't know it from the look on his face (thanks to the Gillderwood clan for the hand me down chili pepper costume). For some more great Halloween pics check out Listmaker's blog.


Yesterday Elliott made his first trip to one of his mom and dad's old haunts, the coffee shop where many a dissertation chapter was written and many papers graded. And much coffee...drunk? Drank? Imbibed? Little E probably didn't even know he was in the presence of such greatness, but this shop was also featured in a few episodes of Gossip Girl. It was also at this visit that Elliott and I saw a totally normal looking dude walk in to get coffee in full-on authentic Vulcan ears.


The only other thing going on in this house is standing. Lots and lots of standing. Ugh.

Out and about

Yesterday Elliott had to pick Mom up at work. The rain wasn't too much fun but the colors of the leaves were pretty exciting.


Then today we went to Brooklyn and hung out with Sam and Otis while their parents moved. We called it "3 Babies and a Man."

Everyone wanted to play with the ball.


Milk was a crowd pleaser. Not pictured: Dad had jambalaya.

Elliott is 7 months old today

And to celebrate getting old, he's going crazy in the last few days -- eating solid food, pretty much crawling, and pulling himself up to standing using whatever is handy (crib, toybox, etc.).



It's been time to bust out the winter clothes in the last few days.



Elliott loves this ball. Tonight we even played catch and he actually seemed to understand what to do and got really excited when he "caught" the ball. His throw could use some work....



Eating is going pretty well. So far rice cereal, green beans, carrots, and zuchini have passed his taste test. Jury is still out on sweet potatoes. Tomorrow: apples.



We went Gantry Park with Dan, Sam and Otis this week on a rare nice day. Everyone seemed to have fun, but Elliott is really into puling hair right now. Not necessarily a good omen.

Elliott in the park

Elliott, his giant hands, and double chin hang out in the park.



He likes the grass in Brooklyn.

But the grass in Queens ain't bad either.

Maybe in a few years, kid. Come back later with your ball.

waiting for dinner

Elliott hasn't actually started on solid foods yet, but he's just trying out the high chair. Solid food will come in the next couple of weeks. If his desire to watch us eat is any indication, he's definitely ready. We're headed to Kansas though and figured it might be better to wait until after the travelling is over to introduce anything new into his system.

an alligator is eating my face

August was a busy month for Elliott

First we went to visit Jason and Dave's house in the country:

Then we spent a lot of time in the car while we went to Kim and Luke's, New Hampshire, Connecticut to visit my parents, and Northampton to see Janine, Deb, and Tony.

Elliott helped us with the navigation:

He also started looking old:

And acting like a big kid:

Ash and Nana in NYC

Elliott's oldest cousin Ash and dad's mom came to visit this week.

We read a lot of books. We also found the nautical companion to the Fuzzy Bee and Friends book at the NYC Aquarium (Squishy Turtle and Friends), and it's sure to become a favorite as well.

We also went to Central Park. Elliott is kind of obsessed with looking at trees/leaves and moving water (faucets, waves, etc) right now, so this was heaven.


We went to lots of tourist places too, like lunch at Grand Central. Ash had her first Jamaican Patty and Junior's cheesecake.

And sometimes we just hung out.

Elliott's big milestsones

Elliott has been keeping himself busy for the last couple of weeks. He's recently started rolling over from his back to his stomach and props himself up on his arms. It's been kind of amazing to watch him go from a baby who struggles and hates tummy time to one who willingly rolls onto his stomach whenever he has the chance. It seems like he's really enjoying being able to control what he's looking at from that vantage point. He also loves standing with help, which can get a little tiring on our part but it's ok. When you pull him up, the look on his face, like he cannot believe he is doing this, is kind of priceless. And it's now taking him a while to slump over when you prop him up to sit.

df and I packed away some of his newborn clothes the other day and it almost made me cry. They were so tiny and I remember him having to grow into the little shirts and onesies. I know it's a complete cliche but the last four months have really flown by.

Elliott is not a very persistent blogger

Since the last post, we've taken about 3 million photos of Elliott, and even though we remind him all the time that he needs to put some of them on his blog, he's really busy with other stuff and always complains that he doesn't have time.



For July 4th we went to Aunt Debby's house. While we were there we went for a long walk with Debby and Zoey on the Northampton Railroad Trail. Dad got caught in a downpour jogging on this same trail the night before. Yuck.



A man, a baby, an octopus.



Little E is starting to recognize the camera and turn stoic when it comes out. This is a rare sneak-attack smiling shot.



Hands-up!


Fingers in mouth, a common look these days.


At Abbott's for lobster.



Pizza in New Haven. Elliott likes the mashed potato pizza but the clam pizza was pretty good too.


Tummy time is paying off -- that head is up pretty much all the time now.