Only because he’s changing so quickly am I writing another post. Partly, this is a set of milestones, and partly, this is to help Keith and Susie decipher Eli’s words while they watch him for the weekend.
Yay to a kid-free getaway, and yay to grandparents!!!
Toddler adventures
Eli climbs the magazine rack in his Halloween dog costume
Since my last “Eli update” post, we’ve had quite a few toddler adventures, including our first visit to Urgent Care at Children’s Hospital. A few weeks ago, we picked up Eli from daycare and he’d had an ‘incident.’ Apparently, he was climbing a magazine rack and tumbled off of it, hitting his eye. We took one look at his face and figured that he’d earned his first shiner. None of this necessitated a trip to Urgent Care, and Nate wasn’t even concerned enough to show me or bring home the incident report from school. He just told the teacher that it would be fine, and we went on our merry way.
But an hour later, as we were home feeding Eli dinner, Eli started projectile vomiting. Uh-oh! That’s not supposed to happen! Immediately, Nate and I started thinking about a possible concussion. We checked his eyes, we looked up ‘head injuries’ on the Children’s Hospital website, and we called the nurse’s line. As could be expected, the nurse helped us come to the conclusion that you don’t want to take any chances with a possible head injury. Even if the bruise was under Eli’s eye, he may have bumped his head and nobody realized. Better to go into the Children’s and get him checked out. So we did. And Eli was a trooper.
Turns out, we were “lucky” enough to have the onset of a cold/flu bug coincide with a tumble at school. Lucky us! Nate, me, my folks, and our dear friend Marina got to juggle Eli while he stayed home from school, sick and clingy, for the rest of the week. He got better just in time for the snow to fall, so we had even MORE days at home with him. With that much time together, we got a pretty good handle on Eli’s newfound communication skills.
Eli’s verbal words and signs
As I’ve noted before, he says “no” very clearly.
He can also say “up” very clearly, but usually he’ll just stand at your feet, hold up his arms and grunt. We ask him to say “up,” but his vocalization depends on his mood.
He’s gotten into this habit of pointing, grunting with a “ehhh! ehh!” and crying when we say “No,” or “Not now,” or “I don’t understand what you want.” Sometimes, he’ll cry himself into a fit, and it’s funny and annoying at the same time.
Most often, he’s asking for his Lovey or his Binky. Both have achieved proper noun status in our household.
For whatever reason, Eli’s named his lovey “Rah” for rabbit. It amuses me to no end that Nathan and I and everyone who deals with Eli on a regular basis calls the thing his “Lovey” and he’s decided to call it “Rah.” I guess it’s because he rarely eeks out more than one syllable, and his likes to know that “Rah” goes “hop, hop, hop” like all other rabbits. He does this on occasion—makes Lovey hop around—and it’s totally adorable.
“Bi” stands for “Binky,” and to this object, Eli’s grown more attached that I would like. He asks for his “Bi” all the time, but he only really uses it for bedtime and sometimes naptime. If we’re not diligent in keeping it out of sight, he’ll insist on having it in his mouth. In the morning (6 a.m.—much earlier than we’d prefer), he’ll wake up crying and asking for it. We’ll hear him wail, “Waaaaa! Ahhhh! Bi?” over and over until one of us decides to get up. He’ll give it up willingly once we sit him down for breakfast, but if he sees it after he’s done eating, he’ll ask for it again.
Sometimes, he’ll ask to be read to by pointing to the pile of books and saying, “book!” This would be hard to decipher without the pointing, because he doesn’t enunciate the “k” very often, but Eli loves to have stories read to him and I’m thankful for that!
Eli’s food vocabulary isn’t very large, but he’s a really good eater. When you ask him if it’s time to eat, he’ll often repeat “eat!” eagerly. And he’ll tell you pretty quickly if we wants something that’s not yet in front of him.
“Da!” – Eli will point to what he wants and you can hold up items until he agrees… Or you can just place something in front of him. You’ll know quickly enough by his adamant response if he doesn’t want it.
“Nana” or “Ana” for banana, which he’ll also sign for. (Holds up an index finger and runs his other finger up and down it, as if he’s peeling a banana.)
“Apple” – but usually what he wants is pineapple. I guess our visit to Hawaii when Eli was 6 months old has a lasting impression on him…
“Cheese” for, surprise! cheese – but he doesn’t say this too often.
Cookie – While not spoken, Eli signs for this quite often. Eli holds one hand open and points at his palm with the index finger of his other hand.
“Mil” for milk – The sign for this is opening and closing one’s fist, like you might be milking a cow.
“Jue” for juice – We try not to give him this, and if we do, it’s extremely watered down. But my parents give him watered down juice every Wednesday, and if he sees us drinking some, he’ll ask for it.
“Wa” for water – Eli’s sign for this is a pointed index finger hit against his cheek a couple of times. He asks for water more than he asks for milk.
But there are plenty of Eli’s words that could be confused with his request for water, so watch his body language. “Rah” for one, sounds a lot like “wa.” After he’s done eating, or even midway through, Eli will often ask for “a wra?” and he’ll wave his hand. He’s asking for you to wipe his hands clean. He’s definitely his mother’s child!
Favorite foods
This kid eats just about anything (thank goodness we have a good eater!), but here are a few of his favorite things:
Eli tries pistachios... and likes them!
Greek honey yogurt (or any flavored Greek yogurt). We find the thick consistency of the Greek yogurts more toddler-feeder-friendly than regular yogurt. But he likes those too
Dry cereal, especially when he can dip the pieces in the yogurt. Cheerios and Puffs work really well.
Fruit. This kid really loves his fruit, especially bananas, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and mandarin oranges (like satsumas or clementines). He’s less a fan of pears and apples, but a lot of that depends on how they’re cut.
Eggs, especially scrambled. There have been times where Eli’s eaten two scrambled eggs, plus yogurt, plus fruit for breakfast. It’s as if his stomach just expands to fit whatever he puts down!
Pancakes and waffles. These are special occasion breakfast foods, but over Christmas, we made these more often and even gave Eli some maple syrup to dip. He LOVED it.
Rice, especially with some sort of gravy. Amusingly enough, he love Thai food with rice.
Pasta. When I was pregnant with Eli, my favorite thing to eat was Mac’n'Cheese. Even the gross Easy Mac would satisfy my craving. So it should be no surprise that Eli likes pasta… of all kinds!
Recognizing animals and body parts
In my last “Eli update” post, I shared a video of Eli sharing some of his animal sounds. He’s kind of over giving animal sounds on call, but he’ll do it if he’s in the mood. Rather, he really likes pointing at the animals that he knows while you call them out.
He does like to make his Rabbit aka Lovey go “hop! hop! hop!” which can sometimes sound like “hup! hup! hup!” and could easily be confused with “up! up! up!” His hand motions for this are index finger pointed and moving his hand around like he’s hopping. He’s not quite dexterous enough to get two fingers up in the air like bunny ears, but he’s working on it.
We’ve been working with Eli on naming his body parts. He has some of them down pat, but he still gets confused on cheeks, lips, chin and ears. He’s a pro at pointing to his nose, he really knows his teeth (because we brush them every morning and every night), and he knows his head and hair pretty well. He can usually point to his eyes, and he definitely knows his feet and his toes. His where his tummy, arms, elbows and knees are remain a bit fuzzy in his mind, especially when they’re covered in clothes!
Naming body parts will probably be a fun exercise for us for many months to come.
Until next time…
OK, are you tired of reading yet? Are you even still with me? I’m tired of writing, so, until next time!
Some of the Seattle area got hit with snow over the MLK weekend. Ballard was given a pass except for a few flurries… until yesterday. To be perfectly honest, I showed up for work on Tuesday feeling a little left out. North of Seattle in Everett, folks were hunkered down. In South Seattle, Beacon Hill was complaining of treacherous sidewalks. Even a few miles east of Ballard, there was plenty of snow on the lawns and sidewalks. Heck, even Downtown Seattle had more snow than Ballard… Sunday we ventured Downtown for our friend’s 27th birthday dinner by REI and saw snowmen on the side of the road!
Ballard didn’t even have a trace of white. But that all changed on Wednesday, early in the wee hours of the morning. Outlaw woke me up around 4:30 in the morning (one thing this pregnancy has plagued me with is insomnia), and after a second of lying in bed wide awake, I realized that there might be something to see outside our window.
Outside the Kaiser home at 5 a.m.
Outside the Kaiser home at 7 a.m.
YAY! SNOW!!!
I sat and watched the snow flurries accumulate while feeling sorry for the all news reporters on the highways and overpasses who were broadcasting with up-to-the-minute, inch-by-inch tallies. And then I went back to bed, strategizing how we might sneak away to go skiing the next day…
I have never in my life played hooky from work to go skiing… until yesterday. And it was SO. WORTH. IT. My legs still ache from all the powder tele-turns. Very rarely does one experience fresh powder at the Summit at Snoqualmie, but we did yesterday. And I’m blissfully dreaming of the terrain at Mission Ridge that we’ll get to experience this weekend. YAYYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!! Can you tell I’m stoked?!?!
Even better? Next weekend, we’re going to Whistler with some friends. Thanks, Mom! For a perfectly timed condo reservation, cuz the snow is falling hard, and I can’t wait to take advantage of it! Eli is going to spend the weekend with his Grandpa and Grandma (Nate’s folks), and I’m going to enjoy a kid-free, winter-wonderland weekend to the fullest.
But what of Eli and the snow, you ask?
He LOVES the snow.
"SNOW!"
"Huh. I just slid down, and I liked it."
Wheee!!!
Trying to walk
Wednesday, he walked around all day saying, “SNOW!” which sounds a bit like “no,” except with a very nasally “n.” You can easily tell the difference between “SNOW!” and “no” by his body language: finger pointing outside with joy on his face vs. adamantly shaking his head from side to side. It brings Nate and I never-ending joy to see how much Eli likes playing in the snow.
Today, with the help of my dad (Eli’s Gung Gung), we all walked to the park and did a little sledding. Eli liked sledding on Nate’s lap much more than on my dad’s lap.
Eli does love his dad
"This is gonna be FUN!"
Sledding with Dad: Part 1
Sledding with Dad: Part 2
Sledding with Dad: Part 3
Victory walk
The snow is STILL falling after 2 solid days.
Seattle is getting restless with cabin fever. We never have snow that continues to fall for more than 2 days. Seattle isn’t sure what to do with itself, and the city has literally been reduced to pedestrians, snowmobiles, and cross-country skiers.
We may get a lot of crap for the entire city shutting down, but I’m still enjoying myself.
And who knows, maybe Snopocalypse 2012 will continue a bit longer. It doesn’t matter to us though, we’re off to the cabin tomorrow in our sturdy 4WD truck.
I should say that 2012 has begun! It’s nearly mid-January, and I have so many words in my mind… it’s been a wild ride just to break through to this new year, and I’m looking forward to things to come. In the meantime, I’ll cheat and give you some joyous highlights from the holiday season.
The day after Thanksgiving, the Kaisers ventured to Bellevue Square Mall in order to take pictures with Santa. Thanks to Susie, we’ve done this for as long as I’ve been associated with the Kaisers. This year was especially sweet, because both Hazel and Eli are at an age where they can interact with Santa. As we waited in line, the Kaisers enjoyed each others’ company. (Please forgive the repeat of some pictures, but they’re just too great not to share.)
A glimpse of Santa's workshop
Heralding Hazel and all her candy cane assessories
Eli wonders what all the fuss is all about... he'll find out soon enough
OK, I said “sweet” but maybe I should have said “hilarious.” For the second year in a row, we set the two cousins by Santa, and for the second year in a row they HATED the entire experience. Hazel definitely leads the charge on loathing Santa. See how Hazel’s disdain for Santa has grown from one year to the next? Side-by-side here are 2010 versus 2011.
Her loathing only increases with time.
Fast forward to actual Christmas when we opened presents with Eli on the morning of Christmas Eve. Eli was a little hesitant about ripping off the wrapping paper, but I think he liked the end result.
Mom! Check out my new toy!
Eli and his dad figure out the "microwave" features
And his favorite present by far was his new microwave. He found multiple uses for it… drum set, weights for strength training, and the actual microwave features. (Anything food-related makes this kid happy.)
We reseted up after opening a few more presents, and made our with to Keith and Susie’s house for more Christmas Eve fun. The plan was to celebrate Brian’s birthday, enjoy a light buffet, open more presents and head to church. We made it through all but the last activity.
Now that I look back on it, there’s no wonder Eli put his head down at 6:30 that night completely ready for bed. After starting his day with waffles and presents, and ending with Kaiser family Christmas chaos, I should have seen an early bedtime coming. But I didn’t.
Let the box races BEGIN!
Wheee!!!
We spent Christmas Day with my folks, Eli’s Gung Gung and PoPo as well as his Uncle Josh. It was small, intimate, and lovely. The best part was that we still had some time in the latter evening just for us.
Our New Year’s holiday, errr, pre-New Year’s since it was the day before NYE, was spent in Lake Joy with Mike, Shannon, and Alison Swift, and Shannon’s folks, Neil and Mary Lou. SO relaxing, and we absolutely adore the Swifts. Going to Lake Joy has always been a bit of a time warp, and this visit was no different. We had a great dinner on Friday night, enjoyed a NYE brunch on Saturday morning, and a lovely crisp walk around the lake. We ended our visit by heading to Woodinville for some wine tasting. Eli and Ali especially had fun, getting all the adults in the room to adore them.
And finally, as a parting note, a picture of “Outlaw,” Eli’s little brother. Outlaw grows, as my belly grows, and I hope he’ll be as sweet and wonderful as his brother!
It occurs to me that I should write down some of Eli’s milestones, before I forget them and let them blur into the nebulous “past.” So, Eli is 17 months old now, and I’m about to list some boring facts that might be relevant to only me and his family. But you can just deal.
Eli in the snow. It's winter time!
Eli started walking at about 14 months, and that was none too soon in my opinion, because he was starting to get awfully heavy. Now, with him walking, at least I don’t have to carry him everywhere. He only asks for “Up! Up!” when he’s cranky or super cuddly or when he wants to ‘help’ cook.
I would say “up” was definitely his first word, but that was quickly followed by “ball” and “dog.” A few cute and memorable (to me) things about Eli’s first few words: He’s been saying “up” for quite some time—long before he started walking, which served him well. But he would draw out the u, so his request would always sound a bit more urgent, “uuuuup!” or maybe even “ahhhhhhup!” So cute. And for awhile there, everything was a “dog.” In early October, Nate took Eli to Portland to play with his cousin Hazel. They went to the zoo and Nate couldn’t convince Eli that other names existed for animals…
Nathan would point out, “Look Eli, an elephant!”
And Eli would reply, “Dog!”
Nathan would ask, “Can you see the giraffe?”
And Eli would reply, “Dog!”
The funny thing about the way Eli says “dog” is it sounds a bit like “daww.” When he learned his next work, “duck,” there was barely a difference between the two. We have these flash cards, and one is of a yellow lab and another is of a mallard duck. When asked, “What is this?” Eli would very definitively say “daww” or “daah” depending on the picture. Go on, try it. Say them out loud. Not much difference, huh? But HE knew the difference, and I guess that’s all that matters
Eli’s also learned what sound a dog makes, “Whoo! Whoo!” And thanks in large part to a marvelous book that his Aunt Ailey gave him, Eli’s learning other animal sounds as well. I highly recommend, “The Little Blue Truck.” We love to read it as much as Eli likes to have it read, which is usually several times a day.
A giraffe, zebra, and horse all go “klop, klop, klop!” (Eli clicks his tongue and trots. SO CUTE.)
An owl says, “Hoo! Hoo!” which sounds only slightly different than the sound a dog makes
A cow says, “Moo!”
A sheep says, “Baa!”
And according to Eli, a duck says, “dahh!”
One of the best right animal sounds right now is for chickens, only because Eli will motion a wing flapping along with his, “Bok! Bok!”
Lest I forget, Eli also knows the word “no” quite well.
“Eli, do you want to go to bed?”
“No.”
“Eli, let’s get you dressed.”
“No.”
“Eli, did you go pee pee in your diaper?”
“No.”
I have to say, his “no” is so incredibly sweet and high pitched. One day soon, I’m sure it will get demanding and insistent, but that day isn’t now. But speaking of demanding, Eli threw his first tantrum last week. A part of me wonders if he learned this from Hazel, because Hazel threw a few tantrums during the long Thanksgiving weekend, which Eli observed. Hazel would fall onto the floor, kick her feet, and say, “No! no! no! Waaaaa-haaaaa!”
Hazel helps Eli with his hat. See how he looks up to her?
And sure enough, the next day as we were preparing Eli for school, he got upset, dropped to the floor, kicked his feet, and said, “Ahhhh-haaaaaa!” Nate and I couldn’t help but turn our heads and laugh. How amusing while it’s still novel.
Some other words (and his vocab grows every day, so this list will expand by tomorrow):
Ball
Ma
Da (for Dad)
More
Eat
Wa-wa (for water)
Ooo! (for “that’s mind-blowing amazing!”)
Ah da (for all done)
And signs that he knows and uses frequently:
Please
More
Eat
Milk
Water
Cookie
Fish
Oh, and Eli’s also a really good eater. Check this out!
November’s come and gone. I can’t believe it, but we’re officially in the thick of the holiday season. November went by VERY quickly. But we had LOTS of fun! I even got to ski, keeping the Kaiser-family Thanksgiving tradition alive where we head up to Snoqualmie Pass and ski the Summit over the long weekend. It’s not pretty, it’s not great snow, but it’s always worth it.
Thanksgiving weekend usually marks the start of my ski season, and this year proved no different. If I’d had a bit more forethought, I could have gotten a sitter for Eli for opening weekend, which I heard was gorgeously epic and early as far as opening days go. Nate was out of town for a work retreat, and Eli and I spent a sunny weekend playing around town.
Peek-a-boo!
Saturday morning cartoons!
Toybox/ cartoon-viewing seat
We went to parks, we got up early (ahem, HE got up early and therefore I had to as well) and watched cartoons, and we played and played.
New winter hat and mittens
An order of REI winter gear came in the mail as well, and Eli got really excited for the winter season. He put on all his winter gear and showed off what a good ski-kid he’ll be!
And soon enough, it was Thanksgiving weekend. We spent a wonderful amount of time with both the Ngs and the Kaisers. Bethany and Dan came into town, and we all met up at the Seattle Aquarium—Eli’s new favorite spot.
We had a great time visiting with the extended Mark family at 2nd Thanksgiving Dinner (immediately after 1st Thanksgiving Dinner with the Kaisers), and we ate so much that we literally rolled into a busy weekend of holiday activities.
We went to visit Santa, and Eli got a chance to use all his cold-winter gear cuz (as I mentioned above) we went skiing! Oh, didn’t you realize that Eli and Hazel went skiing as well? And, in case you didn’t realize this, my niece Hazel ALWAYS skis with a pink tutu.
But before I give you a bunch of pictures of all this fun, check out a video of Eli’s first run in with bubbles, thanks to Bethany and Dan, PoPo (my mom) and GungGung (my dad). I. LOVE. THIS.
And you’ve been so patient, so here’s the pictures of our Thanksgiving Weekend fun!
Turkey Trot champions and cheerers
In anticipation of Santa
Hazel's Christmas dress... and candy cane accessories
Hazel does NOT like Santa, and Eli's not really sure either
Kaiser family Christmas card... Eli's still not sure
We’re busy bees here in Kaiser-land, and I just wanted to point to Hazel’s blog. It’s got some great pics of our recent ski adventure with the kiddos. I’ll post our own pics from November soon! In the meantime, enjoy!
(The look on Eli’s face as he looks up to Hazel is PRICELESS.)
If you’re my friend on Facebook, you’ve likely seen a few of these pictures already, but they’re too cute not to share. This year, we gathered the Kaiser family and our menagerie of barnyard animals… yes, we have chickens and a Golden Retriever, but you may not have known about our bulldog and our cow.
Mrs. MacDonald had a farm. Eli, Eli, Oh! And on that farm we had a cow...
Eli was most thrilled to be a bulldog at school with all the other little kids dressed up. Orrrr not. I think the look on his face speaks, “indifference ” and maybe “boredom.” What do you think?
Our "fierce" bulldog sitting next to his dress-up buddies
Maybe he’s just glad he’s not surrounded by monkeys. I think there were no less than nine monkeys at the Halloween party we attended, which, BTW, was a BLAST! Thanks Pat and Saragh for hosting another great party. These guys know how to get into the Halloween spirit! Check out some of our monkey business (Saragh and Sydney are the witch and the bat):
Leading up to Halloween, we visited the pumpkin farm with Eli’s Grandpa. We picked out a few pumpkins, posed with some cutouts, explored the cornfield and enjoyed the gorgeous, sunny day.
Eli and Grandpa in the corn
Eli, the friendly scarecrow
And then we went home to carve the pumpkins. Eli wasn’t too thrilled with them at first. In fact, he was downright scared! But all’s well that ends well, and in the end, we had a couple of lovely carved pumpkins and a happy kid. I think this is the start of some fun fall traditions, and we’re already thinking about what we’ll be next year. Until then, Happy Halloween!
Eli wasn't thrilled at first.
But after tasting raw pumpkin seeds, he got a little more comfortable. (Was it the taste of raw pumpkin, or was it Mom
It’s been a rockin’ autumn… and it’s not even Halloween yet! We’ve been to Whistler, there’s been plenty of sunny days (or sunny hours of days), and Eli got his first taste of the Oregon Zoo and the Seattle Aquarium.
Oh, and he’s walking like a CHAMP! I’ll have to take some video of his newly acquired strut, but in the meantime, here’s some pictures and stories of our autumn adventures.
Father and son "hike" (Whistler, B.C.)
In early October, Eli and Nate spent a weekend in Portland, and in addition to playing with his cousin Hazel, Eli got to check out the Oregon Zoo. Apparently, everything was a “dog,” since that’s one of the few words Eli can say. Nate would point out the elephants, and Eli would say, “dog!” Nate would point out the lion, and Eli would say, “dog!” You get the picture… and speaking of pictures, I’m sorry to say that I have none Babies and animals are hard to capture together on a iPhone camera.
"I'm having so much fun in Whistler!!!"
"I'll drive, Mom."
I do however, have plenty of pictures and video from our Whistler weekend. We decided that a family weekend away was just the thing, so we packed the truck and headed north. It happened to be Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, which meant nothing to us except Whistler was having an enormous ski swap and sales galore. Yay!
I don’t recall the last time I was in Whistler in the fall, but I think we’ll make a tradition of it. It was GORGEOUS, and we all had so much fun! We even ran into our Vancouver friends, Marc, Ann and their kids Luciano and Nico. As it turned out, we weren’t the only ones with the idea to spend the weekend in Whistler!
Eli really started walking with confidence, and he toddled all around the Whistler playground.
Our hotel comp’d us some tickets to a kids show, and Eli toddled all around the concert hall as well… err, when he wasn’t being bumped by big kids that knocked him down.
He’s gotten so good at walking around, in fact, Eli walked all through the Seattle Aquarium last weekend. It was a rainy day, and rather than staying at home and feeling cooped up (like our chickens), we decided to visit the aquarium. As it turned out, we couldn’t have picked a better way to spend a rainy Saturday morning!
Eli’s just at the right age to take in and absorb the sights. He walked around pointing at various fish tanks and exhibits shouting, “Oooo!” and “Whoa!”
Eli takes it it
"Oooo!"
We’re pretty sure we blew Eli’s mind at the aquarium that day. And we can’t WAIT to go back, which won’t be too difficult, given we bought an annual membership. Seattle Aquarium, anyone?
I can only imagine that shortly, we’ll have memberships to all the kid-friendly places in Seattle: the Aquarium, the Woodland Park Zoo, the Pacific Science Center… What am I missing people? Post your recommendations here!
Well, all I can say is that I’m loving this age. He learns new things every day, and everything is amazing and new.
Cousin Hazel lives in a three-story town home. That means there are a LOT of stairs. On a recent visit, Eli became a stair master. You’ll see what I mean…
Eli loves spending time in Portland with his cousin, his aunt, and his uncle. Hazel gets a little jealous sometimes, because we all know that she’s a pink princess and therefore deserving of all the attention. I think she might have gotten upset after her mom pushed Eli on the swing instead of her. Eli didn’t seem to notice or care… he was having too much fun!
Why is the pain and suffering of toddlers so funny sometimes?
If the first video hasn’t already convinced you, Eli’s becoming quite the mover and the shaker. He crawls and walks ALL around. I mean ALL AROUND. The playground bark makes it pretty easy to track him…
This morning, my picture feed popped up an awesome fall photo of Hazel back in 2009. She was walking, albeit unsteadily, and the fall colors were absolutely gorgeous. It made me smile, because Eli’s at a very similar stage right now.
I thought you might enjoy this as much as I did. As a point of comparison, here’s Eli and Nathan, walking to school:
Soon, we’ll post some video from the past two glorious fall weekends: During first couple of days of October, Eli and Nathan spent some time with the Barkers in Portland. The next weekend, we Kaisers took a field trip up to Whistler. Pictures and video of both weekends are precious. Here’s a preview:
The days are getting shorter in the Pacific Northwest. I’ll admit it. I’m not ready for fall. Mostly because it’s been an AMAZING summer.
Granted, summer weather only arrived in late-August, but we were lucky enough to travel east of the Cascades a few times to feel the heat (above 80 degrees counts as heat in my mind) and relax at the cabin. And we took a couple plane trips to warm destinations and family reunions… both my side and Nate’s. So, I’ll reiterate, it’s been an AMAZING summer.
We celebrated my grandfather’s 85th birthday in August, even though his actual 85th birthday was yesterday, the 24th of September. It didn’t matter when we celebrated; all the Ngs gathered in Lake Tahoe, and I’ve discovered my new favorite destination. Lake Tahoe is gorgeous, and one of these days soon, I want to see it in the winter.
We're on a boat!
Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe
Happy 85th Birthday, Yeh Yeh!
Our summertime visit wasn’t nearly long enough, but we made the best of it by visiting the beach, eating at an all-you-can-eat buffet (cuz where there’s casinos, there’s buffets), swimming every morning with Eli in the pool, taking nearly the entire fam on a 250 hp pontoon boat around the lake (we could have water skied behind that thing if we hadn’t maxed out on people!), and singing lots of birthday wishes to my grandfather… a month and a half early!
Also in August, Eli had his first camping experience, and I discovered how much my little Pig Pen likes dirt! I had already found out how much he likes sand when we were in Tahoe (playing in it, digging in it, eating it…), but Eli took things to a whole new level at Lake Cushman with the Kaiser sibs and his cousin Hazel. This kid discovered dirt, and dirt + the dog dish + a little bit of water left in the dog’s dish = hours of good times.
Pig Pen aka Eli
dirt + dog dish = good times!
Not to mention Eli absolutely adores his cousin Hazel.
Eli got to spend another 5 whole days with Hazel while at the Kaiser ranch in September. We traveled on the same plane to Texas with Aunt Ailey, but we met up with Aunt Eryn and Hazel at the Houston Airport, and from that point on, we were all travel buddies. Nate’s grandfather turned 80 on September 15th. Unlike my grandfather’s celebration, there are not casinos nor gorgeous lakes in Yoakum, Tx so we spent considerably more time in one place–that would be the ranch, and we at considerably more meat–as in BBQ.
OMG, so much BBQ! And so much cake! And so much happy birthday! We were lucky enough to arrive in Texas just as a cool spell hit and just as the rain drops started to fall. It was the first time in months that Texas saw rain, so everyone was celebrating (not just us, the party-goers)!
Party goers gather, post party
Doesn't this say, "80th birthday"?
Eli and his Great-Grandaddy
Happy 80th, Sydney!
Through all these summertime activities, Eli’s developed into a full-fledged toddler, who can walk (sort of), talks back (mostly in high-pitched squeals and sign language… an odd combination, to say the least), and feeds himself (and his ears, and his hair…) We are really loving having a toddler around the house and watching him grow and change quickly!
So, I guess this is Happy Fall, everyone! To the leaves changing, and to the many changes to come! We’ll try to keep you posted
A few weeks ago, I posted on Twitter and Facebook that @EliKaiser was walking.
“The word: @elikaiser is walking! He hasn’t done so for @nkaiser and I yet, but Eli’s grandparents swear by it!”
And since I didn’t see Eli taking steps, but I was shooting lots of video and lots of pictures, I posted this picture of a very proud Eli:
Eli's proud "walking" face
That was on August 24. It’s now September 11, and Eli chose this day to take a few steps–for real! And I got it on video! Enjoy!
Maybe it was the presence of Allison Koester, visiting from D.C. after moving from Seattle 2 months ago. Or maybe it was the influence of 19 month old Marion Smith, who walked circles around Eli all day yesterday at Grandma and Grandpa Smith’s house.
Eli watches Marion making "soup" in the dog's dish
Either way, he’s walking. It’s exciting and scary, all at the same time.
I believe the one taken of my father was sometime around 1960. The one of Eli was taken this evening… Marissa thought the similarity was a bit uncanny.
After my last post, I think a little cute is in order …That and the fact that my dear friend Nicole Adams specifically asked for a baby Eli update, and I can’t disappoint her. Eli’s been doing a lot of traveling around the state. Over Memorial Day weekend, we all went to the cabin in Eastern Washington. We went again last weekend for Uncle Clayton’s graduation from Central Washington University.
In a couple of weekends, Eli’s looking forward to spending some time with his cousin, Hazel. They’ve practiced playing together at the cabin and it’s pretty cute, if I do say so myself.
Eli doesn’t mind the car ride. He especially likes it when there’s sun coming through the windows. Eastern Washington is good for that.
A happy kid in his carseat
Where's Uncle Clayton among all those robes?
Congratulations, Graduate! (Eli is asleep in the pack)
Babies and animals are hard to capture together on a iPhone camera.
