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
It’s been a FULL 6 months. Heck, just this past one month has been crazy… But FUN. How can you not have fun with this kid?
Eli's first Christmas
In the month of December, we went to Hawaii, Eli tried solid foods and made a sometimes-transition to formula, we celebrated Christmas with the Kaisers (a week before real Christmas), we celebrated Christmas Eve at Auntie Terry and Uncle Benson’s house, we hosted Christmas Day at our house, and then we snuck off to the Kaiser cabin to be antisocial for New Years Eve.
Eli's Hawaii outfit
Waikiki Beach is awesome
Our cowboy got a horsey for Christmas
... and a Chariot!
Ready for the snow!
Happy New Year's Eve!
It’s now January, and according to Eli’s 6-month check up (about a week ago), he’s in the 98th percentile for height, the 50th percentile for weight, and the 50th percentile for head circumference. We have a tall kid!
He’s enjoying the new, neat adventure of eating solid foods and drinking from a sippy cup.
And he’s started sitting up (almost) on his own. We didn’t know it, but Eli was days away from cutting his first tooth during the filming of this video. Now looking back, it makes perfect sense.
