SNMOP day with Brian

Today Brian took Grandpa and Dad to the Strong Museum

We played with tinker toys and all the usual attractions there.

We even met R2D2, who was kind enough to come over to visit during his photo session.

Annual pancake run

Last weekend we made our annual trip down to the Maple Tree Inn for all you can eat buckwheat pancakes and all you can slather on fresh maple syrup. Eli says, "Bring it on already!"

Calvin and Brian waiting for their pancakes.

Yum!!!

Me and Eli

Eli loved his first "real" pancake run, and Brian really put away a ton of pancakes! Can't wait to do it again next year!

A trip to SNMOP

We went to the Museum of Play today and it turns out it's spring break in Canada, and apparently this is close enough to be a major draw. It was packed! Overheard in mini-Wegmans: "just 5 items, eh?". "OK, time to check oot.". Hahahaha! Gotta love it. Brian did some baking:



Eli got some Edam:



Then we went to the Tinkertoy exhibit:



This thing is really cool, maybe this pic does it more justice:



Then back to the far back to try to escape the crowds. Eli is big enough that he loves the little slide:



(He was a little distracted by the girl behind him who was trying to pick off his sticker.). Then only minor kicking and screaming, and back home we went.
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Words…and attitude

Everyone gets so excited for those first words.  Well, Eli is talking and it is adorable.  Adorable!  He started with the usual, Uh-oh (just like Brian), then Mama and Dada, then Cookie, and now all kinds of stuff.  I thought he was saying no to everything but good thing he knows some signs, it was really “more”. 

No! from Monica Woodward on Vimeo.

(And do you hear my delightful firstborn threatening to kick me?)

And he can say Sasha, who he likes better than anyone else anyway. 

Eli talking from Monica Woodward on Vimeo.

He talks on and on and on… Some identifiable words right now (the videos are almost a month old): Car, cup, go (which he shouts when the PBS Kids channel comes on, so funny (they shout Go! for those of you who don’t watch PBS Kids)), nose, ear, eye, mouth, cheese, cheers (those 2 sound the same), bowl, dinner, and something that sounds like “What’s that?”  Oh, it’s just too cute. 

Then there’s Brian.  Oh, what a talker. 

“Mom, I want dinner.”

“OK, what would you like?”

“Nothing.  I don’t want dinner.”

Or:

“Mom, I have to go poo on the potty.”

“OK, let’s go!”

“No!  I won’t sit on the potty!”  (Sobs.)

All.  Day.  Long. 

I am really enjoying the single-word phase of Eli’s life right now!

Winter Fun

Yes, winter is too long, and yes, winter is too cold, but here is an idea of what we do to pass the time.  Our new favorite place is Kango, a big indoor playplace that the boys are finally big enough to enjoy.  They have toys for little guys:

And bigger guys:

Calvin sees the pictures and asks if it’s like a really big, fun, family room…not really!  They have a big inflatable obstacle course with slides (of course all pics of that are blurry as the boys bounce up and down), and a tricycle rink!

Plus a huge climbing structure!  We’ve been there a lot lately. And of course, it’s fun to play in the snow too, just not for any long stretches of time.  Here’s Papa, Calvin, and both boys:

 

Grandma and Eli:

And we spend a lot of time inside playing too.  Playing tag, playing hide and seek, doing puzzles, cooking things, and reading books.  Spring is just around the corner though (the garage is flooding regularly as the snow falls and melts, falls and melts) and we are all looking forward to warmer weather and the chance to be outside!

How the housework gets done

I have two very enthusiastic helpers!  They sweep!

They cook!

(Although sometimes they give me attitude.)

They do the dishes:

They even do windows!

With all this help, it’s a mystery why the house isn’t always sparkly clean!

What Eli is up to

Here are a few recent videos of Eli:


This video shows big progress... I used to give Eli a dog biscuit, he would squeal in delight and shove it in his mouth. Really that was funnier but I never got a video of it. Now he understands that the bone shaped cookies are for Sasha, so he takes it to her. Usually he comes back asking for more but not this time... what can I say, he is definitely a little under the weather.

Eli hates to be spoon fed, but loves applesauce... really the only way to get him to eat it is just to let him have at it himself. As you can see, sometimes the spoon gets flipped over on the way to the mouth, so we don't have our technique quite figured out yet.