Elias' Adjustment

Elias has had a rough week, understandably. Even though I was around, I wasn't concentrating on him much Saturday and especially Sunday. My mom was his primary caretaker those days and though he loves my mom to pieces, my lack of involvement in his day really seemed to affect him. Monday he was with my mom for the morning. He came to visit us at the hospital. We were still in the L&D room and there were machines and things for him to get into everywhere. We introduced him to Noah and he adored touching Noah's nose. Elias seemed interested in me on Monday and kept coming over to me to give him pieces of ice from my cup (and used, "Please" properly and consistently for the first time.) Mark took him home for a nap and then took him to daycare for a couple of hours while he got some errands done and then my mom picked him up and spent the evening with him. Elias seemed really discombobulated most of Monday.

Because of this, we decided it would be best to send him to daycare most of the day on Tuesday, to get his routine a little more normalized. He definitely seemed to be in better spirits on Tuesday. Mark picked him up from daycare in the late afternoon and brought him to the hospital. Even though I was able to get up and walk around, Elias didn't really pay any attention to me whatsoever, which broke my heart. He liked the hospital room (went over to the phone, picked it up and said, "heyyo!" which was the most adorable thing ever!) and he liked looking at Noah and touching his nose. My mom and Mark took Elias out to a nearby BBQ place for dinner and they told me he looked at the pigs on the menu board and waved at them, calling them puppies. (Anything with 4 legs and fur is a puppy.)

Noah and I were released from the hospital on Wednesday, so we were here when Elias got home from daycare. Elias waved and smiled at me, but ran straight over to Noah, being held by my mom. He touched his nose and when we asked him to kiss his baby brother, he put his nose right against Noah's nose. So cute! Again, he ignored me much of the night. By dinner time I think Elias was warming back up to me a bit and could see we were getting back into our old routine. Noah slept so I could eat and feed Elias. I was also able to give Elias his evening bath (he hadn't had a bath since Saturday!) and Mark put him in and lifted him out of the tub for me. We were all able put him to bed last night, which I think he enjoyed.

This morning Mark brought him to see Noah and I in bed before he went to daycare. He called Noah "baby" and again seemed more interested in him than me.

Hopefully I will go back to being "Mommy" to Elias because I don't know how much more I can take of him ignoring me. He appears to be in love already with his little brother and I can't wait to see them grow up with one another!

Dinner

We just had a delicious dinner of marinated pork chops with roasted potatoes and green beans. It was excellent. I'll post the recipes soon. Elias actually ate some of everything and liked the green beans most of all! Have I mentioned he's started to get picky? He won't always eat all of his vegetables at daycare. At home this week he's turned his nose up to a beef and bean burrito and a chicken sandwich. He gets quite offended when you try to offer him something to eat that he doesn't want. Still, he's less picky than a lot of toddlers his age, so I'll be thankful for that.

A bed! And stuff

We're getting a toddler bed on Saturday! I'm not sure how Elias is going to do with it, but I want to get it set up as soon as possible.

Tonight, Elias:

• Had fun slipping my shoes on and carefully walking around the living room in them
• Pretended over and over again to spit onto the deck after seeing his Daddy spit over the edge. He laughed at himself every time.
• Cried when the little vacuum cleaner at daycare was pried from his hands when it was time to leave.
• Refused to eat more than about 4 or 5 bites of his dinner (3 cheese tortellini with Italian sausage), though he delighted in dipping his rice cakes in his cup of milk like they were oreos
• Sat with me on the couch for a few minutes, touched his feet to Leah's fur and giggled.

My Day in List Format

• Last night Elias absolutely refused going to sleep. He screamed and cried when we put him in bed, so we let him stay up and play for a while longer until it was evident that he was SUPER tired. He still screamed and cried when we put him in bed. Mark and I took turns holding, rocking and singing to him until I finally got him sleepy enough to be put down without resistance. We haven't had to do anything like that since before he was a year old. We usually just put him down, he gets himself comfy in bed with his pillow and Elmo, we cover him up while telling him goodnight and that we love him, then leave.
• So he normally goes to sleep around 7:30 or 8pm at the latest. Last night it was closer to 9 or 9:30. He STILL woke up at 6:30am. I'm over that. For almost a month he was waking up at 7:30 or 8am.
• I think he might be teething. Lots of poopy diapers lately, which always accompanies him teething and otherwise he isn't ill. He also had his hand in his mouth ALL day today. This may explain his reaction last night, especially if his molars are coming in. When he's awake he isn't cranky or exhibiting any pain though.
• Today we filled the little baby pool on the porch and Elias had loads of fun splashing around, though he refused to get in it. Maybe because it wasn't a very hot day. Still, it was a fun way to waste 30 minutes. I can't wait to try it on a HOT day.
• We need to start giving Elias a bath every night instead of several times a week. Because his skin is dry, I don't really like bathing him daily, but it really relaxes him at night (and allows me to sit on my ass for a good 20 minutes). I'll just need to be judicious with my application of moisturizer.
• Elias said "diaper" yesterday for the first time. He also recently started saying "outside" and "inside" by simply saying "side". He's said a few other things I can't remember at the moment, but I think it was mostly repeating us and not actually using the word on his own.
• Elias and I spent at least 10 minutes tonight sticking our tongues out at one another and giggling. He's become obsessed with us rolling our tongues at him and tries to replicate it. He hasn't succeeded, but it's hysterical to watch him try. I wonder if he can roll his tongue.
• Overall, we had a lot of fun today, but it was exhausting. I've been going to sleep later and later recently and that needs to stop. I really hope to be in bed by 11:30 tonight, even though Mark already agreed to let me sleep in tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it! My days of being able to sleep in are about to end for who knows how long.

Melmo!

Elias really loves Elmo. He has several Elmo stuffed dolls, his first shoes were Elmo, he has Elmo slippers, there's Elmo on his diapers. I should take a picture of our play areas and you can play "count the Elmos". I really love Sesame Street and we watch bits and pieces of it frequently. I don't know exactly what it is about that little red monster, but Elias fell in love with him. Elias has been saying "Melmo!" for months now when he sees him.

We went to Target tonight and there were Elmos everywhere. Elias noticed some of them before we did and would point to them while saying, "Melmo". A couple of times he corrected himself and said, "Elmo" which is new. He also saw several "Ball Balls" and made sure we knew about them.

We finally have cabinet latches and just need to install them. We also got Elias some swim trunks, swim diapers and a tiny baby pool to put out on the patio to let him splash in! We want to take him up to the complex's pool on the weekend as well.

After Target, we went out to dinner. Elias was a hoot and kept trying to hand things to the waitress while telling her something very seriously in Elias-speak. He kept looking behind him and called either another waitress or the red lamp shades "Melmo" over and over again.

He's really growing up quickly. It's been running through my mind more and more frequently that when Noah arrives, Elias is not going to seem like such a baby anymore. I already see the baby slipping away.

Bubbles!

Last night Elias stopped in front of the "alcohol shelf" (which we'll soon need to move to something that locks) and I thought I heard him say "ball ball!" That's what he calls a ball. It's the cutest thing in the whole entire world and I am not entirely sure why he almost always says it twice.

He kept staring up at the shelf repeating himself until I figured out there was another "B" in what he was saying. "Bub-ble!" Over and over again. Oh! He was asking for the bubbles! They were sitting on the shelf and it'd been a while since we'd played with them. (It's just a typical container of liquid bubbles with a slightly fancy wand.) They must have been playing with bubbles recently at daycare. He's said the word for a while now when we get out the bubbles to play with them or we're putting bubble bath into the tub.

Aside from "MO!" (more) which almost always refers to wanting some type of food or drink, this is the first clearly communicated and specific request we've ever gotten from Elias! He was ecstatic to play with the bubbles, trying to catch them and staring at them in wonder. When playing with bubbles before, he hasn't really been too into trying to catch them, so it was especially cute.

When I'd pull out the wand, he would stand under me and blow with his lips pressed together, so Mark told me to try to let him blow some bubbles himself. That didn't go well as he tried to confiscate (and probably would have drank) the fluid and he grabbed onto the wand up where the bubbles are formed. Oh well.

It didn't take him too long to tire of playing with bubbles. He spotted Leah over in the corner on top of some comforters and plopped down next to her to pet her. We're still trying to teach him to be gentle with her, but she's been REALLY tolerant of him. He loves to pet and hug her, no doubt because she's so soft.

Teyla moves quickly and doesn't really give him much of a chance to touch her. I don't blame her. She's only 7.5 pounds and if Elias accidentally fell on her, it could very well be the end of her. We do let Elias walk Teyla around the apartment on her leash and she's quite accepting of this activity, though I can tell it's not her favorite thing to be doing. (I'm scared to do it outside where Teyla is more inclined to pull him as I don't want him falling over or dropping the leash and Teyla running off.) Elias usually plays with Teyla by throwing one of her toys at her. He can pretty easily differentiate between his toys and Teyla's toys even if he's never seen the toy before. I wish I could get Teyla to do that. She tries to steal just about all of his stuffed animals and mouth-sized blocks.

Free Coffee!

Breastfeeding Dream

I had a breastfeeding dream last night. In it, I have NO clue where my baby was because I don't remember him with me. :( I went back to see my old lactation consultant (I do like her) and for some reason they were kept in hotel rooms. She had another appointment, so she placed me with this quiet girl with an accent and short dark hair.

In my dream I remember pumping a full gallon of milk to which she replied, "Not good enough, low supply!"

Weird....

I hope this is foreshadowing about my supply. If I can pump a full gallon of milk in a single session, I'm going to be able to feed nations.

Elias update

Elias is going through a little language explosion. He recently started using the term "bye-bye" correctly. He's getting a lot better at repeating words, too. He yells at me and Mark to "get up!" in the mornings. Unfortunately, "mama" seems to mean, "I really want this - why won't you give it to me!?" He's blowing kisses at us tons.

Over the weekend Elias figured out how to open the bedroom door. He is SO tickled at himself when he does this. He hasn't opened the bathroom door yet, even though it's his favorite place in the world. I don't think he's realized yet that the bathroom door and bedroom door are exactly the same and it would be just as easy for him to get in there.

He's really enjoying brushing his teeth lately. He likes holding his tooth brush under the sink and rinsing it with water. Unfortunately, he likes to do this roughly every 10 seconds. Once we get to the new place and he has his own bathroom, we're going to get him a stool to make tooth brushing time at least a little bit easier for all of us.

Here's Elias in his "Kiss Me, I'm Cute" St. Patty's day shirt:



More photos up on Flickr starting here.

One Year

Elias on March 15, 2008:



Elias on March 15, 2009:



All photos from today.