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This is a post I never completed from last fall:

Earlier this week, I complimented Phoebe (our nanny at the time) on her earrings… she said that she got them from her Grandma.  Natalie was surprised and excited to hear that Phoebe had a Grandma too.  Natalie shared that she had a Grandpa, Nana and Pop.  Phoebe said that although she doesn’t have a Nana and a Pop, she had 2 Grandmas and 2 Grandpas.  Natalie’s response… “That’s silly!”  I love the joy of a 2-year-old.  I hope that our kids are always as excited to see and talk about their grandparents as they are now.  And I hope my future grandkids (if I am so blessed!) love me even half as much!

Happy 1st Birthday, Elliott!!!  (This is also our 400th post!) This little guy is totally awesome.  We are so extremely lucky to have him in our lives, and of course, I cannot believe its been a year!  He approaches everyday with joy, curiosity and love!

Boy, this is an exhausting day

Mom, I've got things to do.... enough with these pics!

Weight: 24 lbs, 14 oz (90-95th percentile)
Height: 31 inches (75th-90th percentile)
Head Circumference: (98th+ percentile)

Nicknames: E-Man, E-Buddy, Chunk Heavy, Ellio (Eee-Lee-Oh), Little Boo-dee, Bro, Chub Chub (I asked Jordan not to call him that in front of Natalie)

Personality: Joyful.  Smiley.  Enthusiastic.  Curious. Eager.  Independent.  Agreeable.

It's never too early to start tickling those ivories

Favorite Item: Leopard Lovey.  For some reason, he likes it more than the robot (RoRo) lovey that Natalie gave him.  Earlier this week, Natalie kindly found his Leopard (twice) and he was so appreciative.  She was very happy to be such a good big sister.  When he sees Leopard after not seeing him for awhile, he opens his mouth and gnaws all over it.

Favorite Activities:  Music (specifically, his sister’s guitar, music class and “wheels on the bus” sung by Mama), Digging through the toy shelf, Playing with his sister’s things (esp. her Tinkerbell music box and guitar) Dancing (even if music isn’t playing),  Clapping, Crawling, Pulling up on furniture and people, Taking Baths (with much splashing), “Chasing” anyone up or down the stairs, Playing “Peek a Boo”, Sneezing (always produces a big smile).   (He shows no interest in “walking” with assistance from an adult and is really hard to read too, though I keep on trying)

What? I'm not supposed to eat the paint?

Daddy’s Top Activity:   <Will fill in soon>

Not a bad place to take a snooze...

Mommy’s Top Activity: My favorite thing is just seeing Elliott smile and clap.  I like when Elliott initiates a game of peek-a-boo behind a door.  He’ll close the door, open it, flash a big smile and close the door again. You can always hear the scurrying behind the door, as he figures out how to move his legs enough to get the door open.  Sometimes, he is sitting, sometimes he is standing.  Often, he accidentally closes the door too much and I have to figure out how to open it up again, without knocking him over.  Also, its super adorable to see him brush his teeth.  He wiggles his toothbrush back and forth, like how you would if you were revving up a motorcycle.

Never miss a chance to hug your Mommy

Least Favorite Activities: Being on the diaper changing table (so squirmy).  (This past week, he’s also taken too whining if he isn’t picked up, which isn’t a fav of mine.  I’m hoping that he can adjust back to fewer adults around at any given time – it can be tough getting over vaca)

Milestones: Clapping, Crawling, Pulling himself to standing, Smiling

Big sis, where should we row this boat to?

Super Cute Things: Just started to wave good-bye (waved good-bye nanny the other day, with the backward hand – love it), Clapping at almost everything  When he is really excited about something, he beats on your chest.  I swear I have some bruising.  I also get kisses!!

Less Cute Things: Biting. 🙁  Not sure why.  I don’t think he does it when he is upset.  But his teeth have sunk into me a few times.  He also likes to play with the knobs on the stove, so we’re practicing the really simple word – NO – a lot.

Favorite Foods: Fruit – especially blueberries, bananas and strawberries.  O’s.  Peas.  Bread.  (He doesn’t seem to like sweet potatoes fries.)  As pictures would indicate, he doesn’t miss a meal.

Favorite Books: The “lift the flap” books.  His fav is a valentine’s day one from Grandma.  As I mentioned though, Elliott is much more into eating, throwing and aggressively flipping through books, as opposed to reading.

How we Celebrated: We had a great birthday bash in Florida, with Kathy’s side of the family.  Elliott LOVED being the center of attention.

We feel so blessed to have this little boody in our lives!

Jordan, Natalie, Elliott and I have spent the week thawing in Florida, with Nana & Pop and the rest of the Florida fam.  Scroll down or the extensive photo album!  Highlights  included:

5.  Extra Adults Around.  From Mammaw and Pappaw to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa to Nana and Pop, seldom is there an extra adult around to “ooo” and “aaahhh” over our two cuties.  And listen to Natalie’s stories.  (Or bear witness to the extreme mood fluctuations).  The biggest incident was a great exercise in supporting Natalie in handling her emotions.  Here’s the story:  Elliott had a blue pen.  Natalie wanted it, so I got her an identical one instead.  She insisted that Elliott’s was better, so I said she could ask Elliott if he would trade with her.  On her way over, Pop saw Natalie with a blue pen and snatched it from her – thinking that she had snatched it from Elliott.  WHAT AN INJUSTICE!  Natalie couldn’t believe this happened – came running over to me balling.  (I seem to be the permanent referee/lifeguard in her life.)  I was able to gather some of the story between sobs, and poor Pop was profusely apologizing, though a bit shell-shocked by all the emotion. She and I went into a different room to calm down and figure things out.  I asked her what happened and how she felt.  She told the full story, and we came up with a plan on how she would tell Pop how she felt.  They had a really good conversation figuring things out, Natalie explaining how her feelings were hurt and Pop saying sorry again (now that Nat was in a state of mind to listen) and explaining his POV.  This is clearly a story I’m going to leverage in the future, when she snatches something from her bro.  I appreciate that Pop had the patience to work through all the extra emotional problem solving.

4.  Just Being Outside.  Elliott doesn’t even remember nice weather, so he was enjoying cruising around in his stroller by the beach, to the park, etc.  Natalie has enjoyed no mittens and no hat, but we haven’t been able to shake her of her fav boots.  This look has resulted in quite a few chuckles from stander-bys… she seems ready for DePaul already.

3.  Playing with Issy.  Issy probably gained weight while we were here, as Natalie repeatedly requested that she be able to give her a treat.  Issy also let Elliott get all up in her grill.  As I’ve said before, Issy is the perfect kind of pet for me – one that stays at someone else’s house!

2.  Cooling off in the Fountains.  Natalie insists that all swim suits are uncomfortable (I have bought them in more sizes than you can count), so playing in the Fountains was a great way to cool off, get wet and not have to wear a swim suit!  She and Nana even made up a silly fountain dance, which seemed from afar to depend on shaking your booty.  Elliott loved getting wet in the mix too.  He has a great beach bod, doesn’t he?

1.  Celebrating Elliott’s 1st birthday with the extended fam!  (Technically a week early, but on the day – the 12th – that he was originally due)  Elliott loved, loved, loved…. having everyone sing and clap for him! (You thought I was going to say cake, didn’t you?)  It’s seldom that this guy is the center of attention, and he loved it!  He kept clapping and grinning from cake time to bed time.  Natalie also loved running around with Devin (age 4) and Brogan (age 9).  And tickling “that guy in the red shirt” (aka Cousin/Uncle Matt).

On Friday, we head back to “cold Chicago”.  Last night, Pop asked Natalie if she would wake him up in the morning.  Her response was something like: “Yes, I can wake you up but I can probably only play for 5 minutes because I need to go back to cold Chicago (insert fake shiver here).  I don’t live in warm Florida”.

As for me, my fav things were: spending extra time with the fam, not having to plan dinner and working out everyday!

See you in Cold Chicago in a few weeks, N&P!

“Elliott, what should we cook Mom and Dad for dinner???”

Elliott’s rockin’ his big sisters tshirt. And eating O’s (hence the funny face). Next up: cheese curds.

Natalie was this week’s learning hero at her preschool…. they wrote:

What happens when you wake up at 5:30am??

You are so tired that when it comes to nap time:
A. You fall asleep with a limb sticking out of your crib
B. You sleep 2hours
C. Your mom has trouble waking you up, despite purposefully being noisy in your room
D. All of the above

Parents, suggestions please!! We would much prefer he sleep in Til 630/7 and take an hour or so nap!

Perhaps the only ones who will think these are cute are Jordan and me…. or perhaps maybe even me, if you really needed to be there.  But I love some of the things Natalie is thinking about lately!

NATALIE: “I love my mom.  I love my bro Elliott.  I love myself, OF COURSE. (bringing hand to chest)  I love my Daddy.  I love my Grandma….”

*****

Three days after we went to an open house, where there were 2 cats and Natalie spent the entire visit chasing them around, trying to figure out why one of them was shy.

NATALIE: “Mommy, do you want a kitty?”

ME: “No, they make me sneeze…. do you want a kitty, Natalie?”

NATALIE: “Um, well, we do have Hello Kitties”.

ME: “Yes, yes!  We have lots of Hello Kitties – a Mama Hello Kitty, 5 smaller Hello Kitties, and a Little Tiny Hello Kitty too.  And Hello Kitty undies and shirts.  We have a lot of Hellow Kitties.  We should stick with those types of kitties.”

*****

NATALIE: “I’m thinking of something….. It starts with an N and ends with Linville!”

DADDY: “Hm…. Natalie Linville?”

NATALIE: “No Dado.  Natalie ANN Linville”

****

On the way home from the open house on Sun (it was just Natalie and me)….

NATALIE: “I think my little bro is wondering where I am.  He probably misses me.”

(This comment is something she says often.)

****

During church, when a reader is reading from the New Testament….

READER: “Dear Brothers and Sisters…”

NATALIE: (in a loud hushed voice) “I’m a sister (point to self) and Elliott’s a brother (point to him!  (HUGE SMILE)

****

Elliott, Natalie and I were playing in the grown-ups bedroom this morning, and there was a pic of Jordan and me from a 2007 trip to San Francisco.   Elliott was literally falling off the bed to get it.

ME: “I think Elliott is wondering where you and he are…”

NATALIE: “Elliott, that’s before we were born (sounds like borned).  We were in heaven with God and Jesus.  Yeah, we were in heaven.  It’s okay that we’re not in that picture.  Later Mom and Dad decided we should be born.”

*****

I’m sure I’m missing gobs of gems – I’ll try to add them as I remember!  I just heard another peep from Nat, so off I go!

PS One more quick funny thing – the top of our couch is filled with toys.  The only safe place for Nat to keep her stuff away from Elliott.  See below.

And 20 min later… As Natalie cried from her bedroom about not liking the taste and cup of her milk

Addendum:

ME: “I am excited to hear what Elliott calls you when he can say your name – maybe Nat”

NATALIE: “Nat Bug!”

****

Proud Mama moment…. I just got back from dinner with a couple girlfriends.  Natalie and Elliott go to the same music class as them (with our nanny, but their moms are able to go).  Kate told me that the teacher took out drums…

TEACHER: “Great job using teamwork, kids!”

NATALIE: “Teamwork!  We do that in my house!”

🙂

****

As I referenced in an old post, Natalie didn’t like wearing tights to ballet.  She was supposed to wear light pink – The size 4-6 was too tight (her words), so I even bought the size 6-8 (which actually did fit pretty well).  We lost these after the first day of class, so then for the second class, I had to improvise with some bigger black hand-me-downs.  Those worked fine.  After re-ordering light pink, she refused to wear them in weeks 3-6.  She would say….. “It’s okay to be different.  I don’t mind being different.  Like Rudolph.  His nose was so bright.”  (How can you argue with that???  I pray she always feels like its okay to be different!)

Natalie is tutu cute at ballet class! However, I didn’t sign up for the second session since I couldn’t take all the negotiating that went into getting her to wear pink tights. (It fits were her theme of only wanting to wear over-sized, short sleeved shirts – maybe she should have been a child of the 80’s)!

“I have a super gorgeous face” – Natalie
(Thank you fancy Nany for the vocab!)