summer market

We took Eli to the Farmer's market this morning. He was happy as a clam! We got to enjoy some cool summer weather. Can you believe we were wearing jeans and long-sleeve shirts in the middle of July? Anyway, we got some sweet blueberry muffin/bread for breakfast. Can you tell who enjoyed it?? That's right, Eli kept grabbing for more. I had a tough time getting pictures, but you can see him eating it. Yum!

Eli bedtime video (long form)

Several people have asked us to post longer videos of Eli. Here is a 12 minute, long-form video of Eli's bedtime routine, captured last week. It is split into two parts. Sorry to all who could not open the previous, You-tubed version of these videos.

Stuck in Lodi Again

As mentioned last week, we had big plans for the July 4th weekend. Eli's unexpected bout with roseola (not to be confused with Rosealia). Apparently Eli had it easy - roseola fevers can spike in excess of 106°! And I thought he was burning up when his registered 100-101°. After his fever broke, he felt better (than ezra?). But for a few days, he had a nasty rash that covered his entire trunk. It didn't seem to bother him, but it mortified Shelby when she took him to swimming. It was almost like waving a banner that said 'parent who doesn't notice that her son is covered in splotchy rash'. The rash is hard to see in photographs, but check out the picture below:



Eli fully recovered by Friday, so we planned a family Saturday chock full of activity. This morning we ran around the Arboretum, stopping to pick up breakfast at the coffee shop about a mile from the house. We walked the rest of the way home, enjoying the scenery and mid-summer sunshine. After cleaning up and running errands, I spent time sitting on the balcony doing work. In a welcome development, Triscuit has decided that he prefers to perch himself on the balcony and watch people walk by instead of going for walks himself. This leads to the admittedly goofy sight of dog and Dave sitting together outside the house. Eli is also captivated by the glass door and the dog that is just beyond his reach:



We decided to spend the afternoon at the Lodi Agricultural Fair. Lodi is about 30 minutes west of Madison, well in the middle of rural Wisconsin. At the Fair, Eli got to pretend he was a farmer: collecting eggs, apples, and potatoes for sale at the market.



After playing farmer, Eli and dad rode a train:



We then got to play with the livestock: cows, pigs, sheep, ducks, chicken, and rabbits!





After seeing the animals, Dave and Shelby won enough tickets playing Skee-bal against one another to win Eli a souvenir pig beanie baby. Before we left the fair, Eli and Dave rode the merry-go-round. The horses went a little fast for Eli's comfort, but he only voiced his displeasure a few times during the ride:




And that was our big day at the fair! A good time was had by all, but Eli was tired from his busy afternoon by the time we got home. Hopefully he will sleep in again - one silver lining to his illness last week is that his sleep schedule recalibrated. He has slept until at least 6:30 each of the last four or five days.

Eli's first fever

Eli turns 10 months old next week. As we creep towards his birthday, Shelby and I realized that we have been very fortunate - Eli has gotten his share of colds but hadn't gotten really 'sick' until this weekend.

I'll start by reporting he is on the mend. Eli slept well during the day today and was cool as a cucumber by bedtime. Hopefully he will wake up rejuvenated in the morning and ready for school (by Wednesday, if not tomorrow).

Yet this weekend didn't play out exactly as expected. We planned on spending lots of time outside, taking advantage of the nice holiday weather. We ended up spending most of the weekend inside fretting about Eli. On Friday night, Eli spit up/vomited a sizable portion of his dinner. It was a new food, so we didn't think very much of it at the time. Eli was irascible Saturday morning, but only for a little while. He then became listless and fatigued. We called the doctor because Eli had also fallen on Thursday and we were concerned these events were related (in retrospect, they almost certainly were not). Nonetheless, the doctor advised us to come in for an exam.

When we went to the clinic, Eli was running a low grade fever. After leaving the doctor, Eli was tired the rest of the day. We hung around the house and made him as comfortable as possible. We thought that the worst had passed, but then his fever spiked this morning, reaching 100-101, which is the warmest he has ever been. Fortunately, a little Tylenol took care of the fever. He slept through much of today and was doing better by bedtime.

Toddlin' E

Eli's new trick -- standing!!! He gets so excited when he stands up, but he doesn't know what to do. He can stand in his crib, in his pack n' play, at the washing machine, at the bathtub.... and so on..... but, he did not stand up at school today. I don't know why not?? He is also learning to wear T-shirts that aren't just onesies. I think that is a real sign he is growing up.....

pics

Here are some cute pics we had of Eli. Most are from our visit to Chicago. I will hopefully find more cute ones soon!

Eli Meets the Fountain

IMG_3447, originally uploaded by dhoconno.

From the Long Grove Strawberry Festival.

Weekend with Gramps

We spent Thursday to Sunday in Chicago. Here are a few observations:

1) Each time we pack with Eli, the car gets just a little bit fuller. But we need to leave space for the new toys and other accessories that we invariably bring home to Madison. We have a roof rack for the car, but even it is beginning to fill up. When the time comes to consider whether Eli should have a sibling, our inability to transport more than one baby may become a very real issue!

2) Eli is getting better every day. Better at walking, better at exploring, and better at expressing himself. He crawled around the grandparents' house and explored every nook and cranny. He played in a turtle baby pool and got to play with bubbles. A good time was had by all.

3) We went to a strawberry festival on Friday. Little town festivals are a lot more fun with small children in tow.

4) Eli ventured to the big city for the second time on Saturday. He ate outside at a restaurant on mom's lap. He ate real food. It was almost like a real meal! Within a few months, we may venture to restaurants more regularly. Nah, who am I kidding?

Oddly erratic video of us moving the bat

So when we tried to move our visiting bat to a tree on Friday, we proved that we have no business being around wildlife. Sorry about the jittery video; we also showed that we don't know how to use our videocamera.

Eli sleeps

P6072196, originally uploaded by dhoconno.

In the last few weeks, Eli has taken to falling asleep on mom, dad, the babysitter....he just seems to like sleeping on people!

Eli eats

P6142197, originally uploaded by dhoconno.

Eli has become a voracious eater, particularly at night. We appreciate it too; he has slept through the night on a full stomach three of the last four days!

Eli and the animals

P6192208, originally uploaded by dhoconno.

Eli sits captivated by the book of animals we keep in the family room.

Bat down

P6192212, originally uploaded by dhoconno.

The embattled bat that crash landed in our backyard.

Bats in the Belfry

Eli is crawling like a madman. He tears across the baby superhighway in our family room; he cruises around our bedroom looking for cords. He will be an absolute terror when he can walk. Already he is pulling himself up without assistance. It is probably only a few more weeks/months until he starts standing and taking his first wobbly steps.

He is also using his newfound freedom of movement to express himself. He now crawls over to books he wants us to read to him. When rolling balls back and forth, he will fetch balls that are out of reach if he wants to continue playing, otherwise he will meander to a new toy. It really does seem like he is learning something new every day.

Today we had an interesting visitor. A bat crashed into our back door before dinner. The bat was down, but not out. After the surreality of having a bat laying on our porch passed, we tried to figure out what to do. Our next door neighbor who is a vet was not home. Our other neighbor suggested we try to put it in a bucket until we could figure out the best strategy. I managed to slide a garden bucket over the bat, though he hissed throughout the process. I called Animal Control and learned that bats can't fly from the ground and that this one's lack of movement could just be a matter of his being confused. She suggested I move it closer to a tree so it could fly away later in the night. With the help of our friends Sue and Joe, I bravely shoveled the bat away from the house and towards a tree on the side of the house. The bat then did its part and moved all the way to the bottom of the tree. Because it is rainy tonight, I don't know if it is still in the tree or whether it flew away. Needless to say, having a bat around the house is unexpected!

Eli's First Crawl - Long form video

Eli finally put all the pieces together. He can crawl across the floor at will as shown in this video. This was actually the most substantial crawl we've seen yet - good thing we had the video camera handy!

The Library

Eli and I like to spend time in the library.  This is a spot in our house where Eli's books are located.  He can sit on the floor and look at them, or he can stand up and pull them off the shelf.  He really likes hanging out here.  Sometimes it turns into 'how quickly can I maneuver over to the blinds' or 'can I try to pull myself up using the bookshelf.'  Nonetheless, he likes pulling the books off the shelf and, sometimes, he even likes looking at the pictures.  I will say, he always like "I am a dump truck."  The book is a neat shape, but the plot line is not particularly exciting.  Still, I've learned about "backhoes" which came up recently in a Time article I was reading about building infrastructure in China.  And, we saw a backhoe drive down the street while we were sitting in the library....

Eli in Summer

The last week with Eli has been a lot of fun. We took Memorial Day off of work and spent the day with Eli. In the morning, the three of us went running in the Aboretum. After we got back from running. I played tennis for a few hours. With barely time to catch my breath, we bundled up Eli and took him out for a play date. Eli is just about the same age as another boy in his day care class, and they happen to live near us. We went to their house, took a long walk, and then watched the babies eat together at their house. Very cute! Later in the day, Shelby and I played with Eli in the arboretum. We keep showing him animals and plants, but I don't think he is processing the information yet.

Shelby stayed home with Eli on Tuesday and got to spend more time outside with him. Wednesday, Eli spent the day at school. We picked him up and brought him to swimming. Eli enjoys the pool more each week. He now interacts with the toys and seems to enjoy the songs, though his deliberate activity is limited to splashing.

Yesterday I was able to come home a little early from work to take Eli for a walk. We meandered down to Monroe street for dinner. Good times were had by all. Today we will be eating out again, but tonight with friends. After Eli goes to bed tonight, I am going to play softball for the first time this year. Shelby will stay home (since the babysitter is busy), but we will both get to play soccer on Sunday afternoon. Tomorrow we will have another play date with the baby from Eli's day care class. So a somewhat busy weekend is coming, hopefully the weather will hold up.

Off to have dinner!

dave

In the mouth...

Just like any baby, Eli likes putting stuff in his mouth.  While we have a ton of pictures of Eli putting stuff in his mouth, I wanted to highlight the use of his fingers.  You should try his 'reverse-hand' position.  I lied on the floor with him one day and kept trying the finger sucking position.  It was difficult!  I think his joints must be more flexible than my old ones.  Oh, and I also thought you would like to see him sucking the rings at the pool.  Big fan of those rings....

Eli takes Dad's nose

IMG_3390, originally uploaded by dhoconno.

Eli being cute

IMG_3395, originally uploaded by dhoconno.

Eli pays attention to his surroundings on a long walk Memorial Day weekend.