Toddler Jokes

Driving into work and daycare one morning, Elliott was pointing out various objects he spotted along the way and asking for us to confirm each sighting. It went something like this:

Elliott:  "Look at that cloud."

Mom and Dad: "Uh huh." [go back to listening to NPR and thinking about that second cup of coffee]

Elliott:  "LOOK THE CLOUDS MOMMY."

Mom: "Yes, clouds in the sky!"

Elliott:  "LOOK THE CLOUDS DADDY."

Dad: "Yep, clouds."

Elliott:  "Look, a garbage truck."

Mom and Dad:  "Yay! A garbage truck! We see it."

Elliott:  "Look at all dose trees! Look the trees DADDY."

Dad:  "Yeah, I see all those trees!"

Elliott: "NOPE." [giggles]

I think this is the toddler version of Made Ya Look.

Sunshine!

Sunday was a beautiful day. Lane had the day off, so he took Elliott to get bagels and coffee while I went to Mass. Around noon we headed out to the Panhandle to enjoy the sunshine. I had plans to march with Elliott in the Pride Parade on our parish's float (we love everyone at St. Agnes!), but I really wasn't feeling it when I went out to get the paper at 7:00 am and it was already warm. And ugh, crowds. We sat underneath a big tree and Elliott practiced walking, read the Sunday Times and threw around the ball.  Here are some pictures and a short video from our afternoon.

Hop on Pop.

Staying updated on current events.

Nap on Pop.

Selfie!

He's stolen Ted's favorite perch -- the crook of my shoulder.

Elliott has been super into putting things in other things, so tonight I'm going to rig him up a little mail box to keep in his room. I imagine he'll be putting all manner of items that he can jam through the opening into his personal mail box, but I will make some cards and letters for him to address in crayon scribbles. I think it would be really fun if he got actual mail that I could "deliver" to him in his mail box. So, if you'd like to send him a post card or a silly note, I'll be sure it makes it to him. You may end up providing hours of entertainment for the little guy!

15 Months

Elliott went in for his 15-month appointment on Monday and he is doing great! He weighs 21.79 pounds (34th percentile) and is 30.32" tall (18th percentile). He's still on the small side, but is on a completely normal and healthy growth curve. Oh, and he's in the 96th percentile for head size, which should surprise absolutely no one. E also gets to make his first trip to the dentist. Our pediatrician recommended a practice she takes her daughter to that has small dogs that hang out with the kids while they get their exams done. I think Lane and I will be asking if they take adult patients.

Our pediatrician is not at all concerned that Elliott is not walking yet. She watched him walk around the exam room while holding on to my fingers and noticed that his gait is normal, his balance is good and he's not holding onto me for dear life. He has the physical ability, he's just not ready to take off on two legs yet. I got him a new pair of shoes for toddlers to replace his soft-soled baby shoes and so we walked home from the bus stop yesterday. He held my hand and used his other hand to balance most of the way, instead of toddling along while holding both of my hands. It took us about half an hour to walk five blocks, but he had a blast. We took a couple detours into the grass on our path through the Panhandle and once we got onto our block, he climbed up every set of stairs that I let him (I was getting hungry). For a kid who likes to be held, he was not pleased the two times I tried to scoop him up to move our progress along. Dude just wants to walk. 

Here's a crappy little video I took of our walk. It was really windy.

Walking from Elliott Milburn on Vimeo.

Elliott Lately

Life is amazing for Elliott these days. He is so excited about each new thing that comes his way and it's quite infectious. He has discovered music and will dance along. His favorite music to dance to comes out of the walker one of his daycare pals handed down to him. Press the guitar button and it plays "Happy and You Know It." Press the saxophone button and it plays "Rockin' Robin." He also has figured out where the music comes from, so he'll go and sit near our wireless speaker and look at us, ready to dance. He's also been caught dancing to the Game of Thrones theme song and various and sundry Sesame Street ditties.

He is getting stronger every day, but not walking on his own yet. He cruises around the living room while holding on to the coffee table or couch and has built up quite a bit of speed in his crawling. He is showing signs of being a climber -- he tries to hoist himself into the bath and has successfully navigated his way off the couch and onto the floor a few times. He's also very into opening and closing drawers, so we're in for a weekend of more baby proofing around the apartment. He continues to use his scooter and is an expert at steering and hauling anything that gets caught in the back wheels, like his highchair.

We have successfully got him sleeping in his crib again as I was waking up several times a night with a foot in my face. He wakes up around six or seven and snuggles with Lane while I get ready for work, then has breakfast. He really loves breakfast and wiggles and claps when we bring him into the kitchen. He eats a whole grain waffle with almond butter, some berries and a cup of milk. I pack his lunches for daycare and have found that he REALLY loves meatballs. Dinner has become a little more difficult as I try to feed him whatever I have planned for dinner, but sometimes he's just too tired or just wants to eat 87 crackers. I've tried feeding him as soon as we get home and that has helped a little bit. As soon as he's finished, any food left on his tray is thrown on the floor. Too bad our cats are too picky to eat anything but milk and butter off the floor. Speaking of cats and eating, Elliott has discovered the cat food bowl. He's tried to eat it a couple of times, but mostly just wants to pick it all up one kibble at a time and put it in a pile four inches away. Or put it in the water bowl. 

Elliott's vocabulary is growing and he now says "ball" and "Bo" and ocassionally "bye-bye" in addition to "kitty" and "tree." Bo is the dog who lives at daycare and Elliott was calling him kitty until he learned his name. In fact, most furry, four-legged creatures are kitty. Sometimes I am kitty. Sometimes the car is kitty. Oh, and he also says mama.

Baby E: Ten Months

Elliott is starting to look more and more like a little boy, not the tiny little baby we brought home in chilly March 2013.  His personality is really developing and he's quite the ham. His antics crack all of us up and his little idiosyncrasies basically turn Lane and I into babbling idiots.

Eating is getting much, much easier and Lane is really enjoying giving him new things to try. While on vacation in Santa Fe, Elliott tried (and loved) pickled daikon, grilled chicken livers, fried Brussels sprouts, spicy pickles and Boursin cheese.  We tried to introduce smoked salmon, but he was having none of it. Elliott's food is ending up in his mouth more often than on the floor or on his person, which is a relief. His discovery of gravity, however, is not such a relief. He knows that he can drop things and that they'll land on the floor. He'll pick up a Cheerio, extend his arm out away from his high chair and drop the Cheerio, all while maintaining eye contact with the nearest parent. He may smirk or giggle, according to our reaction, which is usually to say "uh oh" and pick it up and throw it in the trash. These little glimmers of manipulations and testing of limits are exciting but also incredibly frightening.

Elliott is picking up a lot of adorable phrases and habits from the big kids at daycare. A couple of weeks ago, as I was getting him out of the Ergo carrier, he shook his head side to side and said "nooooo." It was the first real word I had heard him say and even though he didn't know it's meaning, it was still made my week. He's getting the hang of using it in context now and has also expanded into saying "mao" and "bao."  He started saying what I think is "down" a few days ago, especially when he drops a toy off a precipice and peeks over to see where it landed. Aside from these few experiments with actual English words, he's still incredibly vocal and babbles and sings to us constantly. He's also screeching again, which is, fingers crossed, just another phase.

While in Santa Fe, Elliott was totally spoiled and we came home with two scooters for him to terrorize the neighborhood upon. He's not quite big enough for the fancy, design-y model yet, but he's learning to get the hang of this Hape model. We mostly pushed him around while trying to demonstrate proper scoot-push form, but he managed to propel himself forward and backward a couple times. He'll be racing through the Panhandle with the hipsters on their fixies in no time.

I know I end each monthly update with a reflection on how awesome I find parenthood and how amazing I think my kid is, but I really, truly mean it. I had no idea that I would love being a parent this much and I am totally bewitched by this little human.

Baby E: Nine Months

This morning we took little E to the pediatrician for his nine-month checkup. While he still hasn't hit 18 pounds yet, he's growing quite nicely: 29.5 inches tall and an 18.5-inch head circumference. He's hitting all his developmental targets and his doctor was quite pleased with all the growing up he has done since his last visit. And she confirmed, in her capacity as a medical professional, that he is the cutest baby ever.  E also received the honor of being our Uber driver's first baby passenger. Success so early in the morning is good for growing babies.

Riding dad to the park.

While Baby E is generally healthy, he's been miserable for the past week and both L and I have joined him. His cold turned into a fever in the middle of last week and the virus is running its course. He's dripping snot and coughing, which is alarmingly heartbreaking. He's OK during the day, but sleeping poses some serious issues. Each time he coughs, he wakes up and is frightened, and then cannot fall back asleep because he's congested and uncomfortable. I think we clocked just over two hours of sleep last night. BUT he has his color back and it seems that we're nearing the end. Now we just have to avoid re-infecting each other, so I have a date with some rubber gloves and a jug of vinegar. We keep reminding each other that there is a first, scary time for everything as new parents and look back to how scared we were to leave him at daycare, how worried we were when I stopped nursing and how we nearly stroked out the first time E had the sniffles. While we certainly don't enjoy seeing our little bub suffer, we know that each sickness, challenge and fall makes us more confident as parents.  

We're on to finger foods these days, even though most of these meals end up on E's body or the floor. He's steadily getting the hang of feeding himself and using his six (six!) teeth. His latest round of teething has mercifully come to an end. The poor little guy had four coming in over the Thanksgiving holiday and we tried everything from frozen peas to Orajel to Jameson to soothe his gums. The addition of four top teeth has turned him into a little boy and he is now able to make exciting new sounds which he likes to share with fellow bus riders and our neighbors.

Perhaps the biggest development in the last month is the fact that we now have a mobile baby. This boy scoots everywhere and FAST. He's not crawling yet, but he motors around on his tummy, propelling himself with his arms and his right leg, with his left leg acting as rudder. He can also stand and plant when we help him onto his feet and he's starting to reach to pull himself up to standing from sitting. My personal favorite is planting him at the side of the bath and watching his excitement reach a fever pitch as the bubbles start forming and the toys start floating. He sways back and forth and even attempts a few mini-squats. He's taken a couple mild tumbles as all three of us are getting used to his new mobility and the cats have learned to keep a close eye on him because an affectionate whisker grab can come out of nowhere.

This has definitely been a challenging month, but L and I end every day in awe of the little human we made. He's such a joy and we're eating up every minute -- squished avocados, snot-filled kisses and all.

Fever One

Not pictured: The giant pool of snot, sweat and drool that seeped into my shirt. To say I didn't mind because OMG SNUGGLES is an understatement.

Well, nine months into our stint as parents, Baby E came down with his first fever. He was fussy all Tuesday night, but we just chalked it up to teething and growing. But Wednesday morning, he was not a happy baby. He didn't seem overtly sick, just stuffy, so we took him to daycare. I got a call at 9:30 am from our provider and she said poor baby was just not happy and needed his mama. She usually cares for the kids even if they are sick, but E was pretty much inconsolable. So I left work, stocked up on saline nasal spray and M&Ms and took my little boy home. Wow, a baby with a fever is awful. He wasn't too hot when we got home, but during a diaper change, I noticed he was HOT. I've never been around a baby with a fever that I can remember, so I was a little freaked and took his temp. It was just over 101, so I stripped him down to his diaper and called the advice nurse. She was super nice and advised to just keep him comfortable, give Tylenol every six hours and watch out for any shivering or trouble breathing. Baby E spent the rest of the day and evening sleeping fitfully, crying, or eating. I was completely worn out by 8:00 pm and L was working a double, so I just gave up on everything and fell asleep next to E. L got home around midnight and E was still running a low fever, but he was starting to look a little healthier.

Around 4:00 am, he had a full bottle and his skin was back down to a normal temp. When we woke up for the day this morning, he was so much better, his fever was gone and he was ready to get up and play. I watched him for any lingering symptoms for another hour and, after consulting with our daycare provider, took him in and went to work. He's still feeling not great, but daycare is able to take care of him so I can get something near a full day of work in. Speaking of which, I just spent 20 minutes decorating a rosemary tree some kind person sent to my boss because I just needed to have actual work step off for a bit. My mentor resigned yesterday morning and basically was all "Bye, nice knowin' ya." and another boss is just like "You don't have time for my non-urgent requests, so I'm going to flood you with useless task requests." I do not respond well to passive-aggressive cries for attention, so I decorated an FTD rosemary Christmas tree and now I smell like a Williams-Sonoma.

Baby E: Eight Months

Baby E is doing all kinds of cool stuff, but still not crawling, which is perfectly fine by all of us (cats included).

Dude loves the bath. He grew out of this bathtub a few weeks ago and after one kitchen sink bath, I put him in the tub. Boy does he love bath time now! He splashes and pokes bubbles and sings. I bet he would stay in there for hours if I let him. When I went back to work, I got in the habit of handing him off to L while he was in the shower for a quick rinse. I like to think that his early shower exposure makes him totally cool with water on his face and dunked all over his head. We have a little tug boat bath toy that I use to wash his hair via filling it up and then dumping it on his head part. I felt a little bad the first time I did it, but he blinked a couple times and gave me a big toothy grin. So now I lather and rinse with abandon.

The state of Baby E's mouth is a pox on our sleep schedule. He's a perfect little angel at daycare, but as soon as I get him home, fed, bathed and pajama-ed, the evil teething ghouls come out and he screams and cries unless he's being held or is on the boob. Last night was particularly challenging as he's currently cutting three teeth on the top. The end is in sight as one of his two front teefs poked out this morning and it looks like the other two will make an appearance in time for his first Thanksgiving. We've become experts at administering baby Tylenol to a squirmy creature who has discovered that he enjoys spitting out anything you put in his mouth. The only collateral was a stained-pink crib sheet and a sticky face.

Thirty-year-old deathtrap/heirloom highchair.

E babbles up a storm and yesterday, getting on the bus, he yelled "Bob!" at no one in particular. I thought it was hilarious and he was just like "What? I love the bus." He does love the bus and making friends with fellow riders. He smiles at everyone and looks out the windows and gets very excited when someone pulls the cord to make the "bong bong" stop request sound. He's started touching people, which is okay most of the time, but sometimes people on the bus are not for touching, so I'm just waiting for that teaching moment to come. When he's particularly grabby I tuck his arms into the Ergo straps and he gets very mad.

He plays quietly and happily by himself while we do stuff like put off doing the dishes to binge watch the last season of Louie. We put all his favorite toys in a basket, set him down on a blanket and he methodically examines the basket's contents, then discards what he's not interested in and finds a block to chew on. He talks to himself a lot during this process. The cats like to join, mostly so they can sleep on his blanket, but he'll grin at them and offer them his toys to sniff.

He's finally chunked out and I love staring at his fat face. He's still got his knuckle dimples. I hope those never go away. He eats like a horse; favorites include pears, oatmeal, persimmons and sweet potato puffs. He hasn't quite figured out what to do with the puffs, so he just puts them in his mouth, gums them and promptly spits them out. Or he just drops them on the floor.

We're bonkers in love with this kid and he makes us happier everyday. We love you, Boogie.

Life with Elliott

Elliott Lyon Hebard Milburn arrived on March 6, 2013 at 11:17 a.m. He weighed eight pounds, 15 ounces and was 22 inches long. His birth was nothing close to what we were prepared for:  I was induced at 42w1d; it didn't work; my body was impervious to epidural and any other pain killer cocktails the anesthesiologist came up with; and I had an unplanned c-section three days after I was admitted for the induction. It was mildly traumatic and we ended up staying in the hospital for an entire week, but it was totally worth it. So, so worth it.

The first two weeks at home were a blur of nursing, swaddling, bouncing and shushing. The first time we went out as a family of three, for a short walk to La Boulange, Lane and I nearly killed each other with glares and sniping comments. We made a point of getting out of the house once a day, if only for a quick walk around the Panhandle or to the Conservatory of Flowers. This was great for my recovery and it helped us get comfortable with being out and about with an infant.

Lane went back to work around week five. The first week alone all day with Elliott was really tough and I would text Lane every afternoon and tell him to come home as soon as he could get away because Jesus shit, I couldn't take the crying anymore. As Elliott began to hit some pretty exciting milestones, like smiling and babbling, our days together began to seem shorter. Since then, we go out for long walks now that I am finally strong enough to carry the stroller up and down our stairs. We have long, goofy chats while changing his diaper and I read to him from whatever I happen to be reading. On the weekends, Lane takes over the diaper changes and the soothing duties and I get a little break. Sundays are for walking to the Inner Sunset farmers' market and brunch at Park Chow or Nopalito. Elliott is a total gem and we've never had to leave a restaurant or cut our outings short to get him home and comfortable.

Sleeping is so easy for this guy. While he has managed to sleep through the night a handful of times, he usually wakes up twice a night to nurse, falling right back asleep on his own. We were both pretty wary of bringing him into the bed with us at first and we kept him in our co-sleeper all night. I got more comfortable with him dozing off next to me after nighttime feeds and now he starts out in our bed, only going into the co-sleeper when we need to stretch out. Waking up next to a smiling, farting baby every morning is a fantastic way to start the day. Ted has been a little unwilling to give up his customary spot between us in bed and I've woken up to him attempting to sit on top of Elliott in an effort to regain his domain. Despite his issues with the usurpation of his snuggle spot, Ted dotes on Elliott. He will nap next to him and even licks his hair in an attempt to groom him.

The first nine weeks were one giant baby party with a lot of puking, crying and napping in awkward positions. I go back to work tomorrow, which is both exciting and terrifying. There will certainly be more crying (maybe a little puking) on my part, but Elliott is in great hands and I get to put on my grown up clothes and read on the bus again.

Elliott's onesie is repping Faye's Video, a coffee shop/video store across the street from Delfina.