Iconic

So there's a cool site where you can take almost any image and Obama-icon it. Check out my little man. According to his great Grandma Du he's a Senator in the making. What do you think? By the way we taught him how to say "Obama" on Monday.

Make Every Moment Count

I can't believe it's already 2009! To celebrate we went to a party at our friend's Cakki and Jim's house. Their son David is 2 so it was a party with lots of kids = lots of fun for Elliot. We left at around 8 and Elliot was in bed by 10. I had a glass of champagne with B, then fell asleep on the couch. I am glad I did get a good night sleep because we ended up having a busy first weekend of the year. The highlight of the weekend was a hike to the River with our neighbors the Gables (you may remember Elliot's friend Martin Gable from earlier posts). It was a beautiful day, a great hike, and a wonderful start to the new year.

2008 flew by. My resolution this year is savor every moment that I get to spend with Brian and Elliot. Elliot changes every day and last night shocked me with the following conversation (me and Elliot in the car), a moment that will make me smile everytime I think of it.

Mommy: "Elliot do you know what a cow says? What do you think a cow would say to you?"

Elliot: "(short pause then confident response) Moo"

Mommy: "That's right. How about a duck? What do you think a duck says?"

Elliot: "(longer pause) Cack, Cack"

Mommy: "Yes, quack, a duck says quack. Okay, this is a hard one. What do you suppose a sheep says."

Elliot: (silence)

Mommy: "Come on, you know. What does a sheep say."

Elliot: (long pause) "Baaaa"

I was so excited I think I squealed, Elliot clapped too. Fun times.

Post Christmas Celebration in the Burg

After a bleary eyed night of traveling and some long much needed naps, Elliot, Brian and I went to Williamsburg on the Sunday after Christmas to open presents with Mimsey and Cliff. Elliot received several very cute outfits and a CD player from his aunt Lindsay (Lindsay, he likes the CD player now but was more interested in the box it came in when we opened it). He also had lots of fun, as always, exploring Mimsey's house. He especially liked the antique child's chair that he found in her office. i think we may need to get him a little chair for our house.

More Christmas Pics

Elliot's Grammy sent me a few more photos from our trip to Colorado that I thought Elliot's fans might enjoy. In addition to pictures of Elliot's trip to the Denver Children's Museum and Christmas morning, there are also pictures of Elliot with the Farnum's neighbor, Olivia. She is a very sweet girl and she came over one day to help Elliot make cookies. She showed him how to use the cookie cutter and tried to teach him his shapes. In case you were wondering, Elliot likes sugar cookies.

Colorado Christmas

Elliot's second Christmas was spent in Erie Colorado at his Grammy and Papa's house. It was a great, action packed trip. Elliot visited Denver, went to the children's museum, baked cookies, met a few new doggies, went to church, ate lots of food (including cookies), opened presents, played with presents, played in the snow, learned how to play "horsey", and threw a party for his "Rocky Mountain Crew."

We arrived home late Saturday the 28th and went to Mimsey's to open presents at her house on the 29th. We are home now and gearing up for a little New Year's Eve celebration with friends tomorrow night.

Say What?

I promise pictures from our trip to Colrado are coming soon - in the mean time I thought it may be a good idea to record all of the words that have been popping out of little Elliot's mouth. I have been telling people that he can say 10-15 words, lets see...

1. Mama
2. Dada
3. Dog
4. Duck
5. Quack
6. Moo
7. Bear
8. Cracker
9. More
10. No
11. Mine
12. Choo-choo
13. Bye-bye
14. Uh-oh
15. Hi
16. Ball
17. Back

17 words, WOW! He understands a few more words and phrases that he can't quite say yet including: sit down, shoes, outside, stomp your feet, clap your hands, Zsi-Zsi, nice, and gentle.

Better Late Than Never

Sorry for the delay in posting last weekend's pictures. My blogging time has been replaced by sending out Christmas cards and wrapping presents. Elliot and Brian are at the grocery store as I type, giving me a window of opportunity to blog. Last weekend my cousin Shelley Ham, her husband and two girls (Steve, Olivia and Abigale) stopped by for a visit on their way to West Virginia. The Ham family recently moved from Hawaii and plan to make Portugal, Spain or Croatia their next home. En route they visited family on the east coast and they are in England with Steve's family for the holidays.

It was great to see the Hams! Elliot enjoyed meeting his third cousins and shared all of his toys with them. Both girls were so well behaved, especially considering the amount of time they had spent in the car by the time they got to our house.

This weekend was supposed to be dedicated to preparing for our trip to Colorado on Friday. We haven't even started packing. Yesterday we played inside (it was very cold), ran errands, and cleaned house. Last night Brian and I went to a Christmas party and Elliot got to spend the evening with babysitter extraordinaire, Nicole. Nicole used to work at Elliot's daycare and is one of his favorite people!

Later this afternoon Elliot and I met up with Audrey and Allie at Maymont. It was a bit warmer today and sunny today. Elliot really enjoyed walking around the animal exhibit and "mooing" at ALL of the animals. When a goat "baaa-ed" at him he shot it a look like "no you are suposed to say moo." After we saw all of the barn animals we headed to the nature center for the indoor exhibit. It was so much fun. There were lots of buttons to push, a water fall thing to put your hands in, and animals (including fish, owls, snakes, eels, and otters that did carzy flips in the water). We also had fun seeing Allie and Audrey. I know Elliot enjoyed the afternoon because he babbled, sang and clapped his hands all the way home.