Talking and Reading

Jefferson said "I cannot live without books" and Eli agrees wholeheartedly. Books are read throughout the day, but immediately after bath he tends to read all by himself. He feels no cold when enthralled by a good story. Both of the books in the photo were mine as a little girl, I think Eli will be lucky if his hard-used library makes it through the new baby.
If Jefferson had had access to a cell phone he might have said he couldn't live without that either. His voluminous letters would seem to suggest he was the chatty sort. Eli is very fond of his new Elmo phone (thank you Max and Judy!). He goes through the house pushing the buttons saying "2 - 3" and " 'lo? Yes." Ah, Elmo overalls, Elmo phone, books on the shelf, what more can you ask of life?

Punkin' Pickin'

It was a very busy day at our house today. First we had a good visit from Grandma and Grandpa (both of whom go by the moniker "Pa" if you ask Eli). After they departed, we decided to make our visit to the local pumpkin patch to enjoy the gorgeous weather.

Now, this is no ordinary pumpkin patch, it is more like the state fair -- produced on a large working farm. It was perhaps the most kid-friendly thing I've ever seen.

First there was the petting zoo complete with pigs, rabbits, sheep, cow, Belgian work horse and lots of other animals. That horse had a very big head thought Eli.

The farm has a corn maze, but we stuck to the Toddler Maze.

Hey, did you know that is a sheep?
Then there was the hay ride behind a tractor(!!) to the pumpkin field itself, with LOTS of pumpkins.

I'll take a load off right here.

Oops.

And finally, home (exhausted) with our prize.

Big Changes

Eli grows and changes every day. His vocabulary is really coming along and he continues to enjoy "helping." In fact "clean-clean" is one of his favorite things to do....no matter that he dumps the dirt out of the dust pan just to achieve the joy of putting it back in again. We're really happy about his helpful tendencies because we are definitely going to need all the help we can get very soon. Chris and I are really happy to announce that there will be a new kid joining the New Kid News family at the end of February.

In some quirky way, I'm reminded of our high school Spanish teacher and his favorite phrase "repita por favor" -- repeat please! Yet, I think this won't be a repeat of our experiences with Eli at all, but some new adventure that will almost certainly rival the adventures we've had with Eli so far.

To complete our big news, the ultrasound yesterday showed that Eli will be getting a little brother! That's just great with us, I mean, we already have a good supply of trucks and trains and things so we're all set.

So here are "new baby's" first blog photos. They won't win any prizes for quality, but I thought you'd enjoy them anyway. The profile in particular is nearly identical to Eli's ultrasound at about this point. Chris says that is inevitable and that you can't tell anything from these poor images anyway. Ah, and I was savoring the fun of such a striking resemblance. Sometimes, living with an imaging expert can really take the punch out of things. I guess we'll just have to wait and see who this new little person is really going to be.