Christmas

We narrowly escaped the Great Snowpocalypse of 2009 and enjoyed a relaxing and rejuvenating week with family and friends. All in all, our annual holiday pilgrimage to the ancestral homeland was a mighty success.

Eli was very, very excited to see Santa, as you can see from the picture below. Unfortunately when it came time to actually sit on his lap he freaked out and cried, and then when we tried to take him home he cried even more. All he wanted was to stare at Santa from about five feet away while crying, which was kind of freaking everyone out.



He felt a lot better about Santa after seeing all the loot under the tree on Christmas morning. His initial reaction was to raise his hands triumphantly over his head and scream, "Yay, presents!" After that he was reduced to starting with his tongue hanging out.



He got a lot of great stuff from Santa, but here he is rocking out to some of his favorite Yo Gabba Gabba tunes with his new headphones, courtesy of Daddy.

My proudest moment as a father so far

Eli, rocking out to Galaxie 500

"Halloweens"

When you ask Eli what he's going to be for Halloween his response is "I dress up Halloweens". Daycare had their Halloween parade on Wednesday. Eli took a little convincing to put his costume but once it was on he was ready to go.











Eli's daycare is in a large office building and every year all of the staff come out to watch the kids parade in their costumes. It's sort of strange but the kids seem to love the attention.

When we got back to the classroom Eli started to cry because he didn't want the parade to end. He was so excited that he stayed in his costume all day.

"I 2!"

We've made it another year. Eli enjoyed his birthday very much - especially the cake. Surprisingly enough he didn't want us to sing "Happy Birthday". When we started singing he tucked his little chin down in to his chest and said "No, I don't like that". He did like blowing out the candles, eating the cake, and opening his presents.
Yes, that is a Jack O'Lantern cake (there are better pix of the cake up on our flikr page). I made two chocolate cakes in bundt cake pans, trimmed off the tops, and then put one on top of the other. Then I frosted the whole thing with orange swiss butter cream frosting and used the left over cake to make the face. It was delicious.

We've become the parents who take pictures of every present being opened. I'm not sure how that happened - I think Eli's enthusaism is infectious.


Thanks to everyone for sending such awesome gifts. Thanks to Uncle Jake and our friends Jaime & Helena for coming over and helping us celebrate.

Hanging on the Couch

"I reading ma book!"Eli's been enjoying the booklet that Gramma Michelle sent along with his birthday presents. He likes to sit and name all of the animals on each page.

My Box!

Eli's new favorite toy...especially if Daddy's inside it!

Funny things Eli says

Here's a quick list of the funny things Eli says:

• "I can't reach it" - as in 'Hey Mom there's a pumpkin up on that balcony and we're driving in a car and I can't reach it'
• "I so big" - in response to just about anything
• "Guess What?" - followed by silence and then another guess what
• "Ticka Ticka" - as in tickle tickle to the Red Panda sleeping up in a tree at the Zoo (picture Eli's hands trying to get past the fence in full tickle mode)
• "I no like that" - in response to anyone doing something he doesn't like or making him do something he doesn't want to