Ten Things

I have been "tagged" my cousin's wife, Amy, to disclose 10 things about Elias right now. What a fun idea and let this be a tag for Shannon and Katie to do the same! Shannon had just posted some cute things about Chase, but I think she'll be able to come up with more! = )
1. Elias' babbling voice is the most beautiful sound. He is doing lots more of it and it's so funny to try and imagine what he is saying.
2. Elias RUNS! He runs around the house, after balls, in circles, and anywhere there is open space.
3. Music is his thing. Listening to it calms him down and makes him smile. He loves "If you're happy and you know it" and especially likes stomping his feet.
4. Elias would watch videos 24 hours a day if we'd let him. As it is, we let him watch one a day...either in the morning if I need to get a shower or in the evening when I am cooking dinner.
5. He loves Elmo. I believe he was born loving Elmo, as most toddlers seem to have a particular affinity for the cuddly red monster. We just bought an Elmo DVD about the potty, as well as an Elmo sound book. We figure if anyone can potty train Elias, Elmo can.
6. Elias loves dogs. He runs after them at parks and says "awwwww" when he sees pictures of them, along with saying "dog." We'd have gotten him one months ago if we weren't all allergic to fur!
7. Elias is not a big fan of peanut butter, which as inconvenient as this is, makes me smile because I don't like it either. Maybe there is some glimmer of him being like me....although from looking at pictures, you'd never tell!
8. His shoe size is 8 1/2 XW. His left foot is actually a 7 1/2 XW and the right is 8xw, but we just bought bigger to give him room to grow. And because of the lovely XW need, Stride Rite is our only place for shoes.
9. Elias loves to give hugs and kisses. We think it's so cute that we ask for them a hundred times a day!
10. His 2nd birthday is one week from Wednesday. It's so unreal to me to have watched my baby grow into a toddler and more into a little boy every day. We are having a party for him on Sunday afternoon at the Little Gym with all his friends from playgroup and school. Can't wait!

Florida Fun and a Return to Routine

We started our 2008 off with a bang with a trip to Grandma Brutscher's in Florida and then to Walt Disney World. While the travel there and back wasn't the most fun, we had a great time there visiting with family, experiencing the joy of Disney, and even a visit with an old friend. Aunt Susie, Bobby and the kiddos came over to Grandma's to ring in the new year and we learned how to play Guitar Hero and the Wii!
At Disney World's Magic Kingdom, we used the coolest guidebook that I had bought beforehand to scope out the best activities for Elias and map out our plan to enjoy the park. It was super cold, with record temperatures in the 50s, but we bundled up and made the best of the low park attendance. Apparently, the week after New Year's is the best time to go. Elias did amazing well and loved the train and the Cinderella's Carousel the best. My favorite was the last ride we did: Small World, where Elias settled in my arms and took in the sights and sounds of that infamous ride. Before we left Orlando, my friend Shannon came over to our resort with sweet baby Chase and we had a blast talking "shop" (aka all-things-related-to-mommy-hood) and watching our boys play together. Later, Christopher and Elias and I visited with our friends the Guidry's, who used to live here in Durham.
This week, Elias has been adjusting to our routine again with school, speech therapy and our time here at home. We are struggling a little with him and trying to be consistent with our discipline for tantrums and particularly hitting and biting. According to his teachers at school, he displays none of these behaviors there. What a relief! I think he has good social pressure at school and at home, he is more comfortable to display frustration. I prefer it that way, of course, but it has been difficult for me to not get angry and frustrated in response to him. I will be candid in saying that many times, I have to take a time-out myself (and call Daddy), in order to maintain calm and not contribute to his elevated emotional state. It helps to have activity to keep us busy, to go outside, to minimize transitions and to consistently sit him in his time-out chair for those unacceptable behaviors. Like with many things, we just take one day at a time and try very hard to make a big deal and carry on with lots of praise when he listens well or does what we ask. I am confident we have entered the "terrible two" stage of development and just hope we can continue to find tools to help us through it! Elias brings us so much joy and laughter, but challenges us, too, and we want so much to be good parents to him. It's so much harder than I thought to raise a little human being and all I can do is pray for guidance and wisdom to do right by him. On a happier note, he is saying more words and I wanted to share the latest:
He says: DOG, DOOR, NEIGH-NEIGH (for horse), YA-YA (yellow) and NO. He still signs thank you, bye-bye, more, all done, help, please and give it to me. And of course, he still gives lots of pat-pats, hugs and kisses. They are the best parts of our days.
For those of you interested in what I am up to, graduate school has started up this week and I am already reading and preparing to write papers. This semester I am taking Writing for Publication (yeah, right!), Managing Complex Health Care Systems, and Business Writing. Even though it is a total of three classes, the total credit hours is only 1 more than last semester, so hopefully I will be alright!
All I can say is that it was super nice to have such a long break from school and it was so great to get to do so many fun things! Here are the picture highlights from our trip:

Rockin' Out with Guitar Hero (Click HERE for all our pictures from Grandma's house)

hApPy NeW yEaR!!!

Boxing with the Wii: big Christopher vs little Christopher

The view from our room at Bonnet Creek in Orlando

On the shuttle bus to Magic Kingdom (click HERE for the Disney slideshow)

Hmmmm...let me see where we should go first.


classic Disney shot!

On Cinderella's Carousel


riding the train around the park...Choo-Choo!

Another ride on the carousel with Grandma

Checking out the view with Chase


We used to be babies...now we have babies of our own! (Click HERE for all our Shannon/Chase pictures)

My cup runneth over...

with pictures! This post is going to be FULL of pictures and some video, mostly from Christmas! We had a wonderful, though busy, holiday. The three of us drove to Knoxville, TN where my Dad (AKA Papa T) and his wife, Terrie live. Ashley met us there and we spent time with Terrie's daughters, Rebecca and Jennifer. We had a lot of fun catching up and working on a scrapbook of old pictures we are making for Dad. I have to say that Ashley and I decided our hairstyles through the years bring to light some serious neglect on the part of our caregivers. The pictures of us through the 80s had us rolling! Here are some highlights of our time there:

Daddy tells Santa what he wants for Christmas

Playing in the backyard at Papa and Nana T's house


Dad and Terrie

"Ring of Fire" performed by Tyson and Aiden (Rebecca's kiddos), with the aid of Elias' Christmas present


Scrapbooking

Santa at the Festival of Lights at a park in Knoxville

Dad showing off his piano skills

Elias takes a turn

Papa T

We left TN on Christmas Eve and headed to Charlotte to be with Mom (aka Nana) at her house for Christmas. After enjoying a delicious homemade meal (green bean casserole included!), we shared pumpkin pie with Mimi, Papa and Aunt Ann and Uncle Jimmy, who stopped over. It was really nice to see them and nice to see Mimi feeling better despite the last few months of chemotherapy. Click HERE to see our Christmas Eve pictures. We woke up Christmas morning with Mom and Ash, but unfortunately Elias was quite the disappointment as far as Christmas excitement is concerned. He was pretty indifferent, actually, and had the most fun with Mom's cat, Oreo. He likes to follow Oreo around and then pet him while saying something that sounds like "Awwww." It's quite cute. Hopefully, next year he will be more into opening presents...at least for the sake of the grandparents! This year, the wrapping paper was definitely wasted. I'll post pictures of our time with Mom soon, as our camera battery had died and she took all of the pictures...thanks, Mom! She always does a great job of capturing our memories! Click HERE for Christmas morning pictures from Nana's house.

We spent the 26th with Grandma Carol at her house and enjoyed more homecooking and lots of presents! The book she had made for Elias with pictures of words he knows, like "mama" and "dada," "elmo," and "car" was a huge hit. Elias has spent more time with the book than any other present so far. 2nd place is the keyboard Papa T got him. He plays the keys so gingerly: one at a time instead of banging. Maybe he'll play the piano just like Papa T! Here are some highlights of our time with Carol (click HERE for the complete slideshow):

The rest of our December pictures (click on each to see the Kodak Gallery slideshow):

Daddy and Buddy day

Christmas Party

North Pole Party

Random December

Whew! And now for some video archives....

Elias and Taylor Grace at Thanksgiving

Music to our ears: Elias talking!

We wish everyone a peaceful start to 2008. We'll start our year in Florida with Christopher's Grandma and Mickey Mouse! Using our timeshare points, we will be staying at Bonnet Creek Resort in Orlando and spending a day in the Magic Kingdom.

Much love and warmth to all and wishes for health in the new year. Our thoughts are with families who have lost little ones and pray for peace and healing in their hearts.

Hopefully we can see you all soon and share all the good in our lives!