stops and starts

The short time of Elliot's existence has been filled with stops and starts. He stopped waking up five times a night, he started again; he stopped liking the song about the bus to happy land, he started liking the song about speckled frogs; and most recently, he stopped hanging out with Jill and started hanging out with Helda.

So Jill has been our babysitter since the end of May and she has, in all regards, been fantastic. Elliot has taken to her like a planet designation to Pluto. Wait, no, that doesn't work. What I mean to say is that Elliot likes her a lot. They played games, read books, sang songs, took walks and had an all around fantastic time. On Jill's last day, to only minor tears (from my eager-to-tear-when-happy wife Justeen), we went into our backyard and snapped some photos.

These guys are like the kids from 90210. No matter where they go to college next year, they'll always be close.





So no one is happy about Jill leaving us, but she's back to school and an internship. We all wish her the best of luck in her career with children. No matter the context, the kids she comes into contact with will surely be better for it.

Our new day care is good. Elliot has been there a week and he seems happy about it. The other kids seem to like him and he hasn't told us of any troubles thus far. And it's oh so convenient. We stroll him down to the bottom of the hill each morning and then stroll him up each night. Izzy seems to like the extra excuse to get out of the house, too.

Since my last post, Elliot has experienced another big start. He started eating solid food - rice cereal to be exact. And it's very funny. He sits in his little spongy chair and dive bombs the spoon with his face. He's heard the speckled frog song so many times that he imagines the spoon to be a fly and his face, a long tongue. Don't worry dude, I'm not going to steal your rice cereal. You can have it.

Here he is having his sorbet (fingers) between courses.



And then, straight back to business.


Well, while we're on the topic of starts. Elliot and Ella's parents had a bit of one themselves. Just this week, we got our first nighttime babysitter. Jeannette and Guillaume got theirs and we got ours and we went out "on the town" for some fine Italian food. Not only that, but we had an adult conversation over dinner. We didn't mention babies and the baby world once over our extended three-course meal. We had a great time and we learned that parents are happier if they get a little life-break now and then. It's always great to come home to the bean, but it's nice to have someplace to come home from now and again.

And we felt no need to be guilty. Below is a picture of Elliot and his new babysitter Lauren. He doesn't look too upset about the whole thing.