Day in the Life

I know, too long. So for all of you Elliot fans, I've decided to do a "day in the life" portrait of the little man. He's more than 13 months old now and he's walking up a storm. So, his days often consist of walking, pooing and eating. Because this is a family blog, I'll leave out the middle element.

The day starts with a healthy dose of cheerios - some in the mouth and some elsewhere.


Then it's time for exercise. Here's the little guy doing laps indoors.


He then takes the activity to the streets (or our backyard), whichever comes first.


Then, it's time to eat. Walking takes a lot of energy, and you can never get too much cheese and yogurt in the system.


And finally, it's time to clean up. He takes to the bath and washes the stress away.



More to come soon. I promise.

Happy Birthday li'l e

We threw a party for Elliot on the big occasion of his first birthday. It was really a fantastic affair. Elliot had a good time, mostly because he likes nothing more than to look at people when they're paying attention to him. So, we had about 25 people in our house, all of whom paid him ample attention. Here's the invite we sent out.


We were impressed that he has not only been reading the New Republic, but that the New Republic thinks it important enough to report on his birthday. Little did we know that his influence spreads well beyond the relatively centrist New Republic. Our friends Sam and Zsuzsa pointed out that, in fact, the Nation has also been reporting on this story.


I'm so proud that Elliot is already affecting Leftist discourse in this country. So the occasion was more monumental than we had anticipated. In any case, Elliot was dressed up in his colorful birthday outfit, awaiting the arrival of his guests.



The night before, the two elders (Justeen and Eric) baked a carrot cake for the little guy and wrote on it with raisins. I know, very clever.


So many people bought so many great things for him. We received all sorts of books and other playthings that will surely keep Elliot and his parents busy for the foreseeable future. Brooke and Cher bought him a slick firetruck that he immediately took to. Here he is confidently strolling through the living room looking for emergencies.

And finally, to the end the day, Elliot posed for a picture with his ladies. Only one, and already a sly dog.

Winter Fun

I know. It's been a long time since I've posted to the blog. I've been very busy and I apologize to those who rely on their regular dose of Elliot news and pics. Well, let's see, we had a fairly disappointing winter, in that we only received about six inches of snow (the average is 41 inches). That means no skiing, and not the ideal conditions for sledding. But we made due. One saturday a few weeks ago, we had a visit from our friend Roger. He's from a strange land across the pond, where they call diapers "nappies." In any case, we let him stay with us for several days and we showed him the delights of a relatively snowless winter in Jamaica Plain.

First we set out to have brunch at our favorite food spot - Centre Street Cafe (notice the British spelling of center - I think that subtlety went unnoticed by Roger). Here we are waiting in line in 30 degree temps for our hearty meal.



It was a bit cold, but everyone seems terribly happy, don't they? Soon after we were satiated by good food, we went home and Roger and little e had some quality time. Elliot felt powerful because finally he had more hair then one of the "tall ones."


There was no containing his enthusiasm for life.



It's important to note that Elliot has recently discovered the wonders of his little bike. He can almost scoot himself about on his own. And the fact that it makes a real annoying noise just adds to the wonder.



But winter time is not all indoor play. Remember I mentioned that we only had a few inches of snow. Well, a few inches is better than nothing. We went out, faced with trials of icy snow and attempted to do a bit sliding back and forth. As we discovered, putting lil e in his sled and carting him about is far more entertaining for everybody than having him in his carrier. Sadly, the snow has now melted, so the sled will likely stay in our stinky basement until next Winter. However, we look forward to pushing and pulling him about in other contraptions as the weather permits.

Elliot's swim class

Back in Boston

We got home and, while we found ourselves experiencing relatively warm weather, it was still time to break out the heavy clothes. Here's Elliot in his snow suit, his fuzzy hat, receiving some fuzzy kisses from his favorite dog.


The next day, we all set out on a walk. There's always something to see in our neighborhood cemetery.



I can't imagine a cuter photograph than this one...


Elliot attempts to grow his cute power by sucking it out of Ella's head.


But he ends up all wet.

xmas time

As soon as the santa hat was brought out, we knew immediately that it belonged on Elliot's head. And guess what, we were right. He likes like a natural, doesn't he?


Not only did Elliot enjoy playing Santa, he also enjoyed playing cowboy. When we first put him on the horse with some of his cousins, he didn't look too happy.


But put him on with his mom and it's a different story. She just makes everything fun.


The fun continued...


Someone looks confused in this pic...not sure who.


And here's Elliot having fun with yet another set of grandparents.


Was this boy always smiling? The pictures suggest that, don't they. But then I remember that we don't take pictures when he's screaming at the top of his lungs at 3am.

Travelling around So-Cal

Our trips to California are always packed. Since Elliot joined us, they're even more so. But, Elliot makes the travel that much more fun. He knows how to laugh at the simple things in life. Here he is sitting on his Grandpa's lap. I've helped the viewer identify the subjects in this paper by dressing the baby in a "baby" shirt.


After awhile, Elliot grows a bit tired of posing for pictures.


And here's the bean posing with another set of grandparents, enjoying the sunny weather and eating grass.


It looks like he's eaten a bit too much grass.

Spa-time

It's no surprise that Elliot enjoys water. So, when we went to California to visit, we knew we had to bring some swim diapers with us. Elliot needed something to wear in the spa, too. Here's his first dip in the "pool."


This pic is a little blurry, but how can I resist posting that face.

Pre-Holiday PIcs

There's a lot to say. It's been over a month since I posted to this blog and there are a lot of people very upset with me. I'm going to slowly recapture my audience with a bunch of cute-as-can-be Elliot pics. This post has a bunch of pre-holiday images.

Below is Elliot hanging with his pop on the couch.


And here's Elliot and his good friend Luciano. The have the same haircut.

Elliot Does California...Again, part I

It's been a long time since I posted the updates of Elliot's life. As it turns out, Elliot is still growing and doing great. He's crawling now, he's still smiling and talking in his own special language. Below is the first of a series of posts of his California trip. We're in Los Angeles now visiting his great grandparents (featured below), grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and what nots. Elliot is beside himself with excitement; if only everyone was as happy to see him as his family - he'd be even more smiley than he is already.

Elliot crawling (sort of)

Here's the little bean experimenting with his newfound skill of crawling. His major motivator? Not his parents - the remote control. We are already taking the back seat to technology. Notice at the end of this video, when Elliot is seconds away from victory, Justeen cruelly removes his assigned target away from him. Will someone please call DSS?!

Elliot's First Thanksgiving

Sadly, we weren't able to go to California for Thanksgiving this year, but we're thankful to have had a loving and welcoming home in which to celebrate. Rachel's parents, Norma and Arnold, invited us to their home for the holiday (their other home on Martha's Vineyard was featured previously on this blog). We had a lovely meal and much to give thanks for (as Rachel put it, her father began the meal with a celebratory diatribe/toast about the recent landslide victory of the Democrats). Elliot basked in the good spirits as well - despite a leaky nose, he was his typical affable self.

Here's Charlie (Rachel's husband) inviting Elliot to join us at the table.


And here's Elliot after joining the table conversation.


And one last pose from a satiated duo.

Elliot Does San Francisco

Justeen took her annual trip to San Francisco to meet her mom and sisters. Elliot went with her this year. My sense is there's only a few years remaining before Elliot refuses to go on these all-girl shopping excursions - so it's good that everyone enjoys his company now. I mean, this is not to suggest that we're going to force him into restrictive gender roles or anything, but I'm just betting odds here. Honestly, I can't much stand shopping with Justeen. She does a lot of looking through glass and not enough throwing down of plastic. It's common after Justeen has gone "shopping" for her to come back empty handed, and, most surprisingly, to be fully satisfied with the experience.

In any case, here are the photos from little e's first all-chick shopping trip. Here's the group posing for a pic.



Here's Justeen's mom when she learned what a Franciscan crab actually is.


And finally, Elliot looking innocent after a long day.

More Bouncing for Halloween

Never too tired to bounce, Elliot has a time on his friend Kathleen.

Elliot's First Halloween

Because he has long loved the song "Five Little Speckled Frogs," and because he has recently taken to the activity of bouncing, a frog was the ideal mascaraed for Elliot. When we found this "speckled frog" outfit," we decided he had to wear it.

On the Sunday before Halloween, we had a party in our community garden. Lots of people from the neighborhood came out on a beautifully blustery Fall day to parade their children in costumes, bob for apples, scavenge for junk, and beat a pinata.


Even Izzy joined the fun. He was a ladybug. And don't worry, the irony of our dog being the prey of our son was not lost on us.

Here's a group photo with all the kids. And some of the parents of those kids unable to pose.


On Halloween night (an unusually warm night here), our favorite folks (Jeannette, Guillaume and Ella) came by to help us hand out candy to neighborhood beggars (i mean, kids). As you can see, our two little speckled frogs were quite the spectacle themselves.