Jamaica, Mon!

We had a wonderful family vacation in Jamaica. We stayed at Beaches Boscobel, which was exactly what we were looking for (however, why anybody without kids would ever go there is beyond me!?!) We ate, we drank, we swam, we had a blast!

This was Elliott's first plane ride. We were a little worried about how he would do on the plane, but he really enjoyed flying. This picture pretty much sums up his feelings : "Ooooh!"

It was a precarious two-hour trip to the resort in what I would loosely call a shuttle bus. But after traveling most of the day, we finally arrived to this:

And this:

Beaches resorts are geared specifically towards families, and they are affiliated with Sesame Street (big plus for us) and many of their resorts have water parks. Elliott enjoyed the toddler area of the water park. For some reason, he called this crab a "ladybug" the entire time we were there and would try to slide down the back of it (note: NOT a slide) while going, "Weeeee!" Real water slides were about 10 feet away, which Elliott adamantly refused to go down them.

My two island boys:

Bret drinking his Cuba Libres:

Me drinking the "Bartender's Special":

A funny story: The resort had a raffle one night to benefit the children of Jamaica. Midway through the raffle, Elliott walks up to the table, pulls off this straw purse, brings it to me, and says, "Here you go, Mom." We all laugh, make Elliott take it back and not 3 seconds later, we win the purse. Seriously. Golden touch, this kid. (Note to self: Must take Elliott with me to buy lottery tickets.)

Elliott liked using the purse as his a pouch for Frog (Of course Mr. Frog came to Jamaica! Could it really be a family vacation without him??)

We took a glass bottom boat ride. As usual, I spent the entire trip wanting to vomit over the side of the boat. But the boys seemed to have fun. (Elliott's first boat ride!)

Not too sick to take a picture of Elliott's cute piggies.

Picture of the resort from the boat:

Elliott had his share of fancy-pants drinks. Here he is drinking a pina colada, but his favorite was a Mickey Mouse (a strawberry banana concoction). Elliott would sit at the swim up bar, and looking quite at home, would say, "Mick Mouse peas."

The first day we were at the pool, the lifeguards brought rafts to the pool about an hour after it opened. Holy poop... it was like the Swimming of the Bulls. Grown men and women were running down small children to get to a raft first. Elliott did NOT get a raft, and was soooo upset about this, it pretty much ruined his whole morning. He just stood at the end of the pool with his bottom lip sticking out, and refused any of our attempts to redirect him. (Seriously, these people must have had hearts of stone.) However, the next day, we were on it. We placed Bret in optimal raft-obtaining position, and we succeded (no children were maimed in the process.) Elliott was freaking OVERJOYED, rode it happily for about 10 minutes, and we were able to pass it on. (NOW, is that SO HARD people??? Geeez, my 2.5 year old can share the raft... what is your problem?)

What would a trip to Jamaica be without a little steel drum action during breakfast?

Here's a picture of Elliott eating at Arizona's, our fave restaurant, located on a deck over the ocean. Their steaks were DIVINE.

As I mentioned before, Beaches is associated with Sesame Street, so all our favorite characters were there, and several nights they did awesome stage shows.

We were wary at first, but Elliott LOVED the Kids Club. One morning, Elmo came to "Elmocize" with the kids. Elliott totally geeked out. As soon as Elmo walks through the door, Elliott drops to his hands and knees and tells Elmo, "EH-MO! X-cise! Do push ups!"

So, here are our pictures of Elliott exercising with Elmo (this was probably my favorite part of the trip):

Elliott finally gets to do push-ups with Elmo:

Picture of the kiddie pool:

Thanks to the Kids Club, Bret and I even got a dinner on our own:

The plane ride home was kind of a bummer. This picture was taken about 5 minutes before Elliott pukes all over the two of us. But we managed...

A great trip! I think it is one Elliott will remember for a long time.

Play On, Brother... Play On

From an early age, Elliott has had a love of all things music. I credit a lot of this to Kindermusik classes which Elliott has been attending since he was about 10 months old. Even when he was itty bitty, we listened and danced to music constantly. He also had his own baby theme song - "Eh-Li-Ott, Eh-eh-Li-Ott, Eh-Li-Ott, Eh-eh-Li-Ott..." which we bounced him to pretty much from the moment he was able to hold his head up (he still remembers this!)

Well, here we are at 2 and a half... and he is absolutely passionate about music these days, especially about instruments. His favorite instruments are the flute, the violin, the piano, and the guitar. He would watch people playing instuments on YouTube for hours (if we let him!) He especially loves to watch Greg Patillo's beatboxing flute and the hip hop violinist Miri Ben-Ari.

Here is Elliott playing his recorder, which he calls his "flute." Elliott now does his version of beatboxing flute (we have yet to get this on video, but I'm working on it!)

And here is Elliott with his pride and joy, his new, real guitar. He loves that he can strum the strings and he likes to "tune" it.

Here's a little sample of Elliott playing his flute. Just want to show you what I get to listen to all day. I jest... he's really not that bad at doodling on it!

Mr. Frog

First of all, my sincerest apologies to my readers on not posting anything for a month and a half!!! This summer has been a whirlwind of crazy as I have been busy starting my own business and Bret has been working feverishly to finish the long-winded process of getting his license for work. That being said...

The summer has been awesome, wonderful, and fantastic. Maybe I'll get around to posting some pictures (or maybe I won't), but Elliott has had a summer full of Busch Gardens, hot and sweaty summer days, fireworks, swimming, music... the list goes on and on. AND, we're going on our first big vacation in a couple of weeks to JAMAICA. But this post isn't to talk about any of that. This post is about Mr. Frog.

If you know Elliott, then you know Mr. Frog and the important role he has in our lives. Mr. Frog is Elliott's best buddy, his lovey, pretty much his everything with the exception of Mom and Dad. Wherever Elliott goes, usually Mr. Frog is not far behind. Nicknamed "Frog," I am much more likely to know his whereabouts than, say, my car keys, wallet, sunglasses, or brain.

Friday evening we tuck Elliott in with his usual routine: stories, rocket ship blast off into the crib and an effusion of kisses. With giddiness, Bret and I come downstairs all excited about ice cream on the couch and a non-cartoon movie. About 20 minutes into the movie we hear a little voice through the monitor, "Need help. Dad, need help." I look at Bret and offer to check out the "situation," even though Elliott didn't really sound upset.

I trudge upstairs, open up the room, and there's Elliott laying in his bed. He looks up at me and says, "Gross," and holds his closed hand out to me. Now, on occassion, Elliott will blow out a massive boogie and hands it to me (hey, motherhood is not a sanitary job... don't judge). Assuming this is the "situation" warranting my immediate attention, I say, "Awww, honey, do you have a boogie?" and I go to grab it out from between Elliott fingers. Hmmm. That's kind of mushy. I bring it up closer to my face to get a better look in the night-lighted room, but it never makes it there, because I smell it. I'm holding a glob of poop. In my hands. Poop. HOLY S--T, I'M HOLDING POOP! IN MY BARE HANDS!

Ok, so I take a deep breath... well, not literally, because it stinks... and call to Bret for help. We get Elliott out of the crib, wash his hands multiple times, change his diaper, and inspect the crib.

So, you are now probably wondering why this is a story about Mr. Frog. Well, as I'm thanking my lucky stars that I didn't wait to see what was wrong with Elliott, because by some miracle, Elliott hadn't smeared poop all over his crib - I remember Frog. The frog my son loves to clasp in his little (recently poop-covered) hands and rub all over his face in a movement of comfort. I grab Frog, silently praying, and start sniffing him all over. Oh no, there, on his little green belly where I can so easily imagine my son's fingers grasping its middle, I smell poop. In a very brief moment, I shamefully consider giving the animal to Elliott any how, but quickly admit that even if this means Elliott not being able to sleep, I MUST WASH THE FROG, now one hour after Elliott's original tuck-in.

Preparing myself for the worst, I explain the situation to Elliott. He looks at me woefully, and says, "Nooooo, Frog!!!" Expecting the mother of all tantrums, I have Elliott pick out a couple of other stuffed animals and tuck him back into bed. Waiting for the wails, I close his door and hear it click. Silence.

That's right, my super trooper of a little man went to bed without Frog. I washed and dried Frog and before going to bed, slipped into Elliott's room to deposit Frog. There was my little man, with his blue bear tightly tucked under one arm, sleeping peacefully. I left Frog next to Elliott on the pillow.

Who knew we could survive without Mr Frog?

Well, at least until 2 am, when Elliott woke up wailing until he found Mr. Frog laying on his pillow, as if he had been there the whole time.

Speak the Truth

For dinner, I made my famous pizza from scratch. Bret says it's his favorite pizza, and I get all excited when Elliott eats it, because in this house, I count pizza sauce as one of the few vegetables Elliott will eat.

Mine and Elliott's pre-dinner conversation went something like this:

Me: What do you want with your pizza? Do you want an apple?

E: No.

Me: Do you want some carrots and dressing?

E: No.

Me: Do you want a yogurt?

E: No.

Me: Well, Elliott, you can't just have pizza for dinner. What do you want with your pizza?

E: Chocolate.

That's what I get for asking a 2-year old what he wants for dinner.

Well, we compromised with apple sauce. And he got a (Shhh! Whole Wheat) Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin for dessert. Another Mommy Specialty. Now, that's what we call a win-win-win.

And yes, he's texting at the dinner table. Can't win them all...

Elliott Emotes

Elliott has been practicing his emotions:

Elliott HAPPY...
Elliott ANGRY...
Elliott SURPRISED...

And my personal favorite, Elliott SAD...

Yay!! Summer is Here!

We are SO excited that summer is here. Festivals, fairs, outdoor concerts, here we come!



On Friday of Memorial weekend, we attended our first outdoor concert of the season with our friends. We ate hot dogs and BBQ on our picnic blanket and danced to live music. The weather was pretty much as close to perfect as it gets, and Elliott was living it up.

Elliott rocks out, while that older kid with his hands in his pockets looks on enviously. He wishes he was that cool. :)

Elliott dances with his best bud, Travis (green hat). Elliott idolizes Travis; he follows Travis around, saying "Tra-Bis," and Travis is wonderful with him.

Handsome.

This would be a picture of Elliott dancing the Cha Cha Slide.

"Everybody clap your hands..."

Tidbit

Looking at one of Elliott's picture books before his nap, I point out a picture of one of those old, rotary phones.

I ask, "Elliott, what's that?" as I point to the phone. He repeats the question to me. I say, "It's a phone." A brief look of disbelief crosses his face. And then he says, "Camera?"

"No, no. Its not a camera. It's a phone," I reply. He repeats, "Camera," slightly more adamently. That's when I realize, he doesn't think this phone is a camera. He thinks all phones HAVE cameras.

Welcome, Mommy, to the IPhone generation.

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, we went to the aquarium at the beach. Elliott was a little cranky at first (he's in this obsessive, button-pushing phase and is not happy when we make him stop pushing a button, even if it is just to move on to the next button), but once we got outside and could run around a bit, he was much happier. As we passed people on the path, Elliott would walk up to them and say "Hello!" He's such a social kid!

Didn't your Momma ever tell you it's never too early to learn about sediment?? (Meerkat was able to accompany us to the aquarium. Mr. Frog had to stay in the car for his own protection.)

Elliott was relatively unimpressed by the scuba diver in the aquarium. Maybe this would be more entertaining if he ran back and forth in meerkat fashion?

Elliott thought this giant nest was pretty cool. "Nest! Eggs! Hatch!"

Elliott sitting on the egg to help it hatch. It is an awkward, uncomfortable job, but somebody's got to do it.

Hmmm, this seemed like more fun in the last picture. Why isn't this egg hatching yet?

Best Buds and Sunny Days

Elliott and his best bud, Hayden, loved playing in the water together. Here are some great shots of the two of them spraying each other and being sprayed!

Unfortunately, Hayden's family had to move last week, so Elliott is a little lost without his best friend. Elliott sets out a car for Hayden when he plays cars, and asks for Hayden when we go to the playground. But we got to hang out lots before they left, so he has some great memories to last him until we can take our own Great Big Adventure to visit them!

Tidbit

On our way out to get some lunch today, I turn onto the road leading to our favorite local BBQ place (as in mine and Bret's) and Elliott yells, "Wait!" from the back seat of the car. I ask him, "What's wrong?" and in his little toddler lisp, Elliott says, "Chick-Fil-A!," pointing in the other direction.

That's right. I TURNED AROUND and took my son and husband to Chick-Fil-A for lunch because it was the first time Elliott has requested any restaurant, much less so adamantly. You can go ahead and call me "SUCKER."

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day friends! As you know, I don't get political or opinionated in my blog. It is a blog dedicated to my beautiful son and how I enjoy every minute of his wide-eyed exploration of our world. However, I'm going to break the rule today and get a little didactic, because I can't think of any issue any more relevant to Elliott. Take care of our planet, because I want Elliott to be able to enjoy it for all his days too. I don't want Elliott to have to tell his kids about how the Earth used to have ice at the poles or for him to have to colonize Mars. Here's five excellent reasons to save the planet:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Do you want to tell that face that you didn't do your part?

Some things we do in hopes of a more sustainable future: recycle everything we can from bottles to junk mail to scraps of paper, grow our own vegetables in our garden, compost our food scraps (and fertilize our garden with it!), use reusable bags, use grey water (from our baby pool) to water our flowers, turn off and unplug when not in use, set a thermostat a litle warmer in the summer and a little colder in the winter, shop at the local farmer's market, Bret carpools to work... we believe we can make a difference. Will you help?