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August 28, 2007

Eli's 18 months old

My baby is eighteen months old and he can say NO. Really well. It's not a short, terse NO. It is the sweetest, most drawn-out NO I've ever heard.

waiting game 1

Eli is really picking up more words than just NO. We occasionally get a 'yes', a lot of 'more' (typically screamed), 'eat', 'milk', 'snack', 'cracker', 'yogurt' and still get 'downstairs' every morning. He is into naming body parts now, on himself and others, like 'ears', 'nose', and 'mouth'. He pretty much mimics most words we speak to him, and he still signs a lot, too. In fact, his first full sentence was signed, "More, please."

waiting game 2

The thing I'm loving the most about this kid right now is his incredible sweetness... it is at his core. It may be his spontaneous Gus hugging, or his sharing of snacks, or his hugs. I get lost in the moment with him.

waiting game 3

Posted by janna at 08:12 PM | Comments (0)

August 27, 2007

Sometimes it's hard to write

This blog is meant to be a baby book, of sorts, although my babies don't seem so much like babies anymore. It's meant to be an easy way for me to capture little moments that I don't want to forget, and that I want Gus and Eli to later have record of. But, man... sometimes it's hard to write.

Sometimes I don't want to remember certain weeks of time, like, oh, two weeks ago when we were all sick and down for the count. I'm not even going to go into detail here because it makes me feel whiny even mentioning it this much. Within that week, where I would have hoped to have found resolve and some kind of strength to keep it together for the greater good, I was just acting like a baby. Let's not linger on this too much.

We have just returned from Iowa, where my Mom had her knee replaced. In under twenty-four hours, she was walking on it. Within 72 hours, she was walking down 20 stairs to avoid the tornado heading towards Omaha (oh, and did I mention she went back up after?). She is superwoman.

I must go to bed. Eli is asleep in his bed... a BED. Not a crib. This has been somewhat of a challenge, but not as bad as I had anticipated. He actually stays on and sleeps through the night (until tonight, because I must surely be putting some kind of karma out there that will wake him up).

Posted by janna at 11:44 PM | Comments (0)

he's half-Iowan, you know...


he's half-Iowan, you know..., originally uploaded by jannacybill.

Posted by janna at 11:43 PM | Comments (0)

August 05, 2007

S.O.S.

Seriously.

We're having a wonderful weekend here in DeVylder land, with my cousin visiting for the weekend and the weekend also full of friends and birthday parties. Tonight, after a mishmash dinner, we decided to go out for ice cream. By this point, it's 7. I know I'm pushing it with the kiddies, but it's that kind of night. Eli shares some ice cream with me (but he keeps taking my spoon out of the bowl so he can put his in... smart and sassy, and makes me say 'HEY!' in my best New Yorker accent). Usually Eli is taking two naps for us on the weekends, but today he only had one.

This is all back-fill to bring you, kind reader and answerer of my SOS call, up to the present, because I'm now dealing with an over-tired, over-sugared 17-month old. It cannot be good.

We're home after ice cream. It's now about 8:05 pm. I get Eli immediately ready for bed. We come upstairs, we read a couple of books, and then I put him in his crib. I turn out the light. He starts to cry, so I stand there for a minute. As my eyes acclimate to the dark, I see that in his frustration, Eli is attempting to climb out of his crib. I don' t worry, as I have never seen him do this before, and he couldn't possibly...oh my... he's not... wait. Is that his LEG on top of the railing? Wait, am I actually catching Eli as he is falling out of the crib?

I am. (side note: this is the SECOND time I have saved him from smashing his skull today, and I say this without exaggeration.)

Ok, so now I am freaked out on the inside. I put him back in the crib, and he starts to attempt to climb out again.

I call John up. I explain what just happened. And instantly we were coming up with plan B... you know plan B, the one we're supposed to have pre-planned, where we figure out how the f**K we get a 17-month old to sleep in a bed?

It's now 8:45. And we're moving his dresser out of his room (because he most certainly will climb on it), we're moving the rocking chair, we're moving his chest out (the one that was in front of the window that looks over the stairs... don't ask, I have NO idea why we have a window inside). We're trying to cover the cubby hole that has the toddler bed in pieces, as there is no way we can assemble the frame at this point, and just need to make sure Eli doesn't go on an expedition. Because at this point, there is NO way I can let him sleep in his crib, I would be freaking out all night.

We bring the toddler aerobed in, and then I stay with Eli to figure out how we get him to sleep.

I lay down with him. He's crawling all over me. And the whole time I'm thinking, I have no idea what I'm doing. I have no idea how to do this. I start to sit on the end of the bed so he can have some space. He crawls down and finds me in the darkness, climbs into my arms, and starts to say 'mmm' to kiss me. Again. and Again.

At one point he finds my upper arm and blows big, fat raspberries. Again. and Again.

And this whole time, I'm telling myself it's ok I don't have a clue, because that is what the Internet is for, right? I can figure it out before the next night.

I finally step out somehow, about 40 minutes later, even though Eli is still semi-awake. I went back in to check on him, using the glow of John's iPhone to show me where Eli was in relation to his bed (I KNEW it was worth the money), and I found him half on/half off. I managed to get him on his bed completely, but will he stay? I think I'll be sleeping with one eye open tonight.

Posted by janna at 11:29 PM | Comments (1)