Eliot's 4th Birthday

I can't believe my little boy is 4 years old.  Where does the time go? Really.  The last four years have gone by so quickly.  They say that the days are long and the years are short and that is exactly how I feel.  Eliot has grown up to be my buddy, though and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I love the fact that he says "I love you" first now, without prompting.  I love that he still snuggles with me for a nap.  I love that he still touches my face for comfort.  I love that he tells me that I'm his best friend.  I love when he asks me to take care of him.  I love when he calls me baby (like I call him baby sometimes).  I love when Ted tells me how much he missed me while I was at work.  I love that one of his favorite thing to do with me is fold laundry.  I love our book reading time together.  I love playing legos with him.  I love his passion for trucks and machines.  I love how he teaches me and Ted (and everyone else) about trucks and machines.  I love the way he uses his hands to talk and sometimes bobbles his head too.  I love how he has compassion for people and animals.  There is just so much to love about my special boy and I am so beyond blessed that he is mine.  How did I get so lucky?

For his birthday, we let him pick the theme.  He wanted a garbage truck party.  Well, let me tell you, this is NOT easy! No one sells garbage truck anything! There are no garbage truck plates, balloons, party favors...nothing!  So I tried to get creative.

We picked green and orange for the colors-- the two colors you see most on garbage trucks (and because of the orange vests the sanitation engineers often wear).  Ted bought a galvanized trash can (I looked into getting minis to hold party favors but they were $6 each!).  We had Ted's co-worker do the cake-- a garbage truck, of course!  I found a garbage truck crossing sign on Ebay.  I also found some recycling stuff (books and stickers and bracelets) that I used for the party favors so we kind of integrated the garbage truck theme with recycling and called it a day.

 

When it came time to open gifts, the first one Eliot chose to open happened to be the one he's been talking about for literally months; a Bruder brand Snow Plow Truck.  He went nuts over this truck.  He could not believe his eyes.  His astonished reaction went on for about five whole minutes.  He was a very thankful and grateful boy.   Of course, he loved the rest of his gifts too, but nothing caused the reaction like that snow plow.... not even the next day (his actual birthday) when Ted and I surprised him with a ride on John Deere Tractor.  I mean, he was excited, but nothing like he was over that snow plow truck!

 

 On his birthday, we spent the day playing with all of his gifts.  We played with a rock excavation kit, a tool set, we painted monster trucks, built legos, rode the tractor, played with the snow plow (of course), dug with a bulldozer, and went to Grandpa's house so he could give Eliot his very special gift; an ipad.  It was a busy day, but Eliot said he had a great birthday!

Truck Day 2012

It's that time of year again-- that second Sunday in September when Eliot get's the most excitement of the year; Truck Day in Burlington.  This year we made the best mistake ever. One of the ads for Truck Day said it started at 9:00AM which is the ad that I read.  Apparently, all the other ads said that Truck Day started at 10:00AM, which is the time it actually started, but we went right at 9:00AM and about half of the trucks were already there and ready... and so were we!  It was perfect! No crowds, no lines, no loud honking horns from over-eager children (like there was when we left at 10:30)-- like I said: perfect!

Eliot had his usual fun time going from truck to truck.  He got to go up in a few.  He taught us about a few, explaining what they were, what they did, and why they had certain parts, etc.  At one point, one man (a truck driver) helped Eliot onto and into a truck and taught Eliot about a truck that he didn't know about.  I forget exactly what it was.... something about water, maybe sewer water... they had cameras they put under water and they watched from the truck.  I think Ted actually might have been more interested than Eliot about that one. 

At 10:00AM, we ran into some familiar faces (people who actually got there on time). 

 Before we left, Eliot really wanted to see his buddy, Mr. (Kevin) McGuire, who was the man who had an article written about him in the paper last year.  Gramma had found it and showed it to Eliot and Eliot had stated quite clearly that he wanted to meet him. He was going to be at Truck Day last year with his bulldozers.  Eliot wanted to see if we could find him again this year so we went to see if we could find him.  Not remembering what he looked like, I asked a man from the same organization if he knew Mr. McGuire and found out that I was speaking to him.  I was only slightly embarrassed.  We chatted with him a while, he gave Eliot another truck magazine and I bought a truck DVD from his table for Eliot (which Eliot loves!).  Eliot was sad to learn that his bulldozers weren't there this year, but he posed for a photo and we were off.... until next year :)

Looking Back on Our Summer; Instagram Style

I think I did a pretty good job-- OK-- maybe an alright job at keeping up with this blog until mid-july-ish.  I think that's when my life went all chaotic.  I guess one of the things I have to be thankful for is the phone camera.  It's certainly not ideal--- and not my 21 mega-pixel full-frame DSLR with luxury lens glass attached to it-- but in a pinch, it will freeze time and capture a memory and really, that's what it's all about. 

Towards the beginning of the Summer, I downloaded an app on my phone that everyone seems to be talking about called "Instagram."  It's this neat little app that can take a photo and then it allows you to edit your photo in a funky way and share it with people either via email, Facebook, Twitter, or a few other ways that I just don't get into.  So I downloaded it and I actually had some fun with it.  I'm glad that I did it too because it made me more likely to capture memories this summer when carrying five pounds of camera and lens around my neck in 90* weather didn't seem like something I wanted to do that day.  So here it is... the rest of our Summer... via Instagram!

This was Eliot's very first time miniature golfing at Pirates Cove in NH... and yes it was 90* out.  I think we made it through about the first 8 holes and then called it a day.  It was Ted, Nana, myself and Eliot.  Eliot was half entertained and half bored.  Really, honestly, I think it was 50/50.  He has since asked to go back.  I think a 9-hole course would be good for him.

 

This was at the beach at Lynch Park in Beverly, MA.  My friend Nikki and her family (from New York) came to visit for a long weekend and we played here for the afternoon before we headed up to my grandparents cottage in Sunapee, NH for the weekend.  The boys had fun digging and looking for crabs and snails.  Actually, Nikki and I had quite a lot of fun looking for crabs and snails too.  

This is just Eliot while him and I were hanging around doing some usual digging in our backyard.

 I took Ted to see Cirque Du Soleil for our 10 year dating anniversary and it was the coolest thing I think either of us has ever seen! I am dying to go and see it again.  I loved it! We don't go out very often- never mind out to see something so cool! 

 Eliot's 6 month check-up at the dentist went well! Still no cavities for my brave little boy!  He doesn't even like to bother taking any toys from the toy chest at the end of his appointment because they don't have any trucks (or anything having to do with trucks).  Pencils, puppy tattoos, GI Joes, and other do-dads just aren't for him.

 Eliot got a wooden tractor for Christmas last year that he and Ted had to put together (with screws and a screwdriver) and he finally got around to painting it.

Eliot washing off his smelly shells from a beach trip-- which turned into an excavator car wash.

Eliot riding on his skate board, which was an early birthday present from Nana-- which she didn't know about until we told her :)

This is a cast of Eliot's foot.  We found out that Eliot needs to wear braces 20-24 hours a day anywhere from 8-18months to correct his toe walking.  He almost exclusively walks on his toes.  Ted and I noticed this from an early age, but weren't concerned.  My mother-in-law also noticed and suggested we bring it up to the pediatrician, which we did who referred us to a child orthopedist.  I didn't make an appointment with the ortho until my daycare provider also mentioned something and said she had brought him over to a friend of hers who is a physical therapist and said he needs to be seen so then I decided to make the appointment.  After about a 5 month waiting period, he got into see the ortho.  He examined Eliot thoroughly and told me that toe walking could actually be a sign of very serious conditions, but thankfully Eliot did not have any other symptoms indicating any of the other scary stuff-- he simply had tight heel cords.  The Dr. told me I was smart to bring him in young and that if I had waited, he probably would have needed surgery to correct it.  We are now waiting for the braces to be made which takes about 2-3 weeks.  He should have them in another week or so.  We will call them his super boots.  

 Finally,  Eliot started preschool this year.  So far, he loves it! He loves his teachers (one in particular) and some days, he doesn't even want to leave!

That's our end of Summer update! Now, we welcome Fall and look forward to celebrating Eliot's birthday this weekend!

Eliot's First Day of Preschool

 Today was Eliot's first day of school. Ever.  I know a lot of moms (and a lot of kids) that cry streams and streams of tears, but I wasn't expecting this for Eliot nor myself.  We (as a team, because I do consider ourselves a team) are used to this.  I set up a safe place for Eliot to go for the morning (or afternoon while I work and he goes there and I am here when he gets back.  Its just what we do.  It's our routine so there was really no difference this morning other than the fact that it was new faces, both adult and child faces. 

Ted was leaving for a canoe trip with friends from work today so I made him stay home this morning from work so he could at least see Eliot off to school. 

I had picked out an adorable outfit for Eliot's first day.  Of course, he fought me tooth and nail on it.  Eliot-one, Mom-zero.

We got him ready and he told me he wouldn't let me take a picture of him before school.  I told him that it was a rule that I HAD to take a photo of him every year on his first day of school.  He finally let me.

Eliot-one, Mom-one.

We drove him to school and he was excited to show Ted the way.  Apparently, I did an excellent job picking out a preschool because we not only pass a parking lot with lots of construction vehicles, but we pass a water bay with lots of boats and a crane too.  I think I get another point for that too.

We got there and walked him in.  He took Ted over to show him a tool bench that was "just like yours, Dad and I can use it!"

We left and no tears were shed, just like I had expected.

I went back 3 hours later to pick him up and he was excited to see me and show me things he had done in the last 3 hours.  One of his teachers came up to me to tell me that he is such a good kid and she thought that the two of them would be best buddies, which is funny because when I met her at orientation, I had the same thought.  She seems just like the type of person that Eliot would warm right up to and since he is such a warm, loving and well-behaved child, why wouldn't they become best buddies?

He chatted a little with me in the car on the way home and he told me he had so much fun and asked me when Monday was.  I think he is just a little excited to go back :) 

I feel very satisfied in the preschool decision I made and I am so happy that my little guy is happy.

On another note, the whole month of August past without one blog entry from me.  I have been a crazy person with work.  Too much work! I am going to try to do some catching up and be better in September!  I hate to let this go because THIS is MY baby book.  Someday, this will be all I have to look back on for the little memories and I want to remember all the big things we did and all the little things too.  I want to be better.  Work months really get in the way!

It was a big (but successful) day in the Baker house!