The Ice Storm

We spent Elliot’s 10-month birthday like a lot of the country— inside. We had been holed up in our house since Saturday because of a winter storm, not something you see everyday in Austin, Texas. They feel as cold as the ones in Colorado, just not as white. No snow here, just a thick clear layer of ice coating everything in sight. It’s white in the morning because of the frost and very pretty. With highs of 29 degrees plus humidity, it is bone-chilling cold and we spent the week inside by the cozy fire drinking vats of hot cocoa. Drew finally braved the drive to work yesterday, and Elliot and I ventured out for a few groceries.

The great thing about having a few extra unexpected days at home is all the time we got to spend with Elliot. He is getting pretty good at cruising around. He walks all around the coffee table and anywhere else that has something for him to grab onto. When he gets nervous he plops on the ground. He still prefers to army crawl on our wood floors, but will get up on his hands and knees if he’s on a rug.

A few fun notes about Elliot right now:

• He loves to play on our bed. We knock him over, toss him into pillows, hide him in blankets, throw him up in the air. He squeals like a piglet, he loves it so much.
• Hide and seek is still a favorite game, except now he knows how to be the one to hide. This game never gets old.
  
• He is now down to one nap a day. Luckily for mom it is usually 2-3 hours in length around lunchtime. Even if he’s tired around 4pm, he will not nap.
• His favorite toys right now are his singing animal train, crawl-along and singing piano toy. Dad likes to wheel him around the house on his Radio Flyer Tiny Trike (with four wheels). He can’t quite reach his toes to the floor and balance himself yet. Now he also has a favorite kitchen cabinet he likes to open and close. He takes all the Tupperware out of it and spreads it out on the floor. He also likes to spin the spices on the lazy susan.
• He weaned to the bottle very easily just after his 9-month birthday. Now he whines for it when he sees us making one. He still likes to nuzzle but doesn’t want to suck anymore. Sad for mama but he is growing up. And since I stopped making milk anyway the entire process was easy. Now it's kind of sweet that Drew can feed him before bed and watch him fall asleep in his arms.
  
• Elliot loves the phone, and when it rings he watches me to see if I will go answer it.
• He likes to play with electronics—cell phones, remote controls, computer mice, cable boxes and calculators. Babyproofing is becoming our specialty.
• Still loves Moose & Zee on Noggin. He watches their "music videos" at noggin.com almost everyday.
  
• He cries around some toddler kids, and also really loud voices or noises, including the vacuum cleaner. We are pretty sure he will outgrow it.

Meanwhile I am working on baby #2. I am well into the 18th week now. The baby started kicking during the past two weeks, and I feel it pretty much every evening and early morning when I wake up, same as I did with Elliot. I am getting a nice little pot belly now. Drew is sure we are having a boy. I think it is a girl. We find out in a few more weeks when Dr. Polon does the big ultrasound. We decided to find out this time because with Elliot, the birth itself was so exciting that his sex was just a side detail. And for some reason we knew he was a boy anyway. This time we want to be excited about something a little sooner, kind of like opening one present a few days before Christmas.