Ruski

Dede and Canan are visiting and Elliot's getting quite a bit of attention and loving it.
He's started feeding himself with a spoon from his bowl. He doesn't get a lot in the spoon and when he does a lot of it ends up on his chin, but his hand-eye coordination is remarkable (I think so anyway). He gets quite upset if whoever is feeding him doesn't let him feed himself as well. At least he still lets us spoon in a bite in between his 'bites.'

SIDEWAYS

I know it's awkward to watch video with your head cocked to the right, but it's too cute not to. I'll replace it with one that's right side up when I can.


Fishing from elliot on Vimeo.

Uh-oh.

We're in big trouble. Today the boy pulled himself into a standing position. By himself.
Help.

The poor guy's got his first real fever. He seems to be in a pretty good mood considering and spent most of the day nursing and napping. I hope he feels better soon.

Finicky boy

finicky boy from elliot on Vimeo.

9 month stats

height 30 inches (92%ile)
weight 21 lbs 10 oz (70%ile)
head 48 cm (92%ile)

gummy no more

Ok, he's still gummy, but a little less so. He cut his bottom right tooth! It's barely showing through and I had to bribe him with a spoon and cheerios to get a look, but it is there.

UPDATE 11/26: the tooth needed a buddy. His left bottom has broken through as well.

The O

Presenting Elliot Houdini and his magic O.


This is an ordinary O - nothing fancy.


No tricks. See?


You think it's in here, don't you?

You've been fooled! It's in his tummy.

Family

Chad's parents left yesterday after a week+ visit. We had a fantastic time with them. Elliot wasn't sold on the idea at first, but he figured it out eventually. His separation anxiety comes and goes. They got some Mim and Pepere time with Elliot and also found time to cook and eat and even do a bit more exploring of Seattle. They are fantastic house guests. No 3-day rule applies here.

Though by the looks of Elliot's face, you'd wonder what she might be feeding him.


I think the handmade teddy bear helped:


Elliot is particularly attached to both Pepere and Krishna. Maybe he's a guys' guy.

Don't they all look sharp? I promise there was no dress code.

Addiction

We thought that a day out with Sandra and Krishna would be innocent fun.

It started well:


Then Elliot fell in love. With daddy's addiction:

That is the face of the stock going up, don't you think?

cursed

Within two days of the previous post we regressed. Argh. It's gotten a bit better since then and we're nearing the 7-8 lovely hours again. Elliot seems to respond to the bedtime cues:. he hangs out with mom and dad, gets into his jammies, gets nursed and rocked and hears a few (very off-key) lullabies. He gets put into his crib when he looks sleepy but isn't yet asleep. A few weeks ago when I'd lay him down he'd stay in that semi-awake state, eyelids a bit droopy. Now he tends to go wide-eyed as soon has he's in the crib.

It's no wonder that there is so much literature and so many widely varying opinions about sleep out there. I think I secretly believed that because Chad and I are such sound sleepers and because our parents told us what wonderful sleepers we were as kids, that somehow those perfect sleep genes would be Elliot's too. It turns out that the school of thought I belong to is that babies have to learn to go to sleep by themselves and that just takes time. A Lot of time.

Giggles

This may be the best sound in the world.


laughing from elliot on Vimeo.

sleep, of course.

I'm putting a curse on it by posting this you understand.

I'm happy to report that Elliot regularly sleeps 7-8 hours before waking up at 3-3:30am to nurse. Then at 5-5:30 I bring him to our bed until we all get up. This is extremely reasonable to me right now (though Chad would like for him to sleep through until 7am- don't we all?). We're still working out kinks but I think we will be until he starts junior high, so what's new?

He's getting really fast and efficient with the army crawl. Um, maybe we should babyproof the house?

We do plan on dressing him up for this evening. I'll post pictures if it turns out. We get so many trick or treaters for so many hours that I know he'll only be up for a few of them but it will still be fun.

Update: Elliot has been entirely too fussy the last few days so we didn't end up dressing him up. I'm pretty sure he's going through the 9 month-ish growth spurt as he's been eating like his chubby leg is hollow. Thus, no pictures.

cute!

Why can't I knit?




http://www.cyn.ca/knit/patterns/brainmonster/

scoot.

I put elliot on Vimeo. You can see him there.

wow!

Just look at these four! We had a great time what with Nonnie and Mom and the McGirls visiting, there wasn't much time for blogging, but NOW, all we're doing is designing a bathroom and a baptism ceremony, so there's plenty more time!

Elliot is sleeping much better. It took us a while to understand and accept the pseudo-ferberology (for those who aren't raising infants in the 21st century, that's the PC term for 'crying it out'). But we are all getting much more sleep.

Still no teeth, still no crawl, but the Grandma taught Elliot how to wave bye-bye! It's so cute when you wave at him and he clenches his own hand at himself! Well, Elif is sure a lot better at doing this with a wriggly baby than I, so I sign off,

Chad.

visits!

It's hard to blog when one is not sleeping. And when one doesn't sleep, neither do the rest. It's been up and down. Enough said.

Today Nonnie arrives followed by Grandma & Aunt Melanie! It's Nonnie & Elliot's first meeting and he's VERY excited. We get to spend the whole weekend together before they leave Monday. Next weekend we'll host all 5 lovely McGirls at our house. Break out the camera, people.

We brought the custom built-in bench home. It still needs to be stained before installation (which I will do if it looks like we have a few days of good weather in a row-we're not holding our breath) but it looks amazing.

Ode

The sleep, she is fickle and distant.

1 week shy of 7 months

Stats are as follows:
20.5 lbs (80th %ile)
29.25 inches (97th %ile)
head circumference (93rd %ile)

Sleep: went down very easily which probably means all hell is going to break loose in an hour or so.

Negatory

Let's just rewind and pretend that I never posted that last entry.
The sleeping? It has regressed. Many months.

Two nights ago he was awake and crying every 5-10 minutes for the few hours before we went to bed. Eventually I just brought him to our bed because, hey, we all need sleep.

Last night was better but nothing like the nights where the world was right and the angels were singing and the birds chirped in the morning.

Next time remind me to bite my tongue.

sleep improvements

Elliot's in the process of perfecting falling asleep. He used to fuss and eventually roll over. For almost the last 2 weeks he's skipped the fussing and is getting better about just closing his eyes when he's tired. He's not there yet but he's getting the hang of it. The middle of the night wakings are still tough. He's still getting up an average of 3 times each night. He's been able to sooth himself to sleep a few times after just 30 seconds or so but it's not a regular thing at all. Sometimes he just wants a pacifier; other times after even an hour he's not asleep again and I feed him just so I can sleep and get up for work. I know I'm enabling him but sleep deprivation takes over.

I'm glad we didn't end up using the Ferber Method of crying it out simply because it didn't feel right for us. I felt like it was the only option left but now when I see him going to sleep on his own for naps and bedtime I know he's getting the hang of it. Hopefully that will spill into his middle of the night wakings as well.

kisses

Elliot has been gumming up our faces and necks for a few weeks now. Open mouthed, gummy, slobbery kisses. It's Really Sweet and yet Wet.

His other new trick is treating Daddy and I like jungle gyms. A leg? He's going to try and get over it, grunting and squeaking the whole time. A shoulder? Just a stepping stone to rip leaves off of the houseplants.

We are not safe, people. Between the slobber, the talon-like nails and the mobility, I'm pretty sure we're in big trouble.

Seattle summer

Elliot's moved on to avocados. Though he looks otherwise in the picture, don't let him fool you. He wasn't too excited about the avocados. That's just becoming his response to seeing a camera. We're still trying but his love of green smooshy foodstuffs is developing slowly.


It's been a pretty mild summer which means a lot of gorgeous days- Not too hot, not too much rain. It's been fantastic. Yesterday we met with friends at a beach and had a picnic.

Wow, we are pale.

Thanks Uncle Nick!

For Elliot in action click here.

sleeeeep

First knock wood---

Then you can know that Elliot slept from 7:15pm until 4:25am.

WOOHOO!!!!

Now knock wood again, please.

Laundry Round 2 - 6 months

It's amazing how big Elliot has gotten. He is so alert and pays close attention to everything. You can almost see his brain cells forming new connections. Go, synapses, go!

He turned six months on Saturday and looking back at old photos and videos it's amazing to see how big and how aware he's gotten. He looks more like a little person and less like a baby. This past Friday he started scrunching up his face, closing his eyes and shouting. Cute, eh?

Check out video of his first solid foods:
rice cereal
bananas

Solids- ho!

Today Elliot got to try some very soupy rice cereal. I don't know how much of it he actually consumed, but he enjoyed himself immensely. He's 5 1/2 months. We'll probably wait a few more days before introducing fruits/veggies.

I think he's taken to solids- he's trying to eat the edge of the desk right now.


p.s. Nick helped Devrim sew lily pads for Elliot's room.

Pap-tacular!

Pap is inducted into the NSA Hall of Fame:
Here's the link.

He's so awesome.

By popular demand...

Here are a couple more pics taken recently. This weekend was very relaxed; we only primed the deck posts. Then it rained. Then Buddy ate the garbage. Then we napped. It was delicious (the nap, not the garbage eating dog)!

We Love You!
Chad

Grandma

If you're not sure how to coordinate for a photo, just use the McGirls Legs method. See above.

We got to spend a few days with Grandma this weekend. Elliot had been talking less in the last weeks- still humming but not as much cooing and babbling. It's back...she got him talking and the adorable faces that went with it are back. Of course, every time the camera comes out he gets a blank look on his face, much like the one in the post below as well as the picture above. He's laughing a lot right now- I'll try to get some more of it on video while he's unaware.

The neglect-o-saucer is becoming a new favorite. We started with the neglect-o-matic recliner, moved onto the neglect-o-mat and have graduated to the saucer. He figured out most of the toys on the tray immediately. I need to buy more online.

We love the visits. Elliot gets a few days of Even More love and so do we!

Stats!

Stats one week shy of being 5 months:
28 inches (97%)
18lb 15 oz (92%)
45 cm noggin (92%)

We're off to the park!

Can he be almost 5 months already?

I started back to work last Thursday. Elliot gets to spend time with Vrim and I get to exercise my brain and have adult interaction. I'm glad it's only 20 hours- I'm pretty sure I would have hated being away full time. He's been fussy with Vrim a lot of the time and doesn't like the bottle. Thursday was especially difficult as he spent a lot of the day crying and wouldn't be calmed easily. I'm pretty sure he's at the age where he's starting to notice when mommy and daddy aren't around. I know it will get better and he'll get used to spending time away from Chad and I. It's funny that in a few years I know he'll be begging to spend time with Vrim because, let's face it, she's way cooler than Mom & Dad.

Today we're going to get the next round of vaccinations. I'm also going to talk to her about starting Elliot on solids. We think he's ready. He's still up every 3 hours at night to eat and I really think he'd stay down longer if he had more in his tummy.

He's grasping objects really well, is nearly sitting up on his own and has recently started lunging for objects and people. About 3 weeks ago he started reaching for the food, plates and glasses on the table so eating with him on our laps has gotten more and more challenging.

He's adjusting to his crib pretty well. We're trying to take turns putting him to bed so he'll allow either one of us to do it as he gets older (fingers crossed). We've developed a routine and he seems to be taking to it well.

Though Elliot started rolling from back to tummy at about 3 months, he's really doing it often now. Chad's gone in to find him on his tummy in his crib more than once. He's a really strong guy.

We're off to run errands. Yay Costco!
Love,
Elif

East Coast- whew!

We had quite a trip. We tried to count the number of family and friends that had met Elliot on the trip during one of the many car rides and stopped when we hit 50. Elliot handled all of the traveling quite well and only seemed to melt down after too long in a room with lots of rambunctious little & not so little people around. We have a vocal family.

Elliot had a lot of firsts on this trip- the main goal, seeing as much family and as many friends as possible, was definitely achieved. He got to swim in the lake at Mim and Pepere's cottage. He learned to use his outdoor voice (indoors). He learned to lean over to grab beer bottles. He's officially very good at grabbing at things on tables. The rims of cups in particular seem to be an easy target. He's definitely watching people eat and follows the food from their plates to their mouths. I'm going to ask his doctor about starting solids when we see her next week. He still consistently wakes up every 3 hours at night to eat. Mommy would love to sleep a little longer.

When we got home, we made the transition from sleeping in our room in the cosleeper and our bed to his crib in his own room. The first night was not fun. He protested and woke up often. Though we didn't let him cry it out on his own, we did let him fuss while we tried to console him without picking him up too much. I almost relented and brought him into our room but I know that this will only be harder as he gets older and more used to spending the night in our room. Eventually it will be nice to be able to move and pull up the covers without worrying about steam-rolling Elliot.

He smiles and giggles constantly. His dexterity has really increased quite a bit. He gets such a concentrated look on his face at times when he's trying to grasp something. He's good at manipulating things with his toes too. He really had fun grabbing at his feet and legs during the trip east- probably because we had him in disposable diapers and he was able to maneuver more easily. Vrim calls them 'thigh exhibitors' because his chunky fat rolls hang out with the disposables. It almost makes me want to keep using them. I have to admit that they're easier, but they sure do smell a lot worse than the cloth.

We had a fabulous trip. We're thoroughly exhausted. We got to spend time with a lot of people we adore that we don't get to see too often living on opposite coasts. We ate fantastic meals and saw beautiful landscapes. Life is good.

Much love,
Elif

PS New pictures from the trip are up on Snapfish.

Back home

Aren't they cute? This is Elliot's first enjoyable bath. Dennis built him his own mini-hottub in Vegas!

Seriously though, Elif, Elliot and Tito threw me an awesome Dad's Day complete with music, gourmet food and fun projects. We all need to have weekends like that more often.

So this is just a short post to say hi and we can't wait to head East... it's getting palpable. I can already feel the humidity. Someone here asked us if we were worried about the mosquitos and West Nile and the heat! Um, yeah we're a little spoiled out here, but umm.... no, we're not worried at all.

We got to video call Dede in Cesme on Sunday and it was soo cool. He looks very handsome and Elliot was reacting to the video onscreen. Apparently we have a good webcam... (nudge, nudge)

Love You Guys!

Chad

Daddy

Happy Father's Day to all of ours!

Children's Day?

Elliot has taken to the webcam rather well. He likes watching himself, a little vain, just like Daddy. We applied for his passport this week. The worker told us 3 months plus. ha!

Elliot got me a CD for Father's Day. He's much better than me. I got my parents bubkiss. I'll try to call, but I'm not even very good at that. I can only hope to be such a good father for Elliot. Mostly I make him giggle or cry right now.

Tomorrow we'll go check out the Fremont Solstice Parade if the weather is OK. The 'highlight' is the nudey bicyclists prior to the actual parade. They wear body paint ... mostly.

Tonight is disjointed and forced, but it's Friday. Good night.

Chad

fussy...

Elliot has regressed into a grumpy guy at night. For weeks he's been going to sleep easily at night. (Naps have never really been an issue.)

Since we got back from Las Vegas, he has ended his days by crying and screeching. I don't think it's because he's overly tired because it doesn't matter what time we start. As soon as we lay him down, it starts. The last two nights have been a bit better- he goes to sleep without a show but wakes up a while later with a cry and is the unhappiest guy. It's like he realizes that this is going to be a long nap and wants no part. Ugh.

And his addiction to the pacifier is solid. When he lets it go, he often wakes up. Any ideas people out there?

picnic

We had a picnic today - Seattle has been gorgeous lately - 80s and sunny. I think Elliot's favorite still is staring at leaves.


These are friends from our child birth classes. Their daughter is 12 weeks old and such a cutie. I don't know how she lifts her cheeks.

Elliot is starting to look at babies and reacts to them as he does people. He also seems to be noticing Tito more these days. Tito is still only interested in drive-by kisses, but we're ok with that...

Yay Elliot!

It turns out he's a fantastic traveller (not that we're surprised). The flights were easy and we barely over packed. Coming home, of course, we had to check not one but two boxes. Thanks Grandma and Aunt Melanie! (and of course, the Gymboree outlet...)

I think Elliot's in withdrawal from a marked decrease in smooches and nibbles. Grandma didn't keep her hands and lips off of him!

Living apart from family took on a different meaning when we were getting close to Elliot being born. I was lucky to have my aunt and cousins in town and we spent a lot of time together, took road trips, etc. We chose Seattle because of Devrim, the city itself and job opportunities and we knew that no matter where we lived we'd be far from a lot of our family. Having a baby makes it even harder because we know that trips to see grandparents, aunts, uncles will be months/years apart. It just means that we will spend more money on travelling and Elliot will love seeing new places as much as we do.

Elif.

Vegass-bound

I took Elliot in for a recheck of his ear and eyes today. His ear is fine but we need a few more days of eye ointment. I have a feeling this is just the beginning of many infant/toddler/kid trips to the pediatrician. I feel like pregnancy was more nerve wracking, though, since you can't tell if he's sick or well in utero...

We're off to Vegas this weekend to see Grandma and Grandpa. We can't wait! Wish us well with the flights...

Thanks for Tito-sitting, Heidi!

daddy pants

When does becoming a dad make you wear shorts like these?

In Chad's case, far before you become a daddy.




Thanks for the flowers Carly, Shaun & Matthew!

update:

Update after visiting the doc:
the slight congestion Elliot's been experiencing was probably a cold even though he didn't have any other symptoms. That cold's moved into his right ear and his eyes. This is the result of the 40 minutes since we left her office.

Poor guy.

Rollin'...

Yesterday Elliot and I were hanging out together when I realized that instead of looking at his cooing self, I was looking at his tush. He rolled from his back to his front! He arches his back and tilts his head back and often ends up on his side, but this is the first time he's made it all the way over.

This counts as rolling over, people, does it not?

Today he woke up with gooey yellow stuff on his eyelashes so we're going to make a visit to his pediatrician. Never a dull moment.

Love,
Elif

You don't think he got the eye goo from this guy, do ya? Hi, Greison!

visitation!

we got tickets! we got tickets!

Mom and Dad finally got off their butts and bought tickets to the right coast for the week before the 4th of July. Now we can all bask in the glow that is Elliot. Jeff and Lisa wrote about the Babymoon before we realized that it got a lot better! We are increasingly smitten with our kiddo.

Looking forward to the physical familytime,
Chad

Giggling

Chad often holds Elliot around his belly and tells him that he's going to squeeze smiles out of him. It usually works and Elliot will smile and coo at Chad.

Today, though, while we were at Devrim's for a fantastic Mothers' Day sushi dinner, Elliot giggled out loud.

I melted on the spot.

Before now we'd only ever heard him giggle in his sleep. He smiles and coos often and will even make a "heh" sound while he's smiling, but something about today made him giggle like it was the funniest thing he'd seen this far. And maybe it was.

Elif

welcome to fiftygrass!

or is it 50grass?

or 50gr4ss?


anyhow, we're developing this so our people can even More easily find info and really cute and not so cute and run on sentences about your favorite baby, Elliot aka fiftygrass

Elli (pronounced 'EL-lee') is the number 50 in Turkish and Ot (pron. 'OAT') is... guess what... grass ... in Turkish.

so there you have it: El-lee-OAT.

Please enjoy fiftygrass' blog and be sure to leave comments here or on the pictures over on snapfish.com. This way we can all interact. Although we're miles and kilometers and far apart, electrons travel really fast and love travels farther and faster.

Here goes!
Chad