Sometimes You Have to Let Go

Elliott discovered my childhood collection of legos when we rearranged our bedroom the other day. He already plays with toddler sized duplos and we had been storing the legos for when he is older but once he discovered the box, there was no way we could hide them from Elliott anymore without him asking for them every 3 seconds.

Before going on, let me say that my parents supplied with me with a large collection of legos. I loved legos! I would play for hours and hours. In addition to the standard lego sets, I had special sets that made rooms of a house, like furniture for a lego doll house. I had a complete kitchen with cupboards, tables, chairs, and that is just the tip of the ice berg. I also had a complete living room set (even with a fireplace), classroom and nursery. These special legos had smooth pieces so my kitchen table and countertops were realistic. I NEVER took these pieces apart once we had created it. Sure, I built things with the standard lego sets and took them apart often according to whatever creative whim I had, but not with the special legos.


Literally, these legos were not broken apart for about 25 years until this past weekend when Jason and Elliott dived in. They set out to build a semi-truck. And they attacked my special lego sets for apparently essential semi-truck pieces.




This is all that is left of my kitchen. The tables and chairs are completely gone.




This is all that is left of my classroom, living room and nursery.



But this is the result....a very realistic semi-truck. I thought I was pretty good at building things with legos....but Jason, he is awesome!




And this is how Elliott feels about his semi-truck.



More joy from Elliott.



Elliott is obsessed with this semi-truck and wants to play with it constantly. Note the lego people on the top. Elliott told us it was Grandpa and Elliott. Grandpa also has a red hat and a yellow coffee cup, but Elliott likes to carry those pieces around separately.

So goodbye lego doll house furniture. You didn't have a chance in a house full of boys!

Boys and Guns

Elliott is a boy. And I've been warned that the time will come when Elliott will start to play with toy guns, even if we don't buy them, that he will make guns out of sticks, legos, or other toys.

I thought I was prepared for this, but I also thought our first encounter with toys guns would come a lot later.

Today we were at Alfy's pizza and Elliott discovered their arcade room. For the longest time he was enthralled with the driving game. But then he noticed an older boy playing a shooting game with a toy gun. Elliott was captivated. He watched this boy carefully, and sure enough, as soon as the boy was done, Elliott grabbed one of the toy guns.

I didn't have the words in my brain to react to this. Several possible responses went through my mind... "Elliott, we don't play with guns. Guns are dangerous." or "Elliott you can play with toy guns when you are older." or " Yes, you can shoot at the game, but not at people." and on and on. Truthfully, I just didn't know what to say. We don't really know how we feel about the whole toy gun thing and how we're going to parent that...after all, he already attacks Jay with a lightsaber and what is the difference?

So you can imagine my relief when Elliott turned to me in pure joy and announced he was at the gas station and stuck the gun into the wall to fill up his ''truck."

Guns, we'll deal with you later!

Wake Up Puzzle!

This morning I woke up to some odd pounding noise...for a moment I wondered which neighbor had the nerve to do construction work at 7 on a Saturday morning. Then I realized the sound was coming from Elliott's room.

Jason went to investigate and discovered the little explorer had managed to reach over the end of his crib and grab a puzzle from a bookshelf.

Elliott exclaimed "I got a puzzle!"' over and over again. This is quite significant because the only words he usually says first thing in the morning are "Mama, mama, wake up!" or "I'm hungry."

After a few moments, Jason even prompted, "Do you want to go find Mama?" to which he replied, "I got a puzzle!"

Recent Pics

The force isn't with him....yet.

On his way to China.

Handsome boy.

Happy Birthday?

I'm not sure whose birthday we were celebrating today, but this morning I heard Elliott singing ''Happy Birthday" in the living room. A few minutes later he brought me a "cake"' with two "candles." Then he blew out the candles....and ate one.

Peer Pressure

Last night Elliott's buddy Jack spend the night. The boys had a wonderful time (and me too actually!) Running, shrieking with joy, and laughing filled the house (with an occasional mini crisis of some sort over a toy or something).

But something remarkable happened...I think it was Elliott's first instance of really being influenced by a friend and giving into peer pressure!

We had avacado with our dinner last night and offered the boys some too. Elliott typically refuses avacado but we keep offering anyway.

Well, last night Jack just gobbled up his avacado while Elliott watched carefully. All of a sudden, Elliott decided he needed avacado too! He ate a huge chunk in seconds and maybe actually enjoyed it!

How Many is Too Many?

Elliott LOVES stuffed animals. He calls them his babies and loves to hug them and snuggle with them. Before naps & bedtime, he will gather all of his babies and throw them into the crib.

He started with just his "boonie"(little blue dog blanket that he has had since birth) and then added "other boonie" when he discovered we had a back-up boonie for emergencies.
(and he was very excited
when he discovered there was a
3rd boonie at my parents' house!)

Then he added "baby lamb", "baby MnM", "teddy bear", and "other teddy bear" (notice the oh so original names he creates).

His crib started to get a little crowded. And then he added more. "Sully" became a favorite after watching Monsters, Inc. "Dragon'', "Ernie" and "Elephant" (actually a Dr. Suess character) soon followed.

"Baby froggie" made his move to the crib when Elliott discovered he plays a little musical tune. Elliott was delighted with froggie. Not so much us when we hear that tune (over and over again) in the middle of the night when Elliott wakes up to check on his babies.


For a while, I've been wondering how many is too many? You know for safety? I don't want Elliott to suffocate....but after all he is 2 years old and could be sleeping with a pillow and blanket that take up space in his crib too.

But the crib was starting to get rather crowded. I wondered...should I put some animals away for a while? Or is it one of those things that doesn't really matter?

Well, I finally got an answer one morning when I walked into his darkened room and had trouble finding my baby in the midst of all the babies. It was just one of those split second questionable moments, but for a second, I wasn't sure which lump was Elliott.

That's when I decided most of the babies were going on a vacation (into the closet).




Elliott hasn't asked for the missing babies yet, but I'm sure he will add more to his collection over time.

Side note: If you notice all of the babies in the photo, they are all laying down. That is not an accident. When we put him down and say goodnight, we'll hear him shuffle around for several minutes over the monitor. He places his babies all lying down, usually around the outer edge of the crib except for his two boonies, 1 under each arm.

And in the mornings...? He "wakes" them up and puts them all sitting up before he calls for me.