Growing up

This has been a great summer filled with lots of weekend road trips and family parties. Now that September is here, things are starting to slow down. We are so lucky that Elliott is so easy going and pleasant! We've taken him to museums and movies and swimming pools, and he has thrived! He is becoming so independent! He can make choices like which snack to pick up and eat and which toy he wants to play with. Yesterday he dragged a small colander from the kitchen to his toy box - does that mean he claimed it? His little personality is still emerging and nothing melts me faster than his grin with his 2 bottom teeth jutting up!
Also, when he is going for the stairs or climbing on Aunt Jennie's fireplace and I clap and say "NO" he jumps and waves at me very fast and then hurries to finish before he is pulled away. So he is starting to recognize it is a no-no.

Anyway, in our living room we have 5 bookcases. 4 large bookcases with our books and 1 small bookcase that has kid DVDs, Elliott's books, and some binders and photo albums. We have placed the small bookcase at the end of Elliott's crib so it is the most visible and accessible to our little guy. He loves to pull off his books, ALL of his books and then play with them. I really don't mind this since he leaves all the other books on the bookcases alone. At least for now he does.

"Look Mom, I can get my own books!"

Brian has found that Elliott likes to "help" him clean up. Elliott can pull off the books as fast as Brian replaces them on the shelf. I just leave the books piled on the floor until Elliott is distracted somewhere else. But usually if Elliott notices you putting them away, he crawls over quickly to pull them all out again. It's like building block towers, you only build them to be knocked down, right?

Elliott is growing up! He is losing that baby look. He is becoming a little boy and that is exciting and fascinating. He is right at home now at Aunt Jennie's when we visit Grandma Cook. He has a toy box and a cupboard of magazines and phonebooks that he empties everyday. He also gets to ride Grandma's walker from the bathroom to the dining room at least once a day. I'm sure if he could only reach the handles, he'd be walking already!