Prelude to a Bunny

Eli dictates:

On one such day we were riding in a trolley and guess who was there? The Easter Bunny! The Easter Bunny! The Easter Bunny! The Easter Bunny! And on the first red trolley with the stripes went to an area with a junction and you could turn around or go straight. Then the trolley turned around when we got there and then we came back to the trolley museum. And then we rode on an orange train - an orange-striped train. And then in the middle of the trip all the lights turned off. It was silent and still. People of the engineer went to fix it and it was because the wheels had fell off of the trolley. See the red trolley here.  And it went to a big warehouse full of trolleys. The trolley is now just like roaming around and on the way back we turned on a big mmmmmmmm mmmmmmm mmmmmmm {making circular motions with fingers here}. The trolley came way back back back back back back back back to the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum.  And then there was an Easter Egg hunt where you get to get 7 eggs. And then you make these craft thingies. Oh for spacious skies

This is me in the line of bunnies

On another such day, we were driving around in the car and then we came to a Bunny Lady who was crazy. And there and here there were thousands of bunny stuff. And then there were these boot-head things like turtles and space ship blow-up buds. And we walked around, taking pictures and we saw some cute thingies, like a big parade of bunny stuff. And all of the sudden it was time to go. And we rode away and that was the story.

The Last Supper

Thousands of bunnies
everywhere

Bunnies on a clothes-line.

Me near the bunny McDonalds Drive-Thru

The circle of bunnies with the chair in it... and me.

Me and Seb in the grass near the bunnies

The goose-berry net with me near it (and the bunnies). {Eli calls
bushes like that goose-berry nets... which I think he got from
Peter Rabbit, so that's very Easter-y, no?}

For Easter at my school I made an egg. A water-colored egg. And that was the story.

Note from the parents:  The story of what we did for Easter in NYC will follow.  The events here chronicled took place a week before Easter.

A Tale of Two Schools... by Eli

Eli Dictates:

In my school back in Tuscaloosa there was a special thing you could do and that was you play instead of working.  There were lots of toys and I was really in to things.  There was a HUGE playground. My school had a person up at the front of the school that you sit with if you are being bad. In my Friendly Frogs room back in the school there is lots of toys only there is the baddest person, which is ##### {redacted}. In the back of the Friendly Frogs room there is a toy kitchen....and in the kitchen you can play. Now we're talking about the rug in the middle of the Friendly Frogs classroom.  On it near it there is a snack table that you get to eat snack or lunch at. There is a big shelf on the side of the classroom and above it is the months of the year on the wall and there is a pointer to point with and you can point it onto the months of the year that are hung onto the wall so that you can tell the months when you point it. And on them it says the order of the months of the year: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December. And the order of them goes from January to December.  It starts out by January and then it goes to February, but it keeps going till it gets to December. And then it is a new year after the last of December. And the December region, the day is after the day of Christmas. Christmas is the region of how the people got to New Orleans without having to go to the North Pole. But the Friendly Frogs classroom has no idea how they did that. {And we have no idea where this notion came from!}

Eli sliding on his belly.  This was taken in the gymnasium of First Presbyterian Preschool during their Fall Festival.

Eli riding alongside his faithful companion, Michael Thomas

Everyone's a winner at First Presbyterian Preschool!

Now we're talking about my second school.

Now, my second school is up on a mountain that is sometimes steep with ice on it but you never quite know where the ice is. It mostly hides. But there is no way to see it because there is sometimes black ice that you can slip on if you don't be careful. I mean, where would the ice be if you couldn't see it?  It's black ice.  You can't see black ice, can you?  No! And it is in Trinity Hall. And for music days, you go to the big huge school so that there is enough room and there is HUGE books with songs in them that they teach the kids when they go to music and the big school also has the library that I go to on the other days that it is not music days or when it is story days it is story time, but the other times I don't go anywhere. Like I can also go to gym on some days because I other times just stay in the classroom. But the other times I go places like the gym, like music, or library. All that kind of stuff. So it is all that kind of order so that it is all of that kind of order it is the way that we go. There is a big playground in the back of the school and I sometimes play in it to get energy but every so long I play in it if it is nice so I wish I could go outside today. And this is now the place that I need to put the pictures on.
See my school here.

Eli at the front door of the
Campus School at Carlow University

Eli under the banners.  The Montessori kids each created a banner
highlighting something they love about Montessori.  Eli's focused
on the Daily Living tasks (button sewing, spooning, egg slicing...)

Eli's favorite area in the classroom used to be "Daily Living," but he now informs me that it is "The map space" (aka Geography)

Tuscaloosa, Pittsburgh, and Everything In Between... by Eli

Eli dictates:

We're starting with Thanksgiving.  There was something where your mommy and daddy get to come to my preschool and eat with other families.  So that's one thing that happened.

Sebbie and Ila looking happy

Now we're doing Christmas.  We went to Grace's house for a party.  It was a going-away party.  I watched The Cat in the Hat with Sam and Ben.  Granddad watched some people and then went home and watched Eli and Sebastian.  Haylee met some of our Tuscaloosa friends there.  We went to a party with Santa and Daisy and there were doughnut holes on the table.  Me and Daisy danced.  Now let's move on.  We couldn't have a Christmas tree because we were moving.  Now let's move on again.  Then we went to Grandma Vivie and Grandpa Doug's for Christmas.  There was a pretty tree.  And I got to decorate the Christmas tree and put ornaments on it.  And then there was a big snow storm and it took a whole day after Christmas.  Sebastian got sick, I got sick, Mary got sick, Grandma Vivie got sick, my mommy got sick, and then Grammy Candie got sick, Pop Pop got sick, then Wendy got sick, and then Gina got sick, and then Gina's mommy got sick, and then a bunch of other people got sick.  We had a nice Christmas after that.  And we went back to Pittsburgh.

Eli and Sebastian in our sweaters

The family at Christmastime

Now we're talking about the movers that came and moved our furniture.  They let me onto their truck. They were nice.

Eli's Shoe {excerpts from his photo essay about moving} 

The mover's legs

The ramp to get off the moving truck

Now we're talking about my preschool.  You get to play instead of working.

Now we're moving on. In Pittsburgh you get to go up a tall incline that brings you to a space where you can get ice cream.  There's a huge tower and there's an overlook. The overlook is where you go on a round space and you can look down on the tall buildings of Pittsburgh. Now we are naming the buildings: UPMC, K&L Gates, a bank, a jail.
Now let's move on. There's a light rail of some kind that goes through a tunnel and there's many stops to go to.
Now we're talking about K&L Gates.  Abe works on things.
Now we're talking about why I had to say "Abe" instead of "Daddy."  Because there's many daddies on Earth and one of them is Abe.
Now we're moving on again.  I went on many trips.
1.  I went on the light rail of some kind to Steel Plaza.
2.  I went to Utah to visit Granddad and Grandma J and Marty.  I skied at Brighton and Alta.  I played with trains at Annabelle's house.
3.  I saw what house my mother lived in when she was a kid.
4. Granddad took me on a bus then the light rail then a Frontrunner to Ogden.  At the museum in Ogden I got to see pictures of where trains went instead of going through the GREAT SALT LAKE.  Then I went back on the Frontrunner, back on the light rail, and bus, and I came back to Granddad's house.
I had a goodbye birthday for my friends back in Tuscaloosa on December 4th.  Then we had some friends come over at Barnes and Noble.  We read Choo Choo and I had cupcakes with Daisy and Sammy and Michael Thomas and Michael Thomas's mom and Michael Thomas's sister, Ally, Daddy-I-mean-Abe, Seb, Daisy's mommy, Sammy's mommy.  We did my celebration the day after I had my celebration of life on January 6th and I turned 4.  Now that I'm 4, I get to read chapter books at night and I get to go to Montessori school.  Now we're naming the books I've read:

• Winnie the Pooh
• Stuart Little
• The Cricket in Times Square
• A Bear Called Paddington
• Farmer Boy

Now we're naming the ones that are my favorite:  A Bear Called Paddington, The Cricket in Times Square, Farmer Boy, Stuart Little.  That's it.

At my school back in Tuscaloosa there was a huge set of sidewalks with bikes stored on them.  And you get to ride the bikes on the huge set of sidewalks.

Eli's drawing of that huge set of sidewalks from his old school

New York, New York

Eli asks that we begin his catch-up posts with a tour of his room.  But first, I should catch you up on the new house more generally.  When we moved to Pittsburgh at the end of last year, we chose our new rental home based on location.  We are in a great neighborhood, Squirrel Hill, and our house is walking distance to shops, restaurants, libraries, parks, and play spaces.  Ideal, no?  But we did compromise on some things.  And the house we chose, while well situated, is a bit... whimsical.  Drop a ball or a marble, and we feel like we're living in an Escher painting.  The way floors slant, there's no guessing where it will end up!  And then there's the color scheme.  It is... creative.  When we moved in, the living room was bright blue, the dining room was three different shades of orange, the kitchen was painted white, tangerine, and lime green, the stairway and the upstairs hallway were pink, purple, and green, and the risers of the stair case were also painted: three purple, three green, three pink, and so on.  Upstairs, the color bonanza continued, with the smallest bedroom (Sebastian's) painted dull gray with duller gray trim, the middle-sized room (Eli's) painted a bright greenish-blue, and the largest (Abe and Ally's) a vibrant purple.  Oh, and the bathroom had brown tile with hot pink trim.  Eclectic.  Since moving in, and with the generous assistance of Grandma Jaye, we've repainted the living room (a light taupe), the kitchen (a creamy peach), and Sebastian's room (a cool, soft blue).  I had originally slated Eli's room for repainting, as well, until we noticed that it was about the same color as the cover of one of Eli's favorite books, A Walk in New York, by Salvatore Rubbino.  For a picture of the cover, click here.  So, with Eli's enthusiastic blessing, we kept the paint color as a background and went for a New York theme.  Grandma Jaye and Mommy painted buildings in the style of Rubbino's book.  Eli loves it!  You can see the results for yourself:

Eli on Broadway

The Brooklyn Bridge (in honor of his favorite New Yorkers
who now live in that wonderful Borough.)

The duvet cover and the lamp (hidden by the
CD player) can be seen here and here. 

Detail of two of Eli's favorite buildings.

The last four months have been a blur

Mommy and daddy told me that we haven't updated the blog in four months.  That is a really long time when you are only 10 months old.  Then I read the last post about my half-birthday and I realized the big story.  I can eat food now.  I love food and I eat lots of it as often as possible.  Let me show you.

Thanksgiving feast with Kelly Cannon and her son (my first friend), Henry

The pictures of me looking happy in a green bib show my first non-mommy produced foods.  Play the video:  think I liked the food?!  I started with rice cereal only because mommy had not read the latest research about feeding babies.  But I think that if it was good enough for my big brother, it was good enough for me.  Except that it wasn't that good.  I liked the stuff I had later much better.  Veggies and fruits are really good.  I was able to have both green beans and sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving with everyone else.  It was great.  So, if I'm ever at your house for dinner, please hold the rice cereal but have extra of the rest!

By now, at 10 months old remember, I can eat all sorts of things.  Grains, seeds, veggies, fruits, meats... my favorite foods are avocado-banana-tofu mash, peas, blueberries, sweet potatoes with cinnamon, black beans mashed with avocado, and pretty much anything that I can eat by myself with my own hands.  I love being able to stuff my face myself, instead of waiting for silly, distracted mommy to spoon things into my mouth in between her own bites of better-looking food.  The final picture of me eating should convey my love of finger foods.

So, what else?  There was Christmas, which I didn't really get, so I'll let Eli explain that to you.  He is pretty smart and teaches me lots of things.  Oh, yeah, I can crawl.  Fast.  Super fast.  I'm the baby blur.  And I can climb.  I like to climb.  Mommy is always catching me doing crazy things like climbing up stairs (yikes! now there is a gate to stop me... drat!), climbing into cupboards and dishwashers, and climbing through the coffee table.  If the door is open, I make a break for the outside because I dream of climbing trees.  Oh, and slides.  I love slides.  And swings (see the video below).  And baths, I LOVE baths.  I love them so much that I even love when mommy lays me back in the tub and swishes me around in the water.  I can't stop smiling then.

Besides crawling, I also do some other cool big-boy stuff.  I cruise on the furniture and around my crib.  I have even walked a bit behind my push-toy, but not yet alone.  Soon.  I'll get there.  Don't you worry about that.  A couple of weeks ago, I learned how to wave.  Now, whenever anyone gets near a door, I start waving my arm off and smiling because they almost always wave back at me and smile.  So much fun.  I can say "ma ma" when I REALLY want mommy to rescue me from something unpleasant.  I can say "da da," though I apply the label indiscriminately to all men because I love daddy so much.  I can also say "hi" and "dye dye" which comes in handy when I wave.  I also laugh.  A lot.  I sometimes just giggle to myself in the car while we're driving, which makes mommy wonder what is so funny.  Then I just smile and so does she.

I guess that is what I love best, making people smile.  I love how in restaurants, if you smile at strangers for long enough they will always smile back at you and make funny faces.  Then we all laugh.  Of course, once or twice I've been in a restaurant, staring and smiling as usual, and the strangers didn't notice me.  That made me cry.  But not for long.  I was back to smiling after a bit of a cuddle with mommy.  I smile and I laugh much of the day.  I'm not the most serious baby you'll ever meet.  But that's my life so far.  And here's some more video and pics to help you catch up... if you can.  I'm the baby blur!

Me, Eli, Daddy and Grandma Vivie in front of our new city, Pittsburgh!

My room in our new house

It is a pretty blue and has a lot of red airplanes.  It is bright and cheerful.  But it does not have as many fun toys as Eli's room!  What's that all about?