Dogs say "woof! woof!"

Our neighbors have a couple of dogs that frankly scare me a lot and annoy me a little. They are huge, and I'm pretty sure at least one is some sort of pitt bull mix. They don't act super aggressive or anything, but they are both barkers. I mean, I guess it isn't their fault that I am used to Jack, who only barked when commanded to, but still. We are surrounded by squirrels and rabbits and raccoons, and they like to bark at them.

Lately I've been showing Elliott lots of animals and naming them, signing the name, and then following with the noise if it has one that I can imitate (and if it doesn't, I make something up. Elliott is going to think Kangaroos say "goodaye, mate!" for example) in an attempt to help him learn some words. He's trying, and has actually started to sign several words in the last few weeks, but it is often hit or miss.

All that to say, it is currently nap time, and the dogs next door are barking up a storm. And from downstairs, I hear Elliott barking along with them.

The reason for no posts lately

For the last few weeks, Elliott has been a little, um...challenging. My theory is that since turning one, he has developed a sense of independence and it is pretty limited by the skills he has not yet mastered and the things his mean mother and father will not let him do. He wants to talk, but can only say Mama (usually when he's mad) and DA! - which is used for everything else. So if he is trying to tell me something, he resorts to screeching or screaming. It's fun. If he wants me to read a book, he'll throw it at me. If he wants to open the refrigerator and I block him, he melts down.

So, to keep it real, I haven't had much to say other than Elliott is a punk right now. Want to babysit?

This particular overreaction was caused by me having a bubble tea that he wanted to share, and the bubble tea having too large a straw for him to work (It was too big for me to put my finger over the top to feed him some, too). Which made him really mad. Which made him lose his mind.

Don't get me wrong. He has good moments too. But this certainly wasn't one of them.

1st Birthday Party

Today was Elliott's birthday party! We invited a few little friends, and a lot of our big friends, fired up our grill, and had hot dogs, punch, and cupcakes. Elliott mostly toddled around and stole food from whoever had a plate.

He also managed to find the stash of presents when no one was looking, and proceeded to dig through the tissue paper.

Once he and his little friend found the goodies inside, they entertained each other for a while figuring out the buttons. Also, see the red string by our little friend's head? I got balloons, and it was the best $10 I've ever spent. Babies love balloons.

After we grilled I noticed some of our younger friends were getting tired, so we did the cupcake part so that they could have a treat before their afternoon nap. We sang happy birthday, and Elliott was a little confused when all of those people started singing.

But after a minute, he decided he liked all of that attention after all. Also, see that cupcake, with a huge candle perched on top, on a paper plate? I invite danger.

This is the beautiful birthday table cloth Grandma Peggy made for Elliott. Luckily, no grubby little fingers pulled it (and all of the food along with it) off the table.

And these were our cupcakes. I made forty. We have 23 left. I am set to gain ten pounds next week. Yay for birthdays!

Our trip to the petting zoo

On Wednesday, before I pumped Elliott full of cupcakes, we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and went somewhere I'd been wanting to go for years- the petting zoo at Domino's Farms.
We went on a hay ride, and wondered around to look at all of the different kinds of animals. They had just about everything you could want to see on a farm.
We found some noisy geese, ducks, and roosters, and a couple of times I managed to get Elliott to say quack quack. (sounds like "Ah! Ah!"- Okay, not that close. We're working on it.)

We stumbled over toward the bunny cage, and there was one guy laying on the ground. I thought he had gotten out and would run away from us, but he stayed put while Elliott patted his fluffy tail.

Then we figured out you could buy carrot sticks to give certain animals, so we got some. The goats managed to steal most of ours, but Elliott got really excited to feed them. When he started trying to eat the carrots himself, we gave away the rest of our carrots and made our way to the hand sanitizer.