Here are some pictures we’ve taken recently. The first ones are at the Museum of Science and Industry. Then we went to the Shedd Aquarium (pic with penguin). The last thousand pics are in the tulips that grow in spring in Chicago every year. They are so beautiful but last only a little while. Elliot is going through a “run away” phase so, after his pictures with the tulips, he was on the move, exploring other places around Buckingham Fountain. Since these pictures were taken Travis has started smiling more. Here, unfortunately, the sun was in this eyes and it was a chilly day. We’ll try it again next year. And we’ll try to get Fletch in some pictures too. Poor Fletch is always behind the camera!

Hey look at this! I can post pictures here directly from shutterfly. This was a test. (Also, how many of *you* have a bouquet of toothbrushes?)

Meet our newest little miracle.

3/7/10

7 lbs, 6 oz, 20 in, 8:40pm

Dad with the boys:

Mom and Elliot:

It was bound to happen. Elliot built his first train track. I didn’t know he was doing it until he was finished and was putting Toby on it. Here is a picture of the masterpiece. When he finished he said “Well done.”

You know those kids who go on talk shows and can recite all the presidents’ names or all the states and capitols? And all the parents watching are impressed and all the non-parents wonder why there isn’t a celebrity being interviewed? This blog is likely to become a haven for my “my son is a genius” stories so get ready! Elliot has some water blocks in the shape of a semi-circle. He picked one up and handed it to me and said “red semi-circle.”

Last week he grabbed a chocolate out of my mom’s hand and said “Oh, a treasure!” He is our little treasure!

This month, Elliot got a sample of his first snow.

We celebrated Fletch’s birthday with a sushi party with our friends. We bought the ingredients and made them put the rolls together. Genius! They didn’t even mind since the dinner turned out to be so delicious.

Later we had a banana cream pie per Fletch’s request. Elliot wanted the candles SO BAD but they were pointy and he was running around with them. We had to throw them away before he would calm down and eat some pie. After that he declared, “Pie is good.”

Elliot loves to tell you all about what’s going on with him. So we thought we should provide a translation guide in the event that we aren’t available to decipher his tongue-twisting take on the English language. Here are some noteworthy examples:

Et = Elliot
toppy = coffee
be = three
boar = four
bye = five
sassy = seven or siren
boo bah = football
a pee tee = airplane
a guy = in the sky
doo wah = stroller
ta milk = chocolate milk

Who is that handsome stranger?

Big shoes to fill.

We took Elliot to Zoo Lights, the light show at our city zoo. He loves to watch other people at the zoo. The animals he likes most are the “pish.”

It was Halloween today on the poop deck. We sailed through the neighborhood with the landlubber’s train on hand. We even ate some scurvy candy and didn’t have to walk the plank! Elliot was ARRRguably the fiercest pirate on the open water.

We found out this week that we are having another BOY! We are thrilled! Here is a picture of his tiny feet.

Elliot loves to go to the park and walk around the city.

We wanted to get Elliot a train table for Christmas. But we went ahead and bought it so he could play with it now. We were so excited when it came in the mail! We put it together quickly and Fletch painstakingly designed an exciting train track. We couldn’t even sleep because we were so excited to see Elliot play with his new toy!

Elliot loved it! He knew what to do immediately.

And it only took him about ten minutes to rearrange the track into something more manageable.

Currently, there is about 20 inches of track on the table but Elliot has spent hours playing with it. He calls trains “choo choo car.”