Elliott self-portrait at his first Globetrotter's Game at the Rose Garden.
Elliott holding his hands over his ears as he acclimates to the noise level in the Rose Garden.
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Elliott is amazing. Seriously. I know, I know, every parent on earth looks at their little miracles and says the same thing. But, you know, for every parent, it is TRUE. Our children are amazing.
Elliott has recently hit a new developmental level... it's so much fun to watch these developmental leaps. He is currently working on potty training himself. Everyone said to just wait, that he'd figure it out himself... and guess what? He is! It's amazing!
I am so proud of him. Today we were out running errands for nearly 4 hours. He didn't wet his undies one little bit. And it was the first time he had asked to wear his undies out. Believe me, I tried to talk him out of it, but he was adamant: only undies would do. So I packed three extra pairs of pants, three pairs of undies, three diapers in a diaper bag and forgot it at home. So I'm extra glad it worked out.
He does have a little extra motivation to potty train these days... I told him that he can't go to preschool unless he is wearing undies all day and peeing and pooping on the potty by the time preschool starts (which is NOT a lie). And it was at that moment he started peeing and pooping on the potty all the time when we are home and he is bare on the bottom half. He's recently started taking his diaper and pants off to go potty, so we're definitely seeing progress! We may have this licked by September.
Hey, what good is life if you can't get a little goofy?
Size wise, he's doing great. In fact, we regularly get comments now about how tall he is. He seems perfectly normal compared to other three-year-olds to Nate and I, but for some reason, everyone we run into comments on how tall he is and he is often mistaken for a four or even five year old. He's wearing a lot of 4T clothes now, mostly for length, and he still fits into some 2T's for the waist. That'll be easy for summer, at least, we don't have to worry about finding new shorts :) I can't give actual numbers right now since the growth chart was just unpacked and I haven't had a chance to put it up yet. Soon, folks, soon.
And what good is paint, really, if you can't cover yourself in it?
Elliott has recently developed a favorite color. And he is pretty passionate about it. Purple. It's awesome. He LOVES purple. Talks about it all the time, loves any time he finds something neat that is also purple, well, it is love. It is so fun to watch him delightedly notice all the purple stuff around him.
Elliott has a new "baby". Actually, it is his first baby. It is a little cheetah he named (all by himself): Grifford. So Grifford has become a small part of our lives. I need to perform minor surgery soon on his back, which has developed a split seam. Elliott and I have discussed this, and all day today he has been talking about Grifford's surgery.
Meet Grifford, the cheetah.
Oh, and PRESCHOOL!!! So exciting! Elliott has been admitted to Woodhaven School. We're very excited about it. Woodhaven is a co-op, Waldorf-inspired, nature based preschool. He'll be going Tuesdays and Thursdays this next year. During their day at school they spend an hour outside, rain or shine in a wooded area across the parking lot from the school. No playground equipment or anything like that, just dirt, trees, some bark dust and each other. We'll be getting him geared up with the proper gear for this kind of outside play. I'm super excited for him to have the opportunity to have such a great option for outdoor, open ended play. I'm also excited for the Waldorf events, the spiral walk, may pole dance, lantern walk. They seem so magical and I can't wait for Elliott to have those magic experiences. Here is a link for those of you who might want to take a look: http://www.woodhavenschool.com/
Elliott was also diagnosed as having Sensory Processing Disorder. Basically, he doesn't process sensory stimulation in a "normal" manner. We've been going to an Occupational Therapist at OHSU every other week. He has been loving therapy and has been really responding to the therapy. We've been having a great time.
In therapy. Listening to music while working on fine motor skills.
We've been doing a lot of science experiments lately. A couple of the shows he likes to watch (mostly Curious George and Sid the Science Kid) have neat ideas for science experiments you can do with your kids. He keeps asking to do these different experiments. So far we have made a cave of darkness with blankets and a table. Once it was completely dark he asked me to hand him different toys and he would tell me what they were by feeling them in the dark. He did really well. After than he spent a lot of time hanging out in the "cave" with a flashlight.
The Cave of Darkness... can you see him there?
The second was "will is dissolve or not" experiment. I set up glasses of water and gave him 5 options of things to stir in the water to see if they dissolve. We did: salt, sugar, calcium citrate powder, kelp powder and baking soda. He had a great time guessing if it would dissolve or not and then stirring the solution to see what happened.
Calcium Citrate powder did NOT dissolve.
The third one was an ice experiment. We froze fruit in ice and then melted it by pouring hot water on the ice. it was great. Elliott learned all about how water freezes and melts and he had fun feeling the holes and bumps that the hot water made when it melted the ice. Then, of course, he had a great time eating the apples and oranges that had been in the ice.
The fruit frozen into a block of ice.
Getting messy is a big deal in Elliott's world. He is loving the rainy weather we have, for at the least, the mud puddles it creates. We have a low spot in our yard that tends to pool during any rain, so it has turned into Elliott's favorite place to stomp, jump, dig, push trucks and such.
What good is mud if you can't spread it on a glass door?
A boy and his mudpit.
His interests range, but basically the are: race cars, diggers, space, robots, salt mines, cats (especially cheetahs), bouncing, running, donuts, chocolate, baking, building towers, airplanes, helicopters, mixer trucks, asphalt, climbing, throwing, puzzles, painting, drawing, swimming... I'm probably leaving things out, but that's a general idea.
Baking a Red Velvet Cake for Valentine's Day
And probably the best of all, Elliott has for the past few months, telling me he loves me... a lot. So, so sweet to hear your kiddo tell you that.
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