Elliott's Nana (Dan's mother) visited this weekend.
In this long delayed video, Elliott demonstrates two of the tricks he learned in a very productive week between April 16th (start of walking) and April 23rd (video taken): he walks, and he drinks from straws.
The walking thing was a bit remarkable. April 4th he took 4 consecutive steps (into a fall), which was unexpected. I was trying to leave for work, and put him down under protest. Something about the way he was meant that he stayed standing, which was not unusual, but he had a funny look on his face. I took a few steps away, and he stepped toward me.With the exception of the occasional lunge up to 6 steps, that was all for the next 12 days. Then, after a long nap, I read a book and, as is our custom, I put him down to pick out and retrieve the next book he wanted. I put him down into a stand, and told him to just walk over to his books (across the room). And he did. I brought him downstairs a few minutes later, and Tessa did not believe me. So he stood up and walked across the room to me, and then proceeded to traverse the length of our house.
A week later, the video above shows how comfortable he looked after the first day, although he was still majority crawling. Three weeks later, he's spends about 80% of his time walking. It is an amazing transition.
Have I been a parent long enough to remark "they grow up so fast"?
Related:
- http://elliott.hellervogel.com/summertime-in-seattle 8 months ago, in the sun
- http://elliott.hellervogel.com/baby-meets-baby one year ago tomorrow
The theme of Elliott's first birthday party was "bubbles". Balloons and a bubble machine, with bubble tea served. It was a relatively small affair, and he worked the crowd well in spite a sudden nasal drip. Uncle Donovan posted some great pictures from the event.
Yesterday, Elliott flew home from his third transcontinental excursion - passport stamped, Caribbean sea and sand sampled. Spent his first night in his fifth US state (Texas). He's sampled First Class offerings of both Delta and Continental. Little guy won the travel lottery.
A year ago, at this time, Elliott had just entered the world. This blog has been running that long now, too. While we have slowed substantially in our posted picture stream, the visual archive of his life continues. Parenthood has been a major adjustment - he still hasn't slept more than 4 hours at a shot more than 5 or so times - and a major joy. While his weight gain has slowed, as he is within ounces of his December weight, his growth has not. We have started discarding 18 month outfits. Neither has his teething, as teeth 11-14 (canines) broke through in the past weeks. He stands, and convinced his relatives that he'll walk any day now.
While many pictures of him were taken on vacation, few were taken by us; his aunt will have to add some here.
Look at Tessa's unforced grin in the second picture. Don't believe her complaints - we both love this little man more than either of us believed possible.
Check out my molars!!!!
However, being a first generation Pittsburgh emmigrant, I have no choice in allegience.
Taking a break from the cuteness for a brief Elliott inspired discussion. With colleagues at work, I participated in Movember through the month of November. This is a fun little movement to promote awareness and concern about male forms of cancer.
Movember challenges men to change their appearance and the face of men’s health by growing a moustache. The rules are simple, start Movember 1st clean-shaven and then grow a moustache for the entire month. The moustache becomes the ribbon for men’s health, the means by which awareness and funds are raised for cancers that affect men. Much like the commitment to run or walk for charity, the men of Movember commit to growing a moustache for 30 days.
I did not fund raise this year; if you'd like to donate, I encourage you to donate at Tim Sehn's movember page. Instead, I used it as a means of awareness raising.
