Lost Tooth, 11 Months, Triathlon

Here's a little update on what we've been up to.  Jim took Emmett and Ezra to a Chukars baseball game.  They stayed for the whole game and got home super late.  Both boys got T-shirts and they have a special area for Jim's work people along with pizza and bounce house.  They also got cotton candy.

 We took boats to a nearby stream and watched them float, helped them when they got hung up on obstacles, and rescued them before they went into a pond.

 Emmett lost his first tooth.  We don't think it was even wiggly, although we've been trying to wiggle them thinking he should be losing one soon.  He and Ezra were rough housing and Emmett caught a foot in the face, which knocked out his tooth.  He was in a little bit of shock and didn't talk or even swallow for about an hour.  We were headed to the swimming pool and he had a wad of tissues to hold on it if it bled.  It didn't really bleed, but the tissues were soaked from saliva since he was afraid to swallow.  Once we started swimming he was fine and back to his normal self.

 We've been spending lots of time outside.  The trampoline sort of works as a play pen for Elliott.  The net can be zipped closed and he enjoys crawling around and bouncing.  One of us is usually on there with him, but it works in a pinch if I have to do something outside really quick.

 We have had the pool out and the boys have liked playing in it.  Emmett also used it to practice for a triathlon.  More about the triathlon later in the post.

 Elliott has super-fine baby hair and it stands straight up on the trampoline with all the static.  Jim is trying to get the perfect picture of it, he thought about submitting one to the fair if he can get a good one.

 Elliott also turned 11 months old last week.  It was an especially crazy week because it was Vacation Bible School at our church.  Our church does VBS in the evening which is the only thing that works for this working family, so that is awesome.  I was working M,W and F this week and on those nights I picked the kids up and went straight to church.  They have a meal for us and Jim would meet us there and eat also.  Then he would hang out with Elliott for a little while and then take him home and put him to bed.  Jim was also working on some house projects including painting the posts on our front porch (which involved taking all the railings down and lots of sanding), changing the hardware on our doors (which involved drilling out bigger holes), and painting the front door (which is still a work in progress).

Ezra was in the Explorers group at VBS, which I helped with.  It is for 4-5 year olds and we have our own curriculum for Bible stories, activities and crafts, and then each night we also visit one of the other tracks for the older kids.  We had a group of about 25 kids and split them into two separate groups for part of the time.  Ezra got to go visit the puppets/ventriloquism track, the science track, the words on wood track and the fiber arts track. Emmett chose the science track and got to do experiments and make things.  Our special guest for the week was Maegan Bruce, a ventriloquist.  She led a track during the week and then did a performance for all the VBSers and their families.

Ezra has also started YMCA PeeWee soccer.  His team doesn't have a coach and Jim really doesn't want to do it.  The first practice and game were led by a parent volunteer who also doesn't want to be the coach.  The kids on his team all seemed a little clueless, but it was cute.  The second practice and game were supposed to be the week of VBS but were rained out.  So hopefully this week we will have some luck and get a coach and get to play.  Maybe we will even get some pictures!

 At 11 months Elliott is fairly outgoing.  He has had a tiny bit of separation anxiety, but it seems to be mostly past.  He is doing a lot of pointing and he crawls super fast.  We have made our main floor as baby safe as possible by limiting what toys can be there, having a baby gate and keeping doors closed to the bathroom and laundry room.  However the big boys are always bringing toys up/down and he goes straight for the dishwasher/plant/etc.  He is definitely busy.  He really adores when his brothers play with him and they can keep him pretty well entertained if they don't lose interest.  He pulls up on furniture and does a little bit of cruising along while holding on.  Occasionally on grass or cement he will crawl on his feet and hands to avoid touching his knees.  He loves to bounce on the trampoline and loves playing in the basement.  He goes to bed around 7pm and is usually up around 6:30am.  He still gets up once or twice a night, but our visits during the night have become quite brief.  He takes two naps a day, if I am lucky the morning nap is around 8:30 and lasts 1.5 hours and the afternoon nap is around 2 hours.  He still is a pretty good eater, although one thing he does is put every little morsel in his mouth and then spit it out.  His highchair seat is usually covered in food when I get him out, so it's a little hard to tell when he self feeds how much he is actually eating.  He is very curious about other people and animals, he will often crawl up to other babies and sort of hit at their faces.  I'm not sure what he is trying to do, but he isn't going to be very popular if he keeps that up...we're working on soft touches.

 Emmett's triathlon was on a rainy Saturday.  Jim and Emmett got there at 7:30am to check in.  I took Elliott and Ezra around 8:30.  It was hard to get much information about it and I had unfortunately scheduled a haircut for myself at 9 and ended up missing all of Emmett's race.  That also meant that Jim was juggling the other two while trying to help Emmett.  We will be better prepared next year if he decides to do it again (and maybe Ezra will do it too!).  Anyways, swimming is not Emmett's strong point and he struggled to get across two lengths of the pool.  Then he had to dry off and get his shirt and helmet on and get going on his bike.  Jim said it wasn't very well marked where he was supposed to go, but he got on and did his two laps around the block.  Then he ran two laps around the parking lot.    He said he passed quite a few people running and some people on his bike.  He had a lot of fun and there was a pancake breakfast afterwards.