South Padre vacation

We had a blast at the beach! Eli's favorite thing to do was play in the sand. I think the water was a little scary for him, but at least he tried it out with me holding him. There was also a dump truck dumping sand at our hotel one day and a front end loader tractor another day, so it was like Eli heaven with trucks and playing in the sand. He also ate a few mouth-fulls of sand, of coarse! Mammy was also his favorite this trip. He wanted to be with Mammy all the time, which was fine with me! The weather was great and we didn't really get sunburned. Eli even kept his hat and sunglasses on the whole time at the beach. I was very surprised at that! We also got to go to a sea turtle rescue place where we saw several different types of sea turtles. This was cousin Grayson and Garrett's favorite, I think...well, maybe boogie boarding, which they are very good at, by the way!
We also got to take a day trip to Reynosa, Mexico on Sunday. Mammy has some friends there, who happen to be nuns. Mammy had donated some money for a playground at the Catholic center they have, and we went there to celebrate the opening of the playground. It was a very special time. Eli was a trooper once again b/c it was so miserably hot and there was no a/c! We forgave him ahead of time for any fussiness. Before we left Mexico, we went for a short trip to the market, which was a fun experience, too. Eli's highlight of Mexico was seeing their trash truck. It was a cart pulled by two donkeys!
All in all it was a great time. Thanks, Mammy, for a wonderful vacation, and Happy Birthday! I think we'll be staying home for awhile now because we are worn out from all our traveling lately!
Here are some pictures:

Beach vacation!

Can you tell Eli's excited to go to the beach? Eli and I head off to South Padre today to celebrate my mom's birthday with her and Aunt Brynn and the cousins. I'm sure there will be things to post when we get back next week. We can't wait!

Great photo

This is Eli's new friend Bailey that we met at a playgroup. Her dad captured this moment of surprise on camera. They made these faces when a man turned on his monogram machine at the coffee shop. This is one of Eli's favorite faces to make lately, too!

Welcome to the world!

Eli's friend, Ellaiden, has a little sister! Soren Litten Margrave was born at 12:02 this morning, September 4, weighing in at 6 lbs. 10 oz. Congratulations, Chris, Jenny, and Ellaiden!

Sick

Well, Eli has had his first stomach bug. We went up to Holly Lake in East Texas over Labor Day weekend with my family for my dad's belated birthday present, and Eli got sick the first night there. He couldn't keep anything down, but he acted like he felt okay and never had a fever as far as I know. It only lasted 2 days, thank goodness. It's a very scary and helpless feeling to see your baby be sick and not be able to make it all better. Eli was a trooper...I think he held up better than the rest of us! Sorry cousin Garrett for getting you sick!

Body Parts

Eli likes to show us his body parts as well as show us ours. Belly buttons and tongues are the most fun according to him. This video is the best I could do. He's easily distracted by the camera.

The Chase

This is what we spend most of our time doing. We have a runner! Luckily we live on a cul-de-sac, and we have friendly neighbors with friendly dogs who don't mind Eli exploring in their yard. I love when his arms get swinging in front of him really fast...too cute!

Truck book

A big part of Eli's world is still all about trucks! He recognizes the different types of trucks now, too. Fire trucks are fun because he makes a siren sound when he sees them, but I didn't get it on this video.

Jesus = Dada?

Playin' in the Rain

Thanks to Tropical Storm Erin, we had refreshing rain and cooler temperatures last week, and we took full advantage of it!

16 months

Eli is doing so much now, it's hard for me to keep up! He's so much more interactive now. It's amazing to see his little mind discover things. I've lost count of how many words he has in his vocabulary. It's over 50 for sure. Same with his signs...too many to keep track. He's getting pretty good at repeating or trying to repeat words now, too. His words are also becoming more and more recognizable. I love it!

John and I have been surprised lately at the things he knows. For example, we've been trying to teach him body parts, and he's been able to show us his nose and belly button for awhile now. Yesterday we were naming several body parts for him to point to, and he pointed to all of them like no big deal! I also like the fact that he can now follow simple directions. He only does this when he wants to, of course, but it can be pretty handy for me. I have to take advantage of that. Also, John says that Eli knows his shapes. He said that Eli correctly pointed out the shapes John named in a few different books. Maybe they were lucky guesses, maybe he's just way advanced, I don't know, but he hasn't done it for me yet. Not that I doubt he can do it or anything! : )


Eli likes to put things on and wear them proudly around the house. He usually puts things around his neck, like John's head lamp or my underwear...I know that's a little weird, but it's funny! He also loves to wear hats, glasses, and mommy or daddy's shoes.


Outside is Eli's favorite place to be lately. He doesn't care that after about 2 minutes he's drenched with sweat. Mammy got him an outdoor play set, and I can't wait until we get that set up so Eli will have something else to do in the backyard besides pick up yucky things and try to eat them. Plus, he loves to climb, and it will be much better for climbing than our furniture!

I guess I should mention Eli's fits. He doesn't quite know how to throw a fit...yet. Whenever we tell him no, he'll lie on the floor slowly and carefully and cry some. This lasts maybe 30 seconds and then he either gets comfortable and lies there, or he gets distracted by something else. It's easy to distract him with something else to play with or to see, thankfully.

I can't wait to see what he learns next!

Home Sweet Home

Montana was wonderful, but it is good to be home. Here are some reasons, according to Eli:

Playing with my toys again!


Watching the trash truck!

Getting to wear my new truck shoes...yes, Eli picked them out. He's so proud of them!



The back yard! There are so many things to explore, and there are huge watermelons in our garden!

Montana Boy continued

Here are some pictures from our last day in Montana. We went on a hike with Gramma and Grandad, and Eli had fun playing in the dirt and getting very dirty. We've loved it here. It's hard to leave!

Montana Boy

We are still enjoying beautiful Montana. We're back from Glacier Park now and staying with Gramma and Granddad again. Glacier Park was a blast! We did a few hikes, swam in the freezing water, threw rocks in the lake, and ate rocks, too. For some reason Eli loves to try to eat the rocks. Eli has become quite an outdoors man with his scraped up knees, dirty nails, and bruised legs. He loves being outside, especially here. I guess the rocks taste better here, plus he gets a little pine needle in there, too.



Eli has been a real trooper. We went on a couple hikes which took most of the day, and he fell asleep in the hiking carrier. He's really surprised me with how well he's done without naps and going to bed late. All of the new experiences and things to see help keep him interested enough that he forgets he's sleepy, I think. It's been so fun to have him here. John and I realized that it's our first big vacation with Eli, as a family. I can't wait for more!

There are so many stories to tell and pictures to show, but I don't want to spend my vacation blogging. Here are some pictures we've taken, mostly in Glacier Park:

Mountain Man

Hello from Montana! It's beautiful here. Nice and cool, although the locals say it's very hot. The weather has been sunny and in the 90's, but since the air is drier it doesn't feel as hot as the humid hot air in Austin. At least it cools down into the 50s at night, which feels great!

Eli did amazing on the trip up. He slept 45 min. on the first plane and then over an hour on the second plane. I think both plane trips were about 2 hours long. Our 6:00 AM flight got cancelled, so we got an 8:00 AM flight, which was much better. I was nervous about the plane trip, but we had no problems at all. Eli liked entertaining people and playing with the boy's hat in the seat behind us. Let's hope the trip back will be just as nice.

So far we've taken a couple hikes with John's parents, gone on some picnics in the woods, lots of site-seeing, and went to a little historical villiage in Eureka. Gramma and Grandad have a nice little house in Fortyne, MT. Eli's highlight so far has been "Uncle Orvis", Gramma and Grandad's chocolate lab.

Here are some pictures we've taken so far:





I love this hiking carrier, and so does Eli! He looks so cute in it. I think it is also relaxing for him. John says it's not too bad carrying him either.

Tomorrow we go to Glacier Park for 4 days to meet up with my sister and her family and my dad and step mom, then back with John's parents after that for a few days. More adventures and pics to come!

15 months old

FYI: this post is lengthy...I've written alot of this for me so that I can look back and remember things : )
Eli is doing so much now, it's hard to keep up! Now that he's walking like a pro he's into everything. His curiosity is bigger than ever, which means that I have to keep an eye on him 99% of the time. Now I know why I've heard that moms have eyes on the back of their heads! The Eli-proofing is never-ending. Eli's learned to climb. I walked into the kitchen to find him on the chair and getting into things on the table. So, I've taught him how to get down safely by going feet first. It's a very good thing to teach a climbing toddler. He's gotten good at it, thank goodness!


We're also trying to teach him to be gentle with things, especially Boone. We're still working on that one. Eli's also learned to throw. John and I got excited when he discovered how to throw the ball to us, but then he realized that he can throw a lot of different things. Now we're working on just throwing balls and soft toys. Another fun activity in the Perkins household lately is dancing! Eli loves to dance as do his parents! I'll have to get a good video of Eli's dancing. Eli has also become very good at flirting with the ladies. He knows how to capture their hearts by scrunching his nose and smiling that big smile with his bright blue eyes...gets 'em every time!
Here's Eli with my mom, "Mammy"...he LOVES his Mammy and even has his own sign for her!


Eli is saying about 35 or so words now and uses almost 30 signs. He tells me when he wants to go to take a nap now by pointing toward his room and saying "nai nai". He's also even gone to the rocking chair a few times and said night night. He's starting to know what he wants and discovering likes and dislikes. This is where his signing and vocabulary come in handy. Distraction and redirection are key when there is a dislike, and he's not happy about me saying no. I'm seeing him gain a little independence, but he's still very much a mamma's boy, and I love it!

Eli now has 12 teeth, including 4 molars that are visible, but not all the way in yet. This is good for eating, but not good for me b/c he likes to bite me! He only bites me and sometimes John. It's not out of anger or frustration either. I think they're love bites, but they hurt. I've got bruises all over, too. I've got to find out how to stop it.


A report from the doctor check-up: Eli is big!...no new news there. He's 33 in. tall and 26 lbs., still on the top of the charts. The big kicker is that we're pretty sure he has a peanut allergy. The doctor said that he'll most likely always be allergic, but I'm still holding out hope that he'll outgrow it. We have to get an Epi pen to have if he has a severe reaction, and we also have to go see an allergist. I'll keep you posted on that.

I'm sure there are more things I could post for 15 month accomplishments, but I can't think of more. I'll just have to be better at doing more posts to keep up with Eli!

Full Speed Ahead!

I guess I now officially have a toddler. I've held off calling him a toddler for as long as possible, but now that he's walking I guess I have no choice. His still my baby though!



Eli is practically doing laps around the house all day. This means trouble for our dog, Boone. Eli has always loved messing with Boone, but Boone has been able to get away quickly before now. Now that Eli can go after him, Boone's in trouble! Eli loves the game of "chasing" Boone and trying to give him things. Boone gets very annoyed, which worries us a little. So we might have to figure out another game, or teach them how to play nicely. Eli's excitement when he "plays" with Boone is pretty funny, though.

Don't worry, Eli's okay after his fall at the end of the video.


Here's Eli and Boone playing Hide and Seek:

Problem Solving

Eli figured out how to pick up his food without letting go of the balls. Impressive!