Best $1.99 I Ever Spent

I present Elliott's new truck...

The Mad Stacker

Recently Elliott's been playing a lot more with his stacker toy. Its funny how his preferences will shift from week to week. This is his latest...

Sour Strawberries

Apparently, I'm going to have a series of these: "Elliott in his Highchair".

But in all fairness, this is when I spend a significant portion of my weeknight quality time with Elliott. I only see him about two hours in the evenings when I work, which is a little sad to think of it like that, so I usually don't. Instead, I choose to enjoy every moment...even if he's strapped into a highchair!

Back to the Doctors

In the last week or so we've have a couple doctor's appointments related to monitoring Elliott's weight. First up was a trip to the nutritionist. Frankly, I was trying to stay positive about this one but wasn't expecting much. We were supposed to bring a 3 day food journal for Elliott. I figured they would count up the calories, tell us we need to give him more, and chastise us for underfeeding our son. I went into this appointment feeling like I was going to get in trouble.

My frustration stems from the fact that there isn't a whole lot of guidance on feeding serving sizes. Most books or online talk about feeding to the child's hunger, which we've done. But when your kid is hovering around the 2%-range for weight, there isn't much comfort that you are doing the right thing or that they truly are getting what they need.




Additionally, and this is where I'm going to rant for a bit, my 'underweight' baby is being compared to all those kids out there eating junk food and drinking soda (and yes we have actually witnessed this). Elliott was substantially nursed (automatically making him a lower weight baby), eats primarily organic, eats tons of fruits and veggies, loves his plain yogurt, and generally eats really good food (better than his mommy and daddy most of the time). Add in the fact that he comes from light-weight baby stock and that my pregnancy was far from normal, you are going to get a kid who weighs significantly less than the above average chunker kid. (Okay, I hope you realize I'm not talking about the kid who is just big, since I do know there are plenty of kids who are not a product of their diet, but just big. Anyway, certainly not meaning to offend here. ;) And you know what? Krista ran Elliott's weight against the French weight charts. He's in the 25% range over there! So, there...sorry, rant over.

Anyway, while we do have a great pediatrician, who seems to really 'get it', I wasn't holding out much hope for the nutritionist...especially when they told me it wasn't required for Elliott to come to the appointment (what!?!). But I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised. She went over his food log and had a great handout that talked about what serving sizes were appropriate for his age. And you know what? Elliott's right on track. The biggest thing that stood out as being underrepresented, is the amount of grains he gets, which I'm not all that worried about...especially given criticisms about why the food pyramid is so grain heavy in the first place...hello conspiracy. He could also get a bit more protein. And we are making an effort to give him a bit more in both areas.

So, for information sake as well as my own historical records, I thought I would share what the guidelines suggest for an average day as well as what an average day looks like for Elliot.

What they recommend..........................What Elliott gets

Breakfast
1/2 cup low-sugar cereal...................1/2 cup oatmeal baby cereal
1/4 cup peaches............................1/3 large banana
4 oz. milk..............................6 oz milk
1 scrambled egg....................................2 oz milk (in cereal)

Morning Snack
4 oz. milk...........................................1 container apple sauce
..........................4-5 crackers

Lunch
1 slice whole-wheat bread...................4-5 crackers
3 tbsp. cooked broccoli......................................3 tbsp. yams
1/2 small orange.............................................2 tbsp. green beans
4 oz. milk..........................................................4 oz milk
1 oz. roasted turkey..........................................2 tbsp. ham
1 tsp. mayonnaise......................................1/4 cup plain yogurt

Afternoon Snack
3/4 oz. low-fat cheese....................................1/4 cup yogurt
1 corn tortilla.......................................4 crackers
water.........................................4-5 banana chips

Dinner
1/3 cup rice..........................................1/4 cup plain yogurt
3 tbsp. cooked spinach.......................................3 tbsp. yams
1/2 small mango.........................................2 tbsp. green beans
4 oz. milk................................................6 oz milk
1 chicken leg.................................2 tbsp. chicken thigh
1/8 avocado............................................2 tbsp. cereal
..............................................2 tbsp. milk
..................................................... 3 tbsp. strawberries

We also made it back to the doctors on Monday where Elliott weighed in at 19 lbs. 10 oz! This is almost a pound more from 4 weeks ago! We had thought he was going through a growing spurt because of some rather off days and this confirms it. The doctor was really happy with that growth. He is now clearly following the 2-3% growth line. He said he would much rather see him at the 10% line, but he's happy as long as he is growing according to the curve. His regular 15 month checkup will be in about 3 weeks, so we are hoping he will make it to the 20 lb mark by then...I'd really love to flip his car seat around :)

Favorite Photo

We all spent Friday (late) afternoon at the park and Elliott was playing in the big-kid playground with a little adult supervision.

I heart this photo:

Photo Project 52.46

Photos taken during the week of April 12 - 18, 2010.

Me 52.46: Photoshoot

Elliott 52.46: Discovery

Other 52.46: Liberty Station

Sunday Night Silliness

He may have outgrown his Bumbo Chair, but that doesn't mean he doesn't use it anymore:

I apologize for the ridiculous soundtrack,
I think the radio was on a bit loud again ;)

Climbing

So we've reached a new 'milestone' with Elliott's physical activity...climbing. He wants to climb on everything! Besides the fact that he made it up the stairs at the playground all by himself the other day at the park, he's figured out how to climb into our living room chair and get up the stairs outside our building.  Pretty cool, if you ask me, but now I'm also seeing our Expedit bookshelves in an entirely new light.

Climbing into the chair:

Walking out of the building and up the stairs:

(I apologize in advance if this one makes you a bit dizzy!)

Motorboat Fun

Elliott and I goofing around the other night after dinner making motorboat sounds...

P.S. Happy Birthday Mom!! :)

Photo Project 52.45

Photos taken during the week of April 5 - 11, 2010.

Me 52.45: Driving Home

Elliott 52.45: View from the Front Seat

Other 52.45: Pollen

Day at the Playground

Brad had study groups all weekend, so I knew I was going to be flying (virtually) solo with Elliott for three days. Luckily my friend Susan had some time Saturday afternoon and we were able to get together and take Elliott to the Grantville Community Park. They have a great 2-5 year playground that even Elliott was able to enjoy.

The Garden

Since Easter Sunday represented the first time Elliott had been to my parents' house since he started walking (well), it also meant it was the first time he was able to explore the gardens. Most of you know that over the last few years, my aunt has been transforming the front of my parents' house into a mini oasis of native and drought-resistant plants. Needless to say, when you stop fighting nature, things thrive. After all Mother Nature knows best!

As soon as Elliott was out of the car, he was mesmerized by all the plants. And when he caught sight of the fountain, he stopped and said "ooohhh". And of course he found all the solar lights hidden throughout. ;)










And yes, he needed to change his shirt after he was done playing in the fountain!

Easter

Although not his first Easter, last Sunday was certainly the first time Elliott could participate in any of the festivities. We kind of all forgot Easter was coming, so it was a pretty impromptu get together. But I have to say, it was one of the funnest Easters I can remember! My mom picked up a few of those hollow plastic eggs and put some of Elliott's favorite snacks inside (puffs, yogurt drops, freeze dried fruit and crackers). He did really great 'finding' all of the eggs along the Elliott Garden path, smashing a few of the hard boiled ones, and giving Jenny plenty to snack on!











However, I do believe it was Jenny who made out like a bandit this Easter:

Photo Project 52.44

All photos taken during the week of March 29 - April 4, 2010

Me 52.44: The Loft

Elliott 52.44: Big Boy

Other 52.44: Fabric District

Elliott Doing His Thing

I recently learned how to compress my videos so that I am able to upload them easier with Blogger as well as upload longer videos. The other day after I got home from work, I just let the video roll and was able to capture a few of the things Elliott has been enjoying lately: playing under the Einstein, chuckling, investigating how the toys are attached to the Einstein, and selecting pages from his favorite books.

Unfortunately, the radio (commercials) was on a little loud in the background...oh well.

Sleeping

I rarely get a chance to take a photo of Elliott sleeping anymore. Naps are too precious to risk messing up with camera sounds...or even the opening of a door. But last Sunday Elliott had a busy day with little nap time and finally crashed...dead to the world. It was too late to let him stay asleep (5:30ish) and I was heading in to wake him up...so I took the opportunity for a little video.

I tell you, could you sleep like that? Doesn't look comfortable at all, right? I don't know how he does it!