Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Ahhhhhhhh!

Let me tell you a story about a little blue duckie. A bath toy loved by a little boy called Eli. And do you know why he loves the duckie? Because little blue duckie is soft and cute and he plays "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" when you press his belly. The duckie floats in the water and you can even use him as a washcloth.

Last Saturday, I was cleaning the bathroom, when duckie began to serenade me. I thought maybe I had bumped him while I was cleaning the shower. 5 minutes later, again, another round of twinkle, twinkle. And then every five minutes or so after that, more duckie music. I am starting to show signs of irritation, but in an attempt to finish cleaning before Eli awoke from his nap, I press on, trying to ignore the very ice cream truck-esque melody that is repeating over and over and over, but with no one offering me a fudgesicle.

Then enters my husband, whom I love dearly, but has almost zero patience for things like this. In fact, I was kind of surprised he hadn't spoken up sooner.

"Will you please stop hitting that duck in the bathtub!" said Jeffrey.

I am wondering if he really believes that I am doing this on purpose.

Finally after some twisting and contorting of the duckie's mid section, I managed to silence him, and thought maybe he had a chance for more bathtime fun with Eli. However, only a few baths later he is back at it, only this time, he is not doing well. Tonight we found duckie lying on his alligator friend playing some sort of sad hum, that no longer even closely resembles twinkle, twinkle. It actually doesn't closely resemble any song I've ever heard. It's sad, really, and yet a relief. The duckie had a short, yet productive life, putting smiles on our faces and a tune in our heads.

Tonight he is headed for the garbage can. And not the garbage can inside, but the one outside, where duckie can end his life singing his now strange song to the birds and the fireflies.

Now at this age, Eli will not probably notice that little blue duckie will now be missing from all future baths. Had he been 1 or 2 when duckie went coo coo, we may have had a major baby meltdown. And so for this, I am thankful.

Elias finally did some rolling today during the daylight hours. Boy, did I cheer. I figure if I make a real big deal out of the daytime rolling, maybe he'll be encouraged, and also realize what a contrast this reaction is to the blatant non-cheering that I do at 3am, when he is rolling all over his crib.

This week baby Eli has discovered how to act shy. It is hilarious. If you walk into the room and say hello to him, he either hides his face or closes his eyes. Now I am calling this shyness, because that is what it looks like, but I actually have no idea what this is or why he is all of a sudden doing it. This is probably some specific stage of development that I'll end up reading about in some parenting magazine or book. But really even in it's most basic, unexplained form, it is extremely adorable, and Jeff and I can't get enough. It's just one more way that he is coming alive, you know, really showing more of who he is. It's so amazing to watch his little personality emerge from what was, not so long ago, just a helpless little baby body that only seemed to cry and eat and poop, sometimes all three at once.

Eli might be teething, hence the glistening chin. Teething is some sort of huge mystery. I have heard horror stories of all of the problems it can cause, i.e. diaper rash, pooping problems, crying, pain, lack of sleep, irritability,etc....

Now I haven't seen any of these symptoms, and his gums are not swollen, and he is as happy as a clam. However, he drenches the front of every outfit with drool within about 15 minutes of being dressed, and he puts nearly everything in his mouth. And at the absence of something to put in his mouth, he will not hesitate to gnaw on his fingers, fist, arm, and sometimes big toe.

But just look at this face. Imagine that smile with a single tooth in it. I am unsure if I can handle a measure of cuteness that is cuter than this.

Lord help us.

ten weeks later...

Ten weeks passes us all by in the blink of an eye, but in baby years this is quite a lengthy span of time, which brings me to my apology....sorry everybody. While baby Eli has been rapidly growing, we have been struggling through a sort of technological breakdown. A broken computer, a new computer, Windows Vista, and Verizon Wireless, (not necessarily in that order) were voraciously working together to ensure that the Lemays could not merge onto the Information Superhighway that some like to call the Internet. But we cannot be stopped. It is the year 2007, my own mother can take pictures of me with her telephone; so how is it that gigantic multi-billion dollar companies cannot coordinate the release of a new computer program with software that is actually compatible with such said computer program?


And not only can they not coordinate such events, but they ask you to continue to pay for a service which you cannot use until they finish updating their software to be compatible with the new computer program, which, by the way, the entire world knew was coming and maybe could have been preparing for.


But I digress. This blog is not for me to rant about my problems, and the problem has indeed been solved. And so we are back. Baby Eli is in the running for the longest baby on earth. He is in the 70th percentile for weight, however for height, there is no percentage for him. Off the charts, like a true Shiverdecker. It's in the blood, and so we are planning to invest in a second refridgerator (just kidding,... kind of), and perhaps buy some stock in the Big and Tall store(again, only kidding).


He is also gaining cuteness by the minute. He now laughs and says da da da da da da, etc... He can play in the exersaucer thing-a-ma-gig. He finally loves a good bath. He still likes the television, in fact, with an increasing love for noggin, (a channel on our cable that has an irresistably cute moose who teaches us about family and colors and spanish and patterns. Mommy and Eli watch, while Daddy begs and pleads for possession of the remote control. hee hee)

He is wearing mostly 9 mos. clothes, but needs 12 mos. pj's due to his staggering height!


He has started to roll, choosing to practice mainly in his crib around 3am, at which time he cries, no, screams, because he cannot roll back over. This happens about 5 times before I move him to the pack n' play in our room, and about 5 more times until I give in and brew myself a pot of coffee and call it a night. I assume this will be temporary, as all things baby usually are, and so I am attempting to enjoy each roll and its accompanying scream. It is becoming a rather comical event, and if I weren't so darn tired I'd probably be able to work up a chuckle or two. Probably the most hilarious part of it all is that during the day, I put the child on a blanket on the floor and put the most enticing toy just a roll's reach away. He looks over at the toy, smiles, and goes about his business, lying flat on his back! This makes me jokingly shake my fist at the sky.





I mentioned his new found laughter. It is unbelievably adorable. The kind of laughter that a mommy will go crazy for. And so I have made it my mission to find at least one thing each day that makes Eli giggle. If the fly on my wall could talk, I would be embarrassed for him to tell you of the lengths I have gone to make my baby laugh. My good friend Jenny calls it "baby comedy" and it is an art form that not all can master. A baby rarely laughs at the same thing twice. Yes, just like lightning. And this is precisely where it gets tricky. But I am in it to win it. He makes this face when he is just about to laugh. You have to see it. I actually caught it on film by holding the camera over us while I kissed his belly, or if you are familiar with Cosby Show-speak, it was really more of a zerbert to the belly. I had tried this before with no luck. But finally at the ripe old age of 5 and 1/2 mos., he could see the hilarity of a good zerbert.

Easter Eve

'Twas the night before Easter,

and in a small crib,

a baby lie sleeping,

drooling onto his bib........

Shhhhh, he's finally asleep. We had a good day; stayed in our jammies and played all morning, and made a trip to the grocery in the afternoon. Eli has this crazy baby playing thingy (I have no idea what it is called), that a friend let us borrow. He lays on this colorful mat, and these cute toys hang down all around him. When we first got it, just about three weeks ago, he would just look up and smile, and kind of bat at the toys with his hands. Now, he grabs them, tries to put them in his mouth, and sometimes even yanks so hard that they come right off the little loops that hold them up. He kicks his feet and laughs and talks, it is so cute, and I have to say, rather advanced the way he has progressed in such a short time.

His favorite is the pink and blue monkey that you see in the picture here. Unfortunately for monkey, he is the chosen one. I have to throw him in the washing machine every other day or so, because of the massive amount of spit that accumulates on his poor feet. I must believe, though, that it brings monkey great fulfillment to see the look of joy on Eli's face each and every time they play together. Everyday is the same. Eli has yet to get tired of seeing monkey, and I will never tire of seeing the smile on that cute little face.

Eli's other favorite activity this morning was watching TV with his dad. And we are not talking Saturday morning cartoons. They watched a UFC fight. Is this wrong/strange? Perhaps. Our baby, not unlike his father (and mother), loves the television. His attention span is quite long when it comes to the TV. It's a little alarming, however, like everything else, is extremely cute. And you can imagine how fun it is for Jeffrey to have a son who will sit with him and watch boxing and hockey, and numerous other things,( i.e. Deal or No Deal:) at such a young age.

Our trip to the grocery store was uneventful, with the exception of strange women who like to get in Eli's face and make goo goo noises at him. He doesn't seem to mind and I don't really either, it's just sometimes they get a little too close. So close, in fact, that I feel I should somehow know them. Is this my long lost aunt? Even a distant cousin would do, but a complete stranger with her lips on my son's cheek is somehow unsettling, and I am unsure of what to say or do. Babies have a strange power over people. A grown person, who was minding their own business, focused on their shopping, will suddenly begin to talk in a high-pitched voice and say things like ba-ba, and goochie goo, at the sight of Eli's car seat in my grocery cart. It seems almost involuntary, like they just cannot help themselves, so I just roll with it.

Well, that's all for now. I must join Eli and turn in for the night. Last night, sleep was, well, much interrupted. Tonight, I pray for three to four hours of good, solid sleep. Tomorrow promises to be great fun. Eli and I will go to church and then to my friends' the Duncan's house for Easter lunch.
My Dad put a pair of infant sunglasses in Eli's Easter basket. They might be the most hilarious thing you've ever seen. Too bad it is freezing cold and the sun has been refusing to shine for the past few days, and tomorrow is not supposed to be any better. However, in protest we will wear our sunglasses, and take pictures for you to see.
Happy Easter! We love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

baby's blogging debut

"What's that?" you say, "a baby who blogs?!?"

Well, kind of. A baby-inspired blog, rather. You see this baby, named Elias, has grandmas and grandpas and aunties and uncles all over North America who want to see him and hold him and know what he is up to, and they cannot.

a. because they live far away.

b. because their son and daughter and/or nephew and neice are wretched at keeping in touch.

and c. because life is not fair, and we cannot all be neighbors and live on the same street, which would be so cool. And if we could, some say it should be on a Canadian street, because Canadian streets are clearly superior. But then it would be called a Rue, and that is my mom's name, which would be confusing.

Thus, we have started a blog. Here we can tell you what we do everyday, and post pictures of our adventures.

Just to get us started I will reveal to you one of Eli's latest developments. I like to call it "tired, grumpy, Eli". This baby, who apparently is not the first, hates to fall asleep. He is the Mike Tyson of sleep fighting. He battles clear to the end, but unfortunately for Eli, sleep always wins. It is difficult to watch, and getting more and more difficult to hold him and rock him during the fight. You would think it would be easier to just relax and fall asleep, but this is clearly coming from a tired mommy who has been around for a while. Baby has only seen the world for three short months, and he thinks that something terribly interesting might happen while he takes his nap. This possibility, to Eli, is so so sad.

These pictures show the progression that takes place at nearly every nap. "Angry baby" turns to "thinking about letting this pacifier calm me down baby", and then, the inevitable...."asleep baby".