Room Improvements

We made a couple of improvements to Elliot's room this past weekend. First, we had Grandpa Mark help install a book ledge around Elliot's bed so that he can better see his choices for storytime. Reading three books before bed has been a favorite routine of his ever since he was little(er).

the book shelf also has enough room to hold several super heros and cars

Second, I decided to try and make the most of the laundry chute that is in his room. Rather than nailing it shut in hopes of keeping out surprise attacks from flying toys while doing laundry, we found a cardboard box that fit in it like a glove. That was all we needed to turn it into a Super Hero Hideout! 

new and improved laundry chute 

super heros... and all toys within reach

Swimming

Elliot had his first swimming lesson this week! Recently, he had been playing a new game at home which consisted of him taking off his shirt and then "diving" onto one end of the couch and "swimming" (crawling) as fast as he could to the other end. I figured we should take advantage of his interest in this while we could.
I was expecting some hesitation even though we had talked a lot about it so we went to the pool early so he could see other kids having their lessons. When it was time for his class to start, the teacher asked him to come sit on the edge of the pool, which he did very tentatively. Then she asked him to come in a little further and sit on the first step. He said No. She asked him to see how big of a splash he could make while kicking. He said No. She asked him to try to squirt the other teacher with a water toy. He said NO. He wouldn't do anything! I figured it would take a lesson or two for him to warm up to this.

BUT THEN... after class the instructor hung around and played with Elliot until she got him to warm up to her a little more. And then somehow she got him to finally get in the water. And THEN somehow convinced him that he should swim out to the middle of the pool with her to help retrieve a toy he had just thrown in!

Stella, on the other hand, would have given up all her pacifiers to be in Elliot's shoes/swimsuit that day. She wanted to get into that giant bath tub sooooo bad! I had to spend most of the time there carrying her around because when I set her down she'd head straight for the water, like a turtle!

More Snow Fun

We took advantage of some nice weather again a couple of weeks ago. This time Stella got to join the fun and she was ready to dive right into the snowbanks!

Stella's favorite part of the day seemed to be the snowballs. I suppose next year she'll be more interested in throwing them at her brother than eating them :)

And a little bit of sliding fun...

Elliot said that he was climbing Mt. Everest. He then switched to Pirate Elliot and started burying treasures - like his hat, his shovel, his snowball maker - and made an X to mark the spot. I hope we don't find any surprises when all the snow melts!