Figuring It Out

Eli has been amusing me lately as he figures out how to do certain things. For example, he has learned how to get off Mommy and Daddy's bed by himself. He used to try getting off head first, which is what we expected. Fortunately, he never got to know what that would feel like since we were always around to catch him before he fell. However, he obviously figured out that head first was not wise (as Josh puts it, we know he has depth perception) because he now turns his body around and feels his way down the bed until his feet hit the floor. He is learning that the legs-first approach works every time.

The other night he was figuring out how to open the cell phone, and he was getting frustrated as he did so. He knew it would open because he managed to flip it open a couple of times, but when he would accidentally close it and have difficulty opening it again, he would start to whine and throw his hands in the air. In fact, that is becoming his usual response to things he has trouble "figuring out." He perseveres for a while, but if it takes too long to get the desired result, up go his hands and out comes a whine. Mommy and Daddy are learning to hold back laughter. I know it must be frustrating for him, but it really can be quite amusing knowing that it's not something to whine about like he thinks it is. I guess that's what wisdom is, huh?

Trip to Utah for the Holidays

This is a little past due, but we just got back here to Houston on Monday, and I wanted to share a little about Christmas and New Year's. We had a lot of fun seeing everyone. Eli especially saw a lot of new faces, as this was his first time seeing any of his aunts and uncles on the Grant side of the family. He also enjoyed seeing Grandpa and Grandma Grant again. What little kid doesn't like to be spoiled? Truly, Eli was spoiled by EVERYONE, and he has the toys to prove it. However, he probably deserves them because he was SO good on the trip to Utah, and he had some reasons not to be good. Perhaps that was his way of responding to my Thanksgiving blog.

Las Vegas does not get snow often, but it happened to get it on the day we flew out of Houston. I think they said it was the biggest snow storm Vegas had received in 25 years or something like that. What a day to fly into the Vegas airport, huh? Well, we didn't...until the next day anyway. We were in the air when they decided to shut down the Vegas airport because of icy runways, and our pilot decided he didn't want to risk the landing. As a result, we made a surprise visit to Alburquerque, New Mexico, where we were obliged to spend the night. We waited about 4 VERY LONG hours in line at the Alburquerque airport to get a hotel voucher (fortunately we got one; not everyone did--long story) and new tickets into the Vegas airport the next morning. We didn't get into our hotel until about 10:30 PM, and we were supposed to get into Vegas at 5:30 or so. Needless to say, we were hungry and tired--both very good reasons for Eli to be cranky, but he wasn't. He was a trooper, even with two ear infections (most likely the reason for the unhappy Thanksgiving). He definitely deserved another "best baby on an airplane" award.

Grandpa and Grandma Grant and Kendall all deserved the "most patient and flexible people" award. My mom and Kendall waited for us all day in Vegas (Kendall was picked up from the airport that morning) only to find out we weren't coming. They had to drive the 2 1/2 hours back to St. George only to have my dad drive it again in the morning (and he thought a basketball game would get him out of a trip to the airport). In total, my dad made six 2 1/2 hour drives to and from Las Vegas to pick up or drop off his children. I think we'll all be grateful when they get the new airport up and running in St. George. Until that happens, thanks Mom and Dad for your patience in chaufering!

Despite the traveling, we did get to spend plenty of time relaxing, playing games, talking, and eating! :-) We had a family picture, and we got to meet Aubrey, Nephi's girlfriend. All of us got to meet Sophie for the first time. What a cute girl! She already has more hair than Eli! Despite the cold weather, we managed to do some hiking. Josh doesn't like to go many trips without doing some kind of hiking. We even got to go to the temple--a long awaited event for both of us. Though Houston has a temple, it takes about an hour to get there. Round trip travel plus a temple session generally takes about 4 to 5 hours, which has been difficult with a little boy who won't take a bottle and likes his milk every couple of hours. It's a lot easier when the temple is only ten minutes away. I was reminded how blessed we are to have temples!

Well, there's a lot that we did and more I can say, but I'll say the rest through pictures since this is getting long. Thanks to everyone for the good company, and thanks to both sides of the family for the gifts (even though some were a challenge to get home on an airplane :-) ).

Eli with his cousin, Sophee!

Eli opening his gift from Aunt Bronwyn and Toni. He's becoming quite a walker now!

Eli's gift from Uncle Kendall!

Eli as Santa! Isn't he cute?

Josh's hike in Snow Canyon. I didn't go, but Josh seemed to love it. On the top he's with Nephi and Aubrey, and on the bottom he's with Kendall.

Aunt Monica putting Eli to sleep!

P.S. Happy Birthday today, Mom!

White Christmas?

Houston got snow yesterday! For those who live in Utah and other snow-common areas, that may not be a big deal, but it rarely dips below freezing and/or snows here. It was the big news of Houston for everyone, and we were surprised that we actually got to show Eli what snow is. That's the first we've seen since we moved here. Unfortunately, snow is usually accompanied by very cold weather, and it was freezing last night. Of course, you wouldn't know it today. The sun is out and the temperature is about 20 degrees warmer than yesterday--much more my style. However, it is nice to have snow for Christmas, and though it's gone today, it was fun to see yesterday.

Thanksgiving in Gig Harbor

Though I'm sure he loved visiting Grandpa and Grandma Pratt, I think Eli will be grateful he won't be remembering his first Thanksgiving. I certainly have a lot of gratitude for a generally happy and pleasant baby. Unfortunately, Eli was not his usual on Thanksgiving. He left Houston with a cold, which got worse until he was running a fever and screaming all morning on Thanksgiving. Eli's happy temperment was overshadowed by his obvious pain for the majority of the trip. We did manage to take this somewhat deceiving picture on Thanksgiving as he managed to eat about two bites of squash. In fact, he must have lost his appetite because he wouldn't eat hardly anything while we were there. He's gradually getting his appetite back now that we're home, but he still seems to be fairly picky about what he eats. Before we left, he loved sweet potatoes, squash, etc. Now he barely touches them. If it doesn't have banana in it, forget it. Maybe it's just a stage, or maybe it's the after effects of a trip in which his mommy felt she was starving him. He finally ate some banana on the plane ride home, and he's been loving it ever since. As for the plane ride home, it was not a fun experience. On the way to Gig Harbor, some ladies told Josh that Eli gets the "best baby on a plane" award because he was so good. I guess we should never have accepted the award because it was a jinx. He definitely did not earn it on the flight from Seattle to Las Vegas. It was all Josh and I could do to keep Eli's crying to a minimum and avoid the stares (evil ones probably). I was tempted to call my parents during our two hours or so in the Vegas airport and have them come get Eli. No, just kidding. I was really thinking that it might be nice to avoid at least one flight on our way to St. George for Christmas, but we'd miss Josh too much. As a result, we will be flying again in two weeks, and I REALLY hope that it's much better. Otherwise, I may be saying NO to flying for a while. If you want to see Eli (since he's really the reason people want to see us nowadays) :-), you'll have to come to Houston. At least the flight to Las Vegas is much shorter than the one to Seattle, so here's hoping (fingers crossed) and praying (literally) that Eli lives up to his once earned award.