Eli has been singing "Happy Birthday" at every opportunity, throwing himself little birthday parties in the sandbox or at snack time. Here I caught him singing into his pretzels them blowing them out like candles. The video is a sort of pitiful reprise.
At the end, you can hear him ask for his "own camera". We gave him an old one we found in a drawer as a birthday present. We may be cheap, but we're creative!

The party was great. Our friends Esther, Robert and CC came with their parents as did Baikal and Rybolt and their parents. Cupcakes were a big hit. We played backyard baseball and Robert (age 6) showed Eli how it is done. Then Eli showed off his sandbox skills.

Eli had his first big boy haircut at a professional salon!

Eli had a birthday a couple of weeks ago. It was a great day topped off by a fun party with friends, pizza and cupcakes. We're having a bit of a problem with Eli and cameras right now. He is completely obsessed with them and so won't let us take a picture before he melts down and wants to grab it. Photography is slim these days.

Here he is getting ready to ride to the zoo and then a few while we're there. I keep thinking he is such a big guy until I see him next to a big kid and realize that he's still small fry.

The garden, in case you were wondering, was a great success. So much so that we never want to see another tomato again. I pulled the tomato vines out a few weeks ago because they were eating the backyard. Attack of the killer tomatoes for real. Poor Eli couldn't make it down the path from the house to the car without getting tangled in the vines. He did like plucking grape tomatoes (may-nohs) and eating them straight from the garden. We also got piles of serrano peppers and a few bells. The basil, rosemary, oregano and thyme did well, too.

These pictures are just a fraction of the harvest... one evenings' worth!

Holy lack of posting, Batman!

First I'll back up and tell you a little about our great trip to go see cousin hunter about two months ago. Hunter is one year old and so danr cute you want to eat him. They live out in the country in Virginia in a beautiful area near a lake and lots of farms. Eli got a kick out of looking for animals and "finding" tractors. We went on lots of bike rides with Eli and Hunter in Hunter's bike trailer. Very fun!

It is with great sadness that I report the passing of one of the world's great dogs. About three weeks ago, Genesis was diagnosed with bone cancer in her leg. It progressed pretty quickly and soon she got to the point where she was in constant pain. I took her to the vet yesterday and held her head while she fell asleep for the last time. She passed away very quietly and I have every reason in the world to believe that she's much happier now than she was hobbling around. She was 12 years old.

We miss her. We miss her a lot. She was a funny dog, very quiet and extremely gentle. Where some dogs perfect the "poor me" begging face to coerce a sucker into giving a treat, Gennie had instead a "give me a break" face. She often made it very clear to us that she was only tolerating our behavior because she didn't have the opposable thumbs required to get dog food out of the bin.

Rescuing a racing greyhound is a bizarre experience. We had to teach Gennie that affection is a good thing, but once she figured out that a scratch behind the ears felt good, she couldn't get enough and would walk up and LEEEAAAANNN against my knees until I stopped what I was doing to rub her all over.

With our busy lives and cramped space, Gennie never got everything she deserved. But I try to squelch that guilt by remembering the one thing we did give her: we taught her to play. Racing dogs never learn how to play as puppies since they are trained to do only one thing: run. So for years we tossed balls, squeaked toys, dangled pull ropes, anything we could think of until one day, when Gennie was almost 7, she got it. She learned playfulness. She would toss her own squeaky toys in the air then pounce on them. She played chase with us in the yard. It was an amazing sight. You can indeed teach and old dog new tricks.

Anyway, thanks for indulging me. We're sad around here but at the same time glad that she's got plenty of room to chase rabbits and toss squeaky toys now, and four healthy legs with which to do those things.

This was a few weeks ago. He's a speed demon now.

After the first week, John, Andie, Anna and Kevin left Eli and me at the beach all by ourselves. We had a blast! He is such a goofball and has so much energy. as long as the weather was good, we were outside in the sand or the pool or at the playground. One afternoon, though, the weather was terrible and so was Eli's mood. We had to get out! Where does one go when the weather is bad but you can't stay in the condo anothe rminute? to Target, of course!

While wandering the toy aisles at ye olde Target, Eli found a tricycle sitting on the floor, ready to go. He hopped on and started to pedal. Where he learned to ride a trike, I'll never know, be he is certainly a genius at it now. We're signing him up for next year's Tour de France.

For the last several weeks, we've heard nothing but "Eli ride bike. Eli go fast. Helmet on! Pedals round and round!" Over and over. Fortunately for Eli, he's really really cute. Otherwise...

Over the last month or so, Eli's vocabulary has exploded! One word that he picked up at the beach is "frisbee". But it sounds more like "piseebah". In any case he loves throwing piseebahs.

Eli's also a little bit of a nutjob. I love that about him.


goggles and pj's

little surfer

hilarity at the kiddie pool

There's been a posting drought here at Casa York-Simmons. Dear readers, I deeply apologize. In short, there's a LOT going on around here. No need to go into any tedious detail, but I'll let you in, instead, on the fun trips and experiences we've had recently.

Back in July (approximately 100 years ago), we went to the beach for a little much-deserved R&R. The amazing thing about Eli at this time in our lives is that he seems to keep getting cooler and cooler. The beach trip was so much fun, and the fun was compounded by the fact that we were joined by our great friends John and Andie and our Goddaughter Anna (8 months). Anna is so beautiful, round and delish, and a total charmer. And Eli was a perfect gentleman, very gentle with Anna, and very good at sharing his toys.And it was great having our friends around! Andie helped me haul my carcass off the couch for several morning runs. God bless her for that.

In honor of my friend Laurel's new book Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains or in Search of a Suitable Princess, she has invited all of us (you and me and everyone out there) to give a brief story about what we would be unsuitable at doing and why.

In honor of my trip to the beautiful countryside of Abingdon, Virginia, to visit my in-laws and nephew Hunter, I have to confess that I am entirely unsuited for country life. It was incredible to get out to the AMAZING fresh air, cows, bike trails, etc, and so lovely to visit with David and Jaime and Hunter. I can't wait to go back! But I'm not good at quiet. And it was really really quiet. Truth is, as much as I love dirt, I also like concrete and next door neighbors and walking to restaurants. I like parks and zoos and aquariums. I like quiet for vacations and relaxing and rejuvenating. I like the other stuff for everyday life. Lucky for me, I have great family to visit in beautiful places like Abingdon and a life in a city to come home to!

Finally, a strange new development...
Eli likes to sit on Kevin's head.
Seriously.
He just climbs right up and sits down.
Wierdo.

In other news on the homefront, Eli got his first haircut, a very minor one just to straighten out his bangs. I couldn't bear to trim off the curls at the back of his neck. One of my co-workers pointed out that short in front and long in back is a mullet. Great. My kid has a mullet and it is my fault.

Our backyard is really shaping up. I'll send some pictures whenever I get around to taking them. We now have a fully-functioning sandbox with a tarp cover (I built it myself!). It currently holds 650 pounds of sand. No joke. Sand is really heavy! We have a great veggie bed with tomatoes and peppers, a composter and compost pile and two rain barrels off the downspouts. And we're mowing the lawn regularly. Paradise! Seriously, though, it is really fun to have a functional backyard to play in.

Eli's just discovered that if he chases the dogs, they run away. This is a fun new game in toddler-world. Luckily, even as old and arthritic as Gennie the greyhound is, she is still faster than the kid.

Finally, the most recent accomplishments in the world of learning are:
counting to 4
A,B,C and D (usually in order)
"I love you!"

The last one is my favorite.

One of my colleagues, Chuck, gave Eli a set of big blocks. I haven't had a chance to thank Chuck yet because he's been away on vacation, but Eli LOVES these blocks. Really loves them. He especially loves to stack them up really high then have one of us lift him up to keep stacking until they fall down. He is remarkably good at balancing them.

We've also spent some quality time in the water. Eli's friend Caroline invited us and a big bunch of our church buddies to swim at their neighborhood pool. Eli, quite the waterbaby, had a great time, as did his friends (and their parents, our friends!)

Baikal and Paul and their moms


Ann and her dad


Our buddy Katherine


Eli couldn't decide if he liked the water feature or not.

As Eli gets older and more expressive, his face shows more and more complex emotion every day. I love this picture, not because he's happy and shiny, but because he looks so irritated. And terribly rational.

I can't imagine what ridiculous thing I must have said to evoke such a look, but I should have written it down and vowed never to repeat it. Ever.

Sorry for the abrupt post stoppage. We've been having some internet problems here at Casa York-Simmons. Hopefully we've got them all sorted out.

So I'll back up...

It's summer, hooray!

We've been doing all sorts of great summer things around here, most of them involvong sun, sand water or a combination of the three.

In addition to spending many weekend afternoons at my parents' pool, a few weeks ago we went to the Decatur beach festival, where they dump several tons of beach sand into the middle of downtown Decatur and we get to play in the street in the sand. We met a bunch of our friends there. Eli liked playing with his friend Paul.




Eli tried to swim in the sand.

IT'S SUMMER!!
And as we all know, here in Atlanta, summer means swimming! Eli's been hitting pools all around town.

Here's Eli and Daddy swimming at Grandmaman and Bumpus' house. (Grumpy got a new name, "Bumpus", which Eli can pronounce and my dad is much fonder of.)