Breakthroughs

It seems as though Elliott has had some major breakthroughs during the last two weeks-mostly in the language department. He has started signing things like "all done", "more", and the like rather consistently with very little prompting. Yesterday when I told him it was bath time (while doing the sign for it) he started doing his version of the sign and repeating "ba, ba" while toddling over to the bathroom door and knocking at it. It's hard to know who squealed in delight louder- Steven or Carey. It was extremely cute!

Armed with the knowledge that he is signing more, we realized that one of the hand motions he makes while eating was actually his version of signing for a drink- we felt a bit bad since he has been doing that sign for several days.

We have been in a quandry for some time over Lil' Vic's dislike of anything not pureed, but the other night while eating taco salad, we gave him a chili bean- next thing we knew he was eating them hand over fist- we put him back in his highchair and he ate several ounces worth of chilibeans (and this was after we had already fed him a good-sized dinner). He has also started trying to feed himself with his spoon and even gets food into his mouth occasionally. Mostly he just dips his spoon into the jar and smears stuff onto his tray.

Another major milestone is his new consumption of graham crackers. He will even sit still while being put in the carseat if he has a graham cracker in his hand. Graham crackers are apparently the great sedative. Suddenly a whole new culinary world is opening up for him. Yay!!!

Ooh, almost forgot to mention that we got a free trampoline from our friend's the Ekins when they moved to AZ. Li'l Vic starts giggling as soon as he is set down on it. He falls down pretty quick when he stands up, but he loves to bounce on his knees or to be held while Mom or dad are jumping. It turns out that Steven is the worry-wort of the trampoline- when Carey get on and bounced Li'l Vic hard enough to actually get some air (which made Li'l Vic squeal with delight even more), Steven gasped and clutched onto Vic as though scared he would fall off (which wasn't even close to happening).

Laus Deo

I felt like I should explain the title of our blog. "Laus Deo" means "Praise God". This was the motto on the original Hord family coat of arms (circ. 1700). In preparation for a first night celebration 2 1/2 years ago, Steven and I created our own family coat of arms and chose this as our family motto. It sets the ideal for how we want to live our lives and where we want our family to be focused. And I feel it encapsulates our gratitude to God for all that we have and are. Hence, I thought it fitting that our should carry the same epitaph.