The Race is On! Elliott vs. the Kitchen Floor

And we're back!  The Elliott show was on hiatus while I adjusted to the very full life of a full-time working mom and weekend DIYer.  I've been striving to find that elusive place called "balance".  While I'm not quite there yet, I am finally at a point where I feel that I can start adding back in the things I enjoy doing -- like sharing my awesome kid with his adoring fans.  

Throughout the kitchen remodel one of our main goals has been to get the house put back together before Elliott becomes mobile.  We've made huge progress, and while we will be doing minor improvements for months to come (like molding and backsplash tile), we are so close to being fully functional.  There is just one final (pretty important) piece - the kitchen floor.

 VS.

There were 3 layers of flooring under the ugly stained vinyl we've been living with for 2.5 years, so we ripped out all of that, and the subfloor, down to the bare support boards.  We've been telling Elliott to wait to start crawling until we get the kitchen floor installed, and it looked like everything was going to work out, until we placed our order.  Of course the product we love (Armstrong bio based tile) is on backorder, and will take 2-3 weeks before being installed.  Out of nowhere Elliott took the lead.

He's been rolling for months, but hasn't been able to get up off his stomach to propel himself forward.  A few nights ago he discovered he could use his legs for leverage, and started swinging one leg up to his side, and digging his toes into the ground push himself forward.  Of course, once I pulled out the video camera he stopped showing off, so here's the "almost there" after shot.

**Update: We're calling it a tie!  Our floors were installed this week, just as Elliott started the army crawl.  He still hasn't figured out how to get his stomach off the ground, but he can use his arms to pull him forward, and digs his toes into the ground to push himself forward.  Here's an action shot on our beautiful new floor.**

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here in Santa Barbara lately.  On Sunday we took a break from the house projects, packed a picnic lunch and headed to Ledbetter beach to introduce Elliott to the wonders of the ocean.

He wasn't too happy about just hanging out on the blanket since the sun kept getting in his eyes every time he rolled over, but he really perked up once Steve took him down to check out the water.

I expected him to start crying as soon as the water came up to cover his feet.  At first he watched the water a bit confused, but with each consecutive wave his smile got bigger.  I don't know why I would have expected him to do anything but love the ocean immediately since the kid can't get enough of splashing in the bath tub.

The most exciting news on the baby front (at least from my perspective) is that Elliott is sporadically starting to sleep through the night.  For the past week he has been on an every other night schedule where one night he would sleep all the way through until 5:30am (which I think is great), and then the next he would wake up once.

I have to say, Elliott is turning in to an absolutely awesome kid (I've said it before, I'm biased).  He is getting bigger and more independent by the day, and so happy and sweet that you just have to smile along.  So here it is - your Happy Elliott Moment