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Tomorrow is Eli’s 4 month birthday (elephant pictures coming later). Our baby continues to amuse us with his personality and impress us and others with his chubbiness. We’re very happy to see that he is growing well and he has become a very calm, laid-back baby. He sleeps almost 12 hours a night with just one feeding during that time, usually after around 7 hours. That’s much nicer for his parents than when he needed feedings every 3-4 hours. During the day he naps about every 2 hours and eats even more often. His head control is improving and he’s become quite the chatty baby (watch the video from this earlier post). Every day he makes new funny faces and he is definitely able to differentiate Nicole and me from other people. In fact if Nicole is in the room it’s hard to get him to look at anything or anyone else – he’s kind of a mamma’s boy right now. He isn’t grasping at toys yet but that might just be because his mom does such a good job of entertaining him. Overall we feel very lucky to have such an adorable and well behaved baby.

As usual, you can find even more pictures on Nicole’s Smugmug photo site.

This video always cracks me up. It just goes to show, if you create an entertaining ad, it sells itself.

Right around Mother’s Day Eli decided that he had a lot to say to us. Ever since then he hasn’t stopped chatting. He’s not always in a talkative frame of mind, but when the mood is just right, he talks up a storm. It’s really quite hilarious. Nicole and I really enjoy our conversations with the little guy. If only we knew what he was saying!

View the video larger and in HD on Vimeo.

In other Eli news, our baby continues to grow and he’s now full of smiles. And to our delight he is slowly sleeping longer and longer at night. Amazingly he slept 10 hours straight on Friday and Saturday nights but we’re not sure that is typical. Usually he gives us one good night (defined as about 6 hrs straight) and one rough night of sleep. When he’s not sleeping, he and Nicole have fun all day playing and doing exercises. I give him a bottle in the morning when he wakes up around 6am and then again when I get home from work, followed most days by some singing. Eli hates going to bed at night and will fight sleep but we are able to eventually lull him to sleep by around 930pm.

PBS created a new video series called Poisoned Waters on the growing hazards to human health and the ecosystem. They specifically called out Tysons Corner, VA (where I live and used to work) as an example of how unchecked growth damages the environment. The video provides a very interesting history of how Tysons Corner grew from rural farmland to the region’s largest retail center. But that growth, of course, came at huge cost. The car-centric design of Tysons Corner has led to incredible gridlock in the area and is damaging the local environment and the entire Chesapeake watershed.

Watch the PBS Poisoned Waters segment on Tysons Corner, VA:

I just want to point out that even though PBS says that almost no one actually lives in Tysons Corner, when my company was located in Tysons Corner many of the employees lived right in the Tysons Corner area. Nicole and I recently moved to Tysons Corner to be closer to work (our plans were foiled when my company decided to move to Reston 6 months after we moved to Tysons Corner, but that’s another story).

PBS points to Arlington, VA (just a few miles from Tysons Corner) as an example of what works. The concept is “smart growth” which they describe as “urban living with a human touch”. The key is that Arlington has built up instead of out and they have focused new development around the Metro and public transportation. This allows Arlington to house many more residents than Tysons Corner while providing more open space and a more walkable lifestyle.

Watch the PBS Poisoned Waters segment on Arlington, VA:

I can attest that two of my friends who lived in Arlington managed to go without a car for years, relying on public transportation and using Zipcar or borrowing a car when needed.

As hinted in the second PBS segment about Arlington, Tysons is planning to use the introduction of Metro to the area as an opportunity to reinvent itself as an urban center. This NY Times article describes how Tysons is planning to transition to a pedestrian-friendly area with urban parks and high-density living space similar to Arlington. Sounds good, but I’m still skeptical. Changing Tysons Corner is going to be a mammoth task. But I hope they can do it… for everyone’s sake.

This was a busy weekend with Eli. On Friday he turned 3 months old. We took some more Eli-with-the-elephant pictures (see months one and two) but he pretty much looks the same as he did at two months except chubbier! On Saturday we went to Nicole’s cousin’s Bat Mitzvah. That meant getting dressed up and eating delicious food Eli while tons of Nicole’s relatives got to hold Eli. And Eli got to enjoy a bottle and take a nap in a new place. We dialed it down a notch on Sunday and had some nice nap time, although Eli and the cats did more napping than I did.