Personal History #1 - Van Alexander Ellis

My name is Van and I’m almost one. Today my aunt told my mom that I look like a girl because I have tight blonde curls. My mom disagreed. Although I have curly hair and I am really really cute, I don’t look like a girl. The end.

Except there’s a few more things. I was born on December 28th, 2006. I was due on December 22nd. My mom was very large and had to waddle around the last week before I was born. I was a very kicky baby and made sure she didn’t sleep. When it was finally time for me to be born, my mom and dad went into the hospital at 7:00 am and they put my mom on pitocin. Four hours later, after punching my dad only once and yelling things, she got an epidural. My dad had to go into the bathroom after that because he needed to cry and he didn’t want my mom to see. I was born at 7:18 pm and I was 7 lbs even and was 18 inches long. I was actually very good looking from the beginning. Both my mom and my dad had decided that if I wasn’t cute it would be okay. Some babies are sort of squished faced in the beginning but then they grow into their looks. Fortunately, I looked handsome (really—he did) from the beginning.

The first week I was home, my grandparents Larry and Jewel came to stay. Every morning my grandpa Larry would come and take me from my mom and sing so that she could sleep. He sang “Go to Sleep Little Baby” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” Grandma Jewel made breakfast and helped my mom change me and keep things going. She also told my mom that it was okay if I cried a lot—it was good exercise.

I liked the song “As I Have Loved You” and one time my aunt Katy babysat me while my parents went to church and she sang to me and held me. And one time, when mom and dad were pulling weeds to get the outside ready for my baby blessing, my cousin Holly who was pregnant with my first cousin once removed cousin who is now born and who is named Lennon, well, Holly played with me in the front room of the twin home at 649 N 1280 E where we lived. She took a lot of pictures of me and I was on my belly laughing. My baby blessing was beautiful. My dad blessed me and he wrote some of it down but I don’t have it here. But then after there was a HUGE party and lots of food and my whole family was there.

I rolled over when I was about eight weeks old. We were over at Grandma Jewel’s house and all my aunts were making me lay on my belly. I didn’t like this and would grunt and get really really mad. Finally, I just rolled over to prove to them that they weren’t the boss of me. They all started screaming and that was weird.

My grandpa Mark made me a paper mobile that would spin with the music. I loved looking at it. My mom set it up in the front room and I’d lay under it and laugh. Eventually, when I learned to stand up and she’d put it over the crib, I tore it down. It’s not because I didn’t like it. It’s because I like to tear all things down. I also like to empty folded laundry out of baskets, pull CDs off of CD stands, stand on top of stereos, stick my hand in fire places, and go head first off the Love Sac.

I’ve always been a very alert and observant baby and when I started crawling, I liked to get into everything. I mostly like adult things like screwdrivers and knives and magnets and keys and cell phones and laptops. I don’t mess with toys all that much. My favorite favorite book is Peek a Moo by Marie Torres Cimarusti. I also love Goodnight Moon but it doesn’t make me tired, I just like to turn the pages really really fast. When I was little my mom took me on walks every day and I would look around and sit quietly. Now I prefer to crawl around and not be in the bjorn because it’s boring. I also used to love going in the shopping cart and look around but now I would rather crawl up the shelves. I don’t like to just sit there.

Last summer we went swimming. At Aunt Holly’s pool I kicked my legs like a fish and swam all over. And I love Lehi Legacy Center pool because they have swings for babies. I think I started liking swimming because my dad gives me baths every night and he always makes the water into a whirlpool and splashes me. At first I hated it (Aunt Paulette and Sam and the girls came over the first day I got home from the hospital to show my mom how to give me a bath and I screamed and screamed because I hated the cold) but now it’s my favorite thing to do. When I go in the bathroom and see the tub I start bouncing up and down and singing. My dad even lets the water get in my eyes but I don’t care. I did figure out how to take the handles off the water so he had to take them off permanently so that I wouldn’t turn the water on really hot.

I also eat a lot. I liked peaches but then I got sick of them so I just started throwing them. Then I liked rice cereal or mixed cereal but then that got boring. So then I just started eating whatever everyone else was eating. Even curry or guacamole or pizza or sweet potato fries or salsa or my grandpa’s breakfast stir fry that my mom thinks is too spicy but I like it. Lately I’m into steak burritos. I also LOVE YoBaby yogurt but my mom thinks it’s expensive. And I’m into throwing pretzels and Ritz crackers at people. I go to bed every night at seven and I try to sleep all night. When I wake up, I stand in my crib and yell. Then I eat and then I lay on my mom and rest. Then I get up even if she doesn’t want me to get up and I crawl all over the bed and pull myself up with the headboard. Sometimes, if Mom’s lucky, I’ll sit in the dark and play with her cell phone and let her sleep a little.

I love to play peek a boo. I love to spit. And I can crawl up ANYTHING. I’m like my dad that way. I can crawl up the marble fireplace, I can crawl up the ladder, I can crawl up and get on the chairs, I can climb up and down the stairs (although one time I fell down the stairs because I would go head first to see what was going on and one time my mom was sitting right there and she thought I was fine but then I went for a shoe that was sitting on a stair and I fell and she freaked out and was crying and I was crying but not as long as she was and I was like, why did you leave a shoe there if you didn’t want me to dive for it? So then she and my dad went and bought a fence that I can actually go under and I try to when they aren’t looking but it’s okay because I know how to down now).

I’m a good boy and I watch my mom do Yoga and once my mom tried to make me do yoga and I laughed but then I didn’t want to do it so I didn’t. I only like bananas if I can hold the whole banana and I love kids. I hang out with the Jackson kids on Tuesdays when my mom teaches writing and it’s really fun except when Louisa grabs me and shakes me. On Thursdays I hang out with my grandma and grandpa Larry. Grandma plays funny games with me and grandpa does up up in the sky with me. This is funny and I laugh but only if I feel like it.
In a few days it’s my birthday and I’m not sure how it’s going to be because Christmas is coming and I don’t want left over presents. Also, I have to say, I used to be really calm and just sit there in church. Now I crawl all over and poke kids and eat cookies and spill water and put my fingers in outlets and slime my mom’s dresses. I’m a very nice boy with blond hair and I used to be a chubby bubby but now I’m sort of skinny because I never ever stop. Ever. Next year I hope to get a good job and hopefully start a 401K. I’ll also be going into nursery and I hope to start running. I think that’s all. Oh, and I love to dance.