Our Elliot is a Whole Year Old!

We are so blessed to have had Elliot with us for a whole year now. He is a ray of sunshine wherever and whenever. If you've spent any time around him you know what I mean: he has a ready smile that lights up the room; he will giggle at the slightest provocation and belly-laugh if you are at all persistent. He is always scanning the room trying to catch someone's attention.

He's been walking for a couple of months now which has opened up a whole new world to him: the backyard. I think he'd live out there if he could. He mainly just walks around, but he finds it very entertaining.

One of his favorite things to play with is a ball. He likes to carry them around, bounce them, kick them... He loves to play with someone rolling it back and forth. It makes him giggle his head off :o). He's also tried to throw it through a hoop already--watch out NBA!

His teeth have finally taken on a more conventional formation. He has 8 now: 4 on top and 4 on the bottom. He's been working on more for a while, but they are a little slower in coming.

His trademark look is the mowhawk he's been sporting for a while. The sides are starting to fill in, but there is still a distinct central swath that is thicker.

Pacifier use is decreasing and vocab is increasing. He still doesn't say too many things that are acually part of the English lexicon, but we recognize when he wants more, or milk. And he has some unmistakable non-verbal ways of getting his point across.

He waves hello and bye-bye (along with a grin, of course). And he loves to hear his name.

He is always happy, very curious, a bit stubborn, and seems to be as perfect as he can be. We are so very glad he's part of our family!

Feasting Eli Style

So, I started sprouting teeth not too long ago and so mommy thought perhaps I'd be ready for a little texture in my grub. She tried a bunch of different things and got the expected icky-face response, and then I'd start gagging and usually ended up throwing up all over the place. Well, it didn't take her long to wise up and try the texture first so that I wouldn't throw up a whole meal each time, but I still wasn't tolerating any texture, not to mention solids. She started to think that maybe I was just not going to be as easy as Gavin in the whole eating arena.

Then one fair evening a couple weeks ago she got the notion to put some peas on my highchair tray just to see what I would do. You are a genius mommy! Nobody likes to eat peas all ground up; they are perfectly packaged for tiny fingers to grab and tiny throats to swallow. Now, that's not to say one hasn't caught me by surprise and caused a little gagging, but they were a big hit.

It did take some practice to actually get them to my mouth. I'd say I was swingin' at about 2% that first day. And yes, I realize that means 98 out of every 100 ended up in my highchair rather than my mouth. We persevered tho, and within a couple days it was 50/50 and I'm happy to say that I'm now getting about 80% in my mouth--gotta leave SOMEthing for mom to clean up; she sweeps three times per day!

So, the end result of all this work? I ate exactly what everyone else ate tonight: creamy chicken soup with yummy veggies and barley. Mmmmm!

Just a rainy October day

The joy of teething biscuits. What a mess. Yes, he was placed directly into the bathtub.


And this is a moment that mommy hopes will get more & more common as we get older: I'm not teasing Elliot, imagine that.

Lucky 13

It's been a busy month! I'm 13 months old! hope all of you are enjoying 2007 as much as I am! I was thinking about decreasing the frequency of my updates to every quarter or something like that, but way too much went on this month not to give you the latest.

My vocabulary has exploded which leads to greater communication with the big people, but also great frustration/annoyance when they just can't get it. Apparently they don't always understand my sophisticated pronunciation of words. I mean, ball, bear, bye bye, bath, blanket, balloon and bite all start with the 'b' sound, so just b/c I say 'ba' doesn't mean that I want a ball EVERY time! One handy tool is my index finger: if I point and say "diss!" they get it! :o) I also say thank you, juice, milk, down, more and a few other things. They have been trying to teach me how to say pea, because I'm always happy to devour as many as they give me, but, really, they look just like balls, so why confuse the issue with extraneous words!? I've even said something resembling I love you once, but my preferred method of communicating affection is still the full-contact tackle.

Well the big news this month is that I no longer have the soothing company of my precious nunu (pacifier). I guess it got tired of me because it started to sprout holes...and then one day the entire end fell off! (I think mommy had something to do with those developments.) Anyway, a nunu with a hole just doesn't do the trick, so I decided to send it off to nunu paradise (with an indignant sound & a shove). I admit, my attitude wasn't always the best, but hey, it was a big sacrifice! Sleeping was tough for about a week, which made pretty much the whole day rough b/c I was tired & cranky. Anyway, glad that's over. I'm completely back to my normal self now except that I take only one nap each day instead of two.

So my latest feats of superhuman abilities include climbing up everything. I get down safe and sound most of the time, but believe me, it isn't as easy as it looks to climb the furniture. I'm thinking about getting some ropes and special foot wear to give me an edge out there. Do they make climbing harnesses for 25-30 pounders?

And now for the injury report: I had a lot of head bumps this month, many due to climbing adventures. The most dramatic wound came in a battle with my play house. I was attempting an especially gutsy move when I lost my grip and busted my lip open. I handled it with class (normal amount of crying), but mommy freaked out and rather than comforting me (hellOO? that's what mommies do!) she starting making frantic phone calls: first daddy then the doctor then daddy again. All the while there was this weird taste in my mouth. Anyway, very mysterious behavior, but when she ascertained that the bleeding had stopped she calmed down considerably. I had a fat lip for a day; that was pretty cool; one can always be proud of battle wounds :o}.

So I play on my own a lot, b/c mommy has stuff to do during the day. Most of the time she can hear me playing, so even if I'm in the other room she knows that I'm okay. My favorite noisy toys play music. :o) However, I think most moms know that when it gets quiet it's time to get worried. Most kids would be prying open the peanut butter or testing the electric sockets with a paper clip, right? Not me! It never fails: I get quiet, mommy jumps up to check on me ... only to find me snuggled in my room reading my books. Okay, okay, before you peg me as a nerd...remember the battle wounds! I've got brawn AND brains!!

Well, I have a couple more teeth...molars. It's tough to show them off b/c they are so far into my mouth. The work great for eating!

I guess that's about it. Talk to all y'all soon!

g