16 Months!

This past month has been full of excitement and chaos around here.  Eli has really taken off walking almost full-time and is doing great!  When it's just he and I at home together he always wants me to hold his hand, but when David or anyone else is here he likes to show his independence.  : )  I think it's very sweet that he wants to hold my hand still.  Eli has also been showing more of a strong-willed nature lately.  Diaper time is always a battle, and requires a book for him to not go completely berserk.  Nap time sometimes occurs much later than it should because SOMEONE likes to chatter away forever in his crib instead of sleep.  I often have to go in to rock him again, holding him tight in my arms just so he'll stay still long enough to be able to fall asleep.  And meal time has also proved quite challenging with my incredibly picky eater, who turns away in disgust at almost all table foods.

While it's true he can be frustrating at times, the good in him far outweighs the bad.  : )

He can now stack blocks all by himself!  In the past he just enjoyed knocking down Mom's towers.  : )  It's so fun to have this new skill, and his towers get pretty high!  I warmly praise him for his stacking ability, and he just beams with pride.  : )

Eli's always trying to get a good laugh out of us.  One day I saw him with his finger stuck up his nose.  I burst out laughing, and now he just does it to be funny (Even though I have hence stopped laughing and now try to tell him how yucky it is).  Luckily he has yet to pull out any boogers!  In the picture below, Eli is doing his funny little act that always makes us laugh.  He pulls his head up a little, widens his eyes (my camera missed that), makes a half-scared/half-smiling face, and then holds that face while his head shakes a little.  I'm sure that sounded confusing, but trust me, it's hilarious.  Someday I'll hopefully get it on video.  

Such a sweet smile.  : )

You may be wondering why Eli is wearing my headband.  Well, it's because he loves to!  He will pull out my headbands from a drawer and hand them to me to put on his head.  Sometimes he has three on there! 

 Yep, he's a silly one, all right.  (And I don't know why, but he's recently loved sucking on the toothpaste cap.  Hey, sometimes it's just about keeping your child happy, right?

He LOVES to go out in the apartment hallway to walk around.  He also loves to knock on the neighbor's doors.  : )  (Excuse the huge drool stain on his shirt; he's been getting his molars.)

Lately he's been REALLY into his stuffed animals.  They'll be sitting on his bedroom floor, and when I put him in his crib he will point to one until I hand it to him.  By the time we've finished pointing and handing, every toy is in the crib with him!  Sometimes he sleeps with all of them, but I try to limit him to just three.  : )

Eli is SUPER into books.  He owns quite a lot, and while I do read to him every day, lately he's enjoyed taking out each one of his books, and turning just a couple pages to get a quick "look-see."  What's funny is that he likes to do the same thing with my books in the living room.  He pulls out each one and turns a few pages to see what's there.  At least after he makes a mess he tries to clean it up.  ; )

Here we are experimenting with finger-painting for the first time.  I had wanted to make a St. Patrick's Day artwork of clovers made from his fingerprints, but he sure didn't like that!  So I just let him play with the paint instead.  After about one minute, when his hands were completely covered, he did not like the feel of it and was finished.  I'm sure we'll have more fun and success with art as he gets a little older.

Eli really likes to sneak into my closet when the door is ajar and pull my clothes off their hangers.  One day he found himself stuck in my sweater.  It was quite humorous to watch his attempts to free himself.  : )

Out for a walk at a nice nature path instead of our parking lot!  We had a very hot March (80s), and Eli loved getting sunscreen put on!  Now that he's walking well, we walk for a while in the stroller and then I take him out and we walk to the lake to see the ducks up close.  Eli loves to pick up sticks, dandelions, and pine cones on the way.  He also loves to stop and stare up at the trees when they're blowing in the wind.  He really, really loves the outdoors, and we're enjoying a beautiful Spring!