17 Months!

Amidst all of the hoopla of buying a house and being sick, Eli turned another month older!  17 months!  Which means . . . the countdown is on!  One more month until he starts Nursery!  Hooray!

As I mentioned previously, David recently took an interest in photography, and bought himself a nice camera.  The result of that purchase means he's always snapping pictures of this lil' cutie--

And as such, this post will be smitten with pictures from both of us this time (I imagine it will be hard to differentiate between the two photographers ; )

Now that his sickness and teething pain are passed, Eli's eating a bit better.  He's finally taken more of an interest in our food, so we've been giving him his own helping of our meals.  Sometimes he eats it, sometimes he doesn't.  He seems more willing to at least try foods once, even if they do end up getting spat back out.  He lost some weight while he was sick, so he's felt so very light lately!  We'll have to keep working on stuffing his cute tiny tummy to pack on some more of those baby pounds.  : )

Eli has discovered a new love--climbing.  Thankfully he only climbs the couch (we have a sofa-bed, and he has to take off a cushion to get himself up there), and is nowhere near able to climb anything bigger.  He does pretty well at getting himself back down, but while he's up there he often wants to play with the lamp or picture frames that are within close proximity.  That boy's gonna give me a run for my money!

Eli's crazy about shoes!  He absolutely loves going and fetching his shoes when it's time to go bye-bye, and cutely tries to put them on himself.  He also loves playing with Mommy and Daddy's shoes.  He's constantly bringing me some shoes (even if they're not mine) and trying to put them on my feet.  : )  The following picture also shows another thing he loves--cords (and the printer).  Yes, Eli is still a cord-boy, and will find any and all cords in the house and put them around his neck while he plays with them.  He always looks like he's trying to figure out how they all work.  : )

Eli is just the happiest boy!  He does so well wherever we go--in the car, to the store, out to eat, to the library, etc.  And even better, he's always happy to come back home!  He doesn't seem to have one shy bone in his body, and turns strangers into friends at every outing.  We went to Chili's with a couple of David's old buddies a few weeks ago, and after a while Eli got restless in his highchair.  I took him out so he could move around a little, and he walked around the restaurant, stopping and "talking" at every table.  Everyone got such a kick out of him, and he loved all the attention.  One day I stopped at Meijer to grab something and didn't put Eli in a cart because it was a quick trip.  He took such a delight in walking up and down the aisles with the other customers, and even tried to hold a stranger's hand. 

 I better watch out, or that boy will go home with anybody!

He has such a fascination with lights and is always pointing them out, or makes a grabbing gesture with his hand, showing us he wants to touch it.  :  )

Not a great picture, but I quickly snapped this while Daddy and Eli were hanging out together under the coffee table.  Those two are always having fun together.  As soon as David gets home from work he asks Eli, "Wanna check the mail?"  Eli then turns to me and happily waves good-bye as they head out the door.  They also have a lot of fun and giggles as they kick around Eli's big yellow bouncy ball.  Ever since Eli's first haircut in February, we've started trimming his hair every few weeks when Daddy cuts his own.  Eli LOVES it.  He pulls the hair-cutting kit out of the closet and excitedly sits patiently during his haircut, and watches gleefully during Daddy's.  Oh, that silly boy!

Eli and Daddy also have fun playing together on the balcony!

Eli has happily discovered the joys of flashlights.  : )  He's figured out how to turn them on, so he has a stompin' good time flashing that thingy all around his room.

My parents recorded their voices reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" for all of their grandchildren.  Instead of putting the book away with the other Christmas items, I kept it with the rest of Eli's other books.  He recently came upon it and can't get enough!  He brings it around everywhere, and will listen to them read over and over.  I should probably put it away soon, before he thinks Santa is an every day thing.  : )

When the weather turned nice I took Eli to the small playground at our apartment complex.  He was pretty unsure of it at first, but soon realized it was a fun place to be 

(as long as Mommy didn't put him on the slide) . . .

Haha!  He actually enjoyed it when I rode down with him.  (It was too big for him to slide by himself, so I just placed him on it for a picture  : )

His favorite part was of course the wood chips.  I was on the phone while he was doing this, and when I turned away for a minute he had put some in his mouth, which then made him gag and throw up.  Lovely.  Maybe we'll look for a non-wood-chip playground for the future.

There are a lot of grounds outside our apartment, so Eli and I spend a lot of time exploring. 

 Learning to walk in the spring was perfect timing!

Trying to climb onto the bench . . .

I always give him sticks, rocks, or flowers to hold.  He always sweetly puts the flowers up to his nose to smell.  : )  He loves to take sticks and try to poke ants (or if there's no stick, he will happily squish them with his little fingers).  Eww.

There are always lots of ducks and geese to watch.  It's especially fun to see the baby ducklings!  One day while we were out we came across a turtle.  Eli was very fascinated by him, and we spent quite a while watching him not move.  : )

Love that sweet face!

Many months ago, David taught Eli to hit his head when David said "Doh!"  Eli caught on right away, and has been "doh-ing" ever since.  

I think I've got me two of the silliest boys on the planet.  : )

Here's a cute video of Eli playing peek-a-boo on the couch.  I love how long he'll stay under the blanket, and watching his arms flail around.  That child makes my heart smile.  : )