Eli is really beginning to show his independence (and his stubbornness!). He recently learned how to pull himself from a sitting to standing position. For months since he started walking, if he fell down he would have to crawl somewhere to get help getting back on his feet. We're so excited for this new accomplishment and the freedom it provides him.
Eli's also moved on from climbing the couch, and has since taken to climbing the coffee table and kitchen chairs instead! At first this made me very nervous, but after watching him I noticed that he can get down safely on his own by turning around and sliding backwards on his tummy. Thankfully he's very careful (even though it still makes my heart skip a beat that he'll hurt himself).
Here's a video of him hanging out on the coffee table--
Another favorite thing to climb (after helping me empty it), is the dishwasher . . .
A couple months ago, Eli stopped taking his nap. He was waking up at the same time (7:15), and I was doing the same routine and putting him down at the same time (noon), but even though he'd be starting to fall asleep while I gave him his milk, when I'd put him in his crib he would come to life and stay in there talking for two hours! It didn't matter what we did in the morning--going outside, going on errands, playing up the wazoo, he would not sleep! I knew he was tired, and it was frustrating having to put him to bed so early to make up for the lack of sleep. Well, a few weeks ago I decided to put him down a whole hour later. Before his nap time was 12:00-2:30ish, and then I'd feed him lunch when he woke up. But naptime has been a battle with him for quite a while. I'd always have to make sure he was asleep in my arms before I put him down or he would stay awake and talk. Often I would try going back and rocking him, which sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. With our new schedule, I feed him lunch first, let him play a little longer, and when I give him his milk he falls right to sleep and sleeps from 1:00-4:00! It's incredible! I never knew naptime could be so easy! Apparently this boy is such a bottle of energy that he needs close to 6 hours of playtime in the morning to really wear himself out. I really love this new nap schedule. It gives us plenty of time to do lots of different things in the morning, and it gives Eli more time to spend with David when he is home from work in the evening. (He goes to bed closer to 8:00 now, instead of between 6:30 and 7:00.) I'm so happy to have my good-napping boy back, and it is SO nice to have a solid three hours of me-time! : )
One of the activities we enjoy with our longer mornings is playing at the playground. There's a nice playground about 10 minutes away in Broad Ripple that we enjoy. It has a baby area attached to the bigger equipment, which is really nice. A lot of other kids are there at the same time as us, and Eli is rather shy of them. That surprised me, since he's normally so social. It will be good to keep exposing him to other kids, though, and hopefully the more exposure will help him open up more.
Loved the tunnel! He never wanted to come out!
Still not sure about the slides . . .
He loves when we go down together, and finally went down on his own (on his tummy!).
I'm embarrassed to say that our first time at this park was Eli's first time on the swings! Naturally, he loved them, and we caught those cute giggles on video!
Eli still wants to spend a big portion of every day reading his books (Yay!). When I ask him, "Do you want to go read?" he will walk straight into his room, plop himself down on the floor, and go through each and every book. He opens each one, takes a quick glance, and hands it to me if he wants me to read it. He's enjoying the long books now, such as Where the Wild Things Are, Caps for Sale, Swimmy, Corduroy, Thumptiy Thump Gets Dressed, The Little Engine That Could, Ping the Duck, Love You Forever, Puppy Too Small, and long Dr. Suess books such as Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? and Are You My Mother? Even though Eli doesn't really talk yet (just has a few words he uses intermittently), I know that the time we spend reading together will really help build and strengthen his language development, plus it's a wonderful hobby that we both love.
Eli's also really getting into numbers and counting. When we're reading certain books he likes to count the number of objects, by pointing to each one while I do the counting. He also likes to point to every number he sees and have me name it. Maybe he'll be an accountant like his daddy! : )
Children's books are not the only books that Eli has an affinity for. He is quite attached to his Book of Mormon! We have a copy that we leave on his dresser for family scripture reading, and boy-howdy does he love that thing. We had to stop reading from it and use a different copy of scriptures because he would get upset when we'd take it away from him! We read right before bed, and when I say, "Ready for scriptures?" he points to his Book of Mormon excitedly until we hand it to him, then he lays down in his crib and "reads" it. It is so sweet and tender. I hope he'll always love the scriptures as much as he does now.
Another tender development is that Eli has learned how to fold his arms to pray. Before we pray I ask, "Can you fold your arms?" and he clumsily pushes them together with his hands touching. He even bows his head a little, and smiles really big after we say "Amen." It's definitely a heart-melter.
As I've mentioned before, Eli is one PICKY eater. But one thing he absolutely LOVES to eat is . . . ICE! That'll really help his figure, huh? : ) However, I bought some of those pouches of fruit puree, and he guzzled them up! I was really surprised, but maybe there's hope for him to get some fruit in his lil' body after all!
One of Eli's favorite playthings is my purse and wallet. He loves to pull out all of the cards and leave them all over the house. I learned my lesson on the problems this causes when we were at the grocery store one day. We were in line with a cart full of groceries when I discovered that I did not have my credit card. Thankfully I DID have my debit card (with just enough money left on it), or that would have been one very embarrassing situation!
Eli also loves my purse because it usually has my phone in it, which he enjoys "talking" on and making an occasional random phone call to one of my contacts. : )
Daddy and Eli always have lots of fun when they're together!
A funny little quirk about Eli is that he loves playing with bar soap. Of course it's fun to try to hold as it slips out of his fingers in the tub, but he's also discovered the bar soap that's in the cupboard. He opened every box of soap and carried a bar around while he played. That little boy sure makes us laugh!
He's also figured out how to open the doors in our apartment. He loves to walk into our bedroom, close the door partway, and play peek-a-boo with me on the other side. : )
Playing outside our apartments. Our apartment office has cookies, and whenever Eli and I are out exploring, he pulls me into the office for a cookie. He may have a sweet tooth even worse than his mom and dad!
Since Eli is 18 months that means he can go to the Nursery class at church! For those who don't know, Nursery is a class for kids 18 months-3 years, that they attend during the second two hours of church. They have a short lesson, snack, and spend the rest of the time playing with toys. Yesterday was Eli's first time, and he did great! He didn't even notice when we left, and hardly noticed when we came back! : ) I had the hard time. Even though it's much easier not to have him in the adult classes, I really missed him and was wondering how he was doing the whole time. I'm so thankful he enjoyed it, and it will be great socialization for him!
As I've mentioned before, Eli is one PICKY eater. But one thing he absolutely LOVES to eat is . . . ICE! That'll really help his figure, huh? : ) However, I bought some of those pouches of fruit puree, and he guzzled them up! I was really surprised, but maybe there's hope for him to get some fruit in his lil' body after all!
One of Eli's favorite playthings is my purse and wallet. He loves to pull out all of the cards and leave them all over the house. I learned my lesson on the problems this causes when we were at the grocery store one day. We were in line with a cart full of groceries when I discovered that I did not have my credit card. Thankfully I DID have my debit card (with just enough money left on it), or that would have been one very embarrassing situation!
Eli also loves my purse because it usually has my phone in it, which he enjoys "talking" on and making an occasional random phone call to one of my contacts. : )
Daddy and Eli always have lots of fun when they're together!
A funny little quirk about Eli is that he loves playing with bar soap. Of course it's fun to try to hold as it slips out of his fingers in the tub, but he's also discovered the bar soap that's in the cupboard. He opened every box of soap and carried a bar around while he played. That little boy sure makes us laugh!
Here's a video in the tub--
He's also figured out how to open the doors in our apartment. He loves to walk into our bedroom, close the door partway, and play peek-a-boo with me on the other side. : )
Playing outside our apartments. Our apartment office has cookies, and whenever Eli and I are out exploring, he pulls me into the office for a cookie. He may have a sweet tooth even worse than his mom and dad!
Since Eli is 18 months that means he can go to the Nursery class at church! For those who don't know, Nursery is a class for kids 18 months-3 years, that they attend during the second two hours of church. They have a short lesson, snack, and spend the rest of the time playing with toys. Yesterday was Eli's first time, and he did great! He didn't even notice when we left, and hardly noticed when we came back! : ) I had the hard time. Even though it's much easier not to have him in the adult classes, I really missed him and was wondering how he was doing the whole time. I'm so thankful he enjoyed it, and it will be great socialization for him!
This mothering business just gets better and better! Wouldn't trade it for a thing. : )
He is getting so big! He looks like a little man now! It was fun seeing him at Audrey's party, even though we really didn't get to talk much. Next time we're in town we'll have to play in a more intimate setting. :) Audrey doesn't handle crowds well for long periods of time.
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