22 Months!

We've sure been having a lot of fun around here this past month!  Eli is absolutely the cuddliest little boy ever!  At least a hundred times a day he comes close to me, looks up to my face, says "Hi" and then comes in for a hug, a kiss, or a snuggle.  He's pretty much glued to my hip when we're at home.  (If he had his way I would be holding him or sitting with him on my lap ALL day.) The funny thing is that when we go somewhere (anywhere) he's Mr. Independent!  He had a really hard time leaving me after we got back from our weekend trip last month.  Even though he did so well at his grandparents, it really hit him that we were away when we got back.  For a few weeks he would cling to me at bed and nap time not to put him down.  Now he's all right as long as I sing to him for a little while and hold his hand for a minute after I put him down  (that is, of course, after we also do scriptures, prayers, and stories).  It's hard to get anything done during the day, but it does make me feel special when anytime I say "I need to go..." he clings to me even harder and says "No!"  Love that sweet boy.

Once a week Eli and I walk to a park that is close to our neighborhood.  It is such a nice park and always empty!  It's good exercise for me, and it's fun to run around and be silly with Eli without other parents/kids to feel self-conscious around.  He's become so much braver on playgrounds, and LOVES going on the really steep slide with me (and even went by himself)!

Getting ready to slide down...

Went down on tummy instead!

Debating whether to slide...he didn't.

David and Eli spend some time a few evenings a week hanging out in the garage.  Apparently that's where they do "man stuff."  Eli is a tad obsessed with garages and points every one of them out on our walks and yells, "Garge!"  David lets Eli play with this old camera when they're doing their manly bonding.

Eli is of course still an incredibly picky eater.   He's become really into dipping, and loves ranch, ketchup, syrup, peanut butter, and Italian dressing.  Of course just because he likes to dip his food doesn't mean he'll eat it!  He still doesn't eat any fruit that's not pureed.  I become absolutely exhausted trying to find good things for him to eat that he'll accept.  We also have a new major problem.  Eli's always loved his dairy, and I've never been able to get him to drink his milk in a sippy cup.  (He'll drink water, but not milk.)  So he still drinks his milk in a bottle that he's had since he was a baby.  Well, a few days ago David tried putting iron medicine in the bottle.  That didn't go over well.  Then the next day we had to replace the nipple on the bottle and now he won't drink from it.  The problem is that he won't drink milk AT ALL now, not even in a big boy cup.  He gets upset every time he sees milk.  He's taken a sip here and there, but then acts disgusted.  I have no idea how to get him to drink milk again!  He's such a light eater that I worry about him not getting in those 13 ounces a day that he had before.  Any suggestions??

He does love his tacos!

Eli's recently started kissing his boo-boos better.  One day he was running through the house and accidentally smacked his hand against the wall.  He popped his paci out of his mouth, kissed his hand, then popped his paci back in.  The other day at the park Eli ended up going down the slide a little funny and hurt his foot.  He said "Ow," then plopped right down on the ground, brought his foot up to his mouth, kissed it, then got back up and kept playing.  It was the cutest thing!

One evening when I had a church function, David took Eli to the park.  

Banging the chimes together.

David's the one who gives the baths, while I clean up the house.  As soon as Eli's out of the tub he comes dashing through the living room in all his cute, shivering nakedness to "find Mommy."  : )

Eli and I go to the library every Monday for story time and a craft.  Eli LOVES the library and claps when he sees it (which he also does for church).  We always go a little early to give him a chance to play with the toys and check everything out.  There's always a ton of kids there, so although I wish it was good socialization time, it's really not so much yet.  When kids come too close to Eli or they have something he wants he puts his hand on them and yells "No!"  (Yes, that lovely n-word has reared its ugly head as of late.  So glad it took this long to arrive.)  For the last month or so that we've been going to story time Eli's been that crazy kid who just can't sit down or be still through much more than 5-10 minutes.  But this past week we might have had a breakthrough!  On the way to the library I told Eli that I wanted him to be a good boy and to sit with Mommy during story time.  Apparently he listened!  ; )  It helped that we read a book he loves, Where the Wild Things Are, and got to make a "wild rumpus" with noise-making toys. : )  We also always sing "5 Monkeys in a Tree" and Eli LOVES snapping his hands like a crocodile (and has thus taken an interest in the Lyle Crocodile books).

This little guy has the most humorous mannerisms!  Lately he's enjoyed putting things down his shirt--food, toys, his bottle, etc.

He just LOVES wearing my headbands and puts them on himself!  Watching one of his shows.  He loves Kipper, Curious George, and the Baby First shows like Harry the Bunny and Tillie Knock Knock.

Trying on Daddy's headphones.  Doesn't he look like Mickey Mouse?  : )

He's learned how to pull on his onesie hard enough that the buttons will come undone.  When he started this fun little trick I sometimes wouldn't put pants on him during naptime, and would walk into the room to find a cutie patootie baby bum hanging out (but thankfully never any poo).  Luckily he has yet to figure out how to take his pants off!

Eli seems to  love any excuse to play dress-up!  When I tried on his pumpkin Halloween costume and put him up to the mirror, the biggest smile stretched across his face.  He liked how he looked!  Another day he found the costume and wanted to wear it just for fun.  He's one darn cute pumpkin!

It was high time for a new bath toy, so we bought him a fun boat for the bath tub!

Being scooted around the house by Daddy--

We had several cold, rainy days this past month, so Eli and I had to make our own fun indoors.  I had never done bubbles with him before, but had bought some fun bubble toys at a garage sale, so we had a bubble party!  Eli's very good at blowing.  : )

We also had fun painting!  Eli painted with water and paintbrushes on paper, then I got out some washable paints and he spread the paint around with his fingers.

Eli and Daddy always have fun exploring the backyard, and hanging out on the porch chairs.

Speech therapy is going awesome!  We just signed on for another 3 months (it goes on three-month increments).  Eli's becoming a talking machine, adding several new words to his vocabulary every day!!  I love, love, LOVE it!  That adorable sweet, squeaky voice of his melts my heart every time a word comes out.  We're so proud of him!

This little boy brings so much light and love into our lives.  Every day is a good day with him in it.