Where did it go? Who me? What are you talking about?

Eli has been turning his hands up and shrugging his shoulder (like in the photos above) a lot lately. It is absolutely hysterical. He does it randomly, like when he:

Drops a block

Falls down

Wants help with something

Wants us to get him a book, toy, etc.

It cracks me up everytime. And I am not sure where he learned it, although it could be from his daycare teacher, Noelle.

Roaring

I'm not sure how the roaring got started but Eli can actually roar like a lion ... or a dinosaur (depending on which book you are reading!) When he copied me roaring like a lion, I couldn't believe it. But then I pulled out his placemat that has dinosaurs on it and I said, "Do you see the dinosaurs?" Eli looked at it and then "roared!" It is from his book "How do dinosaurs say good night?"

Anyway, he points at all sorts of lions and dinosaurs now and roars. I can't wait for him to mimic all of the other sounds animals make....

Swim lessons

For the last 3 weeks, Eli and I have been going to swim lessons on Friday mornings. We sing songs in the pool, practice blowing bubbles and sometimes go under water. He likes it a lot, especially climbing up the edge of the wall and then counting to 3 and jumping back into my arms in the pool. He is absolutely exhausted after swimming and falls asleep in his car seat in the 15 minutes it takes to drive home.

13 months old

Eli turned 13 months today.

When I brought him home from daycare at the end of the day, he was in a great mood. He played in the kitchen while I made string beans and he went straight for his favorite drawer -- the one under the stove. This time, he took all of the pots and pans out of the drawer and crawled into it. It was pretty funny seeing him sitting in the bottom of the drawer. A little gross too, since there is a lot of grease on the bottom. Grease that he likes to wipe his hands in. Yuk.

But he also crawled in and out of the drawer, throwing one leg over the side and then carefully bringing his other leg over. He practiced that many times before moving onto another kitchen drawer...

Walking, standing, being naked and being in Seattle

Eli is walking more and more these days. He can sometimes take two steps at a time, sometimes four! Today while I was cooking dinner, he stood by the refrigerator and played with the magnets, and he wasn't holding onto anything! He is very anxious to be able to walk around by himself -- he practices every day and he get frustrated when he falls down. Not long now!

For several weeks now, Michael and I have instituted family time in the living room. Most of the time Eli is naked, which he loves! He and pulls himself up on the couch and laughs and laughs as he crawls all over Mama and Daddy. It is very fun and very cute.

This past weekend we were in Seattle visiting Daphne, Will, Perry and Noe. Pete and Makie and their new baby, Sophia, came also. It was a fun-filled weekend with the kids. Eli loved to "draw" on their easel, ride on their green tractor, push their walker and climb up their stairs. What he didn't like to do was sleep. We aren't sure what was going on but he kept waking up and one night he just cried from 4 to 6 a.m. Ugh! I think he just wanted to keep playing with Perry and Noe :)

More steps and now a door...

Eli is practicing his walking now. He can only go about two steps and then he falls, usually into mama or daddy's arms. And he is still very, very wobbly when he stands on his own. But when he goes a step, he is SUPER proud of himself and I just love the look of surprise on his face.

But Eli has also been hard at work on skills other than walking lately.

He can now open the door of his room at daycare and leave. Yep, he has watched enough people go in and out of the door that he pulls down on the handle and pulls on the door at the same time. Oh dear....

A first step

Eli has been practicing standing by himself a lot lately. He throws his hands into the air, stands for several seconds, gets this great look of surprise and pride, and then falls on his butt.

But today he let go and took one step toward me. The smile on his face was huge as he realized what he did. Not long now until he is waddling around all the time :)

Christmas

Here is where I will post some of the hundreds of great photos we have of Eli enjoying his first real Christmas! (Last year doesn't really count...)