Shy

Eli has been going through a shy phase. When we meet new people he feels scared or nervous. Even when we are with people we know, he hides behind my legs and doesn't want to answer questions. We knew it would be hard on Eli to have so many family members in town in December because of this new phase (and we had several major tantrums as the result of overstimulation) but he seems to handle the situation pretty well, especially after a few days of adjustment. Case in point:

After feeling a little shy around his Aunt Jessica the first day, Eli and Daddy read books together upstairs. At one point, Eli stopped Daddy and said:

"Daddy?"

"Yes Eli."

"I'm getting used to shy."

Eli feeds his brother!

Eli loves to help with baby Ewan. He hadn't expressed much interest in helping to feed him until this December (he usually is a bit grossed out by the baby's messy mouth). Ewan loves his brother so much that it is super exciting when Eli feeds him.

Ewan is 6 months!

Ewan turned 6 months old today.

He is still a super smiley baby. He now recognizes Mama and Dadda and gives Dadda the biggest smiles ever. His hair is coming in more and it looks dark. He still has his blue eyes. No teeth yet!

He is eating solids -- rice and oatmeal cereal with pureed pears, apples, bananas or peas. He hasn't been sleeping great but we are working on that. He is out of his too-small bassinet and in the pack-and-play until we get his crib set up. We are waiting for Eli's big-boy bed to arrive.

He can sit up by himself for a few seconds and he is very interested in all the toys around him. He immediately puts everything in his mouth.

He is very cuddly, and it seems like he wants to hug me sometimes. He also grabs my face and wants to shove the whole thing in his mouth. Too cute :)

At his well-child check, we found out he is 18 pounds (55th percentile) and 28.5 inches (95th percentile).

Happy half-birthday Ewan!

Eli is 3!

I cannot believe Eli is 3.

He blows me away when he uses words like "unravel" (as in "I am unraveling these Christmas lights") and "pleased" (as in "Grandpoppins will be so pleased when they see their bed!" after helping to put on the sheets) and "recognize" (as in "Mama, help me turn my shirt around to see if Grandma can recognize what's on my shirt.)

He also tries to reason his way into anything he wants: like cookies, hot chocolate and playing during rest time. His reasoning is often very good but sometimes makes no sense at all.

He is very opinionated about what he likes and doesn't like: He told a friend's father that he didn't want to go play in the train room, he likes to build -- he is a building man!

He still has temper tantrums, sometimes very very long and raging temper tantrums.

He is sleeping in his crib-turned-toddler-bed right now but we are waiting for a twin mattress in the mail, and as soon as it comes, he will be in a big-boy bed. He still wakes up at night calling for Mama or Dadda or a glass of water but he'll go many nights without any wakings.

We had a birthday party for him earlier this month but he knew his birthday was on Dec. 22. When we went swimming at the Kroc Center in November, he saw the climbing wall. We found out that you had to be 3 to go on the climbing wall and Eli wanted to go as soon as he turned 3. We made a special trip on his birthday and he had a blast. He tells everyone how high he climbed (about as high as Mama!) and we went back to the wall 6 or 7 times to keep trying.

Eli's 3rd birthday party!

We celebrated Eli's 3rd birthday early this year. We had a total blast!

Ewan rolls, Eli praises

About 3 days ago, Ewan rolled over and he hasn't stopped since! You can tell he is super proud of himself because he gets this huge smile on his face once he is on his belly. YAY Ewan!

In another first, Eli told me I was a "nice mama," yesterday. It was cute and sweet when he said it: we were cuddling on the chair in his room.