Step up, step down.

Eli had a very busy Thanksgiving. He probably met more people in an 8 hour span on that one day than he had in the previous few months. We went to a family reunion for lunch, headed to see more family right after and made it back to the other side of the family that night. That was one tired little dude when we finally settled down. One of the things Eli discovered during these travels was a small step. We don't have stairs in our house for him to climb up and down so this was a pretty novel deal for him. Obviously he was not very adept at navigating it at first but that did not blunt his fascination with it one bit. All he wanted to do was walk back and forth through the doorway. Unfortunately, this has translated to him trying to step on lots of things like toys or our little boom box. In order to combat this we have take to getting the wii fit out and putting it in the middle of the floor so he can walk over it. He loves it. Back and forth, back and forth. Simple joys from simple things.

More! More! More!

This is a time of food transitions for us. The formula is going away and we are switching Eli to milk now. That change seems to be going alright for the most part. We are also going from bottles to cups which is more of an issue but he's getting there. Eli's newest stance on solid food is that he wants whatever we have. If we go stand in the kitchen near the counter, he understands that food comes from the kitchen so he runs over and starts signing, "more! more!" It doesn't take long for that "more" sign to become outright arm flailing as the anticipation is just too much for the little guy to bear. He is also at a stage where he does not want to be fed, he wants to do everything himself and if he can't he gets pretty frustrated. He also doesn't like to sit in the chair very long so dinnertime is always sort of a crapshoot. I'm hoping the turkey at Thanksgiving will have the same effect on him that it has on nearly everyone else so that he will take a decent midday nap and his dad can yell what he wants at his underperforming fantasy football players.

Eli turns 1!

Eli is one year old! It's so hard to believe but then it's not at the same time. I was thinking this weekend that a year ago we were in the hospital and Rebecca was in pain and ready for it to be over with. That seems like lifetimes ago. Eli has come a long way in a year and when I see pictures of him at an earlier stage, like 3 months, it's already hard for me to visualize what that was like. Now he's tearing around the house and getting into everything he can. He's such a great little boy and we feel very lucky to have him.

This weekend we visited my parents' house and had a little birthday party for him with the immediate family. It ended up being around 15 people with some doing some pretty long drives to come (thanks, everyone!). We had burgers and dogs on the grill and a fantastic cake that Rebecca slaved on for about 4 hours. She doesn't normally do stuff like this so when it turned out great she was surprised and proud. Seriously, look at that cake! That's a heckuva first effort. Eli got some great gifts that he will be banging around with for a while. Maybe we can retire Dinosaur's Binkit and I Love You Through And Through for a while. It's getting harder for him to sit still for anything so having some new toys and things for him to do is nice.

Happy Birthday Eli!

About town

One of our good friends is an amazing artist (Scott Myers-www.fatheartgalleries.com) and he was taking part in a studio tour for the first couple of weekends in November. We decided to meet up with some people out at his place to look at some art and just catch up on things. Our outing began with a trip to PT's Grille, a great little burger joint in Chapel Hill. Even though Eli loves Cheerios he is at the point now that whatever Rebecca and I are eating is way more interesting to him. He tries almost anything. We even gave him some fresh squeezed lemonade and were ready to capture an awesome sour-face on film but it turns out that he really digs lemonade.

Eli had a couple of playmates at Scott's and they ran around the yard dragging sticks and trying to eat rocks. They really have it figured out. Eli discovered his love for art, touching and trying to pick up any paintings within reach. He was a good sport about the trip as we kept him up long past his naptime.

In other Eli news, we have heard "uh-oh" quite a bit lately. He understands to say it when he falls or drops something and I fear we are getting to the point where he is going to start throwing things on the ground just to have an excuse to say it. He has said "cat" and "book" a handful of times and of course says "mama" and "dada." All of this is pretty sporadic but he definitely likes making noise and experimenting with sounds. He tends to say "mama" a lot more when he's upset, which shows where his loyalties really lie. I know, little buddy, I think she's great too.

Eli's first Halloween!

Eli just celebrated his first Halloween! You're looking at the pictures right now, thinking "What's he supposed to be...a dinosaur with a broom?" The broom is not part of the costume. He was just a little dinosaur, one of many little dinosaurs. That must be the only costume for kids under a year old. The broom was part of his cousin's witch costume. Eli has a deep devotion to cleaning equipment like brooms, swiffers, and vacuum cleaners. He gets that from his mom. The broom was a great distraction for him and he just wouldn't give it up. I had no idea how many little kids lived close by and our neighborhood orchestrated a really cool little costume/pumpkin contest for them at 6pm. At the end of each age group's little 'parade' everyone bunched together so all the parents could play paparazzi for a couple minutes. As soon as the parents started snapping photos Eli took a few steps forward and just stood in front of everyone soaking up all the fame and attention that he could. Look at the second picture above for proof. Uh oh. We might have a risk taker AND an attention seeker.

Your nose is running, better go catch it!

Straight off, I feel obligated to mention that Eli's popped collar in the first picture was mommy's doing. It captured the spirit of his attitude at the moment, channeling Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. Eli really started walking around on his own a few weeks ago but now he's really got it down. He can actually start running but that usually won't last long. He's still no Baryshnikov but he's really good at keeping his balance when you swear he's about to fall. I don't stress nearly as much watching him toddle around as I did a couple weeks ago. Don't get me wrong, the kid falls all the time but he's learned how to fall without all the damage. His biggest obstacle is the collection of toys on the floor. They are the reason he falls most of the time...he will trip over something that he didn't notice.

I know for a fact that I have had to deal with Eli's worst poo. My sister was at the house and was witness to it. Saturday night, Rebecca got the trump card when Eli puked in his crib. I was out at the time so she had to deal with it herself. The picture above is the aftermath of it, which she documented so I would know just how bad it was. The picture does not do it justice at all. What you don't get to see is Eli, his disgusting and putrid clothing, the bath mat from the cleanup process or the vomit covered blankets. Yes, this is probably too much information but I'm including it to show just how much mommy loves her little boy and that I acknowledge her messy Eli trump card for the time being.

Eli is still pretty sick and his nose has been running like a faucet. He detests having his nose wiped so you can imagine was a chore that has been. Last night it looked like he might finally be getting over it. Even though he's been under the weather the last couple of weeks, he seems to be showing more and more personality every day. He also is getting more blatant about testing boundaries. He will walk over to a cabinet or something that we tell him not to mess with and reach out for it. Most of the time he will stop short of it and turn to look at us to gauge our reaction. It's hard not to burst out laughing when he does it but we must be strong!

For Eli's first Halloween I wanted to do a cool Jack-o-lantern. I settled on Frankenstein's monster. Since he and Eli share the same walking style right now it seemed fairly appropriate. I'll try to get pics up of Eli's Halloween costume after the weekend.

More. Climbing.

We are pretty sure that Eli has taken to signing for "more." It looks a lot like him clapping but it all comes down to context. Either he is incredibly excited about finishing the cheerios or he's asking for more. If you've seen this kid with cheerios you know the answer. Usually when he finishes I ask if he wants more and do the sign. He starts clapping so I'm counting that for now.

He is walking all over the place and his latest "uh-oh" development is that he's learned to climb into the chair in the den. The other day I turned my back on him for two seconds and when I turned back around he was standing in the chair staring at me with a gigantic grin on his face. Now whenever we have something that has to get done with two hands he has to go in the high chair. Nothing else can contain him.

We've made a bit of a shift in the food department toward a soy-based formula. Man, that stuff stinks but hopefully it will be a little kinder to his digestive system.

Eli is 11 months old today!