15 months old!!!

Today, my little guy is 15 months old. 15 months! I was just looking back at pictures of when Eli was just learning to crawl and it boggles my mind to think that there was a time when he couldn't get around like he does now. This kid is EVERYWHERE. Two days ago, he learned how to climb the pole for his basketball hoop. That's right. Climb it. He can now get up and down from the sofa with ease and using chairs as barriers doesn't work anymore. Because he's gotten taller, he can now reach a lot of things we put on counters and the kitchen table.... and when he can't get to something he really wants, he's learned that he can bring a book or box over and climb up on it to make him taller. He learned yesterday how to take all of the clothes out of his hamper, take the hamper apart, and then drag it out of the room. His great joy today involved trying to get things to land in the kitty litter boxes. So as you can see, we're pretty busy around here.

He's really starting to get his point across and make his needs known. When he wants me to read a book, he'll bring it over to me and push me away from whatever I'm doing until I sit down and read it to him. When he wants something opened, he brings it to me. When I say "time for a diaper change," he knows instantly that that is when he's supposed to throw the biggest fit of all time. He wakes up in the morning saying "baba" cause he wants his bottle. Throughout the day, he's constantly saying (er...screaming...) "otter" to let me know he wants his water. When he puts something he's not supposed to have in his mouth, he comes over to me with the biggest grin you've ever seen. Today, when he was getting restless inside, he started yelling "outside! outside!!!! (sounds like aught-sigh). He can say Hi and Bye on cue and knows that he's super cute when he adds a wave.

he's really taken a liking to his stuffed animals. When I was at my mom's house, I found my old tickle me elmo (that my friends had given me for my 16th or 17th birthday!) and he LOVES it. He didn't really know much about the sesame street gang until then... now he LOVES elmo ("ana"). He has one elmo book and will sit with it for a good 5 minutes... constantly saying "ana" on each page. Tonight, when he was getting ready for bed, I told him in an Elmo voice "Hi Eli!" (wide eyes). "Can I have a kiss?" and he GAVE HIM A KISS! Same thing with the hug. The cutest thing. Ever.

In an effort to remember his cute little words, I'm going to try and remember all of the words he can now say.... (P.S. I am NOT writing this to freak out those of you who have kids who aren't saying much. They're NOT supposed to yet... this kid is just freakin verbal.... it's going to be rough when he's 2!).

Clearly: Hi, Bye, Up, down, duck, moo, baa, mama, dada, daddy, neigh, lolo, lola, tita, apple, no

Words that I can understand: Ana (elmo), otter (water), atsite (outside), baba (bottle), owain (airplane), bapde (tractor, truck), bapdu (bathtub), ite (light), da da dee (teddy bear), nana (grandma), appaju (applesauce), sa (sock), shhh (shoe), shar (shark), naaa (more), iye (riley), deder (dexter), ba (box)...and much to my dismay.... mama (banana).

Yesterday was our 3rd wedding anniversary and since mike had the day off, we took eli to the bronx zoo. I've lived here for 8 years and FINALLY made it to the zoo! Eli was SUPER excited to see the animals this time. His vision is really good - he was able to spot them all - even the snow leopard who was hiding. It was so much more fun bringing him knowing that he could actually see what we were there to see. What I thought was hysterical was when we got to the sections with the deer, he kept yelling NEIGH... NEIGH. lol... yup, I guess deer pretty much look like horses to him. I tried to correct him for a while but then gave up - I'm sure the people around me thought I was a nut, saying - yes, yes - neigh! lol.

His favorite books this week are the don't let the monkeys jump on the bed book (which I read about 15 times today), Elmo's 12 days of christmas, moo baa la la la and his star wars books. When you read him the star wars book with the spacecrafts, he makes all kinds of arm motions when you're making the sound effects.

OH. One big (frustrating) thing is that he now very clearly can tell us when he does NOT want something. He says "nonononoono" and waves his right hand back and forth. As in... "Eli, do you want green beans?" "nononononono." I have to trick him into eating certain things.... he won't even TRY them if he doesn't like the look of them. sigh. And so it begins. Food battles with toddlers.

He has his 15 month checkup next week... more updates to follow!