One hour away!!!

In one hour, my baby will be one. I absolutely cannot believe it. All day, I've been taking myself back to that looooong day when I was in labor with the little guy (aka the day Eli decided he wanted OUT). I remember that day so clearly. I can't believe it's been a year.

Each day, this little guy amazes me in a whole slew of new ways. Yesterday, for example, on a whim I said to him... "Eli, go get Truck Duck (his favorite book)." He looked at me and then walked over to his books, picked up Truck Duck and brought it to me. Coincidence? Maybe. He did it again today. Double coincidence? Maybe. But amazing all the same!

Our favorite thing to do together this week was the following:

Me: "Eli...I'm gonna get you! I'm gonna get youuuuu."

Eli takes one look at me and then takes OFF, giggling the whole way. When I get about halfway there, he turns around and runs TOWARDS me and crashes into me. Super cute.

He's starting to copy more and more words, though most of them still come out as "dada." He's getting closer to being able to say "tita" and can now kind of say "out." He was trying really hard today to say "truck duck" so I think that's next on our list.

His favorite song is still the ABCs and singing it can always, always calm him down. He also likes Twinkle, Twinkle....but oddly won't go for Baa Baa Black Sheep (same tune).

I took Eli this week for the shoe store for the first time! What an experience THAT was. Try to get a pair of shoes on a screaming child. We were in the outlets, so we ended up getting two pairs instead of one. yay! Indoors, he's still barefoot, but outdoors, we have the shoes!

I don't know if I mentioned this last time, so forgive me if I did... He had playdates with Sonali and Sawyer this week and had his first kiss!!! Haha. We were telling Sawyer and Eli to go for the kiss.... Sawyer leaned in...then Eli leaned in.... then kept going and ended up kissing her nose. Super cute and I got it on film! On Friday, he learned how to do the pucker kiss and was kissing away on Saturday and Sunday. At one point, he leaned in to give Sonali a pucker kiss, but she was playing hard to get and just stood there. Haha.

Mother's Day was great!!! I'm not used to being on the receiving end of those wishes! so fun. :) I had to work, but then we went over to Mike's sister Ann's house for a BBQ. Yay! Eli was full of kisses for everyone. He LOVES playing with the big kids and follows his cousin Jaymin all around. So fun to watch.

Ok - more to talk about, but I have to get to bed - the big day is tomorrow!!!

New Favorite things

Eli's new favorite things: taking clothes out of drawers and throwing them, putting toys up on higher surfaces....looking at them for a minute...then taking them back down, making the scrabble box bang to the ground no matter where mommy hides it, moving that silly barricade out of the way so he can get to the kitchen where mommy is, trying to give his toys to Riley, biting the table, etc. :)

It is nearly impossible to get this kid's diaper changed these days. Heaven forbid I should need more than 5 seconds.... our latest distraction that buys me 10 extra seconds is letting him just pull out the wipes from his box... i figure 6 or 7 wasted wipes is worth the price of a smooth diaper change. When both of us are home, it usually takes two of us to change him .... especially if we have to...gasp...also change his outfit.

He learned how to stand up all by himself without holding onto anything, so now there is NO slowing him down.

Eli went to his VERY first Yankees game with Daddy and Lolo (mommy had to work) this Sunday!!! Daddy reported that he had a good time... he loved watching everyone clap, and then after everyone was done, he'd clap. Anything for attention. :) Lolo made us a great movie of the day.... can't wait to show him when he's older!

We're heading to the park to play with Sonali today and will meet up with Sawyer on Thursday! I love baby play dates!

:)

Mr. Copycat

Wow... so much has changed in the last week (as it always does). It's absolutely fascinating watching this little guy grow up and astonishing how quickly he learns things.

He can now say "ouch" and "sock." He likes to try to copy words... he'll stare at your mouth and watch with full interest if you are trying to get him to say a word. He always repeats what you say, though most of the time it still comes out as "dada." He surprised me the other day.... I banged my foot and said OUCH and then I heard a little "ouch." Super cute. I have him say it all the time now (confusing him, contextually, I'm sure) because it's just so cute. He also was trying really hard to say Sock the other day...and finally got it. It comes out more like "sa" but what surprised me the most is when he came up to me when I was putting MY socks on and said "sa." That's the first time he's ever really associated a word with an object and it was pretty fun to see. He was trying hard to get book... he's close but not there yet. He also completely surprised me by trying "little" this morning. He got his tongue to do the right L thing, but then it came out like "lada." I tried to transition from there to Lolo/Lola, but he wasn't going for it. :)

We booked our tickets to LA! We're going June 9th-16th and are super excited to see Carol, Vicki and the rest of the family. We are SUPER excited about meeting baby stella! I'm nervous about how Eli will do on the flight, but am hoping he'll surprise us all and be super well behaved. :)

He is completely unmanageable when trying to change his diaper. I had to hold him down with my leg on top of his chest today and he still managed to get away. If I distract him by kissing his belly (which leads to fits of laughter), I can usually get in and get out. I used to be able to give him electronics/shiny things to distract him, but he doesn't fall for that anymore. usually all I see when I'm trying to change a diaper is a little butt turbo crawling away from me.

The transition to the sippy cup is going well! For the last two days, I've given him only his morning and evening bottles and am giving him his sippy cup (the kind with the straw) during the day. The first few times were rough, but he's starting to get the hang of it. It's going to take some getting used to for mommy to have him carry his drink all around with him and not drink it in one sitting. Not too sure about when we'll try to get rid of the am/pm bottle. I'd like for him to be weaned off the bottle by the time he's one.

(On a happy, unrelated to Eli thought.... I have been eating SUPER SUPER healthy and have cut down my insane portions a ton....and have now lost almost 15 pounds! I'm even less than I was pre-pregnancy. My goal was to get back to my pre-preggo weight by the time Eli turned one... yay!).

Eli had a super fun play date with Sawyer yesterday in the park by our house. They fed the ducks, chased each other around in a big field, threw the ball to each other (well....not TO each other...), took the little pink stroller around for a spin, knocked each other over, read to each other, had "dada" conversations, went on the swings (which Sawyer LOVES and eli HATES), the slide, etc etc. Eli did better than I thought he would walking on the bumpy grass and was even able to stand up from sitting a few times on his own! His favorite activity of the day was eating grass, leaves, sticks and whatever else he could find. Most of the time I stopped him, but a few leaves made their way into his digestive system. Roughage. :)

Today, we drove to work (baaaaad traffic) to join mommy and daddy's co-workers for a goodbye lunch for Tita Astra. We hung out with Daddy and friends for a little while and then drove (it took us THREE HOURS) to go visit Dexter. Our visit was cut short since we arrived so late, but the boys had fun feeling each other's hair, tripping each other, playing with the fridge magnets, taking books away from each other, and playing the piano. The hot item of the night was the fire extinguisher... they both kept going back to it. Eli loved opening and closing Tita Rachna's kitchen drawers and pulling out her lunch bags, ziplocs and brita filters. Trying to knock the shades down was another favorite for Eli.

Eli's taken to eating anything he can find on the ground (rogue cheerios are a big hit).... because clearly mommy and daddy don't feed him enough. He likes eating loose parts of the carpet, dried food from his pants and I caught him scraping cat hair off of the chair to pop in his mouth. Mmm. Tasty. I accidentally taught him three bad things today.... that the bathroom sink has a cabinet underneath, that the toilet seat goes up and that there is a trash can in the bathroom. Uh oh.

Let the adventures continue!

Almost One!!!

Wow....I was just reading the last post and so much has happened since then! I'm telling you....baby days are equivalent to 2-3 weeks in real people days, based on how many new things they accomplish.

There have been a ton of things I've been trying to remember to post....so this will be a hodgepodge of sorts.

Eating: Several new things on the eating front. His new favorite thing to do is scream at the top of his lungs, little girl style, when his tray is empty or if mommy/daddy isn't shoveling it in fast enough. Because apparently, the thought of waiting more than 3 seconds for new food is just too terrible to bear. We're moving past the puree stuff... and are starting to really just cut up little pieces of what we're eating to give to him. I gave him turkey sausage yesterday and he LOOOVED it. He also can't get enough chicken....and today we gave him turkey for the first time. Mmmm. Now we just put all of his little foods on his tray and he finger feeds himself. He's pretty good at picking everything up... and even picks up his veggies! After he devoured his peas and carrots tonight, I joked with Mike about how we should take a picture as proof to him in a few years that yes, he did used to like veggies. :) Last weekend, he learned how to spit out (raspberry style) his food. Lovely. We've tried a few things to get him to stop... I think that completely ignoring him (looking away, even) seems to work the best. Tonight when he did it, Mike cleared off his whole tray. THAT got his attention. So hopefully this will stop soon! (ha, I know it won't). Also - yesterday he surprised me by feeding himself with his own spoon!!! He kept putting it up to his mouth, and since we were eating mushy lentils, I was able to get it to stay on his spoon. I'd fill up the spoon and he'd put it up to his mouth. It was so cute!

Still trying to move toward the sippy cup, but he still loves flinging it through the air, smashing it all over his tray/food and dropping/throwing it on the ground. I got him to drink 1 oz of his formula with it yesterday...not much, but an improvement.

READING: This kid is SO funny with his books. He still has his certain favorites (Hop on Pop, Truck Duck, Animal Books, That's Not My Car, etc) and if you attempt reading something to him that is not on his favorite list, he takes it out of your hands and throws it (literally) to the side. It's hysterical and amazing to me that he could have favorites. And WHY doesn't he like Gossie and Gertie? Mommy LOVES them!

WALKING: He's a full fledged walker now! It's so amazing how quickly he has progressed. I love seeing his little balance checks and wobbly-wobbles. He still must be carrying something around with him...usually his remote (we got him his own), a bottle or his blocks. He can walk and make turns and follow mommy anywhere. I'm still not used to it. I walked into the bedroom the other day and was momentarily shocked to see a little person wander in. Or now I'll be reading him a book, and he'll walk up to me and stand there to read it with me. I took him to Central Park yesterday for a playdate with his buddy Sawyer, and I was surprised he was able to walk all over the bumpy field. (lol...and he quickly kidnapped Sawyer's pink stroller so he could push it around. Too funny.). And when I took him to the playground, he could actually walk around! So much more fun! (He's still scared of the swings... I think we're going to have a non-ride kid on our hands here).

He's really starting to copy us much more. All we have to do is show him something once and he does it right away.

He had great fun following around his 2 year old cousin, Bethel, when she was in town for a visit. He LOVED her and kept chasing her around.

Still a great sleeper! We have a cute bedtime routine now. After his bottle, we both take him in the bedroom and lay him on our bed...we take turns giving him hugs and squeezes and kisses. He just lays there laughing and smiling and grabbing mommy's nose and daddy's ears. He also seems to have a great fascination with hitting mike on top of his head.

I know I'm leaving a million things out. To be continued. :)

11 months old!

I cannot believe my little baby boy is 11 months old. 11 months! We're in the home stretch of this first year.... I'm both excited and sad that he'll be turning one. I'm SO looking forward to all the things that are to come, but I just feel like it's going by WAY. TOO. FAST.

Yesterday, he really started walking a LOT more. He'd stand up at the couch and with me sitting about five feet away, he'd just walk back and forth and back and forth. Every time he walks toward me, he has a HUGE smile on his face and he laughs and laughs... he's just so proud of himself!

He's even faster crawling, now, if that's even possible. He can make the loop at Lolo and Lola's house (probably 50 feet or so) in about 10 seconds. It's amazing.

He still doesn't mind in the least when Mike and I leave him to go to work... but he has the funniest reaction when he sees us come home. He gets excited and screams... and then starts crying and fussing. Lol... I think it's because we always want to wash our hands first...or put down our things...or take off our shoes...etc.... and he wants to be picked up NOW.

We decided we're for sure going to LA in June to visit family.... so now we have to decide if we want to try to hold Eli for 6 hours or fork over the extra $$ to get him a seat. We'll see...

Things I forgot to say

Usually, an hour or so after I post the latest blog, I remember many more things that I wanted to say. So I'm going to take advantage of this nap time to jot some of them down.

Knees. My son absolutely loves knees. I have no idea why they are so fascinating, but exposed knees crack him up. He'll giggle and laugh and bolt over to them.... and then kisses them/bites them. It's really funny to see. Hoping to get this on video some day soon.

I got him a bag of stackable blocks (kind of like really big legos) which are his favorite thing right now. He loves carrying them around, throwing them and trying to reach under things (tables, sofas) to fish them out. Yesterday, we spent a good 30 minutes delighted in "unstacking" them. Putting them together seems to be a bit beyond our reach, but pulling them apart is great fun.

If you hold a stuffed animal up to him and say "kiss kiss," he will give it a kiss and smile. Cutest. Thing. Ever.

This kid loves to read. Every day, at least 50% of his playtime is spent "Reading." He loves turbo crawling over to his bookshelf to pull as many books as he can off. He'll then sit down and "read" for a while. His favorite books are still "Hop on Pop," "The Cheerios Book" (he loves the monkeys, bee and owls), " Truck Duck," and anything with animals. He's starting to show more interest in truck books, but animals win out.

He's really starting to understand when he's not supposed to be doing something. He'll go to do the bad thing (trying to pull the fan cord out of the wall, trying to eat the coffee table, trying to eat important papers, getting into the drawers with the computer stuff) and just look over at me, like he's wanting me to say no. I'll say no and he'll be a very good boy and stop doing the bad thing...but then goes back to it, watching me for a reaction. I got this on film a few times... it's quite amusing. At least he listens... he goes right back to doing it, but he stops when I tell him to stop.

We're meeting up with the Monte babies (Joanna and Bryce) today for a playdate - it should be fun now that they're all mobile! Eli was really getting brave with his walking this morning... he's starting to take more and more steps. He's also figured out how to get up from the ground without holding onto anything.... and is able to do really deep squats on his own now.

For some reason, if he holds onto a cup or bottle, he is able to walk much further. It's like his little security blanket. So cute.

Ok.....I'm sure there are more things I forgot... to be continued!

Uh oh... he's walking!!!

I've been meaning to post for a while, but I wanted pictures to go along with it. Right now, the camera is in the room with the sleeping Eli, so the pictures will just have to wait.

The biggest news is that on March 27th (Aunt Rosie's Birthday!), Eli took his first steps!!! I was hanging out with him by the couch and all of a sudden he just let go and took one step to the other cushion. Then he did it again. I called Mike who came over to see him take 1...2...3 steps! So excited we were both there to see it. I tried to get some steps on film, but every shot I'd take was just him crashing to the floor. I thought he'd be all OVER the place the next day, but he took it easy, only taking one or two steps at a time. It wasn't until Easter Sunday (April 4th) that he really started getting more daring. Now he's able to walk about 10 steps before he goes boom. Yes, we have to taunt him with electronics (especially mommy's phone or the remote control), but it's a fine line cause if he REALLY wants the object, he'll just plop down and turbo crawl over to it. :)

We're getting more and more adventurous with food.... he's now eating turkey burgers, taco meat, noodles, chicken, asparagus.... we're trying to give him more and more "real" food. He's gotten a lot better at chewing! I guess the 7 (and maybe 2-3 more coming?) teeth help in that department. :)

Last Friday, we went over to Riverside Park to hang out with Eli's girlfriend, Sonali, on her birthday!! They had fun "sharing" books and blocks and we were there to see Sonali eat her first piece of cake! Eli was so intrigued by the flowers on the cake that he decided he'd like to grab a few. He's so funny... when he gets some kind of food on his hands/fingers, he always stops whatever he's doing and looks down at it super inquisitively. "what the HECK is going on here?" :)

Easter was a blast. My mom (Grandma) came up to stay for the weekend and had a grand ole time playing with eli, reading books, playing peek-a-boo and watching him splash splash splash in the tub. We made it to mass on Easter morning and got Eli all dressed up in his little suit (thanks Emily!).... he looked ADORABLE (pictures to follow at some point). He was ok in church and had many admirers thanks to the suit :) When we got home, my brother came over as well as Mike's family and we all had a yummy lunch and watched the boys play. Eli was having too much fun playing with his big cousin to take a nap :)

He had a fun past couple of days with Lolo and Lola...they went to the mall (where he likes to yell and try to get everyone's attention with his charming smile) and the boardwalk (where he loved screaming).

Today is going to be BEAUTIFUL, so when mr. party guy wakes up, we're heading outside to the park. Yay!!!