Little boys

Before school the other day Eli told me he wanted to dress very handsomely for all his "lady" friends at his sitters...here is what he picked out. What a handsome little boy!

Before I turned off the red eye reduction feature...REALLY getting annoying

After...it is either squinting or red eye...I'll take red eye and I am too lazy to edit!

I look so handsome!

A morning stretch!

A bit of nostalgia...my camera from when I was a kid!

I get my good looks from my dad...
Nice thought but we really know where they come from... :)

Eli truly is a little boy. He is such a dare devil, he could care less about dolls and other "girly" things, he likes to push the limits, he is stubborn(gets this one from me), he loves remotes but could care less about watching TV(thankfully), he can't sit still for a minute and is always on the go(another trait that he gets from me...which I inherited from my father...those darn ADD genes), he LOVES the tape measure and he really likes getting the sh*t scared out of him.
When I see other girls his age, I really notice a difference in how he acts vs. how they act. I find it amusing, the things that are important to him mean nothing to a little girl. I am probably over generalizing but it amazes me how they develop such 'gender' specific personalities at such a young age. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind if he played with dolls or things like that but the fact of the matter is that he doesn't nor does he have any desire to do so.
That is my observation for the day...
On another note, Eli has grown SO much this week. He has become much more self sufficient. He is so close to walking but not exactly there yet. He will take his little trike and use it as a walker to cruise all over the house or up and down the street. He is enjoying many more finger foods; cheese sandwiches, avocado and chunks of sweet potato... However, is the food is slimy or he doesn't like the texture, he will not touch it more than once, let alone put it in his mouth. I pull my hair out with frustration but I know that Adam is secretly laughing at me because I am the exact same way with my food...

An old friend...

We put the Jumperoo up months ago when Eli started to get more mobile as he decided he had better things to do. I brought it back out again today just to see what he would do...he loved it once again!! He is near the weight limit but for the time being it is so helpful when I need to clean or put him down for a second to do something!

At 4 months old...

Look Mom...I can reach!!!

And pull it all the way down to watch it pop back up!

Taking a thumb break!

What's that??? Something new...

Such a big helper...

Here is Eli helping out after bath time...

Here you go mom!

I can do it myself...

Clapping

Because I think it is so cute!!!!

This is how it goes...

So, I finally turned the red eye reduction feature off on our camera after countless horrible squinting pictures.






Check out the video to see what happened every time I tried to take a picture with the red eye reduction on...

The faces of an 11 month old...

A big 11 months old!

Today is Eli's 11 month birthday and he decided to do some pretty cool stuff to celebrate. He said cat for the first time today and also started clapping...yeah for my little man!
Here are his stats:
Weight: almost 25 pounds
Height: 31+ inches
Fav. things:
his thumb, still the dogs...and their water bowl, the refrigerator when the door is open and the dishwasher too, babbling and telling us all about everything, cruising around using the back of his trike as a 'walker', dumping/throwing every toy in his playroom baskets until he has found the perfect one, putting the rings on ring toys(just figured this one out) and last but not least, being outside!
Not so favorite things:
anything solid to eat that is not a cracker, drinking from any kind of cup and the word no

Here are the many faces of Eli on his 11 month birthday...

My "little" baby is almost 11 months old!!!!

Shoes are for your feet Eli!

So, Eli is starting to cruise around and we figured he needed some shoes for when we play at the park, etc... We went and got his chubby little feet some cute kicks and now he has decided they are more fun to play with then to wear! Just watch what I mean...

I put the shoes on...

Hey! Look! I have my shoes on!

Much more fun off...

Check it out...I can climb while carrying them!

Two is better than one!

The way "No" goes...

Here is the step by step of what happens when we tell Eli, "NO"...

Hey, I want that...

What...shock...I can't have it???

Okay, really??? Just give it to me...

Hmmm...still can't have it?!?!

Now, I am MAD!!!

Life is not fair!!

Whatever...I'll just find something else to play with!
Happy once again!!!

sniffles and sneezes...

We have ALL been sick around this house...Adam had the flu, Eli was teething with a cold and then I got a stomach bug. Fortunately, we are all well now and on the road to a full recovery. Life has been busy here and even though we were sick, I feel like we haven't stopped.
Eli had a rough couple of weeks. He has been cutting 4 teeth for what feels like months and the little devils still haven't come in yet. I swear he has probably gained 5 pounds. Now I feel like I am carrying around a boulder as opposed to a brick. He has a bit of separation anxiety with me but we are fortunate that it hasn't been with Adam as well. So, if Adam is in town, he drops him off at his sitters and the whole day goes much smoother...
Even with all that, he has been so much fun. His vocabulary is expanding and every day he surprises me with something new. Sometimes he focuses in on one word for so many days that I can't get him to say other words that I know he knows.
Anyways, his ever expanding vocabulary list...
Bye-Bye -- haven't been able to get him to say it much lately
Doggy-- it started out with just saying doggy when he saw our dogs but today at his sitters he called her dogs doggy and then we were playing outside and every time a dog walked by he would say dog-gy or sometimes its gog-gy
Uh-Oh-- this is by far one of his favorites...he drops something and then immediately uh-oh
no no-- really knows this one too well but will post more on that later
dad--another favorite, he is loving his daddy these days
mama-- He always hollers for me when he needs something...
go-- he has a little trike that I put him on and push him around and I will tell him, "ready, set,..." and he says, "gogogo"
Not bad for 10 months. Another cool thing is that if I tell him to bang something he will bang whatever he has in his hand. Also, if we put him in his rocking chair and tell him to rock, he will rock back and forth. If we play music and tell him to dance, he bops up and down...too cute!