Photos and Even More Video Fun...

My nose runneth.
Dinner time messy fun (notice pinched right ear, so cute).
Wheeee!
And the second first of the day. Eli climbed the stairs. He made it up to the middle landing...
where he stopped for a breather.
And kept on truckin...(again, look at those ears!!!)
Wait! Mama, snuggle me.
Let's go together.
And we made it to the tippy tippy top! Hello stained glass! Hello my friends the ceiling fans! (Can you believe this house? Me neither.)

Eatin, Paintin, and Laughin.

Oh! And the first first of the day was...Eli drank water from a straw! We've tried this many times, but today he decided he could do it. So fun!

Today was his 9 month pediatrician's appointment. He wowed Dr. Neal. Here are his stats:

weight - 20 lb 3.5 oz - 50th percentile (he's been exactly 50% since birth)
length - 29.24 inches - 80th percentile (a big jump from his last percentage. yay height!)
Here's the interesting one:
head circumference - 19 and an eighth inches - off the percentage chart.

As always, Dr. Neal said the nurse's measurement must be wrong and re-measured his head, only to find that, yes...it's that big. This has happened at EVERY visit. He's way off the curve on this one. So much so that he has to go in midway between now and his next scheduled appointment to measure his noggin again. If it's still growing at this rate, some further tests will be done. Sometimes head growth of this magnitude can signal hydrocephaly, but Dr. Neal is not worried because Eli is thriving and developing so perfectly. More likely is that he comes from big-headed stock.

Now, be sure to scroll down. I did three new entries in one sitting because I could only do one video per entry.

More Video Fun

Eli's on the fence about the baby dahl I whipped up for him.

Video Fun

I caught Eli laughing maniacally whilst torturing poor, tolerant Vashti. Then he ate her.

OH! But listen! Hear Eli saying "cat", around 45 seconds, twice! It sounds like "ca...t) He said it the other day (actually it was more like "kitty cat" that day). He always does it when kitties come around, especially Vashti. So first word: Kitty Cat! Shocking.

Don't worry, I intervened and rescued Vashti shortly after the making of this video.

A fun coupla days...

The weather in Denver is beautiful these days. And we've had a string of fun play date invitations. We have made some great baby friends and they are so fun to play with. Today we went swimming at Inara's.
This is after Eli lost interest in the pool.
He loved the pool so much! He splashed, jumped to me off the side (is it "jumping" if he starts from his hiney?), and played in this little boat.
And yesterday we had a "Welcome back from Australian Shana and Inara" party at Shasta and Christopher's. Here, Eli is scavenging on one of the other baby's lunch leftovers.
Swinging with Inara! When last we saw Inara, two months ago before they left for Oz, she was just beginning to walk and knew a few words. Now she is a walking wiz and talks up a storm! She even learned to say Eli and Jessa in just a few tries!
Christopher has a fun sand/water table with BLUE SAND! Grace is showing Eli how it works. Eli is confused by her blue hands.
Eli believes he was wronged. Notice the accusatory point.
And now...the tube.

Sup Inara?
Jacob's gonna getchya!
Then, Mama/Nanny Kim mesmerized all the babies with her hilarious tube antics.
Boo!

I love Dada...and Harry

Wearing tarheel blue...to match his eyes.
Chowing, smiling, and looking really grown up!
Eating is funny.
These two shots are for Auntie Jodie. She gave Eli the little grey elephant seen here. We've named him Harry Elephante (borrowed from a Friends episode). When we were getting ready to do the sleep training with him, the book recommended having a cuddly critter to help cue that it's bed time, and so that he has something to help self soothe when he wakes. Enter Harry. So, Harry is part of our sleep time routine. He, Eli and I read a story in the rocking chair. The little speckled thing with Harry is the other little cuddly item we give him at sleep time. It's a little blanket I made for him. I sewed birdies and his name on the brown side...
And our little bird family on the green side (there's a third bird being blocked by the crib bar, but if you could see all three, you would see a Mama, Daddy and Eli bird). This is how Eli sleeps now. When I put him down, he snuzzles Harry and uses him as a pillow. He also loves to suck on Harry's ears and trunk. He grins so big when he sees him. So, thank you Auntie Jodie for Eli's favorite friend! (He looks a little petrified in this photo due to the mysterious camera flash in his dark room - that is not part of his sleep routine).

Now, Eli speaks! Listen closely. You'll hear him proclaim his love for Eric (who we miss terribly! He's in New Orleans for 11 days).

Saturday Fun with Miles!

Whoever invented the playdate was a genius. What could be better? Kiddos have fun. There's yummy food. And you get to have adult conversation with interesting people. Today Eli's buddy Miles and his Mom Eve came over. We had big fun. Eric graciously offered to set up a panini station out of the deck. He whipped up yummy paninis, made to order, while the boys splashed and wiggled like little sunscreen greased fish. Eric picked up this little pool while he was getting panini fixins and it was a hit!
Eli was cautious, but Miles was like a deep sea diver! He was fearless!
Eli wanted to get a closer look at Miles's Nemo diaper.
Eli and Eve.
A wet baby towel makes a lovely sunshade for swimming babies.
After swimming we had lunch. While I wasn't looking Eli nabbed a fistful of rice cereal out of the bowl I was spooning from and jammed it in his mouth. I quickly admitted defeat and poured the bowl out onto his tray and let him have at it. He had great fun making a fabulous mess. It exhausted him.
Eli says, "I love Miles. Can I eat him?"
Miles found the game shelf. I think I can take him in the Friends Trivia Game.
Eli had a last glimpse at his first nursery yesterday. I took his picture in front of the wall I painted a tree and birdies on. We went to finish up some work and get the staging furniture out of our old house. We are selling our first owned home. We close on Monday. It was a sweet first house, once we gave it some tlc. I hope the new owner finds it homey and is very happy there. We're pretty happy where we are. Things just work out sometimes, don't they.

Epic Seattle Entry

We're home from a wonderful trip to Seattle to see some fam. We had a blast!!! Here is a small portion of the photos we took from our many fun adventures this week. We spent most of the week at Yaya's house (my Mom). Her house is a whimsical play house. She's spent many months collecting fun toys from consignment shops, and Eli went through them like a hurricane! We spent many hours lounging in her beautiful yard, listening to the fountain she made. We greased Eli up with sunscreen and gave him fun hairdos. Eli got big laughs watching her two tortoises, and learned how to bark and defend against being licked in the face by the Sophie dog.
Yaya found the fabulous jumper and Eli LIVED in it. We took it everywhere - inside, outside, to the park, to the beach, to the pool. She's shipping it to us.
And continuing in the tradition of Yaya offering Eli contraband snacks, here he enjoys his first twizzler, and totally slimes me with it.
Eli spent some quality time gazing at the Pacific Ocean.
Yaya snuck him onto a nearby boat. Luckily he was not arrested for trespassing.
Kelly, Grif, Felix, Eli and I went to Long Beach for the weekend. It was so much fun! Here the kiddos prepared to go to town on a crab lunch. Felix representing for DSP!
Kite flying with one foot. That's talent. Observe that the rest of us are all bundled up. It was pretty cold, but VERY windy. Kelly was dressed like she was in the witness protection program. But not Grifinn, she busted out the bikini and soaked in the sun.
Action shots of kite chasing...



Long Beach is a major kite flying site (due to the blinding winds). They have a renowned kite festival at some time of the year. On this day however, there we just some folks out flying pretty awesome and BIG kites. Eli and I took a walk to check it out.
See the little people? See the BIG kites?
On the walk back from the kites, Eli conked out. So we made him a little beach pallet where he slept soundly for at least an hour. Terribly cute.
Beachy Snuggle.
Ocean shot. Eli and I didn't actually go in the ocean. Too cold!!!
This is such a cute photo of my boy. Please ignore the line of barf dripping from his mouth.
Mouthful of sand and a sandy goatee!

He had a blast crawling in the super soft sand. Hours later I realized that the tiny purpose-less pockets on his outfit were filled with sand.
Fun!
Look...
On the horizon, I see a boat!

One day we met a cow and a turtle.
Can I eat it?
I love my new friends!
Yee Haw!
While we were there we watched and cheered as Michelle walked in her highschool graduation ceremony. Yay Chelle!
Gorillas at the zoo copying Michelle's funny face. We took Eli to the zoo for the first time. The gorillas were our favorite. They have a baby gorilla that is the same age and size as Eli. Her name is UZUMMA, which means "bearer of joy to the family."

We're home now. We missed Daddy terribly, so we're going to play all weekend with him before he leaves on Sunday for 10 days. He's heading to New Orleans with the youth on a Mission Trip.

Hope all are well.
Posted by the Mama