Dear Elijah,
I don't think this age could be any more fun. You are such a happy, loving, silly boy and I love every second I get to spend with you. You think your daddy and I are just the funniest people around. We regularly make you laugh and your laugh cracks us up! Everyone says you are the happiest baby they know. If I ever try to take a picture of you fussing, you start smiling as soon as you see my phone come out. What a little ham you are! Though you pretty much love everyone and are happy to make new friends everywhere we go, you are quite the mama's boy. I love that being in Mama's arms is your favorite place to be!
Weight: 20 pounds 11 ounces
Height: 28 inches
Clothes: Pants and PJs are 18 months. Most onesies and shirts you still fit in 12 months.
Diapers: Same old. We use two inserts at night and most nights that lasts all night!
Sleep: I certainly wouldn't say you are the best sleeper around. You usually take about 3 1 hour naps throughout the day, give or take 45 minutes! For the last couple of week you have been waking up when I wake up, then keeping yourself entertained while I get ready for work, eating before I leave and then falling asleep. Then you play (and eat a little) until I come home at lunch, eat, and then fall asleep again. Around 7:00ish, you usually eat again and fall asleep. Sometimes you wake up every 2-4 hours the rest of the night or sometimes it is every 1-3 hours. You sleep in your Zippy and we have learned sleep is even less successful without it! When you wake up at night you only want me. Daddy tries to help, but usually it just makes you cry more. During the day you are THRILLED to see Daddy; but at night you just want Mama and to go back to sleep quickly.
Eating: I know when you want to nurse because you dive at me and give me kisses on my cheek. You love to eat milk on a spoon with Amanda during the day. Sometimes you take a little in the Latch sippy cup or the one with the weighted straw, but you LOVE to eat on a spoon. She says that you also like to "help" by holding the spoon yourself. Eating in public continues to be a big struggle. You are SO busy and SO interested in everything, that even when you are hungry, you won't settle down to eat. I have to plan most of our outtings around eating schedules so we can be home for a good meal. You still LOVE to put food in your mouth, but I think the only thing you have actually ingested is banana and a little avocado. I constantly remind myself that we need to let you learn to eat just like we let you learn to sit and crawl, at your own pace. You have quite the gag reflex and when food gets to the back of your throat....up it goes! It gets a little messy.
Likes: Shadows (when I turn my phone flashlight on to see in the morning you LOVE to stare at the shadows), crawling to get where you want, sitting up all on your own, putting all kinds of food in your mouth, blowing raspberries to be silly (and to show when you don't want something), smacking your lips (sometimes it means you are hungry), and especially when we are silly with you! You love to drink water from our cups and will stare at them and yell until we share with you.
Dislikes: When we mess with your face (snot suck, lotion on cheeks, check teeth).
Health: You finally cut your first tooth! I noticed the day after your 7 month birthday. You DO NOT like me touching it or trying to see it. Before that, you loved when I rubbed your gums. You had your first ear infection this month and you handled it like a champ! You had fluid and we tried homepathic remedies and the chiropractor. We went back a week later (the day after Thanksgiving) and it was infected. At first you loved the antibiotics. Then you blew raspberries when we tried to give them to you. Then the last day you loved them again! You didn't nurse at your shots this month because you were too busy, but you barely cried. You are a champ!
Communicating: You love to yell and squeal to get your point across. It sounds like you say Mama sometimes when you are crying when Daddy gets you at night or when you don't want your snot sucked, but it isn't intentional yet. You are very observant and look all around and take in everything. We have been practicing waving, and one time you half raised your hand, but mostly you think we are crazy for doing a lot of emphatic waving during hi and goodbye.
New Tricks: You officially crawled on 12/1! You had been up rocking for some time, but then you just did it! You often still revert to army crawling because you are comfortable with that, but you can crawl! The same night you also started getting into and down from sitting with ease. Sometimes you move across the room by doing that over and over. Firsts: Tooth! Thanksgiving! Crawling! Sitting!
