Dear Elijah,
You seriously light up my world every day. Not a day goes by that I am not overcome with love for you and gratefulness to be your mama. You fill our days with love and laughter. You are incredibly funny and super smart (and not just because we are biased as your parents!). I am the luckiest mama in the world to have you in my life.
Weight: 23 pounds, 1 ounce at 10.5 months
Height: 30 inches at 10.5 months
Clothes: You continue to wear some 18 month separates, but we are slowly transitioning to 24 months. 24 month pants are so long though!
Diapers: Same old!
Sleep: Right after you turned 10 months, you started to have some really good nights of sleep. You were having regular 4-6 hour stretches. It went on about 3.5 weeks and then the teething hit again! We are lucky to get one 3 hour stretch and the rest are 1-2. We discovered that you like to sleep on a blanket. Maybe you like how soft it is? We tuck a blanket in the sides of the crib on the end of your bed and you sleep there. We also transitioned to a sleep sack from the zippy. We tried a toddler pillow and you LOVE it (you gave it a big hug the first night) but you usually slide off of it in your sleep. You move ALL around when you are sleeping and usually end up shoved in the corner of your crib! It is quite comical to watch your movements. You started taking better naps for Nanny Grace this week. You take two 60-90 minute naps during the day. We now make sure that you are up by 4:00 to help have a better night sleep. You tend to go down between 7:30-8:00. You have also been snuggling a foof (any foof) as you nurse to sleep and it seems to calm you when you are agitated.
Eating: You LOVE food now! You will try anything. In fact, you feel that it is your right to eat every food we eat. You insist on it. You would live on bread, pasta, cheese, and meat if we let you. If you see one of those things on our plates, it is all over. We still play the drop game quite a bit. It gets old, especially when you want it right after you have dropped it. You never drop your favorite foods though!
Likes: Giving hugs (you hug everything: people, stuffed animals blankets, toys), THE CATS, swim lessons, playing in the toilet (yuck!), playing outside
Dislikes: When Mama leaves too soon after she arrives, Greek yogurt (you gag just when it touches your lip!), brushing your top teeth, the changing table
Health: It think some more teeth are working their way through, but you will NOT let me anywhere near your mouth. No way. No how. You started to get sniffles for a few days, but seems like we fought it off. You actually don't mind the saline spray at all and the Nose Frida wasn't as bad as it was a couple months ago. You are starting to get a little better about having your teeth brushed with the finger toothbrush and coconut oil.
Communicating: You are signing "more", "milk", and just started "all done"! You use "more" for food, things you like (like the blow dryer being pointed at you) and when you want something. You sign milk appropriately, but also you use it whenever you want SOMETHING. So sometimes it is a game to figure out what you want! You seem to understand so much receptively. The other day I said I was going to go take a shower and you looked right at the shower! You point everywhere in a very meaningful way. You point at things you want, places you want to go, things you want to do. You are babbling all the time! The other day I brought you in bed with us when you woke up in the morning and you pulled up on your Daddy and said "Dada"! You have said it a few more times since.
New Tricks: Waving hello and goodbye spontaneously, clapping when excited, and peekaboo (and even holding up a blanket in front of me!). You are so close to walking! You cruise all around one handed. You will hold onto one side of the pack n play, take a step, let go, and then grab onto the other side. . Firsts: Swim lessons! You LOVE swim class! You don't even mind when we put your head under water.
