Elijah- 18 months

 Stats: 28.4 lbs (75%tile)
           33.5 inches (75%tile)
(Not sure how accurate these are, he was thrashing most of the time)

Skillz/Facts:
-Loves running EVERYWHERE
-Has the cutest little gallop/jump
-Points and squeals with excitement whenever he sees a dog, truck, or playground
-LOVES the park/playgroud. He goes down all the slides by himself. He plops his bum down turns around and goes down on his stomach, backwards. He could spend all day outside.
-Is a man of few words (says mama, dada, cheese, more, please) but constantly babbles and understands pretty much everything I say to him (Edit on 1.29.2011- He all of a sudden is trying to say ball, truck, golfball, park, pizza)
-Has all his teeth accept his 2 year molars, which might be coming cuz he drools aaaall the time.
-Still sleeps like a champ and now takes 1 nap a day, anywhere from 1.5-2.5 hours
-Loves drinking from cups and waterbottles
-Is becoming much more paticular about the food he eats, but I still can't complain he does a great job.  He is also practicing at using a spoon and fork.
-Loves pouting/sobbing when I won't let him do what he wants. Sad and funny.
-Loves playing with bowls of change (pennies are his fav.)
-Had his first time at nursery and was great the whole time. Didn't cry, he was pretty shy throughout just observing everyone, that's what the nursery worker said. We just dropped him and left when he wasn't looking :)(Edit on 1.29.2011- Pretty sure nursery has ruined him. He is now terrified anytime a child or adult is within 10 ft. of him and he can't see us. He thinks we are going to leave or something. He NEVER did that before he would usually just stare and observe. Maybe we shouldn't have just abandoned him the first time in nursery. We'll see what he does next week.)
-Sometimes he gets so upset when we have to get him ready for bed, he forgets to breath and almost passed out on us once.
- Loves watching Elmo videos on Youtube.
-Loves playing with pens- and now knows how to push the clicker down, this I noticed by looking at my couch the other day
-Likes to pound on piano keys
-We've trained him to give us back tickles, lasts about 5 seconds but he'll get better :)
-Hates getting his diaper changed or getting dressed, he crys and screams for about 1 min then settles down.
- Plays really well on his own. I was deathly ill last week (strep throat) and I laid on the floor til Matt got home and he just played around, making messes. Pretty sure he loved not having me bothering him. The only time he acknowledged me was when he needed his sippy filled up. I'd be passed out on the floor, he'd get in my face and say "EH,EH!" and shove his sippy towards me. So cute. Love that little boy.
-Gives the best hugs and kisses
-Loves playing with toy cars and mega blocks- mostly knocking the blocks over.

Funny of the Day

Matt was trying to put a video in our VCR so he could record a game (so old school, right?), and for some reason the video wouldn't go in. He tried about 5 times before I suggested that he make sure there isn't something stuck inside-remembering that we used to have the VCR down lower and Elijah would play with it and push the buttons. Well sure enough, Matt reached inside and felt a very familiar object hiding in the back corner....a binky. Love when Elijah does things like this, reminds us how cute he is! (And yes Matt is acutally recording something on VHS, he actually had to look it up on the internet to find out how!)

Elijah videos- from the last 3 months

   

Elijah's first pony ride, he loved it! He loves animals, don't ask me how, I certainly don't encourage it!

We went and saw Santa during our neighborhood Winter Festival. Elijah a NOT a fan. But who can blame him, he is a little creepy if you think about it.

About to be dropped into Santa's lap. He was clutching onto my arm SO tight!

Get me out of here!!

There was a petting zoo at our neighborhood Winter festival. Elijah loved just walking around and touching the animals, this llama he liked touching but once it started walking towards him he couldn't get away fast enough!
 

I love this sight. Elijah "reading". It's my favorite thing to see his little mind growing and observing instead of glued to the TV. I'm glad we've encouraged it. And for people with small children you know how big of a deal it is to get them to sit still for 2 seconds so this video is a big deal. We love our little boy!

 

Learning his body parts.

  

Like father, like son. The beginning of LEGOS. He loves taking apart his LEGOS. I find them EVERYWHERE- my nightstand, laundry baskets, purse. I love it. Makes me happy to see him loving this stuff.

This is the first time Elijah has EVER flipped out getting his hair cut (and I've given him probably 5). Must have been the late hour, but now whenever he even SEES the cape he whimpers. So funny!
 

Elijah rarely ever gets sugary treats, so when he got a taste of the good stuff (Pellegrino Lemonata) he went nuts. Can you say sugar rush!

More iphone photos

GOT MILK?

DIGGING FOR GOLD: The 1st Expedition

Little devil

Elijah-15 months

Stats: 25.68 lbs 60th %tile
          32 inches 75th %tile
          19.5 inch head 

Skillz:
-says mama, dada, maaa(milk), signs more and please and a bunch of other things I can't make out yet
-loves reading books, stacking cups, putting lids on things, trying to put puzzle pieces in their places
-loves pointing at things, handing us whatever he has in his hand and then pointing so he can have it
back
-Sleeps 7-7, takes 1-2 naps a day.
-If he doesn't like to eat something or when he's full he takes it out of his mouth and drops it on the floor
-Has started mini tantrums- he goes limp on the floor, folds over in his lap with his head on the floor and whimpers. He'll also throw things if he's frustrated or wants something different
-He has inherited his mother's impatience, and his father's sweet nature
-Goes up the stairs all by himself, but has yet to learn how to go down
-When I say it's time for bed he heads over to the stairs and looks at me. He knows his binkies and softy blankets are in his crib upstairs
- 6 teeth on top, 9 on bottom. Molar #2 is peaking through as we speak. Which by the way those molars were very painful for him. He had mysterious diarrhea for a whole week just from all the extra saliva he was swallowing.
-Loves watching Elmo
-Still fairly people shy (and by people I mean those over 4 ft tall), depends on the day and mood he is in
-Favorite foods are milk, italian food, pancakes, grilled cheese w/ tomatoes, etc... he'll eat just about anything (except plain rice, I don't think he likes the texture)
-LOVES animals, especially dogs
-Still flips out whenever the vacuum or blender are on
-Loves jumping off the stadium seating in our media room. Don't worry he jumps off onto a pile of blankets. This was daddy's idea. I have a heart attack 5 times out of 10.
 -Loves playing with his LEGOS

iPhone Photos

We got caught in the rain while loading the car with groceries!

I love the swings if you can't tell!

Trying on some new kicks (which are already too small) And I'm just going to call Elijah "the Blur". He runs everywhere!

The hairdresser in me had to spike up his hair, so kewl :)

This is a momentus occasion that must be recorded for posterity. Elijah fell asleep, in broad daylight, in the car!! He hasn't done that since he was like 8 months old. Adorable. And notice how his little feet are crossed, he does that whenever he is sitting.

 

 

 

 

 

 And some sweet photos of my niece Emmalee. I gave her my phone to entertain herself in the car and this is what I found on them the next day, I about peed my pants. So funny! Oh and don't worry she also took a 22 minute video of who knows what! This little girl kills me!

Trying out a suit for the wedding

Amy's Riddle

Amy,

Name the 80's movie that Elijah is acting out.

Walking and Being Cute

These walking videos were taken over a week ago, now he walks from room to room and is becoming much more confident in his new skillz. He loves it!

Don't mind my slobber droplet :)

Elijah 13.5 months

Practicing for Halloween

Practicing for Halloween

Halloween costume to match the roar

Elijah's Lion Roar

Walking preview, more videos to come

Elijah hacking the library computer network

Funny of the week

I'm sure this was more fun for us than it was for him, but we couldn't help ourselves! We have so much fun with this little boy! Love him!

Megan's 25th birthday

 

Here's to the greatest wife, mother, cook and best friend in the world. 

Happy 25th birthday (on the 31st of July)! 

We love you Megan!

 

Matthew & Elijah

 

Fun at the pool

I swear he was doing cooler faces right before this.

ELIJAH IS 1 YEAR OLD!!

I cannot believe how fast he is growing. It seems like the past month he has quadrupled his skillz!

STATS:
Weight: 24 lbs. (right between the 50th-75th percentile)
Height 30.5 inches (same as above)

He DOES NOT like the doctor's office. This was even before he got his shots.

After the doctor's office. He feels much better with his binky and bunny.

His biggest accomplishment since 9 months is crawling and climbing/ pulling up on things. He started army crawling around 10 months and then all of a sudden over the course of a couple weeks started doing everything! We've baby proofed just about everything. Here are some crawling videos:

This is his army crawl at 10 months

 

And here he is a pro at getting around 

 

Here are a few of Elijah facts:

-Loves to eat! Seriously he will just keep eating and eating and eating. I've had to cut him off so he doesn't make himself sick. He will eat just about anything when he's hungry!
-Loves to open and close doors and cupboards
-Says "mama" "dada" and signs "more" and "please" but he thinks the sign for more and please is the same sign- oh well!
-He has 7 teeth, almost 8! 4 on bottom and 3 on top (#4 is about to pop in any day now)
- Loves going to the pool, He loves going down the waterslide with us and going under the mushroom
-Is a mommas boy, which I don't mind, I love my little boy!
-Has had 4 colds and an episode of Hand, Foot Mouth Disease.
-Can crawl up the stairs by himself, but unless I'm behind him he turns around to sit and look around and nose dives to the bottom. OUCH! We're working on teaching him to go backwards.
-He is fascinated with the washer and dryer. He sits and stares at them going round and round.
-LOVES books. He flips through his big stack of books and jibber jabbers. So cute.
-He is perfecting the pathetic, tearless, fake cry. Silly boy!
-Is now drinking pretty much all whole milk from a sippy cup. With the exception of his morning bottle, I'm trying to finish up a can of formula. I cheated and started giving it to him everyday for lunch for a week so we could get used to the taste and temperature.
-Doesn't like the blender or the vacuum. I've been known to put him in his highchair while I vacuum and he screams the whole time.
-Take 2 naps a day, and sleeps 7-7.
-He gets to sit forward now! They now say wait til they're two- what is that all about!?

For his birthday we were going to have some people over for cake and ice cream, but Elijah got sick and then I got sick so we just had a little family party. See photos/videos below!

 Birthday Morning!

The cake

All  of the following videos are of him on his birthday present. There are a gazillion of them but I think they are all hilarious, if you can't tell by my laugh in the background :)

   

Look I can use it as a bike too!!

 

Diving into the cake

I cut him off a slice and he was in heaven!

My cake is all gone and I'm tired mom!

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

And here are some random funny pics:

I love corn!

Two peas in a pod

I call these my Asian Elijah. (And I realize it is very stereotypical just like Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's ) I get a kick out of it every time!