First Temper Tantrum (Eli, not Mommy).

Last night (Monday night), Eli threw a temper tantrum. Complete with screaming, kicking legs, arching back, the whole nine yards (so dramatic!).

It started when I (Missy) wouldn't let him chew on his "Doggies" board book. I took it away saying, "We don't chew on books," and handed him another toy. Well, he didn't take too kindly to this! He plopped himself on the ground (he had been on kneeling against the couch), and proceeded to scream at the top of his lungs and kick his hands and feet against the ground as fast as he could. I ignored him, so he stopped after about 20 seconds and decided to just play with the toy I had given him. He was one ticked off little camper though. Raising this little one just got a whole lot more interesting, and challenging too!

Fun in Eli's Crib

When Grandma was watching Eli this week he discovered a new trick - he can stand up in his crib by himself! He is quite proud of himself when he finally gets all the way up, and then proceeds to chew on the top railing. Even with the mattress all the way down and the railing all the way up he can still chew away. I don't want to buy one of those plastic rail covers, but it he keeps gnawing I'll have to!

One downside though - Eli can figure out how to get up but not how to get back down! So he'll just stand there chewing, and then start rattling the rail back and forth. When we hear that sound on the monitor we know it's time to check on him and see what the little munchkin is up to!

He found it, but I don't think he'll use it.

Eli found the toilet yesterday. He's gotten so proficient at scooting around and pulling himself up on everything that we knew it was just a matter of time until he found the toilet. He discovered that you can stand up next to the toilet and lift and drop the lid, over and over. I was hoping we wouldn't have to buy those ridiculous looking toilet locks, but I think we might have to. We watch him pretty closely but I don't want anything to happen to him! And I'm pretty sure this isn't a sign that he wants to be potty-trained. :)

Eli Comics!

My mom (Amanda) took pictures of Eli and made this adorable comic-like story about him. (Click on it to enlarge the image.) Enjoy!

Upgrade to Eli's "Crib"

Noting that Eli seemed really uncomfortable sleeping in his crib lately, Jon and I were inspired on Friday night to throw caution, and the advice of countless child-safety experts, to the wind and put two of our couch cushions in Eli's crib (they fit perfectly), cover them with the snap-off top sheet, and see if Elijah slept better on those. Well, he did, settling right in on them, and sleeping the whole rest of the night without incident. After a week of little sleep due to Eli's virus, this seemed pretty conclusive evidence to us that Eli needed a new, softer, mattress so we decided to get one for him ASAP.

We had originally purchased the top-rated mattress for infants from the Consumer Report’s guide, and the book Baby Bargains (anal Missy, yes I know). The mattress was great but is quite firm, which is probably better for little babies so their risk of re-breathing carbon dioxide and SIDs is lower. But man does that mattress feel uncomfortable. Like a rock, uncomfortable. I guess it doesn’t matter much when babies are shapeless little lumps, swaddled in blankies, but now Eli is bigger and has shoulders and curves, and of course his “giant head” (see post on his 9-month doctor’s visit if you don’t get the reference).

Since the night that we got the new, comfier mattress, Elijah has slept through the night without waking up every night but one (last night, and I don’t really know why, it didn’t seem like anything was wrong. But at 11 pm he woke up and would not go back to sleep. Instead he wanted to lay in bed with mommy, roll back and forth across the bed while sucking his thumb, occasionally snuggle up to me for a bit, and then reach up and bop me in the head to make sure I was awake. Cute, but not from 11 pm to 3 am). Anyway, in our statistically insignificant and completely non-representative sample of nights, it appears that the new mattress gets Eli’s seal of approval!

Rolling back and forth at meal time!

Eli and I have a new game that we play while I'm feeding him. He sits in his high chair, and I sit in a chair facing him with my feet up on the lower crossbar of his high chair. With my knees elevated like that, Eli can put his feet on my knees and push. His high chair is on wheels, so that sends him rolling away from me. (I have a hold of the high chair with my feet so he doesn't go too far!)

After each bite, Eli pushes and rolls away, and I get the next bite of food ready on his spoon. Then I hold the spoon out to him, and pull him (in his chair) towards me, and give him the food on the spoon when he's close enough! Then we do it again! This keeps Eli focused on eating, and it's fun for both of us!

Another doctor's visit

Elijah went to the doctor's office this morning to get checked out. But this time Grandma Amanda took him! Both Jon and I had meetings at work that we couldn't miss, and today was Grandma's day to watch Eli, so she bundled him up and took him to the doctor this morning.

Turns out everything is okay, just a little virus that has to run it's course. It's good to know though, since we weren't sure if it was his ear infection returning, since he started running a temp and being "disagreeable" (to put it mildly) pretty quickly after his antibiotics were gone.

The doctor said that his ears look great though and his throat and nose dont' have any infection either, so we just have to wait it out. Now if we can just get some sleep that would be a lot easier!

Another tidbit - apparently Elijah is now 21 pounds and 4 ounces. I guess he packed on the weight in the last week and a half! Little piggy.

Mommy's heart is melting

While Elijah was sick last night, Jon was holding him in the rocking chair and I came up to check on them and then went back down the stairs. As I went down the stairs I heard my little boy crying, "mamamamama." He only seems to yell this when he's upset and wants to be picked up or when he's sick, but it's always in reference to me, so I guess he's saying my name! I'm a puddle.

Elijah sick. Again. Pooey. No sleepy. Tired. Cranky.

The title said it all, didn't it? Sick is not fun.

Grandma, don't leave me here with Mom!

When my mom showed up before our weekend trip to Ohio I was giving Elijah a bath upstairs and had left the door unlocked for my mom. We heard the door open and my Mom saying, “Hello,” and I told Elijah that Grandma was here to visit him. He got excited and was splashing all around, and then my mom came upstairs and poked her head in the bathroom. He looked up at her grinning, and then realized it was not the grandma he was expecting (Jon’s mom, who takes care of him each week). His face fell and he just stared at my mom! She won him over within a minute, as she talked to him and he remembered her, but it was so funny to see him get excited and then give a look that almost said, “I don’t know who that lady is, but she’s not Grandma!”
After our weekend in Ohio though, Eli got used to having Grandma take care of him, and on Sunday and Monday he really didn’t want to have me attend to him. He was much happier when Grandma was playing with him and holding him and making him laugh. On Monday, after my Mom left, he cried, was upset, and didn’t want me to hold him - until he realized that Grandma wasn’t coming back and he was stuck with Mom again. At which point he tried to placate me by snuggling in for an afternoon nap on the couch (it worked; he has me figured out completely). After the uncertain start to the weekend it was nice to see him bond with Grandma and get attached, even if it wasn’t the Grandma he was expecting!

Road Trip with Grandma!

With Eli being sick (again!) and then Jon being sick, I haven’t had a chance to post about our trip to Ohio the weekend of the 11th. My mom, Eli, and I headed down to the Cleveland area for the weekend to spend time with my cousins, Stacy and Kelly, their parents, Uncle Gerry and Aunt Cheryl, and Stacy’s kids, Tyler (3) and Joshua (10 months). The idea was that the grandparents would take care of the kids and the girls would get a chance to have some time together alone. What a great idea (and what a fun time we had)!

We hit the road after Mom and my Bible study leader’s meeting on Saturday morning, and made it down to Ohio in good time, with Eli sleeping almost all the way. Once there, Elijah wasn’t so sure about the whole thing though – new house, a dog, and two other little kids running and crawling around. Uhn uh, not for him! He did not want to be put down and seemed kind of whiny. Stacy, Kelly, and I stayed to eat lunch and then skee-daddled – I could tell Eli’s clinginess wasn’t because of me leaving, it was because of the new situation, and that Grandma would be up to the task of taking care of him. And if not, well, at least one of us would be off having fun. :)

Stacy and Kelly and I went and painted pottery (a tradition, and a hoot-and-a-half when you get the three of out wacky personalities together!) and then went out to dinner (Outback, another tradition, though we waited so flippin’ long to get seated – another crazy story! – that by the time we ate our blood sugar was floored and Kelly ended up getting sick). We still had a bunch of fun together though, and it was so refreshing to get together with my best friends and just spend some time together!

Apparently, while we were whooping it up, the kids were causing their own ruckus. Joshie and Tyler went to bed at 7, but Eli wanted to finally have the adults to himself, so he wouldn’t go to sleep! Instead he stayed up and was a little charmer. Night and day personality change, apparently! Maybe we should call him Dr. Jekyll!Then, just when he went to sleep, Joshie decided that it would be fun to wake up and play with his Grandma until 1:30 in the morning! When the girls finally came back home on Sunday afternoon the kids seemed pretty good, though Eli was still a little shy and did not care to play on the floor long by himself, and nobody (except the adults!) wanted to take naps. Silly kids!

It was cute to see Elijah with Kelly’s little doggie, Bailey. Elijah would just grin and grin when Bailey was around, and let her lick his face. He seemed to warm to Bailey right away, and everyone else not so much! And Bailey knew a sucker when she saw one and wanted to treat Eli like one big lollipop (hehe, puns intended). It almost made me want to get a dog, if only Jon wasn't allergic!When Josh and Eli were together Josh seemed interested in Eli and would reach out and touch him with one little finger (so cute!). Which, of course, prompted Eli to scream and furiously scramble away. As if he doesn’t have babies crawling all over him at daycare and has never seen another baby in his life! Goof-a-loo. Still, was awfully cute to see the little ones together! I'm sure they'll have more fun together when they grow up more.









Mom and Eli and I ended up leaving on Sunday night, right around Eli’s bedtime. He drank his bottle and slept all the way home, which was good. But then when we got home he did not want to go to sleep and seemed hot and uncomfortable. I took him for a bit, then Mom took him for part of the night, and then Jon slept on the floor with Elijah the rest of the night. And so started another week of the sickies invading the Schneider household. Blech! At least I had my happy and fun memories from the weekend to remind me that life isn’t all bad!

If you're happy and you know it . . . clap your hands!

Inspired by Elijah's Baby Tad toy (which sings and lights up), I started singing the "If You're Happy and You Know It," song to Elijah a while ago and taking his hands in mine and clapping them together. A few weeks ago (maybe the first week or two of February) I was singing the song to Elijah while he was on the floor and he started clapping on his own! We then repeated the performance for Daddy, then for Grandma, and then for skeptical Uncle Jeremy (he didn't believe that Elijah actually would clap on his own until he saw it with his own eyes!). Now if you start singing the "Happy Song" then Elijah (usually) lights up and smiles and starts clapping along.

Similarly, when you hit or bang the floor with your hand or foot then Elijah stops what he's doing and bangs, then waits for you to bang, then bangs again - taking turns with us in making noise! It's so neat to interact with Eli as he's growing up. Just a few months ago he was a little lump, and now he does things and plays with us, and gets jokes (like if, hypothetically, Mommy put the elephant toy on her head he looks at it and laughs). It's so fun to see him growing and learning!

Oompah loompah, Eli's a munchkin.

A few weeks ago I bought this little device called a "Munchkin" self-feeder for Eli. It's essentially a very hard to open mesh bag with a handle, which you can place fruit or veggies into. Anything that would be large enough to be a choking hazard yet soft enough to be smooshed can go into this self-feeder bag -- for example, chunks of banana, plums, pears, grapes, berries, etc.

Well, Elijah LOVES this little thing. He grabs it and chews and smooshes and makes a huge mess, but in the process will eat an entire banana, plum, pear, you name it! He's so cute waving it around in the air and then biting it. The only downside is that it's messy, and a bit of a pain to clean out (especially bananas). Still worth it though!

Tuesdays with Mommy (Eli can write the book someday!)

Another Tuesday with Mommy, this time March 7th. Here’s the scoop:

• In preparation for a weekend visit with my cousins, and the need to not look like a scruffy little monster, Elijah received another haircut. This time though he was fascinated with the scissors. Which meant the cut’s a little lopsided. Oh well! It grows out fast!
• Another bath, more splashing, and a repeat performance of blowing bubbles in the water, this time with the added twist of Elijah putting his face in the water and drinking the bathwater. Note to self: no more baths before bottles anymore. Eli will drink anything when he’s thirsty!
• I needed to get ready to go to my Bible study on Tuesday night, but Elijah was not content at all (translation: super-whiny baby!) to play on the floor while I got ready. So, he sat on the bathroom counter while I put my makeup on (not easy while keeping one hand on an active baby!). He slid into the sink while playing (not hard, don’t freak out people), and seemed really happy to sit in it and play. So I let him! That freed up my hand, and he just grabbed everything on the counter and pulled it into the sink with him. His favorite toy – the Excedrin bottle. It makes lots of noise while you shake it! Our camera was right on the dresser in the bedroom so I grabbed it and took some shots.

Silly baby, playing in the sink!

Doing Pull-ups!

Challenged by the doctor’s, “Hmms,” when we told her that Elijah hadn’t pulled himself up to a stand yet, Eli decided to prove her wrong, and started pulling up on things on Sunday. We had previously pushed up some of the couch cushions so he could grab hold of the base of the couch to use as a pull-up mechanism, but he had never shown any interest in doing so (even when mommy would put him on his knees in front of the couch and put his hands on it – nope, not going to do it mama!). On Sunday (March 5, just two days after his appointment) he crawled over to the couch and pulled himself to his knees, and then pulled himself to his feet! He did so repeatedly, and then on another couch, and then on his rocking chair. He’s gotten better at it now, though he still has a long way to go until it’s easy for him. He seems to use his arms to pull himself up rather than push with his legs, but you have to start somewhere people!

Elijah's Nine Month Doctor's Appointment!

Time is flying by! Friday, March 3rd, was Eli’s 9 month doctor’s visit. It was during his naptime, so he was kind of cranky and did not want to sit still to be poked and prodded, but somehow we got through it! Here’s the info:

• Elijah weighs 19 pounds and 14 ounces, and is in the 25th percentile for weight (the percentile he was when he was born). The doctor thought that since Eli was sick most of January and was now more active that his weight gain was fine. He is drinking enough formula, and she confirmed that we should just keep following Eli's cues as to when he’s hungry or not. So eating only two solid meals a day is fine for now. He’ll let us know when he’s ready for more!
• Elijah is 29 ½ inches tall – in the 90th percentile! So he’s growing fine, and that explains why I can’t keep him in pajamas and pants! He’s a tall boy!
• We found out that Elijah has an ear infection in both of his ears! We had no clue, since he had been so sick and cranky and nothing had been wrong, and now he had finally been sleeping through the night again. So, he is having his first antibiotics – and he loves the taste! He practically sucks the medicine out of the dropper.
• Eli only had one shot, which he handled pretty well, though he went into hysterics anytime he had to be laid on his back for anything. Maybe his ears were hurting?
• The doctor kept asking questions about if Eli’s pulling up to a stand, if he always stands on his toes or flat-footed, if he cruises around holding on the couch, etc., and she had a disappointed or worried tone whenever we would answer negatory. It really annoyed me because I’ve been reading my child development books and know that each child develops at a different pace, and that it’s okay that Eli hasn’t done some of those things yet. But she would just go, “hmm,” and ask another question. Grrr. Annoying (or I could just be an overly sensitive Mom - but I’m never ever that way, right honey?). Hehe. :)
• Elijah has a fast-growing head, apparently. He went from the 25th percentile for his head to the 50th and now to the 90th, so the doctor wants to see him one more time for a head check before his one-year visit to make sure that nothing is going wrong with his noggin. We told her big heads run in the family - we need to store our big brains and intelligence somewhere!

Bath Time Tales!

I was home with Elijah two Tuesdays ago (Feb. 28), and he was super messy eating, so I decided he needed a bath. We went upstairs and he sat in front of his bookcase pulling out books and “reading” by himself contentedly, so I went into the bathroom and started getting the bath ready. Well, I turned on the water to fill the tub and I hear this little boy squealing and dragging himself across the carpet. I peak around the corner and who is coming down the hall with a big smile on his face and squealing with delight, but little Eli! He was so excited for his bath he just kept laughing!

He eventually made it to the bathroom and took a bath with lots of splashing and squeals. He also did something I’ve never seen him do – he would lower his face to the water, stick it in about an inch and then blow bubbles! Then he’d lift his head up and laugh with his silly belly-laugh. He did it three times in a row – what a goof! It’s nice that he’s enjoying bath time though - it’s fun to see him so excited!

This Tuesday he once again was less than neat while eating so I gave him a bath. He scooted all the way into the bathroom again but this time instead of blowing bubbles he tried to drink his bath water. I even got another cup with water in it for him since I thought it must mean he was thirsty, but he didn’t want that! He just wanted to drink the bathwater! Maybe he likes having his mouth washed out with soap? :)

Scaling the Cliffs of Insanity!

Eli, undeterred by the fact that he isn't even really crawling around "properly" yet (although he is now quite adept at the commando scoot), is now attempting to tackle the task of climbing the stairs! Despite just starting to try and climb the stairs for the first time today, he managed to get himself up on the first step, with his head and arms stretching up the third step. We might have a little climber on our hands here! Taking after his uncle Jeff, perhaps?

When Eli started scaling the "cliffs," with me sitting at the top (about to start vaccuming the upstairs) and Missy sitting with Eli at the bottom, I could only quote "my God. He's Climbing." Missy and I got a little chuckle out of that. :-)

Stories from Grandma Manda

Eli's current schedule during the work week is 2 days at home with Missy, 1 day at home with my mom ("Grandma Manda"), and 2 days in day care. Grandma had some interesting stories to relate after this past Wednesday:

• Eli woke up from a nap, reached through the bars of his crib, and grabbed the baby monitor "transmit" unit and started swinging it around. Time to move that a little bit futher away!
  
  
• Eli has learned how to open up the kitchen cabinets! On Wedneday tried to get out some of the glass vases that we are storing there. Childproof cabinet locks have been ordered and are on the way!
  
• Eli got a little "owie" on his nose as Grandma was bundling him into the stroller for a short wintertime walk outside. No problem, we already know that Eli's nose can heal up just fine!
  
• Eli likes to be held upside-down briefly now. He gets a big smile! That combined with the fact that he likes to go up and down a lot as I'm holding him means we might have a future roller coaster rider on our hands! Definitely taking after Missy there...
  
• Eli crawled out of his pants again. I guess that just a diaper is good enough for him!