A Week in Pictures

Since we haven't been posting too much lately (I'll create another post to talk about that!), I thought I'd put up some pictures to show what we've been up to!

I played on the deck in the sunshine
and enjoyed the last few days of summer!

I lounged in my old "bouncy" seat that
Mom brought up for baby Owen. Still comfy!

And I got my daily fiber by eating the laundry.This one is tropical tasting, nummy nummy!

I sat in this big box and tried to beat Dad's records on Nintendo.

"Run-by" smile - Eli's on the go!

Mom, did you know thisfridge had a seat built in to it? How handy!

At mealtimes Elijah now finds it amusing to practice closing his eyes. He scrunches them up really tight and then laughs.

Thursday was a big day for Elijah - all the photos below are from the same day because he was in to everything!

Mom taught me about personal finance and responsibility
when I "stole" her credit card from her wallet.

Hmm, I could buy a lot of toys with this.

Mom's been going up and down this ladder, and now I know why - it's fun!

I can help with the painting, Mom.
See, I can climb the ladder for you!

Elijah found Mom's beach hat in the closet!

I can't see anything under this thing, but that's not going to slow me down!

Elijah doesn't like to stop playing and get in his highchair for his afternoon snack, so I cut up cheese, peas, bananas, and cheerios, and put them in a muffin tin on the ottoman instead. That was a big hit with Eli! He would go play a bit and then keep coming back and getting some more, and he ended up eating everything!

This big ball pillow is a great seat for me!

And you can bounce up and down on it too! Whee!

Activities at 15 Months

Eli's 15 months old now! 25% of the way through his second year already. At his checkup earlier this week, our RN Wendy reported that Eli is still around the 90th percentile in height, and around 25th in weight (around 23.5 pounds).

Eli's walking all the time now -- no more crawling!

Eli's fascination with the refrigerator continues. In addition to rushing over to look inside whenever it gets opened, he found that it makes a nice bench!

Eli's climbing adventures continue. He likes to climb up onto the top of the couch and check out what's going on out in the back yard. We need to keep a close eye on the little man, since we can't really fence off all of our furniture...

Our little guy is also breaking lots of records on Daddy's gameboy. He's seen here sinking yet another eagle putt to finish up a round of 18 holes in Mario Golf with a score of -33.

(Some slight exaggeration might be going on with that last item -- Eli doesn't actually get to play with the gameboy when the power is on. But he does love to just push the buttons, and he already knows how to hold it correctly!)

Holding fingers

Lately, as we reach the end of dinnertime and Eli is starting to get sleepy (as bedtime is coming up), he has liked to hold my hand (or Missy's).

Eli recently had liked to fall asleep holding onto one of our fingers as well, but over the last few days Missy and I let Eli know that Mommy and Daddy weren't going to just let Eli hold onto one of us for 30 minutes (or more) while he fell asleep in his crib at night. Eli didn't like this at first, but he has adapted surprisingly quickly -- tonight he fell asleep quickly, with no fuss at all!

We Really Must Be Bunnies 'Cause Elijah's Sure Keeping Us Hoppin'!

Elijah's sure keeping us on our toes with his newfound climbing and walking abilities. Jon was putting the new propane tank on the grill tonight and Eli was playing with his water toys on the deck when Jon turned around and saw Eli sitting in his water toy. Mom grabbed the camera and Eli gladly repeated the feat for us:

I was so hot! But now I feel better with my buns in the water!

After dinner, Elijah debuted another trick - climbing on top of his LeapFrog Learning Table (currently serving as a barrier to stop Eli from opening the entertainment center doors), then standing up on it and hitting the tv. That's not dangerous at all, Eli, right?! This child is going to give us both heart attacks, I swear!

I don't care if Mom says I'll ruin my eyes, I can see the tv better from up here.

Can One-Year Olds Have Surfing Lessons?

Elijah has discovered a new skill, or should I say "scare for Mom," which I think would translate well into a surfing career. Eli likes to climb on top of his fire engine and balance, pretty precariously in Mom's opinion, standing on the seat if an object is nearby, or otherwise with his feet on the seat and his hands on the steering wheel. It freaks me out when he does this, which I imagine is part of the charm. He gets himself up and balanced pretty well though, so maybe a surfboard for Christmas would be in order?

Pooh. Lots of Pooh. And I'm Not Talking Winnie.

Elijah has had quite the week when it comes to poo-ing (just the post all of you want to read, but too bad, I'm writing this so I can guilt-trip Eli with it when he's older). I actually called Jon on Monday morning to complain and get some sympathy for having to clean up the most gigantic poo Elijah has ever had. Uncle Jeremy, who described one of Elijah's diapers as containing "elephant poop," would have been horrified.

I was reading a book on the floor to Elijah, who had just walked over and was standing up next to me, when I looked down and said, "What's that on your leg sweetie?" And then I realized what it was on his leg. And then I saw the poo-trail leading from the kitchen into the living room. Yuck. He was covered from knee to armpit, up his back, and up his tummy. Blech.

Jon and I sometimes tease each other about Eli's diapers and call them 4-wiper-diapers, 6-wiper-diapers, etc. The highest I think I've ever gotten previously was 10 wipes. Well, this one was a behemoth - a 27 wipe diaper. And I get three passes out of a wipe using the wipe, fold the wipe, wipe with the same wipe, fold the wipe, wipe again, method. So this was a biggie. A blowout of massive proportions. I could live peacefully never having to see a diaper like that again. Sadly, this was not to be the case.

This morning I was on the phone with my mom, when the words, "Uh-oh, Elijah don't step in your poo," came out of my mouth. I never though I would utter those words. Ever. Not a good thing. Not as bad as Monday (only 12 wipes), but the outfit still had to be rinsed and the floor had to be washed up (again!) as well. I don't know what's gotten in to this kid, but I want it to stop! I should at least get hazard pay if this keeps up! :)

My Son is a Monkey. A Really Strong Monkey!

On Monday Elijah and I were playing in the living room and he climbed on to the couch as usual - he loves to climb on and off - but what he did next is quite unusual. Using once of the couch cushions he pulled his way on to the back of the couch (a 2 inch wide ledge essentially) and stood up, looking out the window behind the couch. He then proceeded to climb on to the windowsill right behind the back of the couch and stand up there hitting the window and squealing. It all happened so fast I could hardly believe it! Thank goodness I was standing right there, and could remove him from the sill before anything happened.

The next thing I did was remove all the couch cushions from that side of the couch - that was how he got on to the back of the couch, right? WRONG! Elijah apparently took my cushion-removal as a challenge, and immediately climbed back on to the de-cushioned couch, and using the back of the couch as a handhold pulled himself up until he could swing one hand up and grab the windowsill. Then he swung the other hand up onto the sill and pulled himself up, only using his arms, until he could get a knee up on the back of the couch. Once he had the knee up it was easy as pie to get on the back of the couch and then up on to the windowsill once again. It took super-baby strength but Elijah figured out how to get on to that windowsill without the cushions. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I'm in trouble now! My son is a monkey!

Mokey See, Monkey Do

Well, I think that the week camping really helped Elijah. Seeing all those kids runing around, and second-cousin Joshie standing up and walking, inspired Elijah to learn how to stand up on his own, in the middle of the floor, without pulling up or holding on to anything. That was the last hurdle holding him back from walking a lot more (at least in my opinion), and on Wednesday the 9th (yes, I'm posting this a week late, back off) he jumped over it!

We were at the playland at the mall (a different mall than usual as we were going to visit Grandma Amanda for dinner) and Elijah was walking, falling, crawling over to something, standing back up, and continuing walking. He must have gotten sick of that though, because pretty soon I looked over and he was walking, falling, and then putting his hands on the floor, butt in the air, and pushing himself up to standing again! Yay! He repeated the feat several times, and spent the afternoon walking in circles around the play area and the big toys. Nothing's holding the little guy back now!

Camping on Lake Michigan!

At the beginning of August, our family spent a week camping at Pioneer County Park in Muskegon, Michigan, which is situated on Lake Michigan. Missy's whole immediate family and their kids (our neices and nephews), plus lots of others from her extended family were there -- 9 campsites and around 50 people in all!

This was Eli's first real beach experience. He loved sitting and digging in the sand with his hands and his plastic shovel. Eli also found that eating sand isn't very much fun -- although he did double- and triple-check, just to make sure! Sucking one's thumb when it is covered in sand doesn't work terribly well, either!

Eli also liked exploring the campsite. His little pushable fire engine was a big hit with all of the little kids -- although we ended up taking the batteries out after the first day, since adults had pretty much had their fill of the cutesy tunes it plays after the 500th or so rendition! Eli demonstrated that he is becoming a bit opinionated, too. More than once when I was walking with him while he pushed his engine, he made it quite clear that he wanted to go *that way*, and he wasn't too pleased when it was time to turn around and head back towards the campsite!

Eli had a great time running around with his cousins. In particular, he laughed at Noah's funny antics ("You have defeated me once again, babynator!") and loved chasing Andrew around and around the campsite (with a little help at times from Daddy -- that Andrew is a quick one!).

Eli's Grandma and Grandpa Koorndyk were also wonderful to spend time with. Eli loved going for wagon rides with Grandpa, and Grandma spent lots of time having fun with the kids while the adults took a break and enjoyed a game of Wizard Cards or Settlers of Catan.