Elijah's a Headbanger? Oh No!

I was putting Elijah down for a nap on Saturday (which he wasn’t too happy about), when he discovered that when you hit the railing on the front of his crib that it shakes and makes a cool sound. Even cooler is when you do it with your head. Apparently he didn’t want to hit his head too hard though, because he kept leaning his way back then moving it really fast towards the bars but stopping it right before it hit them, then he would just tap the bars with his head softly. He kept doing this over and over – I thought he was going to whack his head hard and learn a lesson about that, but he just kept stopping himself short and then softly hitting the bars with his forehead.

He thought it was pretty cool to smoosh his nose against the bars and reach his hands through too. No sleeping going on, like Mommy wanted, just playing going on in the crib this afternoon!

Has Elijah Been Watching Yogi Bear?

Eli was doing his “army crawl” on the floor on Wednesday with Grandma Amanda, and was most motivated to crawl towards his toy octopus, previously called “Mr. Pentapus” by us (he’s an octopus that came with his activity gym mat, but the creature only has 5 legs, not 8, so we started calling him pentapus . . . you get the drift). Elijah was feeling a lot better after being sick, and had started babbling non-stop as well. We noticed about 3 or 4 times that he would look at the octopus and make a string of sounds which, I swear, and Grandma can back me up on this, sounded like, “Hey boo boo.” I am not joking at all. Now I’m not sure whether to call the toy Mr. Pentapus as usual or start calling him Hey Boo Boo! Guess we’ll have to keep our ears alert to see what Eli decides to call it from now on!

Tooth Number Three!

Elijah got his first tooth in December, on the bottom, and his next tooth right next to it on the bottom in January (around the 16th or so), and we noticed last weekend, January 28th, that he’s getting another tooth! This time it’s on the top though, and it's not the top front tooth, it's the top eye tooth on his right side. So he’s getting a little vampire tooth! We can start calling him Count Droolcula now. (Mom's so witty, hehe). :)

The Look of Love . . .

Last night Elijah slept well until about 10:00, when something started bothering him and he wanted to be cuddled back to sleep. I held him on my chest, reclining in our glider, and before falling back asleep he had his head on my shoulder looking at me, with the most adoring and peaceful little smile as he studied my face. It reminded me of the times when he was little and would finish breastfeeding and would lay, snug and secure, in my arms with a completely satisfied little grin on his face. But this time he was looking at me – with a smile and gaze that, as I reflect on it, can best be described as pure love. And I realized, as I was holding him and seeing that perfect little face, that’s the way I was looking at him too – with a completely contented and joyful little smile of pure love for my son.

After just a minute or two of studying me, Elijah went to sleep, but right into REM sleep though, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do. His breathing would be erratic – first fast and then slow and then fast again – and his hands and legs would twitch a little occasionally. I could see his eyes moving back and forth and all around, and could tell he was dreaming. He had his head on my shoulder and I could see him get the cutest smiles on his face. Sometimes he’d grin really big, and look like a little angel, and then other times he’d have fast little smiles and then go back to normal. Occasionally he’d get a scowl on his face too. It was precious I just wanted to hold him all night and watch my little angel sleep. Another memory to hold on to in my heart!

Scoot!

Eli's reached a new milestone -- he is starting to become mobile! Yesterday for the first time, while Missy and "Gramma 'Manda" (my mom) were with Eli, he started to scoot across the floor a short distance to reach one of his toys. He would lay on his stomach facing the toy he wanted, reach out with both arms and press down on the carpet to gain a grip via friction and pull himself forward, while also pushing a little bit with his legs. Doing this, Eli would be able to creep forward a couple of inches at a time, and after a few tries, reach the toy he wanted!

He continued to do this after I got home from work so I could see, and again this morning before we headed off to day care.

Even though I know this is the beginning of the end of the easy days of setting Eli down on the floor nearby and knowing he won't go anywhere to get himself into trouble, I still think this is really cool! My son can make himself go! :-)

This does mean that effective immediately, I can no longer set Eli down on the floor upstairs without thinking about whether he might make his way over to the top of the stairs and tumble down! I'd better get those gates put up!