First Phrase?

Eli has had the hang of waving "bye bye" in reply to Missy or I saying "bye bye!" to him for a while now. Recently, Eli will also sometimes reply "ba ba" (his version of "bye bye") while he's waving.

This morning when I left for work, Missy and Eli were in the kitchen finishing up breakfast. When I waved to Eli and Missy as I usually do and said "bye bye!", Eli replied to me, "ba ba ma ma!" ("Bye bye mommy!")

Eli does seem to confuse the terms "ma ma" and "da da" in reference to Missy and I respectively sometimes... it was still very cute though, and the first time we've heard Eli string different words together! He can work on getting the gender right next time. :-)

Bedtime is easy now!

For the past month or so, Eli has been doing wonderfully when it comes to going to bed at night. Our bedtime routine is pretty much unchanged: a bath if necessary, change diaper and put on pajammas, read a few stories, lights out and rock with mommy or daddy in the rocking chair briefly, and then into the crib for the night.

Although the routine is unchanged, Eli is really making it easy on Missy and I these days! He's now very content to have just a minute or two of rocking once story time is done, and then he quietly lays right down in his crib. Missy and I can leave the room as he falls asleep on his own.

Previously, Eli wouldn't be happy with Missy and I leaving the room before he was completely "out". We'd need to either rock him in the chair until he was asleep in our arms and then stealthily (read: slowly and carefully!) lay him down in his crib without waking him up, or at least lay him down in his crib and then just sit in his room (in the dark) for 15 minutes or more while Eli fell asleep.

So now, while it was nice to be with Eli while he fell asleep at night, bedtime is much less of a "chore" for us -- we have that much more time to get things done around the house and relax after putting Eli to bed at night!

Here's the Scoop.

The last few weeks have been a little hectic around here to say the least. I've barely gotten all my Bible study and household tasks finished each week, so our blog has fallen to the bottom of the to-do list. Since it's been a while I thought I'd just post some highlights of the goofiness that is Elijah.

Elijah has decided that putting his sippy cup in other things and drinking is hilarious. Case in point - first in his breakfast bowl:

Then in Daddy's shoe:

Elijah loves drinking out of straws now (and blowing bubbles), and likes his straw sippy cup quite a bit. Only problem is that he has also discovered that if you turn the straw cup upside down and shake it all over the hardwood floor there is quite a strong reaction from Mommy. :)

A few weeks ago I was reading to Elijah and sitting on the floor when he decided he wanted a different book. I apparently wasn't switching fast enough, so he grabbed my free hand with one hand, grabbed his book with his other hand, and then put the book in my hand to read. Now he does that all the time. Guess that's one way to make sure Mommy reads the book that you want!

Elijah's also developed a habit of walking around with his hands behind his back - either clasping each other or raised backwards. I don't know why he does this, but when he's looking for a new activity to do he'll walk around the house with his hands backwards like this. I think it's really cute. But I'm his mother, so I think all his little quirks are pretty cute.

Just this week Elijah has started laying on his tummy to play with books or his new favorite ABC block puzzle. He will be sitting and then suddenly lay on his tummy, scoot himself backwards a few inches, and then continue playing. Maybe he saw a kid in nursery do this? Once again, Mommy thinks it's pretty cute.

Jon's Mom brought over the wooden slide that Jon and Jeremy had when they were little and assembled it in our living room. Elijah absolutely loves climbing up the ladder, sliding down the slide, climbing up the slide, and rolling his balls down. And if you slide one of his stuffed animals down the slide he thinks that's pretty funny. I think it's pretty funny to, so I guess I know where he gets it from!

Whee!

Weekend in Ohio

A few weekends ago Elijah, Mommy, Grandpa, and Grandma headed down to Ohio to visit my Uncle Gerry and Aunt Cheryl and cousins Kelly and Stacy and Stacy's boys Tyler and Joshua and to celebrate Stacy's 30^th birthday!

Mama's hitting the town!
The weekend was such a treat, since I got the chance to head off with Stacy and Kelly all by ourselves on Saturday. Kelly treated Stacy and I to pedicures at the spa for our birthdays (did I not mention that I'm turning 30 in a few weeks too? Must have slipped my mind!), and we had a fancy schmancy dinner out - just the three of us! The spending the whole day with my two best friends was so relaxing and rejuvenating. A big thank you goes to Kelly for the idea of the weekend and the pedicures, and also to my parents and Stacy and Kelly's parents for watching the boys for us on Saturday so we could get time together.

On Sunday the whole family headed off to this giant craft show called Yankee Peddler, where the artisans are dressed in period costumes and their arts and crafts are true to the yankee days. One of the best things aboutthe show is the food though - it's everywhere and its nummy nummy!

Joshie and Elijah in their strollers!

Joshie had a concert just for him!

Elijah, Tyler, and Joshie did great playing together over the weekend, and were great at the fair too. Elijah even fell asleep in his stroller, which is pretty uncommon for him!

Playing in the fountains that Elijah and Grandpa found!

The last time we visited Ohio Elijah was getting over being sick and wanted nothing to do with the boys, wanting only to stay glued to Grandma's side. This time though he was shy at first but then warmed up and played. Since Eli's an only child right now, and is only in nursery once a week, he didn't quite know what to make of the boys running around. When Joshie would take a toy from him he would step back and then look around like, "What just happened to me and what am I supposed to do now?" At the end of our visit Elijah was taking his fair share of toys from Joshie though. Boys will be boys!

The boys playing together!

Elijah found a toy trumpet - Daddy will be so proud!

Now that I'm staying home (and Stacy is a stay-at-home Mom too) I'm hoping that I can go down and visit some times during the week and the boys can play together more often. Then Stacy and I can have fun together during the day and Kelly and I can visit at night. And I'm already saving up my money for Yankee Peddler next year!

First trumpet note!

I had my trumpet out earlier this evening (practicing a bit for a pre-MSU Game gig the Alumni Band is putting on next Saturday morning), with Eli hanging around me and playing with toys while I practiced. Eli indicated that he wanted to a turn with the trumpet, so I let him help hold it and push the valves (buttons).

Eli tried to play it, too. He's tried this a couple of times before by just putting his mouth on (or around) the mouthpiece, but today I tried to show him how it is necessary to make "buzzy lips" to make sound come out of the trumpet. Eli actually was able to buzz his lips a bit, and once he managed to get his lips onto the mouthpiece while doing it and get a real note out of the trumpet!

So in case Eli becomes a real trumpet player someday -- he'd be a 4th generation player, with me, Grandma Amanda, and her mom Great-Grandma Gustafson all having played trumpet and/or cornet -- mark this day down as the day that Eli got his start!