Clothes? For Christmas? Hooray!

Here's a cute picture of Eli opening a present at Grandpa S.'s house. I bet it'll be the last time for about 15 years where he'll open up a Christmas present and be happy about the fact that there's clothes inside!

Drinking Games. But not the fun kind . . .

The other trick that Elijah developed while we left him at Grandma's (for one night!) is that he decided to stop drinking formula – he had only had 7.5 ounces ALL DAY LONG up to when we picked him up at 4 pm. His formula intake had been scaling back for the last week or so, now that he is eating more and more solid food, but nothing this dramatic! He was more than willing to drink his water from his sippy cup, but not formula, and definitely not a bottle of formula! He just would clamp his lips shut and turn his head and then whine until he got his water. I was a little concerned about this, since he still needs formula as the main source of nutrition for the next few months still. Visions of starving baby Eli rushed through my head.

Anyway, Elijah ended up only drinking 17 ounces for the whole day on Sunday (!!) but on Monday he was back up to 24 ounces. I think that’s where he’s going to stay for now. He eats two big meals a day (a half or cup or a little more) and water throughout the day (probably 2-3 ounces total all day), and just shows no interest in drinking any more formula than around 24 ounces. I don’t want to make a big deal out of feedings and create issues, so as long as he still is growing fine and looking healthy (besides that cold that he’s going to have until he’s 21 – I swear!), then I’m fine with it and am not going to stress. I’d prefer no more days of refusing formula completely though! Listen to your mother, Elijah, and be a good little formula-drinking boy!

Sweet Freedom

Not that I don’t love my child, but spending a night without him occasionally is wonderful. Last weekend, Jon and I handed the bean off to Grandma Amanda and Grandpa Terry on Saturday night and headed out for a nice dinner and a movie. After getting Elijah settled at their house we were positively giddy as we walked to the car!

Anyway, we were able to go out for a nice dinner (using our Entertainment Book coupon to get a deal) and than caught The Chronicles of Narnia (our waitress took 20 minutes to bring the bill so we were a few minutes late to the movie, but didn’t miss much). What a wonderful and relaxing evening. And we both got to stay up a little later than usual and sleep in on Sunday morning (until 9:30, WOW!!). We love being with Elijah, but parenting is such a huge responsibility, that it is nice to feel like the weight is lifted for the evening and you can just have fun and do whatever you want, without having to think about what Elijah is going to need next, or what you have to do to keep him entertained, and fed, and changed, and happy, and alive. We were also able to go to church without worrying about him, and that was nice!

Alas, we missed our baby after less than a full day away though, and headed to pick him up on Sunday afternoon. He did okay, though he was more difficult to put down to sleep than usual. Mom said that she could tell Elijah knew he was in a different place and Mom and Dad weren’t there to put him to sleep -- and didn’t care for that! When we picked him up he was kind of whiny and didn’t act happy to see us. An arrow through the heart of Mommy! Finally he was being whiny enough that we just decided to head home. Of course, the minute we got home he turned into “happiest baby in the world” and had a ball with his toys and was Mr. Smiley at both Mom and Dad. Stinker. Guess he was glad to be home and with us again after all.

The Boot-Scoot Boogie

Elijah was on the bed while I was putting away clothes, and the next thing I know, he’s scooting himself backwards across the bed! Now, our comforter is a little slick, so it’s easier for him to push himself backwards, but it was still neat to see him realize what he was doing and keep doing it over and over. I’d pull him back to one end of the bed, and pretty soon he’d be at the other! No more casually turning our backs anymore (Elijah’s never shown a propensity to roll to get anywhere so we’ve never really had to worry about that) – our little guy can scoot!

Does this count as a first word?

Elijah was sitting on the floor playing (January 7th if we need to write this in his baby book) while I sat next to him and folded laundry, and he was babbling, and then said, “baba.” Then he kept babbling nonsense and then went, “baba,” again. Hmm, is that just nonsense? Or is he talking about his bottle (which we often refer to as his baba for some insane reason)?
Then, on the 10th (again, baby book, people), he was babbling and then went “mama.” Now, he wasn’t looking at me, so I don’t think he was talking to me or about me, but still, he said it! I’m not sure it counts though. I would think his first word would have to be in context – to show that he is actually saying a particular thing, rather than just practicing his babbling skills. Further deliberation is needed before we record this in “the book.” :)