Eleven Months and Teething

Eli is finally teething. Remember when I thought he was teething basically since the day he was born? He wasn't. His first tooth is breaking just now. Like as we speak. He's not very happy about it either. But these pictures are a little deceiving. Mary and I had a mini photo shoot with Eli today.

He turned 11 months a few days ago. I'm desperately in need of ideas for his first birthday. What did you do? I'm thinking of nothing big. Just making a cake for him to dig into maybe?

Eli's been doing a lot of cute things lately. The other day my mom noticed he started wiggling his foot whenever she said, "Dance." Now any time he hears music his arms flail and his legs march.

He loves to point. He points and kind of jabbers like he's saying something important. And like we know exactly what he's saying. It's very endearing.

The latest thing he did that blew my socks off is Jeff's brother jokingly said, "Hey Eli, give me that binky!" Eli promptly took the binky out of his mouth and handed it to Bryan. What??? How long has he been able to take commands? And why have I not been taking advantage of this new milestone?

He also loves to climb stairs but can't quite figure out how to get down them. He's good about only climbing a couple stairs if I'm not right behind him and patiently waits for me to spot him in case he falls.

Here's something funny about Eli I don't want to forget: He always kicks those tiny little legs! I thought it was normal until several people pointed out that those legs are always moving. He's been a kicker ever since he was tiny and he still constantly kicks whenever he's laying down. When we put him down for a nap we can hear him thumping throughout the house. When I change his diaper I get kicked in the stomach. He even kicks sometimes while he's sitting down. He's a busy boy and very active.

Along with his kicking came what I believe is one of his first words. When he would kick me and roll around during diaper changes, I used to say "Eli, stop." Eli thought that was funny for a while. After about a week of me begging him to stop and stay still and him laughing at me, I started to notice him say, "dop." That made it all worth it. So cute.

He loves to be chased around the table. He loves to be outside. He loves bread. Jeff calls him the Pillsbury Dough Boy because he'd eat carbs all day long if we'd let him.

Another funny thing about him is if you feed him plain chicken, or vegetables or pasta, he won't eat it. If you feed him chicken, vegetables and pasta in a casserole, he gobbles up adult-sized servings. He's a casserole boy for sure.

We love our little Eli so much and can't believe how fast he's growing up!