Happy Halloween!

We celebrated a lovely Halloween yesterday with my family. We dressed Eli up in his lion costume and Brandon went as an "Enginerd", and I dressed up as Ugly Betty (my favorite TV show). Brandon actually wore his nerd costume to work and fit right in ;-) No one could take him seriously all day because every time they tried to talk to him they would just start laughing. We are having some gorgeous weather, which made for a beautiful Halloween. We all went and ate at the fall fest at the church on our old street where all my Corman relatives go. Eli enjoyed all the people and costumes. Afterwards, we put Eli to bed and handed out candy. We never got to do this growing up because we lived out in the country, so it's a real treat for me. My brother was excited to do it too! We all sat out on the porch and Will held the candy bowl with his creepy mask on. A lot of kids were scared to take candy because they were afraid he was going to jump at them! So much fun! Eli cut his second bottom tooth yesterday, as well. Just one of the tiny bumps is out, so we're still in for it until the entire tooth is through. The runny nose was definitely from teething after all! While showing off for my parents, Eli discovered he can RUN while holding our fingers. He was sure to make sure everyone was watching and then would just take off! I can hardly keep up with him. We installed a large baby gate that has the small inner gate to walk through in the kitchen, so he won't fall off of the step. Later we'll put a small one on the stairs. Can't believe he's almost walking!

Guess what was in our chimney.....a pigeon. It committed suicide by trying to get out. Now we just need to seal it off, so we don't have any more critters coming in! We had bible study here last night. Eli had fun with all the kids and enjoyed showing off his almost walking skills. Everyone was amazed and thought it was hilarious how fast he goes! I swear he never stopped moving the entire time and then just crashed in his crib an hour past his bedtime. I thought maybe he would sleep good last night....not so much. He's stopped taking the pacifier in the night, and he won't fall asleep in your arms at all or when rocking so it's really complicating sleep training. He likes falling asleep with the paci, but not in the middle of the night. Don't ask me why! I think I'm just doomed to night nursing until he's weaned. Oh well. One good thing that should really help in weaning at a year is that he LOVES drinking out of a cup. At lunch every day I put a little milk in a sippy cup and he just thinks he's died and gone to heaven. He drinks really well out of a regular cup too. He can hold a regular cup or one with handles. I just help him tip it up. Should make transitioning easier. Here's some pictures of Eli with my friend Courtney and her dog Igor.

Lost and Found!

Yesterday was a trying day for me. Eli started acting really fussy and was up every hour last night congested. I'm praying to God it's from teething and not the start of a cold. Today he has a slight runny nose. We'll see. Somehow a gate we never use was opened yesterday (possibly by the people measuring the gas meter?) and Rica got out. I didn't notice for an hour because I was feeding Eli his lunch and putting him down for a nap. I went out searching for her, but after an hour I gave up exhausted. I think I drove every street in our area. I was upset all afternoon afraid she was going to get hit by a car. Brandon came home and decided to go out looking for her even though it had been 5 hours since she got out. I didn't think there was much hope of finding her and was just planning on waiting for someone to call after they found her. He wasn't gone very long before he brought her home! Guess where she was....our old street across from our old house playing with the neighbor's dogs! I purposely had looked there twice earlier in the day because I figured she'd be able to find our old street better than our new one. She ran to him so relieved the second she saw him. Let me tell you, she was VERY excited to be home! Today, I was trying to force Eli into sitting to play instead of draining every ounce of energy out of my body by wanting to constantly be walking and exploring when I heard scratching in our chimney and particles fall down into the fireplace. Something is up there. Maybe a raccoon? Who knows. Someone is supposed to come out this afternoon and try to get it out because Brandon couldn't see anything when he shined a flashlight up there. What else can go wrong? I did have a refreshing visit with a friend and her dog and a lovely walk with Eli since it finally warmed up a bit and smoothed my mood over. Through the weekend is supposed to be awesome weather and we'll be sure to be outside enjoying every second before Winter sets in! I'm dreading the time change that's coming....I have a feeling Eli is going to be wanting to go to bed at 6:30 and will be up at 4:30/5 until he gets adjusted. Yikes!

Steps

Last night Eli was actually taking 2 or 3 steps on his own (down in the basement on the carpet) before falling into our arms. I'm not sure if it really counts as his first steps or not? He loves walking between Brandon and I and switching to the other person's fingers half way. He enjoyed playing the djembe (drum) with Brandon, too. He is just a little firecracker! Very active. My mom said I'm getting a taste of what I was like as a baby....always on the go! I go to bed at 8:30 I'm so tired by the end of the day. I had to move the plant to another part of the house, so he's not trying to get to it every second of the day. Distraction is definitely key right now. In the picture with the hat, you can see his little tooth.

Snack time!

Most days in the afternoon I give Eli a little snack. It's mainly just for fun and to practice feeding himself. Sometimes I give him fruit, a teething biscuit, or the Gerber Puffs (these are sweet potato and melt in their mouths after a little gumming). It usually amounts of Eli trying to feed himself, but after getting the piece in his fist he ends up getting frustrated and throws it to the dog. I usually end up just putting one in his mouth. Today I finally saw the first glimpses of his "pincer grasp" developing. I've never appreciated being able to "pinch or pick up" objects with my thumb and finger until watching a baby without it. Until they develop it they just rake things into their fists with their fingers. Today Eli just finally figured it out! He fed himself 5 puffs by pinching them with his two fingers and putting them in his mouth (who knows how many were thrown to the dog). Yeah! He was very proud of himself and kept shouting in joy :-)

Friendship

We went to our friend's birthday party last night. They had a bonfire, which Eli thought was amazing. He's a typical boy! He growled and talked to the fire forever...we were all cracking up. Eli got to spend time with his friend Ethan. He's a little less than 6 months older, and such a sweet baby. Eli and Ethan had fun playing with balloons together, and then Eli was trying to steal his pacifier. Ethan was "petting" Eli's hair and head. It was so cute! He kept offering Eli his finger, and Eli thought it was a great game. I kept warning Ethan about Elijah's one tooth! At one point, Eli was holding Ethan's hand, and Ethan was hugging Eli. So precious! I can't wait to show them these pictures someday.

Very tired lion :-)