I know it has been a while since I've done one of these posts, but today I just felt like doing one because there are SO MANY things I love about Eli in the stage he is at. Every day he makes me laugh so hard and I just want to remember some of my favorite things about him right now. This month he turned 15 months old, so here are 15 things I adore about him (and some of my favorite recent photos):
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| "Mommy, put me down! I want to keep playing!" |
1. Cute gibberish. He loves to talk gibberish all day to himself and anyone who will listen. I posted a video here of some of it. I love his baby talk.
2. Taking first steps. On Sunday, March 3, Eli took his first step! It was at Grandma and Grandpa Despain's house and he was walking from Grandma to me. It was just one step but I was SO excited!! Then the next week (Mar 10), he decided to take multiple steps (7 at the most). We got some of them on video and I wanted to blog it, but Blogger won't let me load it because I guess it's too long (30 seconds). He is still mostly crawling but will take steps when we prompt him, and on one occasion he took some steps unprompted by me while he was trying to get to a toy. He is growing up so fast! We are so proud of him!
3. "Woof woof!" This may just be a trait of all toddlers, but Eli LOVES animals! Especially dogs! That is probably because my parents have 3 dogs and he gets so excited to see and play with them while he's at their house. Lately when we are walking up to their house, Eli will start making his "woof woof!" sound because he's so excited to see the dogs that he knows are waiting inside for him. He says "woof woof" whenever he sees a picture of any animal, or anytime he hears a dog barking in the distance, or sees a dog in the park, etc. His "woof woof" is actually more of a "uh-uh!" sound, but we know what he means. It's so cute and I keep telling Tony that he is trying to tell us to get him a puppy!
4. Clapping hands together. This was so funny because I didn't even try to teach him it. We had gone to Wiggle Worms one day, and after every song and activity everyone claps. I guess Eli noticed that, and after Wiggle Worms one day he just started staring at his hands and figuring out how to clap them together. When he saw how excited and happy I was to see him clap, he thought it was pretty cool and now he just randomly starts clapping all the time.
5. High fives. He still doesn't quite understand that high-fives are supposed to be enthusiastic, so when we put our hands in the air and say "High five!" he gently raises his hand and presses it against ours. So cute and so funny.
6. Loves Grandpa. Eli and I meet my dad for lunch at McDonald's usually once a week, and I guess Eli has learned that my dad is his special buddy because he just LOVES him! If Grandpa gets up to walk away for any reason, Eli gets really sad and starts crying. If I am holding him and get near Grandpa, Eli will reach his arms out toward him because he wants my dad to hold him. One time I watched my dad carry Eli to the register and while he was ordering his food, he said to the worker, "This is my grandson. He's my little buddy. Don't you think he's cute?" I just love that Eli is so fond of my dad since I have always been a Daddy's girl. His middle name is David after my dad's name, so I hope Eli will always remember his connection to him and try to follow his good example.
7. Hiding under the table. Eli has recently learned that being under the table with the tablecloth around him is cool. He just plays quietly under there or sometimes just sits under there not even playing. I think he feels like no one can see him so it's his special hiding place. If I ever get on the floor and look under the tablecloth at him, he starts smiling and laughing, like, "Hey! You found me!"
8. Learning signs. Our neighbors across the street have a little boy who is only 5 days younger than Eli and he knows all these cool signs like, hungry, thirsty, please, thank-you, etc. When Tony saw their little boy signing all those things he decided that Eli should know how to do that, too. I guess that I've always been too lazy to even think about teaching signs to him, but now that Tony has been teaching him, it is SO fun to see him figuring it out. One day I was taking a drink of water and Eli started whining so I said, "Are you thirsty?" and he started putting his hand to his mouth (which actually means hungry, but he's obviously making the associations). Last night while feeding him dinner he signed "more" when he wanted more food. He is getting so smart and it is so fun to watch!
9. Playing with other kids. Eli has become more social lately. A few weeks ago while at Tony's parents' house, I noticed Eli playing with his 2 of his cousins that are close in age. They just all decided to sit together and share the blocks they were playing with. Then last week one of his cousins took away the toy he was playing with, and Eli got so mad that he angrily crawled after her, chasing her all through the kitchen and back room while whining because he wanted his toy back. He couldn't keep up with her since she can walk/run, but he was definitely trying. He REALLY wanted that toy! I guess that once they start learning to be more social, they also learn to be more selfish. Just a few weeks ago he wouldn't have even blinked if another baby took a toy away from him.
10. Gaining independence. Eli has definitely become a more independent little guy lately. He will start crawling somewhere (like today crawling toward the river at the park), and if I go pick him up and try to redirect him he will immediately arch his back and scream. He gets in his mind what he wants and does not want it taken away. He acts the same if I take something away that he wants to play with. Yesterday I was blowing bubbles for him and he was loving it, but I got sick of it so I started putting them away, and as soon as he noticed that I wasn't making them anymore he started protesting and whining. Maybe he's slowly making his way toward the terrible 2's (we still have 9 more months), but for now I just think it's cute.
11. Crawls with purpose. When Eli crawls you can hear him through the whole house. He puts his hands down on the floor with strength, like he's saying, "I know where I'm going!" My parents always laugh when he crawls around their kitchen with the wooden floors because he just loudly slams his hands down and hurries along on his way.
12. Repeats more words and is making more associations. Eli has kind of learned a new word: Doggy! But he often gets it confused with Daddy. On Sunday, Tony was trying to get him to say Daddy, and when he kept repeating it over and over again, Eli started making "woof woof" noises because he thought Tony was saying doggy. A few times now I have caught Eli saying "Daddy, woof woof!" when he sees a dog. But he also knows Daddy for Dad too, because when Tony gets home from work in the evening and Eli hears the door slam, he perks up and says "Dadda" or "Daddy" and furiously crawls toward the back door to meet Tony. Other words he has said for the past few months/weeks: Uh-Oh, Wow, Yay, Mama, Hi.
13. Playing catch with Daddy. Eli has learned that he loves to throw the ball back and forth. Tony developed a new game of throwing the ball up the stairs, and then Eli gets it and throws it back down to him. Eli is content to play this game for long periods of time. He pretty much loves any kind of throwing back and forth type of game and it is so entertaining to watch him play.
14. Stacking blocks. Since basically the day Eli learned of the existence of blocks, he has enjoyed knocking block towers over. But the other day we were playing with his blocks in his bedroom and he started stacking them on top of each other. I had never seen him do that before, so I was really excited and started clapping and cheering when he did it. Then he knocked that tower over and stacked another one and put his hands together and looked at me, waiting for me to start clapping and cheering again. So I did. Then he knocked it over and proceeded to build ten more, each time looking to me for expected claps and cheers!
15. Learning quickly. I guess I have basically said this throughout all of the list, but lately I have been amazed at how fast Eli learns. When I taught him "bye-bye" a few months ago, it seemed like it took weeks, or at least a full week, before he picked it up. But lately, it seems like he will repeat words sometimes even the first time he hears them. One day I said, "Wow!" when I was excited about something, and all the sudden Eli just said, "Wow!" mimicking me! I'm sure he had heard the word before so it wasn't something new to him, but I was just amazed that he could mimic me right away. The other day I was folding laundry and Eli was sitting on the floor hanging out with me. He saw one of his socks laying on the floor and he picked it up and layed it down on his foot, like he just knew that that was where his sock should go. I know it is so simple but I was so impressed because he's at the point where he makes connections and associations without anyone even prompting him. He is getting to be such a smart little guy, and I LOVE watching him learn and grow!
