Happy New Year!

I really need to be more diligent about updating this blog. I'm a pro at Instagram now, though.

Eli changes more and more each day and his little personality is really starting to shine through. He cracks us up on a daily basis and I think he thinks he is pretty darn funny too. Some of his favorite things to do right now (as a 10 month old) are:

Eli taking ornaments off the Christmas tree.

• Crawl everywhere. Get into EVERYTHING. I have to watch this kid like a hawk now because he has gotten super quick and manages to get into things I didn't even realize were within his reach. He is now tall enough to reach the end tables (which was my default place to put things out of his reach) and I swear he has the longest arms ever. That, and he is a master at standing on his tippy toes in order to reach as far as he can. 

This one is blurry, but here is Eli attacking Jon one morning.

• Climbing. He has been climbing up the pillows and our headboard for a couple of months now, but he is getting pretty adept at it. One of his favorite things to climb is his dad. Every morning Jon gets woken up to Eli crawling on top of his head. I just have to sit back and laugh. However, with his love of climbing I now have to watch him in the bathroom because he thinks it's great fun to climb INTO the bathtub. Except, he goes in headfirst and hits his head on the bottom. Yeah, that happened.

We read a lot of Christmas books this year!

• Reading. He will sit and read books for a long time, which is super surprising considering that his attention span is about 5 minutes long for most activities. We are constantly going to the library to check out new books.

Strumming along with Dad.

• Music. He will stop whatever he is doing if he hears a song start playing on the computer or TV. He also has some new toys that will encourage this love of his!

Eli in his new seal tub.

• Baths. He gets super excited and bounces up and down and tries to crawl into the bathtub as the water warms up. We have resorted to leaving his diaper on until just before we put him in because he would pee on the tub and bath mat every time because he got so excited. He is going to love that I publicly proclaimed that when he's 14. He also loves splashing as much as he can and gnawing on his various bath toys.
• Sticking his tongue out and making the "pfffttt" sound. He will do it all day long, and if he hears the sound (or a sound that is similar) he will immediately do it. It's super cute, until he is spitting all over my face with food in his mouth. 
• Sitting on the floor and scooting in a circle. I'm not sure why he does this, but my guess is that he wants to see everything happening around him and that's the easiest way for him to do it.

If we're on the couch, Eli is pulling up right beside us. And making this new face of his.

• Pulling up on everything. He started pulling up just before he turned 7 months old and has not stopped. Most of the time I am trying to cook or wash the dishes with a baby attached to my leg. 
• Banging his toys on hard surfaces, such as the coffee table and hardwood floors. And he doesn't find nice, soft toys to bang. He finds the heaviest toys he can find and then bangs them as hard as he can on the table. I always tell Jon that's it's a good thing we don't have nice furniture because kids will ruin everything you own. 
• Peek-a-boo. We usually play with the comforter on the bed, but lately I have been playing it with him in the living room as we chase each other around the couch. And a side note: crawling on hardwood floors hurts. I have no idea how he does it all day long! Eli has started to play himself. It he has a blanket he will pull it up over his face and then wait for us to say, "Where's Eli?" before he pulls it back down. Super cute.

I'm sure there are other things I will think of later, but here's the list for now. My goal is to update this blog at least 3 times a week. So uh, let's see how well I do at that.

- Stef