No School Pictures

Elijah's daycare had fall school pictures today.  Unfortunately, we won't have pictures to buy this time because Elijah was uncooperative. :(  They tried a couple of times and there were lots of tears.  I stayed with him for the first round, not a happy boy!  So if daycare had a yearbook, Elijah's photo would say "No Picture Taken" - sad!!  I always felt bad for those kids in school.

These pictures are not from tonight, very crabby boy tonight.

(Elijah, 12 months)

So Proud of Our Big Boy - Drinking Almond Milk

 Haha

We are so proud of our big boy.  Unfortunately, he's allergic to dairy so it was difficult to find a milk substitute for him.  After his 12 month appointment and getting suggestions from the pediatrician, we decided to try almond milk.  This was by no means easy - we had a fridge full of various types of milks.  For a while we were doing 1/3 almond milk vanilla sweetened, 1/3 almond milk vanilla unsweetened and 1/3 breast milk...this was the only combination he would drink.  Lots of chemistry type activities going on in our household!  The other battles included getting off the bottle to sippy cups and drinking cold milk from warm milk.  So many transitions to make for our little boy and I think he was stressed out!!  It was hard work but Elijah finally made the transition to everything IN ONE DAY - cold almond milk in a sippy cup.  It took a few weeks from the day we started and are so proud of him.  Way to go, Elijah!

So here are some pictures of Elijah in his chair that he loves.  He loves to get up and down in it, and smile at us.

(Elijah, 12 months)

Like Father, Like Son - When It Comes to Eating Toast

Dave loves eating toast and so does Soupie (aka Elijah).  I don't like toast so Soupie must have got his dressing style and eating habits from dad.  Soupie grunts with excitement and makes the "Mmm" sound when he eats toast.  We find this quite strange since it pretty bland but we're okay with it.  We're trying to work on peanut butter on the toast but Elijah prefers it dry.

Stealing some toast when dad was busy smiling for the camera.

 "Give me some, dad!"

 "Mmm..."

Are you wondering how he got the nickname, Soupie?

Elijah --> E-man (like He-man) --> Super Hero --> Sup (pronounced "Soup") --> Soupie

Yes, we realize this is not a good nickname but it just came naturally.

(Elijah, 12 months)

Elijah was 12 Months

Here are some more pictures of Elijah from 12 months (he's 13 months today).  This month was so much different than the rest, he's growing so fast!
- A little naughty
- Loves to point at things such as pictures, lights and people
- Got a lot better at finger foods
- Transitioned to almond milk (he's allergic to dairy, so thankful we found something that works...hopefully he'll outgrow this allergy soon)
- Enjoys stacking blocks - like for 15 mins!
- Dances (rocks his body and moves his arms) when he hears certain music
- Likes to push things around (cart, laundry baskets, books)
- Sits in the catcher position
- "Shares" - hands us stuff all of the time

(Elijah, 12 months)

Waste of Time

While I was driving home, I was thinking of ways that I waste my time.  Life is busy with a husband and a little one so time is so valuable.  There are definitely areas that I need to improve on.

Then I started to think of ways that I used to waste my time when I was younger:
- Calling into radio stations to request songs (but I did win 'Nsync tickets on KDWB)
- Driving around town looking for the best deal
- Watching football (since I really don't enjoy it)

How did you used to waste your time?

FYI - I've never thought of blogging as a waste of time.  Others may have thought this.

Father and Son Quality Time

Here's a video of Dave playing with Elijah.  (Please ignore our backyard filled with weeds and dead grass.  We were not good with keeping up with our lawn this summer and the moles attacked our grass this year.  I never heard of moles until we moved in.)


(Elijah, 12 months)

"Oldies" but Goodies

 

I still have to frame these pictures from daycare.  I forgot to write the date on them so I don't know how old he is, 7 months maybe?

(Elijah, 7 months)

Website Recommendation

Many people have heard of woot.com - they sell only one item per day, until the day is over or until the item is sold out.  They recently expanded their website and sell one item per day per category (sports, kids, shirts, wine, etc).

I recommend checking out http://deals.woot.com/ and in the "community section", they seem to have some good deals.  Not sure if they are valid all of the time but I got $10 free at Lowes.  Cha-ching!!  Speaking of home improvement, I hope to get pictures of the bathroom remodel very soon.  Dave has been working very hard.

Sleep Deprivation

For the most part, Elijah is a great night sleeper.  Dave and I struggle when he doesn't sleep through the night (STTN) for a couple of days in a row.  Last week, I re-read some of the e-mails I wrote at work...it was bad.  Also, I did simple math wrong.  Anyway, random pictures from the last month.  It's been a while and there are more to share.

 We got him his chair for his birthday.  He doesn't really like to sit in it for more than 5 seconds.

 At the State Fair.

 With bud Owen at the Fair.  In the left picture, he's staring at the ride in the sky.

 On the tractors...and still staring at the ride in the sky.  Maybe next year, we'll take him on the ride.

 "What's up, ladies?" - Elijah

 Getting so skinny like his daddy.

Loves chasing balloons around.  Cheap toy.

(Elijah, 12 months)

Elijah's Favorite Pastime

Baseball may be America's pastime.  Elijah is Elijah's favorite pastime.

For his birthday, we put pictures of Elijah up from every month.  He loves to point to his pictures all of the time.  It's partially our fault because they are still hanging up from his birthday.  When I first put them up, he loved to crawl to the them and just stare and point.  Now, he's content with just pointing at them from afar.  It amazes me how long he can do this for (like 10 minutes).

Sitting on the stairs, pointing at Elijah's pictures.

Right now, Elijah is definitely in a pointing phase.  His favorite things to point at include: the light, people (a little awkward in public), his pictures and his name spelled out on the wall.

(Elijah, 12 months)

Andersen (sp?) Windows Are So Much Fun

Elijah likes to cruise between windows.  He likes to race us to the casement operator handle.  This is very cute to me...


(Elijah, 12 months)

Elijah's Annoying Eating Habit

For the most part, Elijah is a good eater but he definitely has some goofy habits.

So what's the new annoying habit I'm talking about?  With food already in his mouth, he eats what he wants and then spits out the food he doesn't want.  I've tolerated this habit for a while but it's starting to bother me a bit now since I know he can chew well and it leaves a mess.  A lot of times he eats normal but if he's in a certain mood, he'll only eat what he wants.

Here are some examples:

• Watermelon: Sucks out the juice and then spits the remainder out.
• Chicken: If there's any chicken piece "too big" (this is in quotes because the chicken is shredded very finely and he has no problem eating it), he'll eat the vegetables around it and then spit out the chicken.
• Grapes: Eats the inner part of the grape and then spits out the skin.
• Green beans: Sucks out the peas and then spits out the outer skin.

Is this normal?

It's the green beans that got to us tonight.  You can hear the kid sucking out the pea like he's drinking through a straw.  Are you kidding me?

This eating habit reminded me of sunflower seeds which reminded me of this picture of my mom and grandma eating "Gwa-Tse" - no idea how to phonetically spell it but it's like a Chinese sunflower seed but way better.  I think it's funny that my mom and grandma continue to eat through picture taking time.

(Elijah, 12 months)

Anonymous Conversation Between a Husband and Wife...

Husband: I'm going to do research about telescopes for the family.

Comfort Food

My dad made jook for Elijah and unfortunately, Elijah didn't show any interest after a few spoonfuls.  It's really good stuff and we thought he would enjoy it.  But than I got thinking about it - he's a really good eater but with many foods, it takes him 5 - 10 times of trying it before he likes it.  This makes it difficult when it's a more unique dish since fresh food doesn't usually last that long.

So it appears Elijah is more of a comfort food guy.  Elijah's current comfort food list includes black beans, peas, fruit purees and waffles.



FYI - he usually doesn't yell and leave a huge mess.  It comes and goes and thankfully, he's doing much better now!

(Elijah, 12 months)

Laughing

Elijah laughed and immediately Dave told me that Elijah laughs like me.  I was surprised.  What do you think?  Are our laughs similar?



My opinion: Not at all!  His laugh is way cuter and I hope I don't laugh like a baby...

(Elijah, 12 months)