Elijah is 13 months old!

Disclaimer: I have to post all these things here, because some day I'll actually catch his baby book up from these notes! Please feel free to scan quickly or ignore if you're bored to tears. I know grandparents do enjoy reading these milestones though!

Mama and sweet E
Elijah is now walking everywhere and it is so great! He started slowly, back in December, but was still more comfortable crawling for a while. The first week of January was when he really decided to take off. He is so cute, and very funny with his little wide stance-waddle. You should see him dance. I'll have to post video of him on here. He is eating well, finally, and likes to try what we eat, after first resisting most textures. The only thing I buy just for him is Yobaby yogurt, and he loves it! He eats grapes, bananas, apples, cucumbers, beans, sweet potatoes, pickles, yogurt, and cheese the best. He enjoys cheerios, crackers, and goldfish too. He will try most anything, and so mealtime is easy now, as we just give him samples of our food. He had steamed broccoli and carrots when I made Chinese this week, and those were a big hit. He isn't a fan of milk or juice, still preferring Mama for now. He seems insulted by a sippee cup, and throws his head back or pushes it away. Our baby boy has a bit of a temper, but his outbursts are short-lived. He tends to be dramatic, like a certain girl we know, and will melt when I put him down sometimes, sobbing into his hands while he lies face-first on the floor. We are working on nipping that in the bud.

Drama King

Thankfully, Elijah is communicating a little with words like more, bye bye, and does signs for both of those, says Mama, and Dee for daddy, and has a word for milk now ("meh!" said in a very happy voice when it's time to nurse), and he has expanded his animal sound repertoire too. He is hilarious calling Merlin, our sweet, big, old cat. He "meows" for him, and pats his leg, like he is calling him, and over and over will say, "Mer, mer, mowww, mowwww..." That crazy old kitty comes too, and just lets him love all over him. It is precious. He loves Sugar, our lab, and calls her too, saying "Woof woof, woof woof," for her. He's thrilled to see her from a distance, but when she gets close, he freaks. It makes me crazy, because she's so slow and gentle, and doesn't do anything to him, but he screams and acts like he's going to die if she comes up to him.

Based on our last appointment, Elijah weighs about 24 pounds, and is the 95th percentile for length, and just above average for weight. He does seem to have slimmed down some, or maybe it's that he's just longer. His belly and legs are where he's the chunkiest, and so he is still "hammy," as James says. Those little chubby hamstrings earned him that name, and since he is such a cut-up, he's a ham in other ways as well. :-) He is cutting some new teeth, so will have 10 soon!

This past week, Elijah moved up to the toddlers class at church, and is doing well playing with other folks a little bigger than him. Having a big brother and sister around probably helped that transition be a relatively easy one. We still marvel at how precious he is, and Isaac and Abigail are amazingly kind and patient, even as he is getting into their things more. He has totally earned his various nicknames, such as "The Destroyer," "Bulldozer," and "Wrecking Ball." He's the cutest destruction crew I've ever seen!

Pre-Destruction














Dancing machine