Turtle Monkey

Elias took a few steps between me and Mark tonight! I’m so glad Mark was able to see him take his first steps (even if he isn’t truly walking yet) before we left for Maryland. I have a feeling Elias is going to get the hang of walking while we’re up there. We leave tomorrow night. I really hope the drive goes well.

I’m going to take a lot of pics and hopefully videos while I’m up there, so expect a big update in a little over a week!

There are several new photos on Flickr starting here.

Last Christmas, Mark and I got this little fabric play yard thing for Elias which he never really cared for. Several months after that, we got a big bag of balls to fill it, but we only got the balls out once. Mark decided he wanted to get the whole shebang out again and now my living room looks like a Chuck E. Cheese blew up inside of it.

Elias got a kick out of playing with the balls, but little holds his interest nowadays except exploring the areas and things we tell him are off limits.

Last week, Elias started standing unsupported for several seconds at a time. Throughout the week, he mastered this skill and can usually stand unsupported until he feels the need to move somewhere. He’s getting more daring at trying to take a step, but it usually ends with him on his hands and knees and crawling away. Yesterday he took one full step before falling on his hands and knees.

This weekend, he fully mastered standing up on his own (without needing to pull up on a wall or object.) A couple times yesterday, he also crawled off a few times with his arms and legs extended instead of the usual crawling position. I can’t help but think walking is right around the corner.

He’s babbling in baby sentences now. He uses a few baby words pretty regularly (”slur”, “huh”, “nana”) but I cannot at all tell what he means. On Saturday, he said, “Teh” several times when trying to get Teyla’s attention. (He also discovered the joy of feeding her Cheerios.) The only word he consistently uses correctly that I can figure out is, “uh-oh”. There have been several times when we’ve had to do a double-take when he says something because it sounds like he’s saying something specific. Yesterday he was in his pack and play and I was in bed and Mark said it sounded like he distinctly said, “Get. Up.” twice. Since he rarely repeats these words or sentences, I don’t really feel it’s right to count them.

Here are a couple more pictures. We’re hoping to get a smaller camera sometime soon to make it easier to whip out and take photos. Elias and I will be in Maryland next week. I’m really apprehensive about that and don’t feel good at all for separating him from Mark for so long, so we’ll see how that goes.

Oh, how did my baby go from looking like this:

to this:

in just one year!? They say time flies, but it is really hard to believe that just a year ago we brought Elias onto this earth. In such a short time, he’s figured out how to make sounds, hold baby conversations, roll over, sit up, crawl, stand up and cruise! He’s gone from studying us with his gaze to giving us hugs and blowing raspberries at us while smiling.

Here’s a brief photo journey of his development this past year!

Two months:

Five months:

Seven months:

Eleven months:

Elias is more than I could ask for in a baby. He is easy going and likes to sleep, which makes his care pretty darn effortless (especially in a completely baby-proofed room).

He no longer relies on formula and drinks whole milk and eats whatever it is we’re eating. For the most part, he’s not picky and he loves to stuff his face instead of being spoon or fork fed.

He’s teething at the moment. We’re pretty sure he’s getting another molar. He currently has his front four top and bottom teeth and one molar on his right side, totaling 9 in the tooth count.

He is a super happy baby. On a bad day, he might cry for 5-10 minutes due to being cranky and things not going his way. Usually he makes it through the day with nothing more than a few whines to voice his displeasure or frustration. He loves to play and study and get in the middle of things.

He gives Leah true “pets” and buries his forehead in her fur to hug her. He’ll hold out his hand to let Teyla lick it and likes to watch her play.

Elias points to everything and talks to or about it. Mark and I love watching his little personality come out in every way.

For his birthday, we had a very small party with just the three of us. After dinner of chicken tortilla soup, Elias opened his birthday present and played with it briefly before we gave him his birthday cupcake. It was the first time he’d ever had a true desert and to say he loved it would be a complete understatement. No ill effects were suffered from all the sugary goodness, much to our delight and relief.

You can view the full birthday set on Flickr. Below is a highlight of photos and videos from the evening.

I am several days behind on entries. There will be a Happy Birthday entry coming soon!

Mark, my mom and I all went to the aquarium on Friday, September 26. Elias was his usual observant self. He pointed to everything and loved looking at all the pretty colors and interesting new animals! We saw some really cool things, like a scuba diver cleaning out a tank and an octopus in a box with a ball. And of course there were beautifully colorful things like coral and the sea nettle wall.

A couple more photos of Elias and the aquarium:

Even more are on Flickr.

Mark took a bunch of videos of Elias yesterday. Unfortunately, they’re all pretty dark because the lighting in our apartment sucks, so turn up your brightness if needed.

These in particular show Elias and Leah (our cat) interacting. It seems he likes Leah at least a small bit more than Teyla (Leah is softer and bigger, so that might have something to do with it.) Leah is so gentle and patient with him and loves hanging around him even though he likes grabbing her paws and fur; I wish she liked us as much as she does him.

You can view all the videos uploaded today (one is from late last month) over on the Flickr Video Set.