It's been a while since I wrote an update post about what Elliott's been up to lately. I knew I didn't want to continue monthly updates into the second year since after awhile the milestones stop being so distinct. But since 15 months is a well-baby check up month, I figured it was as good at time as any to do a snap shot of what Elliott's like today.
First and foremost, Elliott is busy! He would literally go go go all day long if we let him. There are so many things to do and he wants to do them all. He definitely knows what is allowed and off limits around our house. Does that mean he doesn't get into anything? Absolutely not. He waits until he knows you are distracted (talking on the phone, talking photos of your latest knit project, reading an article in Wired, you know non-Elliott-centric activities ;), then quickly runs to the CD shelf, Jenny's water bowl or the electrical outlet. He knows he has a limited window in which to do these activities, so he tries to make the most of his available time. * eyeroll *
He is walking really well. He still appears mildly inebriated most of the time, but this is getting less and less...except when he's tired, then it looks like he's spent all afternoon at the local pub. His monkey arms are also going away. Gradually over the last few months he's been walking with his arms in the air less and less. He still throws them up periodically to catch his balance, but they aren't always in the air like when he first started walking.
Elliott's pretty fearless when it comes to speed. He loves to be pushed as fast as possible on his firetruck, he loves going down the fast slide at the playground, loves it with Daddy flies him around the room, and near-miss falls off the side of our bed are particularly fun (ugh). But while he does enjoy speed, he does not enjoy heights. He seems to have Brad's vertigo and has a hard time on the see-through platform of the jungle gym at the playground. One dad even asked me if he was just learning to walk the other day because of how he was moving up there. Nope, just very unsure of himself and a teensy bit scared up there. However, because of his love of speed, I have a feeling he's going to be a snowboarder. I can see him flying down the mountain side now :)
As for language, I feel like we are on the threshold of a major milestone. Elliott's to the point where he says a few words, such as mama, dada, Jenny (jeh-eeh), ducky (duh-eeh), fishy (fi-eeh), and I swear sometimes he says 'yes', but he 'talks' almost non-stop. And every so often something amazing comes out of the baby gobbledy guck. Like the other day when I was brushing my hair while he was in the bath and I heard "goobadee gluebeth setleth booh bah brushing hair". Stuff like this always catches me by surprise. Its not reliable and he hasn't said "brushing hair" sense, but I know its in there. I feel he is just working up the confidence to use language. And he is showing us all the time that he understands what we are saying. A couple cute examples are:
1. Elliott was walking around the living room playing. Brad said - he walks like a monkey. Elliott stopped what he was doing and walked right over to his monkey toy, pulled it out and held it up to Brad to see.
2. We were playing with this air toy that blows balls out the top when you turn it on. I said, if you want to turn it on again you have to hit the read button. He quickly turned around and pointed to the buttons on my shirt.
As for food and sleep, we've already discussed Elliott's food consumption in detail in
an earlier post. But he is getting three squares and usually two snacks a day. And while his appetite is usually quite good, his lack of grinding teeth is significantly impairing his expansion of food textures. We still need to grind up things like chicken, corn, and peas. He doesn't like "hard" chunky things on his tongue, but he will chew things if he has control of them. For example, he will eat steamed carrots as a finger food, but spits them out if you put them on a spoon. We've started letting him have times where he is in charge of the spoon and bowl himself, but most of that food doesn't end up where it is supposed to. As a result, we are mostly sticking to finger foods and spoon feeding for now, so that we know he's getting enough to eat. He is sleeping from about 7:00 pm to 8:00am-ish every day and usually getting one hour and 20 minute nap a day. He's pretty much done with two naps, but occasionally he will wake up for a bit in the morning, play then go back to sleep until 10:00 or so...this however, never seems to happen when I'm home in the mornings :P
Elliott also seems to be developing his love for music. He's always seemed to enjoy music, even as a new baby. And now he is fascinated by things that make music. The windchimes outside and the hanging xylophone at the park are particular favorites. Needless to say we are on the hunt for some music toys for him to play with...I'm sure Jenny will be particularly happy about this decision.
All in all, Elliott continues to be a happy-go-lucky kid who finds the world to be an increasingly interesting place to explore!
