Eli's second christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday spent with those you love. Eli once again was spoiled! He got some pretty cool things including a rocking horse, clothes, books, ornaments, vtech lap top, little foldable chair and a cute Mickey Mouse table and chairs which he's already taken a liking to! I was cleaning up the kitchen this evening and usually if I'm not paying attention to him, he's wrapped around my leg trying to GET my attention but for once he wasn't and it was really quiet. Uh oh, where's Eli and what's he up to? I go into his bedroom and he was just sitting at his table playing with his blankie. It was the cutest thing :) Here is a pic I snapped of him just chillin' with his markers securely in his fist (you can write on the table with dry erase markers) and his new car steering wheel that plays music, sitting on top:

It dawned on me the night before our family gathering on Saturday that I didn't have a Christmas outfit for him so I frantically went to my craft room to see what I had on hand. I found a blue plain t-shirt hanging in his closet, grabbed the baby legs from his outfit last year to attach to the arms to make it long sleeved and then made Rudolph out of felt to appliqué to the tee. Here it is up close:

To complete the look, I tied jingle bells to his shoes. This served 2 purposes, 1) it got people into the christmas spirit and 2) I always knew where he was :) 

Here he is grooming himself in the mirror, getting ready for the party

 

My little stud all ready for another family gathering

 

On Sunday we went to my dad's side where we got to meet my cousin's son Tae who's the same age as Eli. They were so cute! The minute Eli entered the room Tae walked up to him with open arms ready to give him a hug!  I melted. Here's a pic of the 2 kiddos with a couple of my other cousins:

 

How cute is little Tae??

 

Alrighty, back to the grind tomorrow so I better get myself to bed. Na night all.

 

-Linds

Eli has started tumbling class

Now that Eli is a fully mobile, rambunctious, typical toddler, I've been looking for activities for him to get into to keep him entertained. He does pretty well playing by himself but I think we both go stir crazy staying at home all day. We. Need. To. Get. Out. Of. The. House! Ha ha ha. I'm pretty sure Joanne Fabrics is starting to expect our daily visits :)

Here are some pics of Eli at his tumbling class. It's a little room full of padded trampolines, swings, ball pits and ramps--A little boy's dream! If I'm going to be honest, I'd recommend starting a class like this when the child is closer to 2 years old. Eli is the youngest in his class (with all the other kids around 2 or a little older) and veeeery easily distracted-- SQUIRREL! The instructor said this is normal for this age but then it becomes more of a tumbling class for ME bending, lifting, twisting, and dragging him back to the task at hand, ha ha. Oh well. They also dance and sing which is pretty darn cute too. Speaking of which, now I have one of their songs stuck in my head, "Shake, shake, shake our sillies out…"

Crawl through the tunnel

stop and listen for directions...

Take time to chat (stare, whatever) with the ladies...

Stretch time. Eli touching the ground, momma wishing she could touch her feet...

Swingin'

With his teacher as they rocked back and forth singing "Row row row your boat..."

 

So fun! It's pretty neat to watch the older kids who've been in the class a while doing all the activities and singing along with the words. Eli is nowhere close to that but I have hope that he'll get there :).

Ok, he's asleep, now it's time to spend some quality time with daddy. Night y'all!

-Linds

My big boy is getting so independent!

 

I'm trying out a new blogging tool called "MarsEdit". I'm not sold yet. Luckily they offer a 30 day trial period so I can see if I like it or not. I feel Windows Live writer was so much more self explanatory which is what this computer illiterate needs. Ugh! I hate learning curves! So bear with me as I learn the ropes.

 

A couple things about the video, 1.) He stole my spoon and would not give it back, hence the ginormous spoon he's using instead of a baby spoon, and 2.) Not sure why he's using his left hand to eat. So far he switches back and forth and hasn't shown any particular hand preference yet. And have I mentioned how crazy I am about this kid yet? Well I am.

 

Later gator,

Linds