Newsletter: Month 14

Yesterday Elliot - you turned 14 months old. Now that you are walking everywhere, we have had some...challenges let's say. You are stealthy, meaning when you were crawling we could hear your hands slap on the hardwood floors. Walking has enabled you to move quickly and quietly and most certainly into trouble...

You and Wini have some things to work out, mainly you constantly emptying her water bowl onto your head, splashing around in it, stepping in and getting your shoes wet, etc. And you have discovered that Wini likes to chew things especially your toys when you offer them to her. We find ourselves laughing and yelling at the same time forgetting who started what and having you both look at us confused.

We feel like you are learning things at warp speed right now. In one day you learned how to feed yourself with a spoon (not well but you finally got it), you can sign the word "more", say "Wini" (though it comes out as Nini) and are disovering how to put things together and take them apart. Whew, no wonder you are sleeping so well at night your brain must be exhausted at the end of the day after all of this learning!
(Please don't punish us for typing that previous statement.)

You are learning to make yourself laugh and of course you continue to make us laugh. Playing peek-a-boo may be your favorite thing to do right now. Whether you play by your self with your hands or pop up beside a chair, you find yourself hilarious and it never gets old. I know it won't last long so we are enjoying it immensely right now. Copying sounds and noises is fun too - lots of stuff coming out of your mouth. You have learned how to say, "night, night" when we put your pj's on and are pointing and yelling, "ah" when you want something. Often this means graham crackers or cookies which you would prefer to eat all-day long. Hey, who wouldn't right?

By far our favorite thing you are doing right now is dancing. We have no idea how you learned it but we do play a lot of music at home. A few weeks ago you just started dancing. First it was a definite jig but now it has turned into swaying. You know - like that awkward, first boy-girl kind of dancing. It is hilarious and you love to do it. Sometimes you just start dancing when there is no music playing. Obviously dancing to the tune in your head. All we have to say is, "Elliot dance!" and you start groovin. It is so precious.

Love,

Mama