Eli turns 1!

Believe it or not . . . Eli is now a year old! It is hard to believe that a year has past already, but when I look at our little man I can't help but notice how much he's grown and how he's not a little baby anymore. I've always heard people joke that it goes by too fast . . . but they're right. I forget how tiny he used to be and how he would just gaze at us for hours because he couldn't do much else and was just absorbing everything. It's been tough trying to live moment to moment as Eli reaches new stages of growth and development and become a whole new kid every few weeks. On the other hand, each new step he takes makes him so much cooler and me so much more proud of him. Right now, I'm happy that he can ask me for a hug, cling to me when I hold him, and freak out over how tasty a cupcake can be. By the way, I'm not shoving the cupcake in his face in the picture. He loved his first taste of sugary cupcake so much that he grabbed my hand and buried his face into it with gusto. He had a death grip on my hand and would not let go as he chomped away! It was the best part of the whole party. More pictures of Eli's first birthday party and cupcake extravaganza can be seen on our flickr page. Also, here's a video of us singing Happy Birthday to Eli on his real birthday:

Countdown to 1

It has been a whirlwind of a month as Eli makes a mad dash to reach as many milestones as he can before he turns a year old at the end of the month!  Normally I would break things up into separate entries, but for now I am going to throw it all at you like a robber throwing hot coffee at your face to make a quick gettaway:

1.)  Eli finally has a tooth coming in!  It's a little tough to see in the photo, but rest assured there is a tooth coming in on the bottom left of Eli's mouth (his left, not stage left).  It may not look like much of a tooth right now, but you can definitely feel it when he bites down on your shoulder or finger.

2.)  Now that he has a tooth coming in, Eli has been taking his mealtimes to the next level by chomping down on a variety of crunchy foods. Quesadillas, cheese sandwiches, Cheerios, crackers, french toast and pancakes . . . the kid can't get enough of 'em.  He likes the solid foods better because he is able to feed the little pieces to himself at his own pace and, I assume, they feel good rubbing against his gums.  We still feed him pureed fruits and vegetables to give him a balanced diet, but lately he has been begging to try feeding himself these sides as well.  We haven't given him full reign of the spoon domain because his coordination is not quite perfected, but he is getting better.

3.)  And finally . . . the moment you've all been waiting for . . . Eli has taken his first steps!  He has been cruising around the coffee table, couches, and dog crate for awhile but a few weeks ago our nanny said she saw him take a few steps on his own.  Kelvey was next to witness him taking a few steps on 3 different occasions but I never got there quick enough to see it for myself and the times that I did see Eli try to walk it just looked like he was falling forward or taking a lounging dive into the dogs.  Since we were convinced that Eli was ready to take the plunge into support-free walking, Kelvey and I took every opportunity to coax Eli into walking towards us and eventually our efforts paid off.  We can now say with confidence that Eli is starting to walk!  Next step: DANCING!