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!