Happy Mac & Cheese

Elliott loves eating. He also likes to not wear clothes. Put the two together, and he really has a grand ol' time!

YES

For ages Elliott has been shaking his head 'no'. For a long time it didn't have any meaning behind it, and recently I've noticed that he does it for the appropriate reasons. I'll tell him that he can't do something, and he shakes his head 'no'. I'll ask him if he wants to come with me to the other room, and he shakes his head 'no'. I've wondered how long it would be before he knew how to shake 'yes'. Well, this morning after I got him out of his crib, I laid him on his back on our bed to take his sleepsack off, and I asked him something (I can't remember what) and he, as big as day, shook his head 'YES'!

I haven't been able to get him to do it again, but I'm hoping that pretty soon it will be so common that I kinda forget what it was like to have a little 'no' boy.

Eating at Shane's Rib Shack

Elliott ate at his cousin Kellie's Shane's for the first time today. He loved it! He had some barbeque, green beans, and a rib, but then he gobbled down a whole side of mac-n-cheese!! In this video he was laughing and being silly with the girl who works behind the counter. I think it's safe to say that he looooves Shane's!

Straw Sippy!

A while back (maybe 2 months ago?), I got Elliott two new sippy cups. These were different than the 'normal' sippy cups because they had a straw. They are no-spill, and the straw flips down and hides away if I wanted to carry the sippy in Elliott's diaper bag. Awesome! Well... what they don't tell you is that the cups are no-spill because the straw has an anti-leak system in them that allows liquid to only pass through when a biting + sucking action occurs. Do you know how hard it is to get a baby to bite THEN suck on a straw?? Let me tell you--it's not easy! I gave Elliott the new sippy at every mealtime, but eventually it just became another object for him to throw on the ground when he was bored. (Not with me, of course... with the food...)

I have jokingly given him the no-spill straw sippy a handful of times over the past two months and each time he would toss it aside. I have friends whose babies, all born the same month as Elliott, have tried the bite and suck sippy cups--some have mastered them and some haven't. I really didn't think it was too big of a deal. We have already packed every single bottle away so there is no going back as far as that is concerned, and he drinks wonderfully from a 'normal' sippy. He even drinks well from a normal straw. (Which, oddly enough, he loves to chew on while he drinks...)

Today I was in the kitchen and wanted to give Elliott some water, and the first sippy cup I put my hands on was a no-spill straw sippy. "Uh oh", I though. "I'm just going to waste this water and then end up having to go get a normal sippy."

I handed him the cup. Much to my surprise, Elliott started gulping water! YAY! I looked down and he was drinking from the bite and suck straw sippy cup like a pro! I clapped and made a big deal... and of course he looked at me like I was crazy.

I don't have any plans on switching him to all straw sippy cups any time soon, but it is nice to know that he can drink from them if need be. These are what his no-spill straw sippy cups look like:
(today he was drinking from the green and yellow one, but he also has the all orange one)

A long video of Elliott's slow walk

Since Elliott started walking more and more I thought I would film a little bit of it. You have to realllly love Elliott to watch this whole video, especially more than once! It's long, but it gives you an idea of how he is progressing with his walk.

90% walk, 10% crawl

This video was taken on my phone, so it's a bit dark. Sorry!



Elliott has flipped a switch today. He has spent 90% of the day walking and only about 10% crawling! He looks so cute wobbling across the livingroom and kitchen. And he thinks that he is pretty funny, too. He talks and laughs and is soooo proud when he can walk over to me without holding on to anything!! Ohhhh I love him so much!

tooth #12

Elliott has all four molars! The last one to come in was the top right. They are all so small right now, but very sharp!!