Most of today felt like a normal day. Eli got lots of hugs and kisses today. Violet and Calvin are enamored with Eli. They both love delighting in the silly things he does. He copied us today and said "uh oh!" He also unknowingly pushed the green trike down the stairs. That little trike has taken a beating and held up amazingly well. When he heard the thundering clunks of the trike heading down to the basement, he said, "uh oh!"
He loves walking around holding onto things and with people, just not on his own. He tried taking one step alone outside in the grass on Sunday but immediately sat down.
Tonight's party for Eli turning one was really fun. Mama Row came over to help us celebrate at 6:00pm. The kids always get all giddy and crazy when she comes over, they talk at once super fast and can't wait to show her whatever...this and that thing. Vanessa especially likes her. She read some books to the kids while I finished getting food on the table and then we sat down to eat. Eli had lots of bites of garlic bread, lasagna, and when it came time to eat the cake, we stripped him down to a diaper and let him have a piece of chocolate cake. Dave put one bite in his mouth to let him taste it, then he grabbed a huge chunk of cake with his hands and dug in. He only ate a few bites then threw everything on the ground. He loved the vanilla ice cream that went with it. The cake Mama Row made was yummy but she wasn't excited about how it was presented. The cake broke when coming out of the pans when she made it so it was patched together with chocolate frosting as best she could. She insisted that a picture not be taken of the whole cake because she said it looked wonky. :) Violet tried being sneaky and grabbing the camera but Row wouldn't let her, haaaa...that was a funny scene. She sliced up the cake on plates with ice cream and everybody got one candle on their piece.
After chocolate-crumb clean up, Eli opened his presents, with my and Violet's help. He got a contribution to his college fund, a helium "happy birthday" balloon, a stuffed monkey (from Aunt Rachel), some Thomas the Train PJs from Grandma Martha, and a cup of Ritz cheese crackers from Violet.
Mama Row invited Violet to spend the night at her place tomorrow night. Then went home with a piece of lasagna for lunch tomorrow and all her dishes. Dave cleaned up the kitchen and we both worked to get kids in bed.
The things I want to remember about Eli when he turned 1:
1. He likes to playfully slap/pat. I pat his back a lot when holding him so I think he reciprocates. Just a light slap, slap, slap on my arm, back, or chest. I think its adorable....with his chubby little baby-like hand. He seems to do it mindlessly and smiles a lot when doing it.
2. I nursed him three times today. He still seems to enjoy it and calms down to nurse for a few minutes every day. I do not know how long I'll keep it up but he has taken really well to a lot of food and milk already so he's doing well in the eating department.
3. He is a speed crawler, and seems to mischievously head for the stairs. Tonight after the older 3 kids were in bed, he was still awake. I was checking email on my phone and I put him down. He crawled to the dining room, looked back at me, smiled, and made a beeline for the stairs. I chased him playfully and he giggled as I picked him up like he knew what he was doing.
4. He loves being thrown up in the air and caught on the way down. He gets a huge smile on his face and cackles his little grunty laugh.
5. He absolutely loves baths. He is a water baby and splashes up a storm. The other night (can't remember when, but I was busy putting the older 3 in bed) he climbed into the dry tub by himself and got stuck there not able to get out.
6. He babbles "MMm!" and "dadadada" most the day.
7. And he still likes to snuggle. If he's tired he will lay his head right on my chest and start humming "mmm...mmm" with his paci in his mouth. He still loves that paci and his muslin blankets to sleep with.
8. The hair on your head is fuzzy blonde, mostly straight, except for the hair that is longest near the back of his neck. Its wildly curly!
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| Mama Row made him a card with his picture on the front, I think he recognized it because he smiled and got excited when he saw it. |
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| he loved the stuffed monkey! |
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| Calvin noticed how similar it looked to another smaller version we already had...actually...now I remember Grandma Jo gave Eli that littler monkey before he was born!! |
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| Me and the crew! |
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| Dave and his crew! |
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| Mama Row knows how to party! |
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| of course the birthday boy stayed up late, and was the last to go to bed. |
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Joanne says that the pictures are very good, nice photography!
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing, we missed a PARTY for sure.
DAD