We decided to just take Eli to see a free Santa (hence why this dude really isn’t even trying) since we didn’t think he would happily sit on his lap anyway. It was a wise decision because Eli has never clung tighter to Charles more than when he was about to be placed on Santa’s lap. I really didn’t want the screaming kid picture, so a family picture will do.

On Christmas Eve we went to a coworker’s house for dinner and presents. Eli got some pretty cool trucks! On Christmas day Eli gave us the gift of sleeping in until almost 10am (!!) We spent the day opening gifts and lounging around (Charles and I even stayed in our around the house clothes all day). Eli really loved opening his gifts, and of course playing with them. We spent several hours opening gifts because Eli liked to play or put on everything that he opened! At least it showed that he appreciated every single thing that the family sent him.

Here he is kissing an ornament; which was his way of getting around the “no touching” rule. Not that he followed that rule anyway. Next year we will not be putting any breakable ornaments on the tree, except for maybe at the very top. We will not be taking our chances when we have TWO boys in the house. Lesson learned! We already stocked up on felt ornaments to use next year (yay after Christmas clearance).

“Who me, naughty? Noooooooooo…”

Eli and daddy:

Eli and mommy (and 33 week old fetus brother):

Check out more pictures by clicking here!

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Elliott is now 18 months old!

He is 33.5 inches (75th percentile) and 24 pounds (25th percentile).  He seems to be getting taller and skinnier.

-He has been sleeping through the night since shortly after turning 12 months.  He now takes one nap a day, usually around 1pm, that lasts around 2 hours.

-He is still obsessed with bananas.  Fruit in general is his favorite thing to eat.  He loves to use a fork or spoon now, although most of the times he’s just dipping it in his food and pretending to eat off of it. He would subside off condiments if we allowed him to!

-I feel as though he can understand pretty much everything I say.  He is good at responding to my requests “Let’s go to your room” “Go get your shoes” “Go to your chair so you can eat” “Put your toy in the basket”, etc.

-Eli prefers to play with the most random things around the house such as floss, a plastic sifter, measuring cups and spoons, rolling pin, etc.  Pretty much anything he can snatch from our bathroom drawers while the door is open.  His favorite items that are actually his are books, especially the book with grandma and grandpa’s recorded voices, balls, puzzle and shape sorter.

-He likes to “help”.  He will push the vacuum with me, put laundry into the dryer, unload the utensils into the drawer, etc.

-He REALLY loves to smell flowers. Whenever he sees one he HAS to stop and smell it.

-Eli likes to talk constantly.  I don’t know if he ever stops gabbing away in his own language.

-He is a total love bug.  He gives me at least 20 hugs and kisses a day.  I don’t even have to ask for them!  He will just come up to me and give me a big hug for no reason.

-Eli just completed another swim class (took one last March/April).  It is a parent/child class and he swims with Charles.  By the end he was doing really well swimming on his back (being held), kicking his feet and he even went off the rope swing with the instructor! His biggest accomplishment was jumping into the pool on his own on the count of three.

-His favorite song is Old MacDonald Had a Farm and he will request it by saying “eeeeeeeeeiiiiii eeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiii.”

-Somehow saying “ssssssssssssssss” when he saw a snake transformed into him also saying “sssssssssstttt” when he sees a bug. He is good at spotting them and Tatum is good at getting them.

In just 3 months Eli will be a big brother!  Hopefully he doesn’t mind sharing mama and dada. We think that he’s going to love having a new best friend; he seems to get along really well with other kids. There was a girl at the pool that he interacted with after every lesson and he would give her his toys which we thought was awfully sweet!

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