Developmental update: 22 months

Eli can:

*Sing:
Row row row your boat
Happy birthday
Head, shoulders, knees and toes
*Count to ten (perfectly)
*Say the ABCs (imperfectly)
*Peel a clementine, separate it into sections and eat it
*Recite his bedtime story beginning to end
*Jump with both feet
*Throw a ball
*Balance on one foot to put his other foot into Daddy's shoe
*Climb stairs while holding onto the banister
*Brush his teeth
*Retrieve magnets from under the refrigerator if provided with a wooden chopstick

Photo by Sarah Jurado

Fall (photo by Kristen)

The light! The smile!

Photography by Sarah Murphy Jurado.

Halloween 2010

Eli and his friend Cate as sleeping beauty.

Eli was a zookeeper and we were his (sleepy) hippo and (sleepy) monkey.

Milestone: the NC state fair

2010

2009

Big boy

Now that Eli is walking...

Up next: Videos of Eli counting, swinging and sliding!

Eli loves grilled cheese sandwiches.

More walking.

Volleyball Court = Sandbox!

Practicing our walking in the grass.

After one of Eli and I's many lunches with "Jewie" (my sister, Julie) we went to explore Lake Crabtree Park.

Eli LOVED the butterflies.

A puzzle

This is for Carlos

Eli knows his body

Eli walks

Body parts Eli can point to and name, in (more or less) the order he learned them

Eye, ear, nose, mouth, hair, belly button, foot, toes, head, penis, knee, tongue, teeth, hand, cheek, chin, elbow, forehead, eyebrow, knuckle, eyelash, shoulder, chest.

Next up: back, bottom, wrist, ankle, patellar tendon, lacrimal ducts, xyphoid process.

Eli has his animal sounds down cold

except rooster.

Eli walks!

Eli, with much cheerleading, will now take 2-3 steps on his own. He has yet to realize the utility of being upright, but I'm sure this epiphany is just days away.

Developmental update: 16 month

Tonight while reading the classic bedtime book "Sea Babies", Eli was able to consistently point to Baby Manatee as distinct from Mama Manatee and Big Fish as distinct from Little Fish. When asked how old he was, replied "one" and held out one finger. He has been standing more and more, and has even taken a few single steps on his own. He cracks himself up on a regular basis. He has a large vocabulary. He snuggles us frequently. These days when he wants his diaper changed, he crawls over to the diaper box, takes one out, and lays down on his back (a significant change from ages 10-15 months when he screamed bloody murder during most diaper changes, some of you know from experience).

Eli is spending a lot of time with Dad these days, since I leave the house hours before he wakes up. The boys have breakfast together while waiting for Kristen to arrive. Kristen's day is usually over before I get home, but sometimes I catch her before she takes off. Every fourth night, I don't come home at all, and those days are tough, as Eli and I go 48 hours without seeing one another. Three out of four nights, though, the Westreich triumvirate have dinner together, give Eli a bath, and read bedtime stories and sing before bed. It's manageable for the short term. Eli's happy and that's the bottom line.

Love,

Dr. Mom

Fun at Jordan Lake

Uncle Luke!

I like it when Uncle Luke visits because

we play with phones

which is one of my favorite activities

and we eat cookies. Which is my other favorite.

Haircut

Weekend in Maine continued continued

I'll just get my own lobster, thank you very much. Land's End, ME

There is still sand in the carseat

Want to be out in it

This is my breakfast nook

Best travel companion ever, dutifully taking the lobster bib photo

Weekend in Maine continued

The things you do to keep a toddler entertained at 19,000 feet

A little shopping at LLBean in Freeport, ME

Eli has the hilarious habit of intermittently snuggling the floor

Double decker Eli table

Rain in Maine

Thanks to Auntie Erica for all your help on this trip, including meticulous documentation.

Weekend in Maine

Plane snuggles

Car nap

Three musketeers

Eating a lemon slice for dinner

Maine lobstahs

Now that Eli is 15 months old

He is such a big help when it comes to folding laundry

and packing up the kitchen.

pics from the new house

Cracker!

Graduation pics

Westreich/Davis/Venegas clan

Ta-te, Mimi, Nanna and Grandpa Dave

What Eli was doing while I was graduating, much more important

Doctor Double

Three Musketeers