Happy 1/2 year birthday Elliot Cascade!!

Elliot is now 6 months old!  This has been the best 6 months of our lives.  Parenthood is exhausting, but sooo rewarding too.  Elli has went through so many changes!

Elliot is now sitting independently.  She has been sitting supported on her hands for about a month, then all of a sudden last week I looked down and realized that she was sitting up straight all on her own!  There have been a few falls and face plants, under both mom and dads watch, oops.  Good thing Elli is tough!  

We started food last week.  We knew she was ready when she would scream bloody murder at the dinner table until she got a taste of what we were eating.  After her constantly reaching for our food, we realized it was time for her to start.  We have been doing steamed and soft whole foods.  She has skipped the pureed stage, she does such a good job of gnawing and toothless chewing.  We usually just put the food cut up into sticks in front of her and let her go to town!  Sometimes she can't get the food in her mouth fast enough that she begs us to feed her with the spoon.  It takes 2 spoons to keep up with how much she wants to eat!  So far she has conquered avocado, broccoli, squash, zucchini, carrots (had to stop those!), banana and pear.  She is such a good eater!  I think it is her current favorite time of day!  She flaps her arms in excitement when she eats!

Elliot is still loving her Music together class.  It is 45 minutes straight of Elli smiles...who couldn't love that.  If you play that CD when upset, she is suddenly calm...its amazing!

Up to now, Elli has taken a lot of rocking and bouncing to get her to bed, making bedtime frustrating for all.  Along with her 6 month birthday we have decided to try a version of Cry It Out.  Wish us luck!

Elli likes....
-Smiling.  Smiles, smiles, and more smiles...keep them coming.
-Broccoli!
-Toes, her toes are still her favorite toy.
-Wood blocks.  See below pictures :)
-Singing songs and dancing

Elli dislikes
-Going to sleep!
-Being away from her parents, especially mom.
-Being hungry.  She definitely has the Cook family "Hanger"

New developments
-Food!  She loves it, she is such a good eater!
-Solid poops, see above :)
-Sitting up unsupported
-LOVING TUMMY TIME

Again too many pictures but I just can't decide!

The blocks are way more fun as toys!

Let me show you my teeth...oh I don't have any :)

Mom, I don't know who keeps knocking over the blocks!

Boy do I love my toes!

Silly dad, he forgot how old I am.  

I already know how to pout my lip!  Wait till I am a teenager!

Grandma book time!

Snuggles.

Do selfies count as screen time?!?

Halloween and REAL FOOD mmmm!

Its been busy since we got back.  Elli is learning so much!  More on that in the 6 month update.  She is loving real food and we had an amazing time dressing her up as a baby owl for Halloween!  We made it to the pumpkin patch and had 10 minutes before it started down pouring.  Just enough time for a few pictures and picking out a pumpkin.

5 months!

Our little girl is so big!

This month is making us realize she soon won't be a baby anymore! She can now sit on your hip supporting herself.  Her favorite handles unfortunately are Crystal's hair and Mac's lower lip. Painful.

Elliot has taken a hiatus from rolling.  She had a few rolls back in August but none since.   She goes to her sides all the time and now likes doing push ups to see the world.  We aren't worried, rolling will happen in time. It seems like she starts to roll and then get distracted by her toes and forgets to finish the roll.

She is getting more and more vocal.  Some days she is silent and other days she is babbling up a storm! With a little optimistic interpretation by loving parents - we swear that she is talking to us.

Her favorite toy by far is her toes!  She is constantly leaning over from sitting or standing to find her toes!  I now understand more the "happy baby" yoga pose.  Elli can kinda sit....she can lean forward on her hands and not fall over.  Most of the time this is motivated by.... You guessed it, her toes!  The first time she did this was in the back of our campervan on our road trip.

We had one miraculous night of eleven hours of sleep straight!  Unfortunately that was only one night.  It has been very variable this month.

This month it feels like she became a real person with opinions and all.  She is definitely recognizing mom and dad.  She even puts her arms out to be picked up!  I tried to put a nuk in her mouth the other day and she literally turned her head and spit it out, then slammed her mouth shut tight... Ok then!

Elli  definitely has an interest in food!  She grabs for everything on the table.  At dinner in the airport I warned Mac that she had her eye on his glass of water....5 minutes later, said glass of water got pulled onto his lap 😳.  There is nothing like flying with a wet butt!


Elli likes....
- her toes!
-hiking!
-looking at and touching leaves
- her music together CD
-petting the dogs


Elli dislikes
-when someone leaves the room
-going to sleep

New developments
-sitting up in a tripod position
-passing objects back and forth
- reaching for food

I know, I know, too many pictures...but I just couldn't pick!

Take this dang bow off my head!  I don't care that I am bald!

Toes are the best thing ever!

Fingers are pretty good too.