10 months!

This has been our biggest month yet for development!  Things just clicked this month.  

Elli one day decided that she wanted to finally roll.  All of a sudden she was rolling left and right keeping herself up at night learning her new skills.

Elli also learned to crawl this month!  It went from backwards scooting to BOOM crawling, pulling up to a stand.  Within the matter of 1 week she went from not being able to crawl to crawling, standing, and making it look easy.  Things have changed so fast, she hasn't given her parents a chance to catch up with her new skills.  We need better baby proofing in the house and boy does it take more energy to keep up with her now!  Based on how fast things are changing I feel like she will be walking in no time.

Elliot now also waves and can whisper "hi."  It is the cutest thing ever.  Mac is still convinced that her first word was dada, but I think hi is the first word.

We were able to go snow shoeing early this month and Elli loved it.  The outdoors even put her to sleep in her hiking backpack.

We were also able to get back to Wisconsin to visit family and friends.  Mom and Elli flew out early and stayed for a few days longer than Mac.  This was my first flight alone with Elli and she did great but I was totally exhausted!

Elli continues to LOVE music classes and swimming lessons when dad is not dunking her ;)

Elliot likes:

-Moving and Shaking! 

-Pulling up to a stand.  Mom, dad and the dogs are her favorite objects to lean on.

-Now that she can crawl, she B-lines for the dogs whenever possible!

-Making other people smile, she can really ham it up.

Elliot isn't a fan of:

-You cleaning her face, whether it be food or snot, she wants nothing to do with it.

-Being held in one position.  Let her move!

New developments:

-Crawling

-Pulling to a stand

-Waving and saying hi!

-Smiling to get strangers attention

Still loving her toes!

Her secretive face.

Her new favorite face, mouth wide open!

Posing for the camera

REALLY posing for the camera, her model pose.  

Snowshoeing at Mt Hood

Family Selfie

The zoo with Aunt Kate and Uncle Ryan

Stylin'

Loving the swing!

Cousins!

Mom and dad took an afternoon to go to the Brew festival!  

Learning to crawl!

Madison, WI

Taking a relaxed walk on the Weis family farm.  Elli was too fascinated by the cows to look at the camera.

9 Months!

Elliot is now 9 months old!  The time flies and she is turning into a big girl.  It feels odd to see newborns, and think "she was never that small...was she?"  

This week she is finally getting her first tooth finally at 9 months.  EVERYTHING is going in the mouth!

She is so much more vocal!  She regularly makes dada and lala noises.  Mac is convince that his 9 months of hard work to get her to say "dad" are paying off.  Mom is not convinced at all.  She does try to say hi often.  Its usually a very light whisper of "ha" but its too cute!

At dinner time - Elliot continue to be a big eater.  She is pretty much feeding herself now and continues to plow the food.  She is such a big eater that is grew from the 15th to the 60th percentile in weight between her 4 and 9 month checkups.  She gets most of the food in her mouth and is about 50% accurate with the spoon. The dogs are very excited to mop up the ground after her.  She is transitioning into eating what mom and dad eat (sort of) and will get kid of pissy if you are eating something without giving her a bite.  She is quite particular about what she does and does not want.   

Her play area is really well developed now.  Crystal laid out some foam matting in a breakfast nook part of our kitchen and now it is the play area.  All of her toys are there and Elliot will sit happily for quite a long period of time playing with her toys and banging around.  She sits like a champ, can get up on all 4s (no crawling yet) and scoot backwards.  If you sit back and watch her for an hour you realize she has went through a good majority of yoga positions: Up dog, down dog, plank, happy baby pose, ect.  She is also the master of pull-to-stand and can balance on 2 feet with minimal support.  No supported steps yet - but we think they are coming soon!!

Swimming lessons continue to be a big hit with Elliot and Mac.  She is in the baby parent swim class and the focus is really on getting used to the water and practicing emergency rescue maneuvers.  Recent highlights have been wearing googles for the first time and going under the water after the mid-class slide rides. Elliot doesn't totally yet get that she is supposed to hold her breath - but each class is a bit better.  This is by far Mac's favorite 30 minutes of the week.

Elli and Crystal's special time continues to be music class.  She is the youngest and the bigger kids love giving her hugs and running around her.  She is constantly dancing and singing to the music.  She also loves banging on the drums, tampborine, bells and all the other instruments.

She went on the swing for the first time this week.  It was a big hit!

The last few weeks have been a HUGE step in her vocal and large motor skill development.  She is a sponge just soaking it all in.

Elliot likes:

-Watching the dogs.  Surest way to get a smile out of her is to have the dog walk in

-Feeding the dogs...yup she loves to hold out her hand covered in food for the dogs.  This is going to be an issue.

- Meat :) 

-Talking back and forth 

Elliot isn't a fan of:

- surprise dunkings (bad dad)

- not getting food fast enough

-Being left along, where she can't see on of us

New developments:

- rode a swing for the first time!

- pull to stand

-Getting up on all 4's and scooting backwards

- "conversations" with mom and dad

Happy Baby!

Very studious

Toes

Thinking so hard.

Elliot made a new best friend...the baby in the mirror.

Hike" to Happy Hour

Family Selfie

Running buddies!

Look at me, I'm standing.

Smiles!!!

Mom's Birthday playtime.

Elli wore goggles

Watching the dogs play frisbee

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We LOVE bath time

8 Months!

Time is flying!  I remember when she was a newborn and 8 month old babies looked so big!

This month she really developed "play."  This is really the first time we can put her in front of blocks or balls and she entertains herself.  Most everything goes in the mouth for a good tasting first though! Christmas brought all kinds of new fun toys - the favorites are woodland creatures from Grandma Weis and a wooden logging truck from Grandma and Grandpa Cook.  A wooden race care track from mom and dad is mostly fun for dad.  Elliot seems to enjoy how much fun Mac has with it.  

She still LOVES music and loves to rock back and forth and bang things together "to the beat."

She can now get her belly off the ground!  Still no forward movement, only backwards scoots.  Boy does she get frustrated when she is going further from what she wants rather than closer. She often goes up in the "plank" or "bear crawl" position as she explores her new found muscles.  Believe it or not...still no rolling!  She has still only rolled about 7 or 8 times total.  We are not too worried because her large motor skills otherwise are REALLY good.

She remains an AMAZING eater!  She pretty much likes everything at this stage, and we are starting to introduce more and more spices.  She loved some Indian food we had the other day. We also gave her some sausage and the was literally shaking with excitement!  

She started "swim lessons" with Mac, I am not sure who has more fun, Mac or Elliot.  We know its pretty early, but the goal of right now is to get them comfortable in the water and being dunked so in the next stage she can learn emergency rescue maneuvers in the water.  The class is full of dads and Mac loves it!

Elli likes....
-Her new play area!

-Petting the dogs, she isn't quite understanding gentle petting yet.  Madison and Cooper are handling it well!
-Music
-Swim lessons with dad

-Lip smacking after delicious food

-Getting everyone's attention at restaurants and sharing smiles with them, a.k.a. "flirting"

Elli dislikes...
-Moving backwards when she is trying to crawl!
-Being away from mom and dad

New developments...
-Getting up on all 4's!
-Play time
-Truly listening to and looking at books

Isn't my smile gorgeous!

Mom there will be no belly pictures this month because I find it too frustrating to not be able to crawl!

I may skip the knees and go straight to the bear crawl

Mom and dad got a ski day!

I love swim class!

But,...dad loves it even more!

Food!

I have fallen and I can't get up.  Maybe we are not ready for the walker yet ;)

Play date!

Grammy came for a visit!