Eliel: One Year Old!

Eliel is one year old today!

He is into knocking Mavry's block towers over, all kinds of food, playing peek a boo with play silks, standing in the water table in the front yard, going outside to chase chickens, opening and closing all drawers or cabinets that are his height, and winning people over with his toothy smile and dimple. He also climbs on Mavry's kitchen stool (trying to claim it for himself, I guess!) so there isn't much that's safe from his grasp!

What a year it's been with two kids.  They love each other so much and bother each other so much. 

Eliel at 11 months
Eliel at 10 months
Eliel at 9 months
Eliel at 8 months
Eliel at 7 months
Eliel at 6 months
Eliel at 5 months
Eliel at 4 months
Eliel at 3 months
Eliel at 2 months
Eliel at 5 weeks

Eliel: 11 Months

Eliel turned 11 months old on Sunday! He has been walking a little more every day and is very fond of getting into chairs and onto any kid sized table.  (This is somewhat scary since he not only stands up on the table but takes steps on it!) He has taught himself to get out our front door and down our three front steps safely.  He is fascinated by our four chickens (as are most of the neighborhood kids) and loves going outside to watch them.  He has at least three words: Mama, Dada and nana (banana) but seems much more intent on moving around than communicating right now. Instead of using words he employs various screams to tell us he is in need of something, so Colin has started some signs with him to help us get past that stage. Less than a month and we will have a one year old!

Apparently the baby mullet is in our DNA.  Mavry had one and Eliel's seems to be making its appearance even earlier.  Colin is holding firm on the no haircut until 2 years old so we will see what happens with that!

Eliel at 10 months
Eliel at 9 months
Eliel at 8 months
Eliel at 7 months
Eliel at 6 months
Eliel at 5 months
Eliel at 4 months
Eliel at 3 months
Eliel at 2 months
Eliel at 5 weeks

Eliel: 10 Months

Catching up on the posting again! I managed to get a few photos on Eliel's 10 month birthday, but didn't look at them til recently and only then realized there aren't really any good ones!

He took his first step on his 10 month birthday and it's harder and harder to get a picture of him sitting still. 

Eliel at 9 months
Eliel at 8 months
Eliel at 7 months
Eliel at 6 months
Eliel at 5 months
Eliel at 4 months
Eliel at 3 months
Eliel at 2 months
Eliel at 5 weeks

Eliel: 9 months

 9 months in and 9 months out!

Eliel turned 9 months on Tuesday! The 9 month birthday feels significant since he has now been with us as long as he grew inside me.  He's wearing a hand me down soccer jersey this week for the World Cup.  :)

Eliel has been to a few splash pads in the past month and been swimming once.  He seems to really enjoy the water.  He is making even bigger messes than before (I didn't think this was possible) while eating with us at the table.  He is getting a kick out of our instrument basket, carrying around maracas and the egg shaker, and he also enjoys making everything into a drum.  His favorite item to hold on to as he scoots around the house is still Mavry's brush, though.  He is still going strong with his belly crawl, but he has shown us that he will lift up his belly and do a proper crawl if he is outside on the grass, on the hot front porch, or at a playground with a rough surface. 

Eliel at 8 months
Eliel at 7 months
Eliel at 6 months
Eliel at 5 months
Eliel at 4 months
Eliel at 3 months
Eliel at 2 months
Eliel at 5 weeks

Eliel: 7 Months

Eliel turned 7 months old last week!

His favorite things are scooting out the front door (he pushes the screen door open) to sun himself on the porch, watching the chickens, and pulling up to standing on whatever he can. 

He is now happily eating egg yolks, liver, avocados and bananas from our yard, stewed carrots, and some butter.  He loves all of it and gets most of it in his mouth from his tray. 

I sent Colin a picture of Eliel pulling up on this toy at the library.  Colin came home that very day with the exact same toy that he had found on Craigslist.  Mavry and Eliel have gotten a lot of good out of it but it is sometimes a source of discord when Eliel pulls up and Mavry tries to get him off of it. 

Eliel at 6 months
Eliel at 5 months
Eliel at 4 months
Eliel at 3 months
Eliel at 2 months
Eliel at 5 weeks

Eliel: 6 months

Yowza! Eliel is already halfway through his first year.  He is growing so fast and moving around so much. 

He has five teeth and is scooting around.  He can already get up on the lower level of our coffee table. His favorite thing to do is to scoot over to the musical instruments basket there and pull it down then bang the instruments on the floor and chew on them. 

We finally got a mirror installed in the car so that we can see him in his rear facing seat, so now I know what he's doing back there.  He keeps himself occupied with watching Mavry or smiling back at himself in the mirror.  I guess one reason he's happier in the car than Mavry used to be is that he has a companion back there (and she can't mess with him when they are in their carseats!)

Eliel at 5 months
Eliel at 4 months
Eliel at 3 months
Eliel at 2 months
Eliel at 5 weeks

Mavry and Her Dolls

Mavry got this doll last Christmas from Mimi. (Mimi loves to give dolls to little girls.  I think we got one every Christmas growing up!)  In the past few months, Mavry has gotten really interested in having a doll or a bear to hold while around the house.  Sometimes she will have one come along in the car too. 

The dolls are generally naked because Mavry strips their clothes off and asks me over and over again to dress them.  She watches carefully as I do but can't quite get the clothes on herself yet. 

Eliel: 3 Months

Eliel (pronounced EL ee el) turned three months old on Christmas Eve!  We were busy getting packed and getting the house ready for visitors to stay in while we were gone, but we did get a few quick pictures with Raggedy Andy. 

I dressed him in a sweater suit I got at a thrift store before Mavry was born.  It's so cute, but Colin told me I should change him into something else.  :)

He looks like he liked the outfit change too.  He is a smiley little guy who loves faces.  He has figured out how to turn over from front to back and back to front and enjoys his floor time for short periods.  He likes to swat at his mobiles but his floor time is a little more limited than Mavry's was because she is always interested in "helping" him turn over or thinks he needs his diaper pulled off or a blanket over his face, or whatever else. 

She's also quite interested in the camera when I'm taking pictures of her brother. 

Eliel: 2 months

Eliel turned two months old on November 24th!  Time is really flying. 

He enjoys getting time by himself under his mobiles or next to a mirror, but he doesn't get much uninterrupted time unless his big sister is sleeping! (Of course, I try to get him to sleep when Mavry is sleeping, which I am only sometimes successful at doing.)  He gives us wonderful coos and smiles when we make eye contact with him.  He's been rolling over from front to back since he was less than a month old.  He might be able to make it from back to front before the next month is over!

He's really a wonderful little guy and we are so happy to have a family of four!

Eliel: 5 weeks

My mom and Colin both asked recently if we were going to do the monthly pictures with Eliel.  I actually have been taking his pictures but I hadn't gotten around to posting them. 

So, here is Eliel with Raggedy Andy at 5 weeks old. (Mavry's pictures were taken with Raggedy Ann, both of which were made by my mom for me when I was little!)

Grammy's Visit and the Beach

When Eliel was just a week old, Colin's mom came to visit.  Colin worked out how to get her here when Laura left and Eliel was still inside.  I asked him to wait to book the details until after Eliel came because I didn't want to be still waiting when she left like I was with Laura!

Mavry got another week of reading just about as many books as she wanted and I got to take a nap every day thanks to Grammy!

We took a trip to the beach while she was here and took a few pictures to document California baby Eliel's first beach visit at less than two weeks old.

Mavry's First Birthday Party

We had Mavry's first birthday party a few weeks after her actual birthday in order to buy us two extra weekends to work on the house and get ready.  We managed to get the big stuff crossed off our list before the party!  We got the place looking decent and Colin put in a fence in the front (with the help of a few friends).  I painted the fence (with the help of my mama group friends). 

For her party, we had egg casserole, pancakes, bacon, fruit, fresh squeezed orange juice from the orange trees along our fence, coffee and tea.  We made all the food ahead of time so that we wouldn't be cooking pancakes instead of enjoying our friends and it still tasted good!

Mavry wore a dress that was once mine, a birthday crown that I made her, and had watermelon sliced into a cake. 

Since someone had given Mavry a hanbok, the traditional Korean dress, we had her do the traditional Korean one year birthday "dol jabi" where we set out objects that could represent future careers and see what she would pick.  She went straight for the computer mouse.  Her second choice was the calculator.  She chose that over a wooden flute, paintbrush, ball, money, and pencil. So, apparently she will be like her dad!

I had some nice help getting the favor bags ready for the party.  A friend who I taught with in China came over to help cut the pineapple to get ready for dehydrating.  She cut them in the special Chinese way to make the most of the fruit.  The dehydrated pineapple went into the bag with homemade fruit roll ups, dehydrated oranges and apple slices.  

We had a really lovely warm sunny day to celebrate.  We were thankful for our huge shade tree

Happy birthday to our bright and wonderful Mavry Arden!