13 Months Old

Elijah is 13 months old today. Is he starting to look like a big boy, or what?!?!?!

Click on the picture to see all of his teeth (and his serious need of a haircut)! He's up to 12 teeth now. His top two molars are pushing through. This must be really uncomfortable because he has been chewing on his fingers a lot, poor guy!

Elijah is getting into all sorts of mischief these days. Here he is "helping" me with the dishes.

Twice now Elijah has gotten ahold of Sienna's art projects that had blue paint on them. Sienna learned the nursery rhyme "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick." She made a blue "candlestick" at school. We put in on the floor in the kitchen so she could jump over it while she said the nursery rhyme. I forgot about it until I looked over and saw Elijah's mouth covered with blue paint. I would have taken a picture, but I was more concerned about washing the (nontoxic, thankfully) paint out of his mouth!!!!!

Elijah's language is coming along slowly but surely. He says a handful of words.

that="dat"

this="dis"

Dada="dada"

uh-oh="ah-nnn"

hi="hi"

He still has yet to say, "Mama"-that little stinker!!!! Trust me, I'm working on it!!!!

Elijah is starting to imitate more purposeful actions. Here he is pretending to use a knife and fork while eating his plastic egg.

He also tries to brush his hair with the girls' brushes, he "brushes" his teeth, and he holds my cell phone up to the back of his head as if he's talking on the phone.

Elijah loves balls. Not only will he roll and throw balls when we're playing, but he's also starting to try to kick balls, too!

Elijah is an affectionate little guy who gives lots of "hugs" (aka tackles) and "kisses" (open mouthed slobbery kisses with exposed teeth). If anyone is sitting or laying on the ground, Elijah will immediately try to get on top of that person. It's fun for the girls, but I have to be careful when immobile babies are around because Elijah will climb right on top of them, too. He either puts his head on someone's head or face or pats them on the face, but he's getting stronger so his pats are turning more into slaps. A few months ago Elijah was a crazy hair puller, but he got over that after we did a lot of modeling of gentle touches. It looks like we need to emphasize gentle touches again! He just really likes to interact with people. He especially loves big kids who will get down on the floor and play with him! Two of his favorites right now (aside from his sisters) are Isabella's friends, John and Collin.

It's hard to believe that Elijah's first birthday has come and gone and that he's well on his way to becoming a toddler!!!!