Well, Elliott has –almost–officially been out of my tummy longer than he was in it! On December 20, Elliott turned 9 months old! 9 months of watching this perfect little baby grow into a perfect bigger baby…9 months of cuddling him and rocking him and documenting every milestone…AND…not to mention, 9 MONTHS OF NOT THROWING UP!!! Yahoo!!!
I love how every month we learn something new about Elliott’s personality, or see it to a greater degree. Elliott continues to love meeting new people and getting strangers to smile at and fall in love with him. Last month, although he was doing “wave-like” motions, I wasn’t quite ready to declare that my son was intentionally waving. Well, for the last several weeks, there is no doubt about it–he is a waving machine! And he waves to every person, new or old, that he sees.
One of Elliott’s passions has absolutely taken over life this last month–handling small objects. He loves the “pincer grasp.” He is SO in tune to itty bitty things…he will literally go after a piece of thread from 15 feet away. He also LOVES small pieces of trash. What kind of mom lets her baby play with small, chokable things? Well, this mom does. And do you know why? Because he refuses to put them in his mouth! And I know you are thinking I must be so fortunate that he doesn’t want to put small things in his mouth…and I am, until it comes to trying to get him to put REAL FOOD in his mouth, and he gags until he throws it back up.
Look at the terror/disgust in his eyes as I offer him a puff:
When I was pregnant, someone said to me, “You know, the way your pregnancy has been so rough will probably have some sort of reflection on what Elliott is going to be like…like, he’ll probably have a really bad gag reflex or something.”
Why anyone in her right mind would say that to a woman who had been throwing up for 9 months will remain in the mystery box forever. But, quite unfortunately, it looks like she was right…this poor child has already thrown up twice when there was a tiny little “chunk” in his baby food…
Okay, on to some fun highlights from the last month:
Elliott opened his first Christmas gift at all staff Christmas party that we got to be a part of while in Tijuana for the two weeks before Christmas.
- All of the kids got a special gift
Elliott had his first stab at climbing stairs at my parents’ house, and he went right up them without any hesitation. He loves to climb!
- Climbing the stairs with Fable
Elliott CLIMBS all the time…on EVERYTHING…it’s so fun! He loves to pull himself up onto everything and walk along anything he can.
- Helping us pack in the DR before leaving for Tijuana.
First time in snow!
I know, I know…we’re terrible. But we had to get a picture of it.
First time meeting the Smiths!
And, last but not least…a few favorites from this last month:
Happy 9 months out of the womb, sweet baby Elliott!!
I love the 2nd and 3rd pic with the puff. “are you kidding me with this stuff, mom? I don’t think this is food…” haha. Glad to see the fam. is doing well 😀 Blessings!