Look What I Can Do!

This little guy is the second one to ever steal my heart! He is such a happy fella, sweet and seems to get cuter by the hour~ and did I mention that he is a cuddlebug?! He will let me (sometimes he lets daddy, too) hold him close to me while he holds his favorite blankie and sucks on his two little fingers. Seems like these cherishable moments are going by way too fast...my little baby is suddenly looking not so babyish. He has really filled out this past month- look at those chunky legs and puffy feet! And he is standing (this was something he did in secret for a while, we believe. We would be preoccupied getting Emma ready for bed while Elliot was watching from his crib. Occasionally we would look over and there he would be- standing up in the middle of his crib. But as soon as we would see him standing by himself, he would grab the side rails as quick as he possibly could and laugh.) We've had plenty of "firsts" these past few days:

Yesterday was the first time I allowed Elliot to feed himself with a spoon. Oh, you don't see the spoon?!? He tried it for a few minutes and then decided that grabbing handfuls of applesauce was much more expedient. Then he licked the bowl clean. He was in his own little world the whole time~ clueless to the show he put on for mommy and daddy.
Another new thing: CLIMBING.

He must be taking after his PaJoe, Uncle Sam and Uncle Jon in his new found discovery of climbing (they enjoy climbing very tall and untrustworthy trees). Stairs are something we don't have in our house, so when we were visiting my mom and he figured out how much fun they were, he has been climbing whatever he can ever since.

Currently his favorite thing to climb in is Emma's toddler bed. He just hasn't mastered getting down very gracefully yet.

His latest "first":

As of today, he is walking!!

He took his first few steps right before dinner tonight and I quickly called Michael in to see. Sure enough, he did it again. and again. and again. . . And so begins a new phase in life for me that puts everything on a new playing ground. Nothing is safe in the house. Time to pull out the massive play yard gate~ which I'm sure he will learn to climb out of (unlike his sister ever did. She never climbed out of her crib either).

All these "firsts" come just a couple of weeks prior to his first birthday: June 15th!

Hard to believe it's almost been a year since we held him in our arms for the first time. And just think. In a few more months, we'll have another one to hold!