ode to Springtime

Ah, glorious Springtime! Warm air, fresh breezes, lovely sunshine, puffy white clouds. I LOVE IT! This weekend Elijah and I spent quite a bit of time outdoors at home. He helped me weed the flowerbeds, hang laundry on the line, and piddle around the yard. We took walks, swang, layed in the hammock, sat on the deck and read books, and watched Manny build stuff out of wood in the driveway. We both felt so nice after a weekend of fresh air.

I absolutely LOVE spending time with my boy on the weekends! He's changing so much lately. His new thing is giving hugs. When I pick him up so his face even with mine he wraps his little arms around my head (they don't reach all the way around) and squeezes. He pats and strokes my face and hair. And if I put my nose on his nose he always giggles and squeals with delight-- and I usually end up with a good amount of baby slobber on my cheeks and chin. He is so sweet I don't think my heart can handle it! He has also started reaching for me when I go to get him from his crib or chair.

He is 8 and 1/2 months old and not crawling yet. In fact, I don't think he's even interested in it. He rolls over proficiently, which seems to satisfy his need to move for the time being. I'm not one to rush the growing up process, but I just want to know he's developing normally, you know? Here's the problem -- he HATES being on his tummy. So, I lay him down (thinking maybe he'll decide to crawl or pull up on his knees) and all he does is flip onto his back. I cannot keep him on his tummy long enough to make him want to crawl. I don't know how to force him. And I don't want to be mean to him. Oh well, maybe he'll just walk in stead. I'm in no hurry.

Elijah is eating more and more "people" food these days. He is now on a 4 hour nursing schedule, which includes 3 meals of "people" food and 2 nice naps (morning and afternoon). Yesterday, since we were at church he didn't get the morning nap, so the afternoon one lasted from 2:45 - 5:30.
I usually make his food on the weekends and store it in the freezer for the week. So he eats a huge variety of items on Sundays as I tend to have little bits left over from each batch to let him sample. So yesterday he ate full servings of each of the following: tropical fruit salad, peach/spinach, cereal, plums, black beans, cottage cheese, sweet potato/corn/spinach. That boy sure can eat! :-)

Oh yeah, one more thing. Elijah is now the proud owner of 6 teeth - 4 top, 2 bottom -(that stubborn top one finally broke through).