Happy New Year Elliot!

This was a pretty big year for me, getting married and having a baby and all. Here's a collection of our cellphone pics of Elliot :)

All I want for Christmas is my first tooth!

Ok look really close, do you see it on the bottom? That's right, Elliot's first tooth is growing out! Clearly he thinks he's over 6 months not just in size but in all developments in general so I should just get over the fact that there's two months of babyness that is lost to the wind.
Well at least that explains all the drooling, and he's drooling more than ever now, and loving his teethers. It's a sharp one too, if you let him nibble on your finger you'll definitely feel it. Luckily the bottom teeth come in first and his tongue goes over them in the sucking motion so I'm not quite feeling the sharpness when I'm feeding him yet although I have been feeling a little more general pain, as if he's just sucking harder, more aggressively, but I'm watching out for any biting so I can teach him not to do it before it becomes a habit.

Also, since he's been showing an interest in what the big people eat we've decided to start trying out real food. We started with plain ol' potato mush, mixed with some breastmilk. It'll take a little getting used to this whole new struggle with little hands reaching out, his tongue reflex spitting out the mush, and generally the game of getting food into the belly. But actually it's a little fun just because it's new for now and he seems to really be interested and taking to it well. We're going to give him the potato mush for one feeding every day for a week, then we'll try rice cereal every day for the following week, then move on to veggies. The idea is to introduce foods one at a time to see if he has a weird reaction to anything and I think this also helps his palette to develop. It's not wise to start with fruit because supposedly babies can get hooked on the sweet stuff and then not like to eat veggies so we'll save the fruits for dessert when he's used to the other foods.

 In other news, Elliot had a lovely first Christmas in New Hampshire where he was the main attraction of course and Josh and I got to relax a little what with plenty of other hands to keep the little guy happy and occupied. We enjoyed fun activities like finishing our meals, reading books, napping, and generally relaxing. Oh how we miss those extra hands since we've gotten back home!

Goo!

It's hard to believe that my little shnookums is already 4 months old. It's weird that after all that time anticipating his arrival while being pregnant and wondering what he will be like, these last 4 months have just flown by. We had a doctor's visit and saw a new doctor at our pediatrician's office who was questioning whether Elliot was sitting up and eating real food yet. I almost got defensive when I responded that he's starting to sit up with support and it's too early for him to eat real food when I realized she thought he was 6 months old, because that's just how he looks these days at 18lbs. And yes, he's officially in the 99th percentile for growth, woo-hoo! This doesn't necessarily mean that he'll be a big guy, his growth will even out at some point but if he's still looking older than he is by the time he's 2 years old then that's a better indicator that he'll probably be big forever and Josh can start training him to be a quarterback.

Although Josh and I still randomly come up to each other and say 'can you believe we have a baby?' things are really beginning to have a rhythm these days now that I've been back at work for over a month. We have a routine that works and our lives have settled into a new normal. Elliot is also becoming a little more independent these days and he can entertain himself for a little while either by being on his belly and trying to crawl, just chewing on his toys, sitting back and watching tv (he really likes cartoons - already showing a preference and reaching out for the remote... well to put it in his mouth), or sort of just watching us do things, and especially watching Josh play guitar and sing songs. This kid is going to be a musical prodigy for sure. That, coupled with less growth-spurty and constant nursing means I can do more for myself again, like clean up!

He's definitely begun the oral phase and just wants to put everything in his mouth. He can do that more and more now that he has a bit more coordination when it comes to grabbing things. And speaking of his mouth, he's drooling like a bulldog!! It's crazy, so much drool, and it gets on everything, he's like a snail leaving his trail of goo everywhere he goes.