Restless Baby

Man, I tell ya, the best thing we've taught Elliot so far is how to fall asleep at night without crying. I recall a brief week or so where we had to put him to bed and just let him cry it out until he passed out from sheer exhaustion. But now, as long as it's bedtime and he's gone through the bath/pajama/boobie/song routine we can just put him down and walk away. He might wiggle around a bit but he'll put himself to sleep by 8:30, and that means mom and dad can relax (well, by 'relax' I mean making baby food, getting ready for work, cleaning up toys, bundling up recycling, doing dishes, and that sort of thing). Unfortunately though this does not work during the day for naps, you have to hold the kid down in a bodylock and then be forced to nap with him lest your movement wake the beast. I'm beginning to realize Elliot is what you would call a 'handful.' I mean this kid just goes and goes and goes and goes and goes. I've observed enough other babies now to see that not all of them are quite so restless.

He just has to see and touch and throw everything on the floor and put it in his mouth constantly. He's not even walking yet! Although he's getting close, he can easily pull himself up and stand if he has something to lean on, and he can walk pretty fast too if we hold his hands. And with crawling, damn he's fast! He can scurry across the kitchen floor in no time chasing cats. Here are some of the ways we keep him entertained while still trying to also do other things:
-High chair, he can sit in it and watch baby einstein or just nibble on his toys for up to 30 minutes before he gets antsy and whiney.
-Riding around in his walker, as long as someone is in the kitchen with him and there are plenty of hand towels, newspapers, or other things for him to roll up to, grab, and quickly roll away like an excited little bandit. If there's not enough things for him to steal he'll get frustrated and bored and whiney.
-Baby buffer zone, Josh is an expert in this but I don't do it because it's too much set up and clean up, but he arranges furniture and pillows around the living room floor so that the bambino is somewhat contained.
-When all else fails to entertain and our aching backs are too tired to keep chasing him around at home then we strap him into the stroller and go for a walk.

What a cutie, I can't believe we're making plans for his first birthday already!!