The Circus Has Come to Town

Leah and Elliot are now fully mobile. Not that they are getting up and walking, but they both crawl (or, in Elliot’s case, slither) with agility and some level of grace. They both pull up on anything that they can reach with their hands. Mostly unstable, dangerous and slippery things. They both, Leah particularly, can move sideways along the things they have pulled up on (is that cruising? I think it is). It’s all really quite adorable, but also dangerous. And hilarious.

Elliot on an expedition.

Leah is very casual in her standing. She likes to hold on with one hand while squatting to pick up a toy or just hanging out. It generally works. It almost seems like she is close to standing without support. That girl is strong. She rarely topples over. She stood up for the first time about two weeks ago, so right at 8 months.

Elliot just started pulling up regularly at 8.5 months. He is getting good at it too, but will still take a spill so he needs to be watched pretty closely. He is tough though, so when he falls, he generally laughs it off.

They fight over this toy:

Hard at work.

Both need to play with it at the same time, but they don’t really “share” it so much as shove each other away from it and dominate the whole thing. Sibling rivalry is so cute.

Co-ed naked toy hogging.

Leah wants to climb everything. Particularly the bean bag chair. She throws herself at it over and over again in an attempt to get to the top. Sometimes she is alarmingly successful, but she cannot resist pausing whatever she is doing to smile at the camera.

After the Great Cherry Massacre of 2010.

Leah has two teeth now. Who knew teeth could be so effing cute?

Teethies!!

I believe that Ell might be teething as since he seems to sleep better and cry less with Tylenol. Or maybe he just likes pain killers. I hope it’s the former.

In terms of sleep, we’ve had two great nights after a series of not-so-hot ones. I can’t even really remember why they were bad, but I know that I spent a lot of time not in bed. We’ve put Leah in the guest room pack-n-play recently and they definitely do seem to sleep better apart, but we’ll bring her back into the nursery soon because we prefer them together. Maybe we'll do it this weekend if we have a few more good nights in a row. Elliot continues to fight naps for a living. It can take him over 30 minutes to finally fall asleep for a nap (after being wrestled down by me or Lina) and then he is totally out of synch with Leah. Whatever though. They’re cute, so they get away with these shenanigans.

Long on cute, short on photographic quality.

They are doing a great job with eating their solids. At our Passover sedar on Monday, they ate all of the contents of matzoh ball soup right from our bowls. I love feeding them table food. They entertain themselves by plucking cheerios off of their trays while I prepare their meals, which is preferable to make the damned dinner faster, Food Wench. They have enjoyed most of the foods we introduce, though Leah won't stand for chicken.  We haven't yet told her that so many things in life taste like chicken. It is so much fun expanding their little palates and thinking ahead to a bottle-less, formula-less time.

Much of the area is currently underwater due to an epic rainstorm, but we are due for another warm and sunny weekend. I am so thrilled to have made it through the winter and that we are on the cusp of being able to spend most of our time as a family outside. I have a wish list of outdoor toys that I want to acquire over the coming months (water table, sandbox, lawnmower etc) and Craig is working on plans for a new flower garden, complete with Pee Gee hydrangea tree that will be perfect for Leah and Elliot to explore. It’s amazing how thoughts of spring and sun and flowers and birds and grass and tree buds can turn the collective frowns of New Englanders upside down.