My Little Monkey

I have been meaning to post, but have been so busy lately - it's been a zoo around here! Ha, ha, you'll get that reference in a minute (or you can just scroll down to pictures). I have been so pre-occupied with my 31 business, and starting the frenzy of taking family photos, I just haven't been able to properly focus on the blog. It's been fun, being busy - making me prioritize the days better! With busy-ness does come some stress of course, but I guess I'm handling it all ok for now. Here's some stats on my little Eli that I wanted to get down before I forget them!!

-last night, he took the most steps independently that he has taken thus far! He will just walk a few feet on his own, but everyday is attempting to walk farther and farther. He took some more steps tonight. You can tell he is so proud of himself, he smiles and giggles as he walks, and of course, mom and dad make a big deal about it.

-I'm pretty sure he identifies "eyes" on his stuffed dog. He knows I will say "where's the nose?" next, so automatically then touches the nose of the dog, but that's ok. I'm pretty sure he knows what the eyes are. Fairly certain.

-I love watching his imaginative play. He loves to put items on his cars or trucks and push them around. He put a crumpled up coupon on the back of his truck the other day and was pushing it. Tonight, he took the lid of the dog food container and used it as a ramp for his little car. Of course I think he's just a genious for thinking of that at 13 months!

-he loves climbing up the big play structure at the playground, walking (with mom) across the wobbly bridge, and go down the slide in mom's lap. Once he gets down, he will lead me as I help him walk back to the start of the climb. He even cries and squirms as I put him back in the stroller when it's time to leave, because he doesn't want to leave!

-he will climb the stairs and giggle as he tries to "get away" from mom or dad

-he gives Lucy her dog toy, and even tries to throw it for her. he knows which ones are the dog toys.

-loves to open cabinets and pull out things, and stand on his tipey-toes and reach for things in counters and drawers. For some reason, he really enjoyed playing with a trial size saline solution bottle!

That's all I can think of for now, so, on to our monkey pictures! My friend Lindsay and her son, Brandon, and myself and Eli went to the zoo last week. Both Eli and Brandon are going to be monkeys for Halloween, so we brought their costumes and took pictures of them around the monkey exhibit. They were both such good sports about it all! Eli really seemed to enjoy looking at the animals, a lot more than when we took him when he was around 7 months old. Lindsay is as shutter happy as I am, so we had a great time taking pictures. The boys also played a ton on the kid's playground, we spent more time there than looking at animals! Can't wait to go to the zoo again soon!

The baby orangutan was great! He was playing with that pink blanket, rolling himself up in it, etc.

I love how Eli is standing on his toes, trying to see (or imitating Brandon!)

picture by Lindsay. She got a good smile with him looking right at the camera!

picture by Brandon, while in the wagon (with his mom helping just a little!)