10 Month Update

Once again, we have been sick...all of us! Dan, who never gets sick, even came down with a nasty cough and cold. We are hoping that with a 3 day weekend in Seaside planned that everyone will be healthy. Holly was 10 months old back on the 3rd. I took pictures and even sat down to blog, but something distracted me and it never happened. I also forgot to weigh her, so we have no update on that this month. Other than being sick, Holly has been doing really well. In this past month she has finally started to sleep better (as opposed to the sometimes 3 times from 8pm - 8am that she wants to eat) and eat more real food. She is happier eating our food rather than pureed baby foods. Also, she is a bit crazy and will accept food from a fork, but often not a baby spoon - the same food. That fork is so tricky ;)! Holly will pull up on anything and walk along walls, couches, people, but hasn't yet stood on her own. I think she could if she tried, but she will arch her back when you try to make her. She says "mama" a lot and has just started to say "dada".

Here is Holly "walking" with Elliott:

Elliott has finally figured out that riding a bike is fun. We went for a ride recently with all of his Portland cousins and he was loving it! Unfortunately, our neighborhood is quite hilly so it's not very good for practicing. There is an elementary school down the street that has a huge black-top playground so we go there after school hours to get in some good riding time. He is very into Super Mario Bros. and anything related to Mario and/or Luigi. Most anything we play with will somehow be translated into Mario and Luigi. His cousin, Cameron, is Mario crazed as well which I think rubs off on Elliott. Then tend to request wearing either red or green outfits so that they fit the correct theme.

We had a big breakthrough at swimming lessons early in the month. After 3 sessions, (each session has 9 -10 classes) Elliott finally decided he was able to put his face in the water!!! He also went down the big water slide with his teacher. He told me that on the way down he was thinking that the slide "was totally awesome!" I'm so proud of him! In his first session he had a moment where he went under and his teacher didn't see for about 10 seconds. (As a former swim teacher I knew that he was fine and not actually drowning) This really scared him and he was very nervous after that. He struggled participating with the group because he was scared of going under again. So, we put him in private lessons to get his comfort level back. Dan thought I was crazy and attempting to turn E into the next Michael Phelps. His teacher was great and worked so patiently with Elliott. We are taking a break from lessons right now. Elliott also took an 8 week soccer class. It was so cute to watch him run around. Again, his teacher was great. He was amazingly patient with a group of 6+ 3 year olds.

Here are Elliott and Caleb playing in slime.  They boys had a great time doing this.

Elliott posing after trying to get into Holly's crib.