elliot | eight months.

another month with our newest little man!  can't believe we're almost to the "more-time-spent-outside-the-belly-than-inside" point & staring one year straight in the face.

here's our little goofball all growed up to eight months.
{compare previous parker & elliot monthly pics here.}

this month elliot has continued to show us more & more of his little personality.  he's a goof.  he's mischievous & i know when he becomes mobile & gets older & older he's gonna be full of it.  he has a quick tendency to grab anything & everything put in front of him when he's sitting on your lap & has been known to knock over glasses or pull plates off tables.  he loves to catch the eye of strangers & give them big cheesy grins & then hide his face like he was shy all along.  he still does his "happy hands" which looks like a mix between jazz hands & spirit fingers when he gets excited.

he has learned how to stiffen his whole body & arch his back when he doesn't wanna be put in his carseat & if he had his way i would hold him all day long.  he doesn't really see the point in being on the floor & would much rather just be carried around the house on my hip for hours & hours.  we're working on this.  he is super close to crawling & is in that stage where he knows he wants to move across the room but is so frustrated by his arms & legs not doing what he wants them to do & falling on his face when they give out.

he loves books & reading stories & has figured out how to turn pages when i get it started for him.  he loves to carry on "conversations" and will make baby noises back & forth with you or blow raspberries or stick out his tongue if you're doing it back.  he has the biggest smile & cutest dimples & is still so squishy & snuggly.  this kid loves to snuggle.  he gives the best, most tightest hugs & buries his head deep in your shoulder & holds so tight to your neck when doing so.  i love his snuggles.

he has started eating solids like a champ & drinking water from sippy cups.  this month he's eaten avocado, green beans, mango, pears, carrots, bread, yogurt & veggie crisps.  he even let sam give him a bottle of pumped milk last week!  huzzah!

he's sleeping great at night.  he goes to bed each night around 7:30, wakes up anytime between 2 & 4 to nurse for 10-15 minutes & then is back asleep until 7:30 or 8.  napping is more hit or miss.  since our morning schedule is pretty busy with errands & stroller strides & things to keep parker entertained, he almost never gets two full naps a day.  let's be honest... naps kinda suck around here.  i still haven't figured out how to fit in two naps but if we miss one he's super fussy & so overtired that  trying to get him to settle down for nap number two can be a battle.  sometimes i swear he doesn't have the ability to self soothe because he'll start to settle down & then work himself back up again & do anything but fall asleep.  maybe he's just stubborn or maybe {more likely} i just don't know what i'm doing in this department.  needless to say, naptime is not my favorite time of the day.

he has formed a mild obsession with his daddy this month.  if sam walks into the room elliot lights up & gives him the biggest cheesiest grin.  if he's nursing & spots sam, he'll unlatch & try to sit completely up to see what sam's doing & then go back to eating.  it's pretty funny.  and he's still obsessed with parker, per the uge.

he's wearing some 6-12 month clothes & some 12-18 month things, weighs 21 pounds & still in size 4 diapers.  he has two bottom teeth & two top teeth that are soooooo close to cutting through, it's painful.

and?  he is still so darn cute.

love this little monster.