Read To Me.......13 Months Old!

I have written monthly blog Elijah updates since his birth and planned to just continue through his first year. However I found myself a little sad when 13 months hit and there was no blog post. So I decided to try to keep it up through the first TWO YEARS. After all, most people keep track of months at least that long. I have also been dreaming about doing a blog post about Elijah's love of books and being read to so I decided I would combine these two posts.

13 Months Old

 I can't believe it has already been a month since Elijah turned one! I guess it is not just the first year that flies by. His verbal skills are continuing to develop at a rapid speed. He loves to say "Bye Bye" and says it very slow and deliberately. And he LOVES to go byes byes!  He will try to repeat words but usually just gets out the sound of the first letter or two. I see him studying people as they speak to him and I know that he will be an excellent communicator. He is a big help! For real! He will help me empty the dishwasher by handing me utensils one at a time. He continues to turn lights out when we leave rooms and he loves to close doors. This has been an excellent way of getting him to obligingly stay out of places he isn't suppose to be. I simply ask him to close the door and his mind focuses on the task at hand. 

Elijah still enjoys Mama's milk. I had to wean him from breastfeeding about a month and a half ago for medical reasons (more on that later) but I knew that was going to happen so I prepared months ahead by freezing milk and Elijah should be able to enjoy at least 10 oz of Mama's milk a day until he is 17 or 18 months old! The next best thing to extended breastfeeding!  He is a pretty good eater. Thanks to babyled weaning (BLW) Elijah has learned to eat what he likes and how much he needs. He loves a variety of foods but doesn't eat something just because it is put in front of him which I believe creates a healthy relationship with food.  I recently received a Vitamix for my birthday (Thanks Mumsy and Daddy!) and now Elijah gets one fruit and veggie smoothie a day. He LOVES them and often times will suck them down in about ten minutes. 

We are spending more and more time outside. Our boy has loved the outdoors from the very beginning and I try to make sure his gets at least an hour of outdoor time every day. We are starting to develop a sort of pre preschool routine in learning. Not too much structure yet but every day I try to incorporate music, language development and recess (outdoor time!) into our day. As he gets older I hope to dedicate more of our day to learning.  

I got a few shots of Elijah dressed before heading to church. :)

Such a curious little guy.

Read To Me

Elijah loves books and being read to.  He will bring books on request but he also does it on his own several times a day.  I have always loved to read, for entertainment purposes and (in recent years) learning and I love that I see this same love of books in Elijah.  Because he is not a huge fan of naps and bedtimes, we do not have bedtime reading time as I thought we would. I find that too many "sleep ques" ending up defeating the purpose. So we make sure to take time several times a day to read together. He already has favorites that he likes read to him over and over and in fact, most books he likes read to him at least twice. I will finish the book and put it down and he will push it back towards me as if to say "Read again Mama" or maybe it is more like "Hey you.  You aren't finished yet..."  I do make a point to choose some books for him so that he has the opportunity to broaden his horizons a bit and fall in love with other stories. 

My parents gave Elijah this cute onesie with "Read To Me" on it and I thought this was the perfect photo shoot outfit for this post!

"Read to me, Mama"

"I'll go pick out a book!"

My cute little book worm

"NOW can we read?"

He looks like such a big boy and yet still looks like a baby.

Look at that mouth full of teeth.....okay maybe only two....

A boy on a mission.....

"Mr. Duck wants to hear story too!"

Silly Boy!

Get that tongue back in there!

He just makes my heart go pitter patter.

<3

Some of our favorites!

BE A GOOD SPORT - When I was pregnant  bought some "lots" of used books on ebay to start Elijah's collection and this was among them. He loves it! It is about sportsmanship. He loves it so much I actually had to go online and find another one because this was started falling apart.

ELIJAH'S FAMILY - This is a board book that I had made with pictures of Elijah's family. He loves to see the familiar faces and I hope this helps him learn to spell eventually. Right now it is great for learning names.

This one was from Grandmother and Granddad at Christmas. Elijah LOVES looking behind the Peekaboo pages and will actually flip them himself. I think he will have a deep love of holidays (especially Christmas) just like his Mama and Daddy.

FIVE SILLY MONKEYS: This one makes noise! And monkeys are always fun. This is a counting book though I think he likes it because he likes to push the button and hear the monkeys.

FIVE LITTLE PUMPKINS: This is actually a song (it is on one of our Raffi CD's) and each page is a line from the soon. Really great colors  in the picture but  think what he likes most about this is the rhythm.

MERRY CHRISTMAS ELMO: Each page has a song and the buttons play the music so you can sing the tune. He cannot get enough of O Christmas tree and really likes the emphasis I put on we WISH you a merry Christmas. It makes him giggle.

DEAR ZOO: This has been a favorite since he was just a couple of months old. It was the only book that could hold his attention for the longest time and was a theme I considered for his first birthday. This is another peekaboo book which he loves! It is also a great way for him to learn animals. My parents got this for him. I think my brother had this book when he was little.

LOOK LOOK: This is actually a book for babies that is pretty much pictures with just a couple of words. Babies like the contrast of the black and white but Elijah picks this book out a lot and I try to elaborate on the captions. He's a fan.

YOU ARE MY WORK OF ART: This is MY favorite! It is a sweet book comparing the child to different famous paintings and how s/he is the Mama's work of art. SO TRUE! It also has a peekaboo part that shows an image of the original painting and has a little bio so it is a book we can grow with. Elijah, you ARE my work of art!