Happy 11-month birthday, Eli!

OMG. Eli is almost a year old. How did that happen? I feel only slightly more competent as the caregiver of a child after 11 months with him. Why are there not better instructions on how to do this?
He is doing really well. He remains a giant. He has actually pulled himself up from sitting to standing using the coffee table (at least twice). He still can't get from lying to sitting. Not sure when that'll happen. He also can't crawl but he will sometimes pull himself across the floor military-style (like he's crawling under one of those rope nets or something) if there's something worth his while. So far, water bottles and our High School Musical box of tissues are about the only things deemed worthy of the effort. He can play peekaboo, do "so big!" (though a little inconsistently), and "lay keppe" (which means "lay your head down" in Yiddish - well, keppe is Yiddish).

He is eating more foods now too. He survived DAIRY! We are planning an ice cream cake for his birthday (mostly b/c it'll be Passover - poor kid! I bet that's going to happen to him a lot and it's going to S-U-C-K! - but partially b/c I haven't attempted eggs again after the barf incident. Though I think wheat is okay.). What I really need to do now is get better about getting him more appropriate finger foods so he can do some more of the work.

I am sort of starting to wean him too (or, rather, I'd really like to be done with the boobs as soon as possible after he turns 1). But that's not going awesomely. In an ironic twist, the kid who had such issues with the boob early on never really took to the bottle and still isn't awesome with a cup - after quite a few weeks of him getting one at least 3 times a day (just with water though - he is icked out by juice. Weirdy.). I don't know how I'm ever getting him off the boob. I was planning on giving him a cup of boobmilk for one of his regular feedings but I don't produce very much in the middle of the day (when I was thinking of doing it). So I don't seem to be able to pump a good amount for a serving (though who knows how much he gets when he usually eats then anyway). So I thought I'd try formula. I used some stuff they gave us at the hospital. He didn't like it, and I tried it and it was GROSS! I think the dha/ara stuff in it made it taste like fish oil (which I remember from puking up my prenatal vitamins a few times - also gross). No wonder he was not into it. So...I am going to try again today. And give him the almost 3 oz I just pumped and call that good enough.

Oh...I think I hear him now...wish me luck!


BTW, here's one of his girlfriends again, Mary Hatch. Notice how she's putting the moves on him...