Park time!

On the second day of Christmas...

Christmas night, we drove up to Fresno to celebrate Christmas day, take two with Dustin's family, starting the morning off with eating a frosted Christmas tree of rolls.

I managed to snap yet another picture of baby-crawling-away-from-Christmas-tree.

Elijah continued to be only mildly interested in presents as such.

He did enjoy playing with his new toys, though.

It was the first Christmas without everyone there--Heather, Joel, and Teddy were missed! Skype just isn't the same.

Games were played in the afternoon, with Jason almost beating Dustin at chess.

Elijah liked playing the piano.

We finished the evening with Grandpa and Grandma K. joining us for a delicious Christmas roast.

10 Months

Elijah is now ten months. He loves cruising and crawling and will occasionally practice balancing on his own for a second. He likes to be on the move!

He got his first two teeth and has also mastered drinking from a straw.

He likes all things electronic--computers and phones are his favorites. He likes pushing buttons and seeing what they do.

He still loves his books. Favorite Christmas reads are "The Little Drummer Boy" and "Spot's First Christmas." "Goodnight, Gorilla," "Freight Train," and "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" continue to be favorite books. His favorite Christmas song is "Joy to the World," I think because that's the hymn my students were learning over the Christmas season.

He's weaned himself from the pacifier (for months now it has only been offered at naps and bedtime, and now it is strongly rejected). It is good only for chewing on.

He has said, "vroom," "bread," and "dada" appropriately multiple times, although he is not consistent in his language usage. He seems to be on the verge of saying many other words. The other morning I asked him to "Give daddy a kiss," and he turned and did!

Cousins!

Elijah enjoyed trying to keep up with Ella at our family gathering.

On the first day of Christmas...

Elijah started off Christmas with the ultimate baby breakfast: water from a cup

and cheerios straight from the box.

He knew we had been holding out on him with our offers of mere handfuls.

Then it was time for pictures under a tree and a nap.

He wisely realized that good napping conditions would be scarce in days to come and settled in for a three hour nap.

Then it was time to open presents!

He liked tearing little bits of paper into tinier bits of paper, but on the whole wasn't too big on the opening presents idea. But thought that all the attention was fun.

After our Christmas morning as a threesome, we headed up to my uncle's to celebrate with my family.

Christmas time pictures

Some Christmas time cuteness:

Merry Christmas!

Tigger at Disneyland

Yesterday, we enjoyed a drizzly late afternoon at Disneyland with my family.

Perfect for bringing out the cozy Tigger outfit our neighbor gave us; he got lots of oohs and aahs.

Waiting in line with Grandpa

On the Casey Jr. Train

At Elijah's favorite ride: "It's a Small World" -- lots of lights, music, and moving things, what more could a baby want?

Swinging

Enjoying recess with the big kids

Morning reading time

Sitting on the floor with books is a good way to start the day

9 Months

Elijah is now nine months old.

Just when we thought he couldn't get any cuter, he did!

He now waves "bye" and will crawl to the door to greet his daddy when he gets home from work.

He says "vroom, vroom" when pushing his cars on the ground.

He has developed a strong desire for bread; he will sit at meals asking for bread (Mmmm! Mmmmm!) until the request is granted. It does not matter whether bread is actually within sight. Out of sight is not out of mind.

He's a steady crawler now. He is able to make his way up and down one step. He likes to pull himself up on anything available.

It's beginning to look like Christmas

Keeping up

Ella can walk. Elijah can't and has trouble with steps.

Ella is carrying a phone that has buttons and makes noise!

Almost within reach!

Foiled by the more mobile cousin; if she would just stay still he could get it

On being the littlest cousin

Ella (16 months) patiently trying to feed Elijah a cheerio

Rand giving Elijah kisses