14 months old today

Eli is 14 months old today. Everyday he becomes less and less my baby and more and more my little boy. Here's what he's been up to...

He loves to vacuum. I mean, he really loves to vacuum. His favorite toy right now is probably his toy vacuum cleaner. He gives the kitchen a good cleaning everyday with it. He also loves the real one- to watch and to help.

He chases the cat like a wild man. He shrieks, runs after her (yes, he can run now) and tackles her. She's a good sport about it...unless he puts a kung foo death grip on her tail. If we tell him to give Gracie a hug, he will. Then he kisses her.

He likes to hand me things that he finds- like lint, or a pine needle, or a sock. He's very proud of himself.

His favorite book right now is Silent Night. It plays the song and has lights aound baby Jesus that flicker. We play it in the dark before bed and in the mornings. He puts his head on my chest and watches the lights. When it's over, he sits up and signs for "more." We play it half a dozen times or so, and then I tell him it's time for both the book and Eli to go to sleep.

My parents came down this weekend, and my mom used her hairdryer on Eli's wet head after bathtime. He loved it! For some reason, he doesn't like mine as much now though.

He has really mastered "mooing." It's really cute. He'll be looking through books and moos when he sees a cow. Sometimes he walks up to me and moos out of context. Then I wonder if I really should eat that big bowl of ice cream....

He's a huge fan of goldfish crackers. He'll walk over to the pantry signing for more. He signs more pretty much all the time. Sometimes Kevin and I don't know what he wants. We think sometimes he does it just to see what he'll get. Stinker.

He's such a busy boy. He's always up to something.