The Not-So-Little Man

With all the excitement of Anika's ever expanding vocabulary, dare devil acrobatics, and her new ability to work with me when it comes time for a photo shoot, the little E man often seems forgotten on my hip. I have neglected to say that I am falling in love with him.

He is now almost 5 months and past the "all I can do is sleep, eat and poop" stage. He now smiles at everyone, laughs at Boone and when you tickle his ribs, and desperately tries to put everything he can get his hands on in his mouth. He is becoming so much fun.

Now don't get me wrong. I have always loved the little guy, but its about time he started "giving back" so to speak. Dan was holding him the other night and Eli couldn't stop his little hands from exploring every bit of his daddy's face. (See pics below.)

At his 4 month checkup (granted, this was 2 weeks into the 4th month), my son weighed 17lbs. Now, if you don't have children, or maybe don't remember the correlation between weigh and months of age...this is huge! Some children don't even weigh 20lbs. when they turn 1 year!

And he has also become quite smart about getting his way. Once we kicked him out of the swing for sleeping, he learned very quickly that mom and dad don't like to listen to him cry. I mean he was still sleeping in our room at 4 months (bad move, very bad move)! Recently he graduated downstairs (the main floor as opposed to our attic master bedroom) to his crib, and he figured, "I can get these parents to come down here a lot if I just wail for awhile. After all, they wouldn't want me to wake my sister." Well, I finally worked up the nerve, after some nudging from the pediatrician, to show the little guy who's boss. Let's just say he "cried it out" for 45 minutes straight, fell asleep briefly and then awoke to cry another 20 minutes before finally passing out from exhaustion. And no, his sister did not wake up at all.

Poor guy. It seems though that every night gets better. He is becoming my little man. After holding a great friend's little newborn son (who was born with the same stats as Eli), it hit me how much he's grown. I couldn't help but tear up knowing the newborn days are gone, but it feels good to know there are so many more enjoyable baby days ahead.