Eliana's Blog

I'm learning lots of fun tricks these days. I've started playing "So Big," especially when I'm getting my diaper changed. Mommy likes that because it keeps my hands out of my dirty diaper and it's much better than the alligator roll. That, like a lot of my new tricks, are ones that Mommy doesn't like. Like jumping in my crib when I'm supposed to be going to sleep. Life is just too much fun for sleep. Daddy is best at snuggling me and getting me to go down. As William would say, "I like his feel." I do think it's fun to pretend to go to sleep, though. I lay down my head on a pillow or blanket and everyone says, "Night, night, Eliana." Then I smile and "wake up!" My other funny trick is to not eat my baby food. I decided the other day while we were in the baby food aisle at the store and I was watching Mommy pick out a bunch of new kinds for me to try. Ever since then, I refuse to eat off the spoon. Grandma Lanz gave Mommy a good idea of trying to sneak in bites while I'm chasing a cheerio around my tray or when I drop the pea that I was going to put in my mouth. Then I'm willing to take a few bites off the spoon. But even if it takes all day, I would much rather feed myself. Just like I took my pants off by myself the other day. I thought that was a great trick! Check out the latest pictures for more of my silliness. I'm always smiling and laughing about some crazy new adventure.

I turned 9 months old on Tuesday! The next big milestone will be my first birthday, can you believe it?!?! But first I get to experience my first Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas (not to mention Cookie Day)! It's going to be an exciting three months!

Today I got to visit my doctor again. I was up to 16 lbs 7 oz, which was the 11th percentile. I measured 26 inches, the 7th percentile, but Mommy thinks the nurse shorted me some. We were so sure I was going to shoot up more on the charts since I had a recent growth spurt, but I guess it was just typical growth because I'm still at the bottom of the ranks. That's okay. I like being a peanut.

My family has been trying to teach me some sign language. I have only waved bye-bye a couple times. So Mommy was really surprised last night when she and William were throwing balls back and forth and I kept signing "ball!" It took her a while to figure out why I kept waving my arm. But when she finally realized, she was really excited for me!

Eliana knocked the house down while trying to climb out the window

I've been really busy lately exploring everything I can get my hands on. I learned how to crawl out the windows of the playhouse, which is pretty funny. There's no more trapping me in the living room. Another fun game is to jump on my bed. I like to stand up, hold onto the crib railing and bounce. Right now I'm bopping to William's rockin' music while I sit in the living room. I also learned another new trick - shaking my head. It makes Mommy say, "No, no, no." It sure is funny!

I'm becoming a lot more mobile very quickly. It's a whole new world now that I can get around. I've mastered crawling and have moved on to cruising. I enjoy standing up next to tables, chairs or my exersaucer and playing. I can even sit myself back down, but sometimes when I'm tired I don't feel up to braving it. I am a much happier baby now that I can get around and explore. I was starting to feel a little trapped for a while there. Now I wear myself out playing happily all day. Mostly my parents trap me in the living room with barricades (the playhouse, toy boxes, furniture and my exersaucer) and so far that keeps me in a safe area. If anyone ever moves one of the blocks, I notice right away and am out the opening to explore new territory. The other night I crawled under the end table and hid behind the couch. It was funny to hear everyone looking around saying, "Where did Eliana go?" I was happily playing with Belle's toys, which are much more fun than my toys. Well, I'm off to go chew on the coffee table. Maybe I'll have a third tooth by the next blog entry.

Today I finally figured out that I could sit myself up from my hands and knees. I'm really on the move now! I can crawl, sit, and pull myself up to stand. With a little more practice, nothing in this house will be safe from my grabbing hands! Or my little tooth for that matter.

For my 8-month birthday, I celebrated by crawling a "step" or two for Daddy. I also went to Uncle Michael's 8th birthday party. Happy birthday to both of us!

I've been gnawing on my hand a lot tonight feeling the new sensation of a sharp little tooth poking out of my bottom gum. What an exciting day! Mommy tried to take a picture, but it's still pretty much impossible to see. But it's definitely there.

I just wanted to post a quick update for anyone who is worried about me. I'm feeling much better today. I still have room for improvement, but my fever is gone and my smile is starting to come back. My appetite is returning slowly, but my tummy is still upset. At least the antibiotics seem to be doing their job quickly. Hopefully we can have a fun weekend. I'll have William update after his birthday party on Sunday and let you know if I was back to my usual self - life of the party!

These last two days have been the most miserable days of my life. I've been running a temperature and my tummy has been upset. It's been hard to sleep and eat. Basically all I do is sob in Mommy's arms all day except when I drift off to sleep for a little while. All the pounding on our roof from the workers reshingling has been making it even tougher to exist in our house. So today Grandma Lanz let us come over and hang out at her house. William and I didn't nap any better than we did at home yesterday with the banging, but it was a lot less stressful. And Grandma lives really close to the clinic where Mommy took me this afternoon. My regular doctor's office had no appointments left, even though they wanted me seen today. So we went to the express care over by Grandma's house where they found both my ears were infected. That explains why I have been so miserable and had such a high fever. Now I have some medicine that will hopefully make me feel better quickly. Everyone misses my smiles.

My first annual adoptive family picnic started out with a snooze. I napped for the first half hour while William made the craft and ran around the park. This year's craft was a hand print. I didn't do one since we had recently finished a really cool hand AND foot print project at home and it's not the easiest thing to do with me, or as Mommy likes to call me, "Quickfingers." Add to that the fact that everything has a tendency to go in my mouth, and sticking my fingers in plaster of paris didn't seem like a great plan. I'm sure I'll have better luck with the craft next year. Everyone else really enjoyed their dinner. (I had some tasty cereal and pears at home.) After dinner I went around in the stroller while Mommy chatted with people. Daddy and William were off getting wet in the splash pad, or at least William was. He was also getting hurt a lot. After the third time of him crying over a new injury, Daddy decided it was time for him to go home to bed. It was still pretty early, but William hadn't napped and my evening nap (the one I mentioned earlier) wasn't much to speak of. Mommy was all for it, since she's had a bad cough this week. Next year should be more fun.

I'm sure you're wondering what's new with me. Well, I'm really interested in everything that is out of my reach. A couple days ago, while Mommy was working on getting her application ready for the new job she hopes to get, I was sitting on my blanket playing as usual. And twice I managed to wiggle and scoot my way entirely off the blanket! Once I went backward and the next time I went forward. Both times I wanted to get things that were not baby toys like cardboard boxes (aka soccer goals) or swimming lesson certificates. William's going to have to be careful where he leaves things. I can get up on my hands and knees, so as soon as I can figure out how to alternate my hands and feet, I'm going to be off like a shot!