growing up too fast

The past two weeks have been quite monumental in the Akridge house. I feel like Eli has decided that he is ready to grow up. Everyday he has conquered a new trick and many times it has surprised those of us watching. I caught a couple of these moments on camera. It is funny to watch him discover how to do something new. The other day Mom and I were watching him scoot around on his belly and then he flipped up to a sitting position. He immediately looked at us and smiled. He is becoming less and less frustrated, the more mobile he gets. Now I have to keep my eyes open and watch him a whole lot more closely. He loves rolling under beds and climbing onto shelves to pull things down. His favorite "toys" are water bottles, clothes hangers, shoes, and tags...to name a few.

I sat up all by myself.

Crawling to get a shoe. I have to admit that Chris worked extremely hard with Eli to get him to crawl. I think he made Eli practice everyday in order to accomplish this task. I'm just glad Chris will be home starting next week to help me keep up with the little guy.

I laid him down for a nap and he got real quiet. I walked to his door to see if he had conked out and caught him doing this! Needless to say, the crib went down to its lowest level that night.

I always give him a sippy cup to play with while I'm getting his food ready. I usually just chews on it. On this day, he figured out how it works and enjoyed getting the water out. At the same sitting, I gave him some little puffs, which he usually just throws on the floor and spits out if I put them in his mouth, but on this occasion he picked them up one by one and ate them!