He becomes more and more a little person everyday. Like all people, he has his moods and his up and downs. However, on the whole, I can say that he is someone who is curious and loves to explore the world. He has a sense of humor, and is ready to enjoy the world. However, he does feel his emotions intensely.  Hangry Ellis is definitely a thing! And he's he'll be waving his arms, chattering one moment, and have his head down on his highchair the next, tired as can be. It's in turns funny, endearing and a bit baffling because there is little warning as he goes from one emotion to the next. Additionally, this month he has been more clingy with this mama. We think it was due to teething; that phase seems to have passed, thank goodness!

We are trying to sprout some teeth over here! Emphasis on the trying part. We've yet to see teeth, but the pain has definitely been making itself known. You can see at least some of the  teeth clearly under the gums, which is why we are sure it is teething and not something else. However, after a two week watch for them, still no little teeth. All gum. 

Ellis is now able to roll over from belly to back pretty much anytime he wants to. He's rolled back to belly too, but I've yet to see it. Once he did it while his grandparents babysat and once at night in his crib. Here's to seeing that ability solidify because that was a starling position to find him in- just a bit!

Our little man still loves his puppies, his stuffed animals, and holds a special place in his heart for his grandpa (and consequently, because of this, he has an especial interest in older men, especially ones with beards like his grandpa!) If he could be upside down all the time, he would; as it is, he loves when his daddy will hold him upside down by his legs. Being tossed by daddy or balanced on one hand by daddy or held up high by daddy- those are all pretty good too. For games, he still loves bouncing in his exersaucers, but he also enjoys taking this apart or taking things out of other things. Toys like stacking blockings are great fun.

He also continues to love music and reading. Current favorite songs include: Despacito- he adores the guitar at the beginning- and Smash Mouth's Walking on the Sun-once again, for the instrumental opening. And, just so you don't think we only play music we like, Ellis is also partial to Raffi's "Baby Baluga." His need to read is also growing. If we are sitting anywhere near a boad book, he's reaching for it. He's no longer trying to chew them much either. He loves to look at the pictures, and the words. He also has very definite favorites and even more obviously books he doesn't enjoy (he will start reaching for other books if I try to read a non-favored book). His current favorite book is a Babylit book version of The Jungle Book.

Also- his latest favorite joke is when anyone says "A-choo!"  Just sit with that lil' bit of cuteness for a moment and let it really sink in. <3

EATING

We seem to vacillate between sleeping through the night (12 hours!) or waking 3 or more times a night. There is no in between. We've been blaming this on teething, but who knows? For naps, he's pretty solidly 2 naps a day now starting a nap at about nine in the morning and napping again about one-ish in the afternoon. These naps typically each last from one to two hours.

Got herself some friends! Well- kind of. It seems rather obvious in retrospect, but one of the things that most surprised me about staying at home, was my social ties changed. Previous to this, most of the people I was friends with worked in the school system with me. For obvious reasons, I know see them a lot less. My own parents moved to town this year, in order to be closer to grandkids, so I see quite a lot of them. However, friends in similar situations to my own have been thin on ground- until this month, anyway. I joined the local moms' group, called MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers). I'll let you know how things go this year with this!