Da Da Ba Ba

Ely lies to say da and ba to his toys.

He loves to scoot everywhere.

Patient Observant Ely

Today we went to went to the Early Childhood Cognition Lab at UW for a study that they are doing with babies. I was a bit nervous at first because it took me awhile to find the lab and it was Ely's feeding time. We got to the lab just in time and Ely took his bottle before he got preoccupied with his new surroundings.

The study was very simple. They did a little puppet show with two toys (green frog and red truck toy). They were trying to see if Ely would favor one toy over the other because of positive reinforcement. A person would say "hi", look at both toys, hold up the red toy, smile, and say "WOW". It took 10 minutes and by the end, Ely got very bored. At the very end of the study, they had me hold Ely up to the the toys and see which one he preferred. They had me try it twice. Both times, he first felt the test table, whacked it a couple of times, and went directly to the red toy. He didn't even glance at the other toy. It was pretty amazing to see how positive reinforcement had such influence on a baby.

After the test, the researcher told me that it took only 6 trainer tests before the actual study started. I guess some babies can take up to 14 tests before they knew what the test was about. The minimum is 6 tests and Ely had figured it out by then what the test was about. The researcher said that he was observant and apparently it is a trait that lasts when they grow up. The assistant also commented that Ely starred at the puppets for a long time. :) Ely likes to stare at new things, new faces....he is a curious boy.

Little Ely has THREE little teeth coming in on top. I knew about one as it's been coming in for about a week now. I was letting Ely gnaw my finger and sure enough, I felt the other two teeth. I can't wait until they come in and Ely smiles. He is going to look so funny. :)

Bottom -(2) Central incisor: check!

Top-(1) Central incisor: check!

Top -(2) Lateral incisor: check!

We're very excited to announce that Ely's been chosen for See Kai Run's 2010 Fall catalog. We hope that he gets more than a picture of his foot in the catalog. We'll see!

8 months old

At 8 months old, Ely is:

28 inches in length - 25-50%

19.5 pounds - 25-50%

19 inches head circumference - 95%

Ely is growing up to be a very happy sweet boy. He loves to smile and laugh. He also helped his friend Kaylie recover from a fall as she cried. He patted her tummy while he waited for Mayboobae to help Kaylie. Ely also cries when he thinks that he hurt someone (if someone says "ouch" after he hits someone).

(Sorry Ely.....you are just so cute when you make that face!).

Ely is starting to scoot. He will be crawling very soon. He has perfected his rolling technique and can roll around very quickly to anywhere. Ely has especially taken a liking to my laptop and whenever I am on the laptop, Ely will roll over to me. He likes to pound on the keyboard and act like he is doing something very important.

Today I made Ely organic quinoa and avocado for dinner. He ate lots of it. I made so much of it and there was still a ton left after I filled up little containers for the freezer. There was even enough for Toby and Charlie. They enjoyed eating it too. Toby wasn't too sure at first but once he saw Charlie eating it, Toby decided that it was not bad at all either.

Ely's first word is "hi". It's hard to record him saying it because he only says it once when he sees us. He is starting to say "hi" and raise his arm at the same time. Ely is growing up so fast!

We love you Ely! We're so grateful that you are growing up to be such a healthy, happy, sweet boy! We look forward to your first walk, your second word, first full sentences, ...... we can't wait!

I'm sorry

I'm sorry...

Ely was pulling on daddy's face and daddy said "ow, Ely, stop" (not loudly at all) and Ely started to cry. We tried it again...and sure enough, Ely cried again. He made a very sad face and cried very very sadly. I said "ow" really loudly at Ely once when I was feeding him and he bit me. He must have still remembered that and thinks that he did something horribly wrong when someone says "ow" to him. Poor kiddo.

Computer!

Ely likes to type on the Mac. I offered him a PC keyboard but he didn't like it. We're looking for our broken laptop so that Ely can type on the keyboard, although I have a feeling Ely will still prefer the Mac.

Pumpkin Patch

Our friends invited to the South 47 Farm in Redmond on Sunday so that our little babies could pick out pumpkin for Halloween. Baby Olivia and Ely were very patient as we snapped away pictures and pick out pumpkins.

Crackers! Crackers!

I love crackers!

Thanks to our friend Lisa, Ely has started to eat MumMum crackers. He absolutely loves eating these. We just got a huge box of them from Amazon.com because he eats 3-4 crackers per day. Ely kept hitting the MumMum box (maybe he knew it was "his" box of crackers).

We can't eat snacks next to Ely without Ely crying for his too. He grabs at my mouth trying to get the cracker from my mouth.

While Ely was eating his cracker, I reached over and asked for a bite. Surprisingly, Ely shoved his cracker in my mouth. :) Such nice boy!

High-Five Ely!

Daddy is teaching Ely how to do high-fives. He has done it successfully during dinner tonight. We'll see if he remembers it tomorrow. :)

I want mommy!

I picked up Ely yesterday and when I got to the LC, Mayboobae was holding Ely. As soon as Ely saw me, he reach over with his arms open and laughed. It was the first time Ely reached over for me. :) Sweet boy!

Tickle Tickle!

Ely has been very ticklish lately. It's like the tickle nerves may have just kicked in lately. He also loves to "tickle" me by blowing raspberries on me. It's funnier to watch his expression afterwards as he looks up at me.

Cold Weather....

It has been very cold at night lately. It's pretty warm when he goes to bed but he has woken up with very cold hands and feet. We finally gave in and got (yes another one...) a heater from Costco with a temperature setting. It's worked wonderfully last night, although it may have been extra toasty in his room (the cold humidifier countered the extra warmth).

Pumpkin Patch?

Yes, it's already that time and we're going to a pumpkin patch for the first time. We've always resorted to buying one from QFC but this time, we're going to start a tradition and go to a pumpkin patch with Ely. :)

LC Update:

Ely is scooting on his back by pushing with his feet.

Ely got stuck behind a rocking chair so Ely tried to push the chair before he finally gave up and decided to roll around the chair. :P Ely was able to pull a blanket with his 4 month old buddy on it so I could imagine Ely thought that he could move the chair too.

Ely said "hi" to his buddy Cade and to Mayboobae. He "sort" of says it to us too but we're not too sure.