Grandaddy Norman gave Eli the coolest toy ever. It is a dashboard with a steering wheel, a horn, turn signal and an ignition. It makes car sounds and talks... Oh and it sings the alphabet and teaches numbers and colors, but we like the car sounds!

Last weekend, we travelled to North Carolina to see Grandaddy Norman and everyone in Pilot Mountain. Eli always likes to see his Great Grandma.

Now, to interrupt this picture collage with a few words. It has beena good couple of weeks here in Casa York-Simmons. Eli has been a jewel. He is getting really fun, sleeping and eating well, laughing a lot. He's a charmer for sure.

Kevin got a family Zoo Atlanta membership since we are so close and the two of them go there at least twice a week to check out the gorillas and to look in on baby Mei Lan, the panda who is right about Eli's age.

Eli started The Music Class last week and it is a blast. Eli and I go on Friday mornings and learn songs, play instruments and dance dance dance! He is in class with his friends Caroline and Baikal (forever the ladies man). Eli is especially excited to show off his singing skills to his Aunt Elizabeth in Boston. She's a great singer, too. Now if only he could get the words right...

The biggest news of this week is that Eli has started nursery school! He is going to Bright Horizons two days a week and he is in Miss Glenda's class. Glenda evokes a big smile from the little flirt, so we have nothing to worry about. He had a great day yesterday and came home all tuckered out from playing.

Kevin calls the "high-tailing". I call it one cute bum!

The problem with hand-me-downs and big baby feet.

Well, here we are again with another big stack of pictures to share. Seems like this would be easier if I could just get around to doing this every few days instead of every few weeks, huh?

First, in case you didn't get enough applesaucy goodness the first time around, here are some of the little stinker eating. He has a brand-spankin'-new high chair that he likes a lot. Put him in it and he turns into a squawking baby bird ready for dinner!

Can you believe it? Eli turns SIX MONTHS OLD today!

I'm a terrible picture theif. I nabbed this picture from the Frilingos' website. Here's Baikal, Paul, Tabasco (the dog), Kevin and Eli reading books at the beach.

As I've mentioned before, Eli and I occasionally join a Saturday morning run/walk group at our church called, appropriately, Morning Run. The leader of the group, Steve, sends out a meditation after the run each week. Eli and missed the exercise this week, but I really enjoyed Steve's meditation about our little friend Paul, so thought I'd share it here:

This morning, as we were all making our way back to the ASC parking lot, scanning the sidewalk for road change and continuing the conversations we had started an hour earlier at Starbucks, the most delightful thing happened. Little Paul Frilingos was walking with his dad. Actually, he was proudly walking with his dad, holding on to his right hand as if his life depended on it. And so, caught up in the delight of the moment, I walked around to Paul's right side (his dad was on his left) and took his right hand to balance out the equation.

Now you all know what happens with young children when you offer them your hand, or even your finger, for a walk: They grasp it...firmly. Actually, they grip it--crush it--tightly without hesitation and then appear so immensely grateful for all the help. This was most certainly little Paul's response, since his expression screamed: "Look everybody, I can walk all by myself (with a little help)!" He had two adults balancing him, one on his left and one on his right; two adults framed this huge grin from ear to ear: nose running, shirttail hanging out, pants kind of falling down. But delighted, absolutely delighted, in what he was accomplishing all by himself (with a little help...but for now, let's ignore the help).

And you know, it hit me then right between the eyes: This is precisely what we are. We're not runners or walkers or coffee drinkers or road-change warriors. Not really. We're participants in each others lives. We're part of each other's world, and every one of us is like little Paul really. We're catapulting through this life, sometimes with a little reckless abandon, but all the while holding on fast to those we care about, fed by them, supported by them. We're doing it all by ourselves, right? Maybe...but with a little help. We might think we're all in command of our lives, but deep down inside, we're holding on fast to our friends and loved ones--maybe even our God--for support, sometimes with our n ose running, shirttail hanging out, pants kind of falling down, but delighted, absolutely delighted in what we are accomplishing all by ourselves (with a little help ...but for now, let's ignore that help part).

I've said it before and I'll say it again: The child is father of the man. And you know, children are the fastest runners and the best walkers. I know that because I can still feel the grip of that little hand in mine. I can still see that wide grin and that delightful smile in the mind's eye.

I confess, I'm an addict. I can't stop taking pictures of my kid at bath time. I'm not sure what it is, the intoxicating smell of baby soap, those cute little hoodie towels, that squeaky-clean little bum... Whatever it is, I need to get over this urge before he hits the teen years as I think it will not be so well received then.

Baby in a bucket, anyone?

This month, Eli also had his first trip to the beach. We went to Amelia Island with a whole posse of friends that included Paul and Baikal, 15 months and 14 months, respectively. At 5 months old, Eli was defintel the runt of the litter but he was taking some serious mental notes: "Ahhhh... That's how to eat cheerios." and "Okay, this walking thing is really odd." We had a great time even thought it was really cold.

Oh no! Apparently I have set my camera too high so the blogger will not load the big photos. Sorry, Faithful readers, especially since the pictures on that last post are really cute. Here are some smaller files (I hope) and some bigger ones for those of you with fancy computers.

A couple of weeks ago, Eli was welcomed intot he Body of Christ. Baptism day! It was a wonderful day and Eli acted like a little angel. He looked pretty cute, too, in a gown that I made him. the recotr of the church did the baptism, but I presided over the Eucharist. We loved getting to see our friends John and Andie, Eli's godparents. We also had a great time visiting with Elis uncle David and Grandaddy all the way from North Carolina.

Not much is happening around our house these days. That's a good thing, actually. With all of the holidays and the travelling, we were getting a bit worn out.

Here are some updates on what has been happening in Eli's world:

In the last few weeks, Eli has become an expert eater. He seems to really dig the rice cereal (yuck) and chows down a whole serving and a half without any fussing. He even tries to help, grabbing for the spoon and the bowl with gusto. Yesterday, I held the bowl a little too close to his face, so he took advantage of the moment by putting his whole face right down in it. I laughed so hard I almost fell off my chair. He didn't get it at all and got very irritated with me. We've added the occasional blob of mashed banana which he eats politely but he's still not sure about it.

He is really learning to use his hands and grabs for everything in sight. Kevin has to be careful or his glasses will get flung across the room! His favorite game right now is to lie face-to-face on the bed with me or Kevin and pat our faces, tug our ears, grab our lips. It is really sweet!

He is figuring out how to roll over a little at a time. He still only does it mostly by accident and it makes him really mad when he does. As in, "Why the heck am I now on my stomach?!? How did I get here and will one of you idiots PLEASE flip me back over??"





And now for the big announcement:
We are all sleeping!! Hooray! The first few weeks of Eli's life there was no sleep in sight. Then we learned to swaddle and that worked for a little while and we'd get 3-4 hours of sleep at a time. But he outgrew that and sleep disappeared again. Last weekend, I moved Eli into his own room and his own crib. He took it like a champ and although we missed having him in our bedroom, we all slept a little better for the couple of hours a night that he slept.



Then the breakthrough occured. In a fit of desperation, we decided to let him cry a little bit at bedtime after putting him down. It worked like a charm and within three days, Eli was sleeping 10-12 hours a night. Some nights he wakes once to nurse, but otherwise, he sleeps through the night and takes good naps in the day. He is happier, I am happier and Kevin is happier. I have a couple of hours each night after he goes to bed to organize my life (like now) and even an hour in the morning to exercise!

I have no illusions that this will last forever. He'll cut teeth or have a growth spurt and we'll go through some rough times, but for now, I'm high as a kite on sleep!

Finally, Next Sunday, Eli's getting baptized! We are very excited.

Solid foods have arrived! Eli is now officially eating rice cereal. He's not so sure if he likes it or not. He will take a bite and screech and thrash then swallow and open his mouth for more. He's sort of odd like that.

Tabasco has spent the last five years thinking that she is welcome to sit in any chair with any person. Now, there is a new person to sit with! What Tabasco learned shortly after this picture was taken is that this new person likes to grab handfuls of fur and hang on. That was not well recieved but Tabasco was still very patient.

Smiles like these are frequently spotted but rarely photographed! Do you love this or what?
At Christmas this year, he flasehed that smile to my aunt. I said, "See, that is the kind of smile that will get him in a lot of trouble." To which she replied, "Yeah, or get him out of it!"

Last weekend we had a baby party with some other little ones from our pregnancy class. It was the first time Eli had spent time around babies his age. Let's just say he was the most... ahem... animated. That is one thing about this kid. He is wide open all the time! Never just chill or hanging out, he always has things to say!
Here's Eli with his new friends Dominic and Clara and their parents. Fun was had by all!

We haven't mentioned the dogs in a while. Here's Gennie and Tabasco, Eli's big sisters, having a moment in a sunbeam.

Eli and Daddy read together. Eli's not so sure about the plot of this one.