So This is the New Year

I hope that everyone had a great New Year with thoughtful reflection on how to make this next year even better.

We had a low-key New Year's Eve, which is exactly how I like it.  We went to visit the horses, then had lunch, Chris went to work, Eliot took a very long nap, and I had dinner mostly ready when Chris came home.  After dinner, we played with Eliot and he wore himself out by crawling around the kitchen island, playing hide and seek, and climbing up the stairs.  Eliot and I called it a night early while Chris did work on his laptop in bed.  He woke me up at midnight for a New Year's kiss and told me how much he loved me and our babe.  Perfect.

On New Year's Day, we lounged around some while Eliot ate breakfast.  He is a slow eater, but that's really how we should eat and it gives us some extra time to relax.  After some playtime, Eliot took a nap and we headed to Target for some simple things:  formula (the last box!), bottle liners, a new sippy cup, and a few small things.

Oh, and then in the evening, Eliot did something hilarious.  He reached in our attempts of a childproof drawer where we were keeping our Christmas money until we deposit it.  He pulled out all of the money and gave it to the cat.  Haha!  When he was done, he put it all back in the drawer.  It was hilarious.  The extra funny thing is that we were hoping to take a photo of Neko with all the money like that cats with money tumblr.

We've been trying some new, challenging things with Eliot.  Most simply, we're working with him eating with a spoon.  He really understood right away, but found using his hands a little easier.  Ha!  He's doing great, though, and getting there.

Also, I converted his crib to a toddler bed.  OK, before you freak out and say he is too young, yeah, I know he probably is.  And I'm not just throwing him in there yet.  See, he doesn't use his crib.  At all.  Ever.  He cries when he sees it.  He was fine with being left in it until we tried letting him cry it out.  I'm sure cry it out works for some kids, maybe even a lot of kids, but it doesn't work for Eliot.  I tried multiple times.  I never felt comfortable with it and we absolutely love having him in bed with us, so co-sleeping has worked great.  It would be nice, though, if he would nap in his bed so I can get other (non-computer-based) things done.

 Right now, I'm trying to get him used to the toddler bed itself.  We lay in it together.  We sit in it.  We play in it.  We point out the animals on his sheet.  He's not afraid of it, but he doesn't see it as his "safe place" yet.  I need to get him to accept it as a good, safe place to be before he will consider sleeping in it, so I converted it early since we're not even using it as a crib to get him used to it.  I ordered a guard rail and a video monitor to keep him safe and am hoping that maybe I can get him to just nap in it soon.  I'll see if he is interested in sleeping alone during the night at 18 months.  If so, awesome.  If not, we'll wait until he is ready.