Ekern family: January 2009

Happy New Year! We hope this note finds you well and enjoying the start of a new year. We've had a wonderful holiday season with family, friends and our little peanut. Elias is now 9 1/2 months and has grown so much...both physically and developmentally. He is now 10 inches longer than he was at birth (27 inches) and 17 lbs! As we look back at pictures from his birth, we are amazed at his growth...and thankful we have a healthy little guy. He is loving solid foods and drinking from a cup...this has been so fun to watch him explore the art of eating! Although he is eating some foods, he still gets most of his nutrition from momma...which we both still love! His vocabulary is growing daily. One of our favorite times of the day is waking in the morning to our natural alarm clock...babbles from Eli. It is truly so sweet and he gets soooooo excited to talk to us and tell us about his dreams. He must dream a lot about ma ma, da da, dursch, ki ki, gersh, etc....and whatever he dreams about must be funny because he is a giggly little boy! Even though he gets so excited to see mom and dad in the morning, he is even more excited to go find Mikko and Marla...who have become his best buds! Another favorite time of our day is storytime. He LOVES touch and feel books, especially the bumpy parts where he takes his little finger and scratches the bumps! Speaking of his little finger, he has been pointing at pictures, noses and eyes, and the teeniest tiniest pieces of "things" on our floor. Little specs we had no idea existed. Each day I am amazed at his learning and how his coordination and fine motor skills have changed. Chris and I have been saying to eachother a lot lately "Our little boy is becoming a BIG little boy"...as we watch him start to crawl and pull himself up on things! Here are some pictures of him standing holding onto his wooden box toy...