Personality

Dear Elliot,
You are at such an incredibly fun age right now. It is such a joy to watch your personality really begin to emerge. From the moment I knew you existed inside me, I wondered what you'd be like; who you'd become. And now I get to watch it happen. It is just so exciting!

The most obvious personality trait that is really coming out these days is how social and friendly you are. Just like your mama as a baby, you are 100% a total extrovert. You love meeting new people and always want to be the center of attention. It is so much fun taking you out and about because you smile and charm and flirt with just about everyone we cross paths with. I swear it takes us 10 minutes to make it down every grocery aisle because we are constantly stopping for your admirers :) I need to get a video of it somehow, but my favorite is how as soon as you notice someone looking at you, you start grinning and kicking your feet and rocking back and forth in the cart, so excited.

Happy in your swag cart cover :)

You are also very interested in what the people around you are saying and doing. For example, we started going to ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education--kind of like preschool for babies) classes on Thursday nights and you sit and pay such close attention to the 'teacher' whenever she is talking. I think it's so neat that you really seem to understand who/what to focus on amidst so many distractions in the room. I watch you watching her and it's like you're trying so hard to figure out what she is saying. I love it.

Along with that, you are a really great communicator. Obviously you aren't speaking yet, but you have so many ways of letting us know what you want/need. We started doing a few basic signs about a month ago and it so amazing to see you starting to recognize them. Your favorite, of course, is 'milk.' You can't actually do the sign yourself yet, but as soon as I start making the motion with my hands and saying 'milk?' you get so excited and smile really big and grab my hands like, "yes!! Milk!!"

The other day we were laying in bed singing one of your favorite song, 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,' and you discovered that if you pushed on my mouth after I finished singing, I would sing more. How cool that you a) figured out that the singing is coming from my mouth and b) came up with an easy way of letting me know that you wanted more of it. Here's a video of it:

You are also developing quite the sense of humor. You think it's absolutely hysterical to put your pacifier in my (or Dad's) mouth. You also laugh like crazy whenever we pretend to eat your hands or feet:

One thing about your personality that might be challenging down the line is I can already tell you are not a big fan of sharing. You seem to have a pretty developed sense of 'mine.' I'm not sure if that's just how all (almost) six-months olds are like or what, but you like to have all the toys in your lap whenever you're playing with friends. I'll take one and show it to your buddy, and you drop whatever you were playing with and grab for it. 

Right before you grabbed Junie's paci right out of her mouth!

I think you're going to end up being pretty independent, too. You are very content to play on the floor by yourself for pretty long periods of time. You also like to do everything yourself, whenever possible. Like if I put your paci in your mouth for you, you'll usually pull it right out and pop it back in yourself. And then there's the whole bottle thing: you refuse to be fed a bottle, but you'll gladly drink from a cup. Even when we're feeding you food, you like to grab onto the spoon and help direct it into your mouth. 

And you already want to be standing on your own (slow down, kid!!):

But as independent as you are, you are equally as cuddly. You are my sweet little mama's boy who loves to snuggle:

I sure hope that part of your personality never goes away :)

I love you so much, little El--who you are today and who you'll be tomorrow.

XOXO,

Mom