Blood work & Christmas stuff!

Eli had to get blood drawn this week for lead & iron testing (they do this around his age to make sure the levels are okay). I was a little scared about this, just because it wouldn't be a quick shot like a vaccination, but 20 or seconds of a needle in his arm! I then thought that surely they would do a different way of drawing blood for a 15 month old, but I was wrong! They take it exactly like they do an adult!! I was SO nervous for him thinking he would just have a fit & it would take numerous tries to get it done. The tech doing the job was really great and she told me to hold him in my lap, hold his left arm with my left arm, & put my right arm across his chest. She then held his right arm & I decided I should try to think of something quick to try to distract him as best I could. He likes "Old McDonald" so I quietly began singing it in his ear as she put the rubber sincher thing around his arm, looked for a vein, and then carefully poked a small needle in his arm. To my amazement, ELI DIDN'T EVEN FLINCH!!! I was so proud of him & the tech was nice & put a smiley face on his bandage. Oh, and the results came back normal! Phew!!!

Eli sees his daddy & mommy drink coffee every morning. Lately he has started to feel left out & begins to cry if he doesn't have a coffee cup of his own. Below is Eli with his own coffee cup (a mug that is broken:):

After Eli is done eating, he waits patiently in his high chair while I clean up. This is how he chilled as I cleaned on Saturday:

This year we had to be creative about our Christmas tree arrangement. We brought up the coffee table & small ottoman from the basement & strategically placed them. Another funny thing, is when I first started buying Christmas decor for myself (when single & childless), I liked to buy what I considered sophisticated decor in silver & gold. I also decided I liked stars & have bought many stars in the same color scheme. Well, since having Eli, my decor has shifted a little to cute "kiddie" decor: santas, snowmen, Rudolph, snowglobes, etc. I will say that Eli had such an amazing look on his face when he first saw the decorated tree, mantle & stockings. He really loves it which makes my shift in decor all worth it :)

Eli loves the tree SO much he tries very hard to find ways to touch the tree:

Our tree has remote controlled lights (we got it at a steal price 2 years ago on black Friday). Eli loves any kind of remote & turns on & off the lights numerous times a day:



Last year we bought Eli his stocking has Rudolph that sings his famous song (& we decorated it with his name & year with glitter....again, very kiddie-like). Last year I think he just kinda stared at it, but this year, he points at it & fusses until you make him sing. Eli also likes to dance to Rudolph & the dancing tree:





This year, we bought a Rudolph stuffed animal that sings & his nose lights up. Eli knows how to make him sing all by himself:



Eli enjoys his antlers very much, as you can see:

Eli continues to expand his vocabulary & does a lot of mimicking. I haven't put any new words on his list because most of the words this week have been mimicked, without a whole lot of connection. It's still cute though! Below are a couple of videos of him saying some "words":

This week Eli gets his second dose of the flu shot, we have a visit from our parent educator, & we get our Clarkson family picture taken (with grandma, grandpa, uncle Blake & cousin Sammie)! We hope to get in our visit to Santa this week, too. Have a great week everyone!

P.S. Today (Monday) he's said ball several times while touching or pointing to a ball. I've added it to the list!!