For comparison, the boys at 6 months

Yes, yes, they DO look alike. Not identical twins, but definitely brothers!

For other comparison, at 6 months Patrick was crawling on all fours (not army crawling) but could not roll over. He could also stand up for long periods while holding on to a chair or table. He was not even CLOSE to sleeping through the night. Eli has roughly been sleeping through the night since 6 weeks. He can roll circles around the room but does not crawl, instead he puts his face on the floor and gets his butt in the air, then pushes off with his toes to get forward motion no hands involved, kinda like this: *This is Patrick at 4 months

Eli, 6 months

Well, 6 months next week. Today I found his first tooth is all the way through already! Didn't even know it was coming in, he's been happy and sleeping well and no fever and no weird diapers and no NOTHING. Let's keep it up, Eli! Only a mouthful to go! While Patrick was napping I had some fun taking his 6-month pictures, I've wanted to try this li'l setup for a while and I think it turned out kinda cute :)

Ties

Even though Patrick woke up at 5:00 Sunday morning and church wasn't until 10:00, we were still almost 30 minutes late. Maybe we were a little too caught up taking pictures of our well-outfitted men?

More of Eli eating

Eli enjoys eating more than ever (he enjoys it more and he eats more, that's not a dangling modifier!) and he gets pretty crazy if you're too slow in getting that spoon to his mouth.

Potty Training

Don't worry, no gruesome details, because there are no gruesome details to share! Everything's gone 100 times better than I could have expected. After about a week of lower-half-nakedness we tried pants with no diaper, and he had 2 accidents right in a row, so we went back to lower-half-nakedness. Now, 3 weeks in, he seems to be great with pants and big-boy underwear (though we still haven't attempted any public trips, just because we're wusses. I bet he'd do fine); he sleeps without a diaper, he spends the whole day without a diaper, and he goes to the potty all by himself without announcing he has to go. A few days ago Joe put him down for a nap and Patrick was quiet for about 30 minutes, then he heard the bedroom door open and Patrick pitter-patter over to the bathroom, and then something hit the toilet water.... oh, no! What could it be?? Have no fear, he had pooped and brought it over to flush! We were both mightily impressed. He's quite a guy!

Updates

Just to catch up, things are good!
-Eli's rolling over like a champ, and can get all around the living room using his scooting/rolling techniques. He is also very grabby, so if you hold him, watch out! He'll tip your dinner plate right into your lap.

-Due to his increasing size and mobility, Eli has moved out of his cradle and into a pack n play. Soon he'll be in the crib in Patrick's room, but for the moment Patrick seems to be traumatized that Eli is sleeping in the crib, when clearly the crib is PATRICK'S (even though he moved straight from the cradle into the bed he's in now, skipping cribs entirely).

-Patrick was inspired by cousin Nana's (Kalena's) potty success, so when Joe whipped his diaper off and pronounced he would now be using the potty, Patrick obliged. So far, two weeks down, we've only had one pee accident, and that was because he couldn't make it to the potty in time. 3 poop accidents, though, so when he DOES have a diaper (like when we run errands) he makes good use of it. It works out for both of us, I think :)

- Joe's been working like crazy, but in his time off he still managed to make planters and help me plant my spring veggies. I think I planted things a little late this year, but my spinaches are doing GREAT! Looking forward to lots of food storage this year.

- The weather has still been chilly, but the boys have enjoyed being outdoors, especially going on bike rides. Joe and I have been enjoying the extra excercise, even if our butts are pretty sore :)

Why is Patrick carrying an umbrella?

Fo' drizzle!

The weather was cold and wet today, but Patrick is an outdoorsy kind of guy, so he still wanted to be out. Since he's potty training, no pants or underwear, just cute li'l butt cheeks. The umbrella was a bit big for him, but he LOVED it :)

learning moments

Every moment is a learning moment, and often they're moments you least expect! Two fun learning moments around here:

Me: Patrick! Grrr! Hold your horses!
Patrick ran to grab his plastic toy horse, which he brought to me and squeezed tightly.

While cutting down some bushes out front, Patrick tried to pick up a stick, but it was still attached to the bush. He was frustrated, so I explained it was attached. Attached means they are connected. He explained to me - "tached....be-bo, mama!" Yep, your belly button is where you used to be attached to mama's tummy! What a smart guy.

More, peas!

Eli's been intently watching us eat for some time, now, and the past week or so we've been experimenting with food. He mostly just eats off our plates - some spaghetti sauce here, some ranch dressing there, maybe a little ice cream for dessert, and he really enjoys it! To give him more than just a taste, though, I brought out the big guns - Gerber mashed peas. After the peas were gone, he obviously wanted some more big-boy food. He LOVES sucking the juice from clementine slices! I had a great video where he was loving being a big boy and eating from a spoon, but not loving the taste, so he'd open up really wide for each spoonful but then make a ridiculous face when he tasted it! Of course, me being scatterbrained, I deleted it not 5 minutes later, thinking it was just a poorly-taken picture. So I took another, and by this time he was just (messily) enjoying his meal.