Where did March go?

I've been a Bad Blogger and haven't posted for over a month. How could this happen? Simple answer: Work. I've been insanely busy at my job; working at 10pm or midnight or worse has not been uncommon. I spent the only beautiful weekend of March working about 30 hours from Friday 5pm to Sunday noon.

Elias has grown up a lot in that time. He now eats Cheerios everyday. A few weeks ago he was having trouble picking up an 'O with his fingers, and he was favoring his left hand. Now he can pincer the little gems from either side fairly well, though sometimes the 'O loses its orientation on the way to the mouth and ends up on the shirt. When the meal's over there's usually about four semi-soggy escapees left in the booster seat.

Elias says "blah" quite clearly now. I think his first syllable was "bah" a couple weeks ago (we got it on video the first day it showed up) and sometimes it's hard to tell which one he's saying. I don't know if this has anything to do with his father's repeated demonstrations of "bah bah bah, boo boo boo, bee bee bee, boh boh boh, bye bye bye {and repeat}". The "boos" and "bohs" usually get a laugh.

Speaking of laughs, peek-a-boo has become a favorite activity in the family. Amy has been doing it for some time through windows, around doorways, using a kitchen towel, etc. Booboo loves it. If Amy comes home and we spy her through a door window, she'll start in with the startled looks and Elias just loses it. Oh MY, he gets excited when she gets home from an errand! Myself, I've been working on a variation involving a mirror, where I hold him looking forward, then we bob up and down in front of a mirror -- everytime he's sees us in the mirror is a brand-new joke.

And finally: Elias stands. He has become very good at grabbing onto chairs etc. and getting up to a stand. Weeks ago this would often devolve into teetering, then a thud, then a red spot on the head and 60-seconds of crying. But he's getting much better now, so daddy's constant spotting is usually overkill.