26 weeks old: halfway to a year, Elmo, and a belly laugh

It's hard to believe, but Eloise is already halfway to a year old today. These first six months of her life have sure flown by. Not much new has happened developmentally this week but we did have some fun times. In the photo above Eloise is eating her first combo food, sweet potato and pear puree. She said thumbs up. I think the sweet potato toned down some of the tartness of the pear. When I made that pear puree I didn't use super duper ripe pears so it may be a little too tart for her taste.

My mom got Eloise a Big Hugs Elmo for Christmas. It's a little old for her and I thought she might be a little afraid of a big talking doll, but Elmo didn't scare her one bit. Here are a couple videos of her first meeting with Big Hugs Elmo where she took him down by the eyeballs and made him beg for mercy:

Give Elmo a great big hug

That's too tight! Be gentle please!

Even though Eloise can laugh, she rarely gives more than a little giggle and squeal, so we really appreciate when she belly laughs over and over. And we never know what's going to make her laugh like that! It's like a surprise gift.