Look Who's Two!

Happy Birthday, Elijah!!

You are now two years old, and we can't believe it was two whole years years ago that you came into the world. The last two years have been full of challenges, but more joy than you can imagine. This past year you learned to walk and to talk up a storm, and your personality is beginning to shine. You are our energetic, fun, sweet, curious, occasionally stubborn, always goofy, precious little boy!

You are truly God's gift to us, and you are loved by us and by God more than you will ever be able to know. We are looking forward to another year of fun watching you learn and grow as you make your way to being three. We love you, Elijah!

Love,
Mama and Dada

Mom says I was naked coming into the world,
so I have to be naked for my 2 year old picture.
I'm still adorable two years later!

More Eli funnies!

I was making dinner the other night and Elijah helped get everything out of the fridge for me – and by everything, I really do mean everything . . .

Just thought I'd help you clean the fridge, Mom.

The expiration dates on these things are scary!

I was half finished cutting a red pepper up but had to run to the bathroom, so I put the knife in a safe place and went ahead to the bathroom . . . and came out to this!

Mmm, mmm . . . good!

I never thought of eating a red pepper like an apple before! Eli ate the whole thing though, and a Mom can’t complain about a child who loves fruits and veggies (even if she did have to get another one out to cut up for dinner). :)

Some people have milk mustaches,

Elijah has a red pepper juice goatee!

Napping in the Great Outdoors!

It’s been so nice outside lately that I’ve been taking advantage of the sunshine and setting up camp on the deck for Elijah and I – complete with a little nap station for him! He of course had to completely explore it and find all the “exit routes,” but eventually he did get the point and fall asleep for a nap outside. What a treat! He slept for a long time too, so I guess napping outside with warm air and a fresh breeze agrees with Elijah!

Elijah shows off his manners!

Click to Play

Eli has been saying, "Pease, pease!" (for please please) for a while now, but has now added to his repertoire thank you and welcome. We were eating lunch a few weekends ago (time flies!) and Eli really wanted our chips and would politely ask for them, and then say thank you when prodded a little (it's so cute to hear him say thank you daddy, it melts your heart). Now he is saying thank you without prodding as well. Just today in Home Depot he wanted some crackers I had brought along, and when I gave them to him he said, "Thank you Mama." A lady in the aisle stopped and told me she was impressed. I was too, and it was awfully cute to hear him say it. Eli's turning in to Little Mr. Manners!

Eli's Name; Shaking the Head

Here in the last week before Eli's 2nd birthday, I have a couple of quick anecdotes to share:

- Eli has started referring to himself by name. He has understood his own name for a while now when Missy or I have called him, of course, but just recently he can do things like point to Missy and say "mama", point to me and say "dada", and then (and this is the new part) point to himself and say "Eli!"

He is still may be working on the concept that that "Eli" is his own unique name though: The other night, as I was putting Eli to bed, we were reading a "counting book" (with pictures of different numbers of things to count on the various pages). One page pictured a large duck along with 5 little ducklings. Eli pointed to the big duck and said, "mama duck!" and I told him that was right! But then, Eli pointed to the little ducklings and said "Eli ducks!"

I haven't heard him say anything else like that (for example, calling kids other than himself "Eli"), but it was pretty cute, as well as being an interesting insight into how his mind is developing!

- Eli has learned to shake his head to mean "no". He uses this effectively at meal time if he doesn't feel like eating; at such times, for a while now, he has just sat and sucked his thumb. (Logical thinking, Eli: Mommy or Daddy can't get food in there when the thumb is in!)

When Eli is doing this, in the past, when if Missy or I had held up some food and asked him, "would you like some of this?", Eli would pretty much just sit and look at us. (Can't say "no" without taking the thumb out!) Now, though, he'll shake his head -- effectively communicating with us without having to pop out that thumb!

The next step will be for Eli to learn to nod his head for "yes." Right now, his only available nonverbal answer is "no," so that tends to be the answer to every question when the thumb is in! (If the only tool you've got is a hammer, then every problem -- or every question in this case -- tends to look like a nail!)

Eli, the non-stop talking alarm clock.

With Jon getting ready to go to Grand Rapids to start his new job, on Monday morning he let me sleep in while he got up with Elijah. What a treat! After a while though Elijah apparently thought that Mama really should be up by now, and when Jon was otherwise engaged Elijah took the initiative to climb the stairs and open our bedroom door to come see me.

Eli walked up to me, grabbed my hand, and then started "free associating" everything he saw, with barely a pause between words. I didn't even have a chance to say anything, and his conversation went something like this:

"Mama! Sleeping. Night-night. (he saw I was still sleeping) Get up! Cup! (he saw the cup on the nightstand) Drink. Empty. (said with great disappointment) Ooh, pretty! (he saw my earrings on the nightstand) Book! Stories! (he saw my book as well and handed it to me) Mama get up!"

I couldn't get a word in until he was done with his monologue, but it was so cute to watch because Eli is so expressive with his face and tone while he talks. Just over the last week or two he is stringing more and more words together, with less and less hesitation and pauses between words, and is also starting to talk more in phrases. His words are much clearer now too, which makes him easier to understand.

Now if we could just get him to understand the concept of "sleeping in." :)

Where's Eli's Tail?

A "tale" from Eli's Grandma Amanda:

Yesterday, Eli was petting our cat, Angel (and she was holding still and letting him!). While he petted Angel, Eli pointed to various cat-body parts and I named them – then Eli repeated each name (i.e. foot, head, ears, leg, tail, etc.). After several minutes of this, Angel decided she had enough and left, so I asked Eli to point out his various body parts (i.e. foot, head, ears, etc.). When I asked Eli where his ‘tail’ was he got a surprised look on his face, reached his right hand around and touched his butt, and then tried to twist around and look at his own bottom! It was so cute!

Then, we established that Eli doesn’t have a tail, Grandma doesn’t have a tail, Grandpa doesn’t have a tail – only Angel has a tail!

Very cute story, thanks Mom! And thanks again for taking care of Eli!

Eli at 23 Months

Missy has been doing a great job with the storytelling here on the blog, so I thought I would take a minute and write a more "mundane" post about some of the everyday things that Eli is up to these days, with his 2nd birthday now just a few weeks away!

• Eli seems to be right-handed. He likes to use his right hand when throwing balls. Also, he always uses his right thumb when sucking his thumb. We'll see if he continues to favor his right hand. (Either way would be fine!)
  
• Eli has no problem getting up and down the stairs by himself these days. He can even climb up a few stairs at a time without holding onto the railing or using his hands at all (although this does make Missy and I a bit nervous)!
  
• Eli has been able to jump for the past couple of weeks! He doesn't get very far off the ground yet, but he definitely can jump and land back on his feet! Occasionally he will fall down after jumping, "just for fun": he'll jump, land on his feet, and then a moment later let himself fall down onto the ground and laugh!
  
• Eli is a very good climber. He's been able to climb into his high chair by himself for a month or two now (although Missy and I don't encourage this!). I also saw him get himself on top of the washing machine on one recent occasion by dragging a 2-step step stool over to the laundry room sink, climbing the stool, climbing into the washing machine sink from the top of the stool, and clambering up on top of the washing machine from there!
  
• Eli really likes to help Missy and I around the house. Yesterday evening, as Missy and I were continuing to clean out our house in preparation for our upcoming move, Eli helped me take out the trash. I'd hand him one or two fairly light items (like an empty cereal box), grab a couple of bags or boxes myself, and Eli would follow me out to the curb and place his items in the pile of trash items there. Eli also will help carry dirty dishes to the sink after dinner, and carry empty pop cans to the recycling bin out in the garage. Missy and I always really encourage Eli and "cheer" for him when he helps us out -- maybe this will help encourage him to continue to enjoy helping us around the house as he gets older!
  
• Eli is starting to learn how to count. He can't rattle numbers off yet by any means, but with encouragement from Missy and I ("How many cars are there?" "Which number car is this one?"), he'll count "un" ... "two!" ... "tree!"
  
• Eli has made some progress learning his letters. He definitely knows "O" and "M" and can reliably pick out those letters from a word ("Eli, which letter is the 'M'?"). The rest of the letters are still a little bit shaky. If Eli doesn't know what a given letter is, "T" seems to be the default answer!
  
• Eli still likes to hold my fingers or Missy's after he finishes eating. He usually finishes faster than Missy or I do; many times when he finishes eating, he'll just sit in his high chair and hold my fingers on my left hand while I finish eating on my right hand.
  
• Eli does a really great job taking baths. He never cries when we pour water over his head to rinse his hair after washing it, and he'll even take the cup and pour water over his own head!
  
• Eli is sleeping at night for around 10 or 11 hours. He is usually asleep by 8:00 pm, and he wakes up on his own around 6:30 or 7:00 am. Missy and I don't set an alarm clock these days, because Eli always wakes us up in the morning! In the afternoons, Eli takes a single nap after lunch, which can last anywhere between 45 minutes and 3 hours.
  

I've heard of bee keeping, but not bee kissing.

Eli and I were at Home Depot this morning picking up a few random things for the house, and after I got everything I needed it was time to let Eli run around and explore a little. His favorite place is the garden section (he loves to touch the trees and see the big forklift they store back there).

We were going down an aisle and I saw a big bumblebee in a flower, so I pointed it out to Elijah. He was fascinated with the bee and kept yelling, "Bee! Bee!," and pointing at it. I asked Eli what the bee was doing and he scrunched up his little face and stared in fierce concentration at the bee, obviously trying to figure out what the bee really WAS doing. Then he got a big smile on his face, turned to me, and said, "Kiss!" I started laughing and Eli started yelling, "Bee kiss! Bee kiss!," over and over. What a hoot!