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!)