Elijah 2.0

Here is a glimpse of what Elijah, age 2, is like.

Height: 36 inches (at the doctor they measured 35 1/2" but he was screaming and they didn't get him stretched out all the way)
Weight: 26 lbs 2 oz

He is talking all the time. I am amazed at how many new words he learns each day and how much he loves to talk to us.
He knows all of his letters. He doesn't sing the ABCs, but can fill in the letters when we are singing it. But he can actually name any letter he sees, anywhere, and he loves doing it.  He also knows a lot of the letter sounds.
He knows most of his colors, although he doesn't always say red, which is odd becuase that is the color of his favorite toy car, Lightning McQueen.
He can count to 5 on his fingers, and will count to 10 with me. He especially likes 8 and 10, and usually forgets about 7.
He still loves Cars, the movie and the toys. He loves any vehicles and is learning to name specific ones. He especially likes Jeeps, which makes me very happy! I love that I find cars in every nook and cranny in our house.
He will eat almost anything. This kid is not a picky eater and I am continually surprised at what he is willing to eat, and what he seems to enjoy. He has tried a variety of cheeses and loves them all--from Jarlsberg Swiss to blue cheese (ew!). He will eat spicy food and loves salsa and his daddy's enchiladas. His favorites are still fruit, chocolate, and cheese.
He can now reach the bottom shelf in the fridge (we have a freezer draw so the bottom shelf is in the middle of the fridge). We leave his cup of milk there and he can go get it himself now. Plus he almost always closes the fridge door when he does that. This has cut down on a lot of whining.
He loves books and loves to read. We want to buy him as many books as we can becuase he loves it so much. I will often hear him back in his room reading his books to himself. I can even tell which book it is by what he is saying as he recognizes the pictures on each page.
He still loves brushing his teeth, and it is still a bit of a battle when we try to brush them. Although he is getting better at letting us brush them.
He loves being outside! He loves playing in our backyard, walking to the mailbox with me, or walking to the park. He often prefers to walk now, and usually ends up pushing his trike to the park rather than riding it.
He still refuses to go to Nursery. We are working on this one and with my calling in the Primary presidency I have some time now to actually sit with him in nursery. He sits on my lap with his face buried against me for most of the time. But he is starting to get better and being there, and he loves music time, so he will actually participate for that part. But when I try to leave he breaks down again.
He loves that I am pregnant and is already a wonderful big brother. He still kisses my belly every day and snuggles with baby. This is only a problem when we are in public, say at Church, and he is trying to pull up my shirt to snuggle with baby. We're still working on the privacy concept.
He doesn't love diaper changes, really doesn't care to be interrupted in his play, but he will sometimes pee on the potty before bath time. In fact, I think he tries to avoid me when he has a poopy diaper so I won't change it.
He loves to sing songs with me. He doesn't sing, but he will do the actions or fill in the words for me. He especially likes the "Happy Family" song where he names the members in our family. Sometimes his pooh bear makes it into that song too.
He is really good at saying please and thank you. In fact, when I laid him down for his nap today he didn't think he wanted a nap so he said "No, please. No, please Mommy. No, please." Usually when he says please he gets what he wants. Too bad it didn't work for him today.
He might be left-handed. He always kicks his soccer ball with his left foot, but eating and coloring he will do with both hands, so we can't tell yet.
He does not love to clean up his toys at bed time, and will work really hard to get out of his. He asks for drinks, food, and especially Daddy. He has learned that Daddy will snuggle with him for a bit, but he still has to clean up.

This is just a small sampling of the amazing things he does and says each day. There is just so much we love about this little boy!

Jump for Joy!

Last week we I had several reasons to jump for joy.

First, I started to feel the baby jump around! And this one is literally jumping in there. When I first started feeling Eli it was like these soft little flutters--like someone was painting the inside of my tummy. This kid, however, is a jumper. I wasn't sure I was feeling the baby at first because it was so different, but I am sure now. Hello little jumper!

Next, I DIDN'T have to jump up and run to throw up in on two days last week! For a couple months now my morning routine is wake up (usually because Eli is awake), jump up, run to the bathroom, and empty my empty stomach into the toilet. It's really not an ideal way to start the day. But last week on two different days I was able to control it enough for that to NOT happen. Which is a pretty big deal because the week before I almost broke my toe running to the bathroom! Yay for non-broken toes and non-puke mornings!

And our final jumping news is not really 'news'. Eli has discovered jumping! He actually discovered this a couple months ago. It is still so much fun to watch him jump around the house. When he gets excited he'll jump in place several times, or jump and turn in circles at the same time. He's adorable and talented! Of course, this also means he's exploring jumping OFF of things. So far they are things low to the ground, but I feel like there might be some broken bones in our future from this little adventurer. And he was the calm on in my tummy! Yikes!

Our Little Reader

Eli had been back in his room for about half an hour. We could hear him talking, and when we went back to check on him we found that he was reading his Cars books to himself. He is a brilliant little boy!

 He would get one book out at a time. Read it (say the characters names and some of the action like "crash") and put it back.

 He had to get these books out of his closet and carry them over to his diaper bin. Then he climbed up and found a nice little book nook to sit in and read.