Happy 2nd Birthday, Mr. E!

Well, our baby turns two today!  It has been such a fun year with Elijah.  The second year is by far my favorite age, thus far, and he has done it well.  He is such a delight to us and seems to bring smiles to everyone.  He’s a cute, sweet, and funny little man who is moving along so quickly in life!

These past three months since his last update, Elijah has been pretty mellow where his opinionated side is concerned, and very happy.  He still has definite feelings about his food preferences and he is a little too sensitive where Josiah is concerned, but we are learning to adapt.  I’ve just accepted that he is a picky eater like me and I’m learning to not stress over mealtime.  The only thing I insist on is that he eats veggies of some sort.  He is kinda weird about textures, too, so I’m STILL pureeing green beans and peas.  Will I ever be free of this?  Don’t tell him but I slip veggies into his smoothies and home made popsicles.  Currently, the only fruit he will consistently eat is strawberries and applesauce.  So frustrating!  As far as Josiah is concerned, he likes to fuss a little overzealously if Josiah does anything even remotely not nice to him and then he tells on him.  Poor baby!

He is obsessed with Bear, which all three are named.  He has to have them all to sleep, (and, apparently to drink his smoothie).  He started off with the one on the right that Granny gave him before he was born, which he loved dearly, then Granny got him the one on the left for Christmas as a backup.  Shortly after, he raided Josiah’s stuffed animals and found the one in the center, that Granny had given Josiah.  So much for backups!  They are all necessary. 

His pickiness does not apply to chili!  After finishing it off, he always paints his face with the juices left on his plate.  There is no way to skip baths on chili night!

He’s also pretty fond of cookies!  Say “cheese”!

Overall though, Elijah is as happy as a lark.  He has started to love dancing and will perform his “happy feet” dance upon request.  It’s very cute!  He and Josiah also love to have “magic shows” before bed which basically consists of each of them coming up with inventive and funny ways to fall on the ground.  It’s actually quite entertaining, but far from being magic.  His new favorite song is “The Wheels On The Bus” and he’s making great efforts to sing the ABC’s, too.  He has also started trying to pray with Jacob before meals.  He continues to have the most hearty laugh that makes us crack up every time he uses it.

I love this sweet face!

He entertains himself so well!  Sometimes he wakes from naps before Josiah and I am reminded of the days with one kid.  I never realized at the time how easy it really was!  (It wasn’t, but now it seems so.)

I decided I needed to organize my tupperware cabinet.  Elijah thought it was a great idea, too!

He loves his tractors.  For awhile there he’d entertain himself by lining them up in different ways in different places.

What’s better than playing with train tracks?  Playing in them!

He was so cute this day!  He kept cuddling with a blanket over his shoulders and had a puzzle magnet draped around his neck, too, while browsing a Harbor Freight catalog.  You had to be there!

The popsicle sticks and containers have been a favorite to play with.  The bowls inevitably get dragged out, too.

He will always and forever love this cat!  Hopefully Lilah will always reciprocate.  He loves having her on his lap but she’s really to big for his little lap.

Elijah’s vocabulary continues to impress us.  I don’t know if he’s really that advanced, or if we just love seeing our little man speaking his mind.  One of my favorite things he says happens when I stop at red lights and he says, “GO!”.  Josiah says, “we can’t”.  Elijah says, “wits a wed wight?” (it’s a red light?), and Josiah answers, “yes”.  They repeat this word for word until I say it’s green, then Elijah yells, “GO!”  The other thing he says that we love is, “I wud mamma/daddy mis much” as he spreads his arms out to show us how much he loves us.  At this point I love hearing him talk, but having been through this once, I know there will be a day that I just wish he’d hush :)

I know that I said after the New Year I’d spend some time potty training.  Well, I didn’t.  He may very well train himself before I get around to it.  The other night he was running around naked after bathtime and ran into the bathroom where Jacob and I were cleaning up and he said “pee pee”.  We looked at each other tiredly then went to find to wet spot until we realized he meant he needed to go now.  When given the chance, he performed.  He’s also pretty great at telling us he pooped.  He’s constantly wanting to pretend to poop on the potty like Josiah.  For the last month I’ve been saying we’ll potty train after we get back in town from Easter…but…that’s just a few days away.  We’ll see.

While it hasn’t been as bad as last year, we have had a few sicknesses in the new year.  Elijah tends to fair pretty well these days, but he gets ear infections with no symptoms except slightly disrupted sleep.  The pediatrician thinks he’s really tough because between a severe ear infection and ulcerated throat, all we noticed was the secondary pink eye!  I’ve started checking his ears routinely on my own and I’m getting pretty good at it!  It’s not a skill I wanted to have to have, though :)

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself!  He’d sneeze and Josiah took it upon himself to make it his job to run over to Elijah and check his nose.  Usually he’d just tell us Elijah needed a wiping, but the nasty ones got a disgusted “ewww”.

Don’t be fooled, this down-and-out-sick look only lasted about 30 seconds.  And, yes, he loves baby.

We’ve so loved having this fun baby in our lives.  We delight in how much he adores his Daddy (when I come home from work with him in the car, he only lets Jacob get him out!) and I melt in him only wanting me to put him to bed.  Now it is time to enjoy him growing out of babyhood and into childhood.  I have the feeling it’s going to be a blast!  Happy Birthday, Mr. E!