All About Big Bro.

Before baby sister comes and life doubles with kid stories, here's one last all-about-Eli post for those most doting on our darling blue-eyed boy.

• Our boy's verbal is off the charts. The kid absorbs so much and spits it all back out. I call him "the little repeater." He says complete sentences at times, uses pronouns, and has started to pluralize words (even if they aren't meant to like "two parks-es"). For a kid that we were worried about developmentally, he's proving his smarts quite well. Plus all this verbal is great comic relief for life.
• He has lots of books memorized so he can finish the page for you. We had a book about diggers from the library and it took but a few days before he was finishing the pages. One day I was so tired and the room was dark and I said the word "truck" instead of "trash" from his garbage truck book and he corrected me.
• He has a little northern accent already (he had this before, it just seems more pronounced). Oven sounds like "of-ven" and so forth. 
• He understands what "follow" and "pass" mean. He asks to "follow the motorcycle" or whatever machine he sees while driving. Or he'll say "pass mama" as we go down the steps (I'm slow).
• He's been blessed with awesome eyesight. The kid can pick out a machine from miles away. If he says a random thing from the backseat, chances are he DID see a truck with a trailer and I shouldn't second guess.
• Living in a booming area is a great gift to our machine-loving boy. There is so much construction going on that we daily see one of his beloved diggers, cranes, backhoe loaders, skid steers, cement trucks, dump trucks, etc, etc. It's a gift to this boy for sure.
• His favorite time is still when Daddy comes home (though time with a grandparent is becoming a fast favorite, too). Daddy and Eli play "fly to the moon" where Greg throws Eli insanely high up in the air over and over ('til Daddy tires). Eli came up with the name. They also still play "Rogers" where they wrestle and jump and scream on the bed. 
• Eli is nowhere near potty training. He occasionally has a moment of realization about the whole thing, but usually could care less. With all we have going on, this will not be happening for awhile. Two kids in diapers will be our reality.
• You can hear him saying "I want to help" quite often. Whatever someone is doing, he wants to be there, too. Sometimes he really IS a help. Other times not so much. But he does like being in the know or being in the middle of the action. 
• He will randomly mention friends from South Carolina. He'll say a name and then say "miss them" and it about breaks my heart. I made a photo book just from photos taken in July so he also has that to help remember... photos of himself with friends are his favorite. 
• Eli knows how to get to his game on my iPhone. My dad couldn't even do that. He loves Endless Alphabet where you move the letters on top of letters while they say the pronunciation.
• He loves Super Why (toddler show on PBS) and would probably sit in front of a TV for hours to watch it. He likes to point out the super letters and I think this is part of the reason he knows his alphabet so well. 
• He loves Disney Cars characters even though he's never seen them on TV. Pretty sure the day he sees them animated, he will explode with wonder. 
• He loves puzzles. Ones that make noise are his favorites.
• He still loves books but he is more selective now. We hear "different book" if we pick out one he is not into. We get bored easily so Greg goes to the library often.
• Not surprisingly, he loves playing with any type of vehicle and often lines them up. And then crashes them.
• He loves music and knows quite a few instruments. He will pretend play a guitar or xylophone or trombone and he will dance to any music, especially with an audience. When he wears his guitar shirt, he plays the guitar on his shirt. 
• If the shape of his food reminds him of something, he'll tell us. Moon is a frequent one. Sometimes it'll be a car and he vrooms it around on his tray. He can definitely pretend play.
• Mealtimes have been challenging the last few weeks. He gets quite ornery if its not to his liking. He loves to eat but he sometimes goes a little ballistic at the dinner table. Not fun. He also used to pray for the meal with us with no issue... now he usually screams or bangs his tray.
• We call him the "carb king" because he really loves carbs in most forms. He eats many bowls of cereal in the morning (he still calls it brea - fust) and loves rice, toast with jelly, chips and hummus, crackers, etc. He also loves most fruit. And smoothies and sweeter things. And spaghetti and tacos. But veggies are an issue (he likes raw carrots but now hates cooked, etc) and most meat is a no-go. A lot of this is his opinions on texture. Some is just him being two.
• He gets angry and you can see his little eyes contemplate his behavior.  His sinful, gut response is to hit once or throw something. This is a step from before where his first response was to bite. 
• We say: "How do you ask kindly?" which he will respond with an exaggerated "Pleeease." This happens often in a day. 
• I also say "Eli, listen to mama" often. He seems to have selective hearing...
• And we say "stop whining" a ton each day. He can definitely whimper and whine with the best of them.
• We hear this often in amazement: "Look at all these ___!!" He is so joyful.
• For the record, he goes to bed around 8/8:30pm and sleeps great until 7:30 more or less. He still naps from 2-4pm, give or take. This has been a nice stretch.
• When he wakes up after nap, he's usually pretty cranky and it takes him awhile to get rolling. He hates the light and usually complains "too sunny". He also wants to be held for a long time "hold you!", and carried upstairs for a snack. It's been very hard for him that I can't hold him and walk at the same time. He gets very upset at this. 
• He does much better waking up in the mornings, thankfully. He will usually greet whoever is getting him up with a very exuberant "Hi _____!". It's so sweet. 
• He is very concerned with what his grandparents are up to. He'll comment on them usually right away in the morning and is ready with a "Hi Grandpa!" when he gets upstairs for breakfast. Or he'll randomly ask what Grandpa Lloyd is up to. He thinks anyone that calls on the phone is one of our family members.
• He is very affectionate towards new baby cousin Alexia. He likes to tickle her toes and smile at her and say her name all cutesy-like real close to her.
• He loves to play basketball if he has an audience. And he wants you to sing the basketball song as he plays. Oh help us. 
• You can ask Eli what he did earlier and often he will actually remember and tell you. "I saw an airplane" or "I picked tomato and pepper." 
• The last two nights he's thanked God for: basketball, rogers and fly to the moon, sitting on the deck, seeing a backhoe loader, new instrument puzzle, mowing the lawn and grandpa's grass. 
• I think he's gained five pounds living in ND. He keeps getting taller and thicker!
• Eli knows his baby sister's name (we have one!) and it is SO CUTE when he says it!

-Heather