TWO.

It's been two years since we first held our little redemption baby boy. Having Eli has been the greatest joy.

I haven't done an over-the-top "what is Eli up to" post lately so in honor of his second birthday, it is time. Also a great way to keep record of his change. These are the details for the most doting and/or dedicated of you...

• Eli's verbal has exploded in the last month or so. It's been so fun to communicate with him in a conversation. This week I've heard a lot of "mama, hold you" when he wants me to pick him up. Or when we are rocking in his chair and I stop: "more rock." Melts your heart. 
• He started his three-word phrases saying "Hit The Ball" to the guys on TV playing the Masters .
• He currently loves buses. Airplanes, fire trucks, trucks, motorcycles and other forms of transportation are also favorites but buses have his heart most right now. 
• If we are leaving someplace or stopping some activity or Eli is recalling he left something, he'll say "bye bye [person or thing]" and often he'll make a list. "Bye bye chair, bye bye table, bye bye spoon." Sometimes hours later he'll just say "Bye Bye (name)". He now also says "Hi (name)" and when you hear him say your name, it will make you smile.
• His favorite spot and/or activity is to play in the car when it's off and parked in the driveway. He climbs and roams around in there, sits happily, and pushes buttons. I can now see why ever leaving a child in a running car is dangerous. 
• Eli is a biter. When he's excessively happy, frustrated, angry, he bites. Thankfully he almost always remembers he can only bite his blankie or the couch or pillow. I just don't ever want to see this display of his emotion on some other kid. Oi. 
• Speaking of blankie, he still loves his blankie and can be found saying "blankie" if he's upset. Every nap, every night and too often, for fun and comfort in between. I'm so glad we have four and I do a "blankie load" of laundry every few days
• He calls music "ahggie." No idea why. But that's how he says it and he requires his aggie to be on in the car for any length of trip. And this week he even learned to say "different ahggie" when the song or CD is not to his liking. Yikes.
• Eli loves yogurt still. And french fries. And chips. And well, most any snacky type food most especially with a crunch. Sigh. He does eat fairly well most days... but he can definitely refuse a green bean with the strongest of persistence.   
• He says his own name like "Ali" half the time and the other half correctly like "Eli"... I can't figure out why he nails it sometimes and then missed it completely other times. I have to double check to make sure he's not talking about his cousin!
• Eli is becoming more impressionable. He is more concerned when daddy leaves so I started reassuring him with "Daddy always comes back" etc. So now he reassures himself with "daddy back" or "mama back" if he's feeling upset.
• One of Eli's favorite times of the day is "Rogers" time with daddy. A long while ago, Greg started singing the theme song to Mr. Rogers every day when he came home from work and took off his dress clothes. And that turned into Eli joining him as they romp and play and rough house in our bedroom. The bed never looks nice after Rogers time is done. But Eli loves it so much, he'll say "More Rogers" over and over.
• Eli is definitely more two in his behavior. He will want to hit something or chuck it across the room if he is mad. You can see the sin in his heart as he is about to go off. It's so sad and yet often amusing. It's been fun and hard to teach him in these times. 
• Sometimes when I ask him a question like "which one is the circle" and he obviously knows the answer, he'll be all sly and point to the square and whisper "no"... until he finally decides it's time to pick the right one. 
• He doesn't love books as much as he used to... I mean we aren't reading loads of books in a day like before BUT he can (and loves) to read longer books! So we aren't only reading board books which is a nice change of pace. However, he still does not have the attention span for his awesome Bible I love to read.
• Instead of reading books, he wants to look at pictures (and even moreso videos) of himself. He's such a narcissist. He even, I figured out yesterday, knows which app is the pictures on my phone. Sigh. He'd sit there quietly looking and watching for hours if I'd let him.
• And he still likes TV too. Only some shows, he's got an opinion, but I can turn it on and he will just stop and stare. 
• He's wearing 24 months and 2T size, spot on I suppose. Pantswise 18-month are usually too tight and 2T is usually too long.  He also has a few 3T shirts that fit him. He wears a size 7ish in shoes and I'm hoping he'll hurry up and grow into those size 8 TOMS I got him for his birthday!
• I love Eli's sleeping right now. Goes to bed at 8pm, maybe a little earlier or later depending on our schedule, and then wakes up around 7am (actually this week it's been 6:30am but for awhile it was 7:30am which was fantastic). He then goes down for a nap at 2pm every afternoon usually for almost two hours. Sometimes he'll wake up and want to finish his nap in our bedroom. And sometimes I'll let him. I'm not really looking forward to transitioning him from his crib this summer.
• He knows a red bird is a cardinal and a orange-breasted bird is a robin. He does love buhrds. 
• Eli's still fascinated by the sky and clouds and anything in them. 
• He is so not potty trained. He could care less about walking around with a full diaper on. Sigh. My hope is he'll be potty trained by the fall. We shall see. I'm not going to stress about it. Yet.
• He learned the word "meatball" at IKEA and now says that randomly.
• He knows most all of our family's names and loves to point them out in photos. 
• If you see Eli pointing at this nose and saying "copy", he wants to play the copy game where you copy whatever he does. He finds it a fabulous way to spend time. 
• I'm pretty sure he still knows his letters but he doesn't play with letters as much as he used to. He "moved on" to numbers and likes to count to ten or just count how many he sees of things. However, most of the time it's two (two stop signs) even if there is more than two. 
• He knows most of the main colors (even pink and purple) but cannot say yellow whatsoever. 
• Sometimes I'll catch him in his chair, flipping quickly through a book, saying "all done" and then chucking it on the floor for the next book. So maybe he is a speed reader. 
• We gave him a bubble bath awhile ago and now when you say "are you ready for your bath, Eli?" he will always, always respond with "bubble bath" and fully expect one. We now just put the tiniest of bubbles in each bath because it makes it all that much more enjoyable. 
• His favorite inside activity is a tie between "bucket ball" and "bat and ball". For "bucket ball", you hold the bucket, he throws. He actually makes it quite a bit. For "bat and ball" you get the bat, he pitches. He would play these games for hours. And hours. Big fan of all balls and sports-related toys. 

Well. How about that for details on our little, growing man?

Happy birthday son. I love being your mama.

-Heather