Eli's 2nd Birthday

Lemon blueberry cupcakes!

As you know, Eli turned 2 on August 5th. What you might not know is that since he was born early, his adjusted 2 year old birthday is actually today. So, it seemed appropriate to write about it now.

We are so happy to be able to celebrate with our adorable little guy. He is rapidly turning into a little boy, and he has such a happy, outgoing, warm, and engaging personality. He loves giving hugs to everyone and everything (including doors and vacuum cleaners!) and is sometimes a bit of a clown putting random objects on his head and calling them a hat (which he finds very very funny). His language has really exploded and he's mostly speaking 3 and 4 word sentences. He's unfailingly polite and uses "please" and "thank you" automatically now. We can't help but be entertained by his very sincere,"no thank you" when we tell him it's time for bed! He's also come up with easier to pronounce names for his grandmas and grandpas: grandpa is "Poppa" and grandma is "Gah." We think it's pretty cute, but Grandma Kerry isn't thrilled with the nickname!

Lovin' his birthday hat

Physically he's also doing great. He's slightly above average height and a bit below average weight. He loves to climb and run and is always very active. His eating has gotten somewhat pickier, but he still loves to eat in general and dipping food into ketchup or yogurt makes everything delicious! His favorite foods are chicken nuggets, pizza, ketchup, yogurt, frozen peas, and any kind of fruit. He's pretty good with a spoon and fork and we rarely need to use a bib when he eats these days -- he absolutely hates to get his hands dirty and insists on being cleaned up immediately when he gets food or marker on them (just like his daddy at that age).

We've been very lucky so far in that he's not really all that "terrible" of a two year old. He certainly has his moments, but they're fairly rare and over quickly. Our pediatrician's prediction is that it's unlikely his behavior will change all that much at this point. Hopefully she's right!

Nummy!

He's doing very well at our preschool/daycare and usually plays very nicely with the other kids there. He has a friend, Kai Kai, who he's currently very enamored with and he talks about her constantly. He's recently started participating more in preschool activities and often has art projects to bring home (which we proudly display on the refrigerator, of course!). He's progressing well with learning numbers and letters and can sort of sing the alphabet song (while brushing his teeth) and sort of count to 10 (he skips a few numbers). He recently started swim lessons with Chad and is learning to swim underwater, kick, and blow bubbles. He loves swimming and is very comfortable in the water.

Everyone loves cake time

We celebrated Eli's birthday with a handful of friends and family on August 4th. First we all went to the association pool and had a great time swimming, splashing, and shooting water guns at one another. Then we returned to our house and ate pizza and birthday cake. Eli received lots of cool gifts and he was quite overwhelmed by it all. He ended up only unwrapping a few presents that day. We decided to save a few for later once the novelty of the new ones wears off. Thank you so much for being so thoughtful and generous to him!

Overall, we feel so blessed to have Eli in our lives and we are really enjoying the opportunity to see the world through his eyes and teach him to explore it.

Reading a card

It lights up and plays music!

The space shuttle flies upside down, Gah!

Stats:
Weight: 27lbs (38%)
Height: 34.8 inches (58%)
Head Circumference: 47 cm (12%)
BMI: 15.8 (26%)