Elijah Update: #Beingatwoyearold

As you turned three, I didn't even know where to begin with an update.  So much has changed since this time last year when I struggled to drop you off for even an hour or two to go to a meeting or workout at the gym.  You were so attached to me, and barely spoke any words.  So.  Much.  Has.  Changed!

But rather than try and organize this in some kind of cohesive manner, I'm just going to leave it in the snippets that I've jotted down over the last month to remind me of you at three.  Because that's all I can manage with a newborn. One who you are constantly kissing (and coughing on), snuggling (and waking), and taking care of ("Oh No, Thomas made a noise!  Brother is coming!").  

And I'm throwing in a series of silly Instagram photos and a few others from over the year that I tagged #BeingATwoYearOld that will show your progression through the year.  

Looking back the last year has been a busy one for you. It has been full of: enthusiasm, potty training, art projects, visits to museums, love, finding bits of nature, trains, lots of silly hats, enjoying each season as it comes, dinosaurs, lots of sprinkles, rockets, and story times.  I have enjoyed your two-year-old self so much and hope you stay this amazing as a three-year-old.

You snuggle every morning.  You were always the first to say good morning to the baby while he was in my tummy.

I now realize the words you children hear from me, as you've picked many of the phrases up and use them yourself.  You repeatedly ask:  "How many times do me have to tell you?"  Whine: "Me legs hurt, me can't go up the stairs!" (from my c-section recovery and last weeks of being pregnant).  And declare:  "Me not know." (when you really do).  And you delay activities with phrases like:  "Maybe tomorrow", "in a minute," and "just a second."

 

Outside of fighting with your brother, or copying some of his behaviors, you almost never get in trouble.  And if you do something and we accidentally yell at you, it takes you a very long time to stop crying because you are extremely sensitive to that.

 

Sometimes you are a train.  Once a grasshopper.  But normally, just ELI or a Big Boy.  When you are these things we must call you that, and only that.  I slipped and called you baby a lot before your brother was born and you did not like it.

Your favorite shape is a heart.  Every time you see one, or make one (like out of your toast triangles in the morning) you say, "This heart says, me love you!"  I can't get enough of it.

You observe and notice so much more than your older brother.  You are always listening even when we think you're not, and you always see what is going on around you (we can't sneak a treat without you expecting a bite).

I was worried about starting pre-school because potty training wasn't happening so much.  Then all the sudden when we went on our three week trip to Indiana you went from 50% there to almost perfect!  We're still working on putting underwear and shorts back on after using the restroom (half the time you come out half nude), but I'll take it.

You introduce yourself to everyone now.  No one quite understands, but you tell everyone you are "Eli Robert (last name)".  I think you speak pretty clearly, but not everyone understands you.  You have recently started stuttering some, which I read is common at your age and you should outgrow it, but I'm a tad bit concerned and get sad watching you struggle.

You are very repetitive.  You will ask the same questions or make the same observations every time we read a book or walk by certain things in the neighborhood.  Some of these include:  pointing out the same spider webs everyday, asking why we cross each bridge we cross, and noticing the ducks that have fallen over in a neighbors yard.

You like to reread "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and "The Very Busy Spider" often.  You have carried a wasp to me, and let bees land on you.  I think you've got a future in entomology.

You say you want to be an astronaut when you grow up, and you spent a couple months obsessed with rockets.

You're getting obsessed with trains.  Making them out of all the dinner chairs, begging for the "big train book" nightly until we started letting you watch "Locomotive" on DVD daily (we are hogging the library edition, but may need to invest in our own), and pretending the Target cart is one and yelling "all aboard through out the entire store.  If we draw a train, it must have all of the correct features (cow catcher, smoke stack, engineer, etc). 

You like to kill bad guys.  Swords, guns, etc are still a favorite object of yours to draw, make out of legos or smartlinks or imagine.

I was afraid to cut your hair, for fear of it looking more brown than blonde, but the blonde is still holding out.  You shake your head furiously every time I brush your hair.

You want everything big.  Big lemonade!  Big toothpaste Big socks!  And I can't call you baby or little even, you are a BIG boy!

At drive-thrus, you make me put down your window so you can talk to the workers too.

You're still a shorty- 36 inches, 33 pounds.  You actually still fit in a lot of 24 month/2T clothes, but I'm hoping to get them all put away and move you into all 3T soon.

 And finally, a list of some of my favorite words/phrases you used as a two-year old:

"It turned on!"  Translation:  Something is alive.
"Autopilot"  Translation:  The child lock button on the windows in the car.
"Hit it Mama!"  Translation:  Say, "on your mark, get set, go!"
"Sleep Up!"  Translation:  Wake up.
"Unbuckle" or "Uncouple":  Translation:  Letting go when holdings hands with mama.
"These doors are magic!":  Translation:  These are automatics doors.