Elijah is 2 years old! Happy Birthday Baby!

This picture is the epitome of 2 year old Elijah. No shirt, hair sticking out every which way, slobber on his face, all while holding his bear and pound puppy with a big smile on his face. And running around like a wild man. Seriously, sometimes he just does laps around the kitchen and front room for no reason.

  

Weight- 31 lbs (83%, not sure if it's accurate. They weighed him on the regular scale this time and he DID NOT want to stand there. I had to gently force/push him to stay on, he sure feels a lot heavier than this to me!)

 Height- 36 inches (88%)

-Has now entered I believe what is called the "terrible twos". Which for Elijah is terrible because he is usually so mild mannered but the last month or so has really learned to throw some stellar tantrums and says, "no, no no!" Which I think he learned from other kids because I rarely say no. I say things like "I don't think so" or "Hand it to Mommy please" rather than yelling at him. But overall he is so sweet and generally only acts up when he wants to play or do something more fun than what we make him do. Totally understandable.

-Says probably 70-100 words. Maybe more. Favorite words are: yeah, choo choo, dog, car, bear, and saying "oh no!"

-Eats, sleeps and breaths trains. He has a train table upstairs with a bunch of trains and tracks. I usually have to force him to come downstairs for meals or when we need to go places. I've been known to just bring him breakfast upstairs and he'll play for a solid hour while I do things downstairs. He's becoming so independent.

-Loves to line things up in nice, straight lines. Anything. Then he pretends and yells, "Choo Choo!", while pumping his arm. Everything can be made into a train. Examples-blueberries, spoons, grapes, goldfish, cars.

-Just got his 2 year molars in on the bottom and I suppose the tops aren't far behind. He has had the worst rash all over his mouth from drooling, and chewing on stuff. I'm sure the binky at night doesn't help much.

-Still a great sleeper and napper. Momma doesn't mess around and he knows when it's time for sleep. I can count the number of times on my hand that I actually go into his room when he whines/cries- only when he's sick usually.

-Could play any train game, watch Thomas the Train shows and read Thomas the Train books FOREVER. And he gets VERY mad when we say time to put things away.

-I have a kids game on my phone called Preschool Monkey lunch box. There's a matching part with 8 different cards and you have to match/remember the cards. He can do all of them. I didn't even teach him. He has the best memory and is very serious about it.

-All the observing he's been doing the last 2 years is now coming out into action. He does things I didn't even know he could do at the most random times.

-Still a decent eater. Although lately he seems to be on a mild food strike. Foods you would think most kids would eat, he doesn't...for now. His favorites are chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, any fruit, beans, soup and milk.

-Takes a while to warm up to new places and people. I don’t blame him, I’m the same way. But I’m sure his overprotective mother doesn’t help much :)

-He loves going to the library. We go for story/craft time, then play with puzzles and books afterwards in the kid section. Every time we drive down the road near the library he points and get soooo excited, then when I tell him we aren’t going that day, he just sobs and sobs! So sad! Probably the worst feeling in the world. 

-We read him a children’s picture dictionary at night and he knows practically what everything is!

 -Loves bugs. He will declare, “BUG, A BUG!” Then pick it up if it’s dead and put it in the trash or if it’s alive he will run, grab some toilet paper and proceed to squish it. Just like mommy does. If he sees an ant on the ground he’ll stomp on it with his shoes on. You don’t mess around with ants here, those suckers hurt!

-If he doesn't know a word to something or just forgets he says, "Aboo, Aboo, Aboo!" while pointing over and over at what he wants. Then when you ask, "Is this what you want?" He replies in the sweetest voice, "Yeah".

   For Elijah's birthday we decided to keep it low key, which turns out was a good thing seeing as how he caught a nasty cold 2 days before. Elijah woke up bright and early, had a breakfast of waffles then we headed off to Old McDonald's Farm. It's a little petting zoo/train/pool park about 5 mins from our house. He LOVED it! If it weren't so dang hot outside we would have stayed longer but we were all looking hot and tired after 1.5 hours. Then we went home and Elijah took a nap while Matt and I both worked. Then we went to pick up Elijah's favorite food-pizza, and his cake that I ordered special. We went home and ate, opened presents and played around with his new toys til bedtime. We were going to head to the pool- Elijah's second favorite thing in the world but he was having so much fun with his new toys we thought we'd just stay in. I felt bad for about 5 mins that I wasn't throwing him some adorable birthday party, but then I realized a) he doesn't have any little friends that he really likes to play with b) he isn't going to remember any of this and c) I don't really feel like making my house spotless for a bunch of people Elijah will really want out of his house once they get here. Plus now I have something to look forward to next year :)

  

Birthday morning (If you go the archives from last year, he is WAY different is his crib now!)

  

Singing Happy Birthday

  

Opening Presents

Waiting for the train to start. So serious about his trains.

Two favorite things- pizza and his trains all lined up in a row.

More interested in eating the frosting off the big cake than eating his own :)

Such a fun mess.

  Elijah we love you so much! You are such a joy to see grow and learn new things. You make life worth living. We don't know what we would do without you! Love you, Mom and Dad.