He's 2!

We're so thankful for our little boy!

Train Park

Last weekend, we headed out to Griffith Park to explore the train museum there. Elijah spent the entire drive talking about trains. The park is basically a bunch of old trains, some of which you can climb on and explore. Elijah thought it was fantastic! There was also a small train available for train rides.

Shells

Our current science topic:



The other day, he asked me to read a book about tides twice (since, you know, that is such an accessible subject to one-year-olds)!

Inspired

Dustin pulled out his trumpet to practice and Elijah immediately wanted to get out his trumpet, too! And when I came home tonight from teaching, I found them both again on the couch with their trumpets.In other musical news, we're loving listening to "Peter and the Wolf" around here. Yesterday's music reading for school was confusing: we read about the conductor's role, so Elijah kept piping up with, "The conductor says, 'All Aboard!'"

My Kitchen Helper

Elijah loves to help me in the kitchen. Today, he asked if he could make cookies. He likes to do the "dumping" all by himself.

Imaginary Play and Other Developments

Elijah's language development has been growing by leaps and bounds. It is fascinating to listen in on his play. In December, he transitioned from speaking in 2-4 word phrases to speaking in 3-6 word sentences. He likes to narrate his world in third person.

Trains are so much fun! The counting bears do a good job taking turns.

He loves all forms of transportation--trains, buses, airplanes! He likes to build tracks; tunnels and bridges are his favorite pieces. He's started having a hard time leaving his play to come to dinner. In the car, he "keep eyes open bus."

Here the family is sitting down to a dinner of beans.

As a sign of his growing independence, he now says, "I want to do it by [my]self" and "Elijah do it." However, the other day he woke up grumpy from his nap, so we read "Mama, Do You Love Me?" many times in a row. The fourth time through, I started pausing so he could fill in the blanks and he told me, "Mommy, do it [your]self." He has mostly rejected his highchair in favor of sitting at the table like all the other people in his life.

The Mama is headed up to the kitchen to get more "nola" (granola). Note that the kitchen is upstairs--all houses in his play need to have multiple stories.

He loves reading stories. Richard Scarry is his favorite author, which means he goes around asking for his "Scarry book." He subscribes to the "if it is good once, it is good ten times in a row" philosophy for books. He's taken to reading in bed for 30+ minutes before nap and bedtime.

Now Mama is getting a washcloth to clean up the kids. Later he sent the Daddy outside to grill.

He likes to choose his own shirt in the morning. This means that most days he either wears his helicopter, train, or police car shirt.

After lunch, all the kids got to swim in the pool.

He continues to be a vegetarian, other than the occasional orange chicken. He has jumped on the simple foods bandwagon--the simper, the better. No pasta sauce for this child!

The pilot is taking the kid for a ride on the airplane.

At almost 23-months, he is full of opinions and loves to negotiate! He'll ask for "a little bit more" or "five more minutes." The other day, when I told him that he needed to finish his food before he could have something else, he offered me multiple alternatives: "Put in dishwasher?", "Mommy eat it?" and the classic if it is not on my plate, then it is gone.

Elijah gave me a kiss, got his lunch (in the basket), and then headed out in his car to go to work. Unsure what Daddy actually does at work, he ran errands--dropped books off at the library, got gas, went grocery shopping.

In case there was any confusion

This morning Elijah, after spending a bit of time happily talking and reading in bed, started calling out, "Elijah's Mommy! Elijah's Mommy!"