Our little man turned 18 months today!
Who can resist those big brown eyes?
Eli is such a happy boy. He loves cars, trains, his two fingers and his 2 blue blankets. He loves to eat. He eats and eats and eats anything! We don't need clocks around this house, every day without fail, at 5pm he will yell and push on my legs until I help him climb into his booster chair at the table. Then he will sit there with his blanket in one hand and his two fingers from his other hand in his mouth and stare at me while I finish making dinner. Talk about patience!
Eli doesn't talk much, he says mama, dada, ello (hello) and racker (cracker). But he understand so much! A couple stories that illustrate this:
One night at the dinner table he was gobbling up ravioli faster that I could keep it on his plate. Jokingly I leaned over and told him, "Eli, if I find all this ravioli under the table, or under your chair you will have to sit on the stairs for time out." We all laughed about this, but little Eli took me seriously, he kept looking at me, and then staring at one piece on the floor, and then back at me, and the piece on the floor. Pretty soon his bottom lip came out and he started to cry! Even though I kept assuring him that he wasn't in trouble, he was so sad and wouldn't stop crying until I picked up the piece of food on the floor, and held him for the rest of the meal.
One morning Eli, Avery and I were playing trains. He (accidentally I'm sure?) hit Avery on the with a very heavy piece of bridge track. She was pretty upset and crying. While I was holding her I looked at Eli and asked him to "Go upstairs and find Avery's brown bear?" I really didn't think he would do it, but up the stairs he went. Then he returned with her brown bear and gave her the biggest hug!
Eli loves to follow Avery into the bathroom every time she goes potty. He sits on her little potty (since she has graduated to the big one) dangling and kicking his feet. He then stands up, washes his hands and claps for himself! When I change his diapers he always has to throw the dirty diaper away for me.
Just lately he has really started to tease his sister. We should probably put a stop to it, but it's pretty funny and cute to watch. Sometimes he grabs her brown bear and runs from her. Other times he pretends he is going to share with her only to pull it away at the last moment and run away. He always giggles and laughs.
Eli loves to listen on the phone. He loves to color (I mean eat crayons). He loves play dough and tries to play Legos with his brothers. He pushes his pink grocery cart around all day long.
He is one of our best sleepers. He takes one long good nap every afternoon. He can sleep through anything and everything. He has been known to sleep through birthday parties and play dates. It's great! He goes to bed at 7pm and sleeps all night until 7. Most of the time he even sleeps right through his sisters tantrums only feet away in the same room.
Eli loves giving cuddles, kisses and hugs you with his arms tight around your neck. He is such a sweet boy!
But let's be honest, one of the the best part of him turning 18 months is now he gets to go to nursery at church! Between Avery and Eli, a day at church with all kids in class has been 3 long years in the making. Despite how sad this might make Wade, I'm positive he will love being a big kid like the rest of them and going to class. Plus, his big sister will be there to boss him around for every second of it.
Happy 18 Months Eli!
