Eli's Birthday

This was at their birthday party at the end of September.  It's still the only decent picture of him in his Elmo birthday shirt!

Just being silly as he wears Daddy's reflective INDOT hat!

I'm waaaayyyy overdue with this post.  On October 27th, Eli turned two years old. He's kind of a big deal to us :)  Since we'd already had his birthday party in conjunction with Zachary's at the end of September, it was actually a low-key event.  We went to Corydon for the day.  Our brother-in-law has a family member who is starting up a pizza place/brewery on the Square in Corydon.  He had the place open for the day by invitation only.  Okay, we weren't really invited, but my in-laws were and we tagged along.  I don't think Nathan {the owner} minded though!  Especially because we shared our cake.

Corydon was celebrating Halloween with pride!  There was a costume contest on the Square {Alyssa got 3rd in her age group!}  Later there was a parade which took a long time because this is an election year.  One thing I really liked about the parade was they didn't throw the candy and expect the kids to run into the street to gather it up.  If an entry wanted to distribute candy they had people walking along each side of the street who would hand candy to the children.  Much safer :)

The pizza was great.  It's a brick oven pizza joint and if you're in the Corydon area I highly recommend trying Point Blank Pizza & Brewery.  It's scheduled to open to the public the 15th of November.  Zachary was upset when we didn't take him to eat there for supper one night last week.  It's a really neat place.  Maybe me advertising here on the blog makes up for crashing his Investors Only event!

After the parade we went back into the restaurant and Eli opened his gifts.  I don't have a lot of pictures of this because a week before his birthday, the stinker broke our camera.  We used our old one, but it's kinda junky.  We have since gotten a replacement for the broken one, but sadly it was after Eli's birthday.

He & Zachary had a great time playing on the floor with the new truck we got him.  It's a large truck with some sound effects and it hauls four cars.  Zachary had picked out a musical top for him that they both love.  He got a couple other things, but the truck and toy top were his favorites.  We ate Elmo cake that was made and brought by Mamaw Linda and then headed out.  We got home about 10 and we were all hungry again {hadn't eaten since before the parade at 6!} so we went to Taco Bell because Zachary said that's what Eli wanted for his bedtime snack!  We ate our food and watched the end of the Notre Dame football game.  Definitely a fun and interesting day!

I didn't do the questionnaire for Eli like I did with Z.  We'll start that when he's a little older.  For now I'll just include some facts about Eli:

-he's very sweet.  He cuddles a lot, give wonderful hugs and kisses, and just likes to snuggle...if he's not busy playing!

-he loves to play with trucks more than he does dinosaurs.  He will play dinos with Z, and sometimes on his own, but he usually gravitates to a truck or tractor.  He's also starting to take an interest in puzzles.  Books are usually a big hit with him too.  Another fun activity for him lately is getting to "daw!"  He doesn't do it for very long, but he loves to color a picture or freehand/scribble.

-he helps with the laundry.  He likes to help sort the colors, the sheets & towels and the whites.  Often he will identify who the article of clothing belongs to if I hold it up.  He's also very good at helping load the washer {which is really cute because it's a lot taller than him, but he gets the job done!} and loading the dryer as I hand him the wet clothes.

-he's nuts.  He will walk around screaming at the top of his lungs while shaking his head back and forth as fast as he can.  Then as quickly as he started it, he'll stop.

-he loves to make people laugh.  I remember Zachary being a very happy child at this stage, but his laughter had to do with making himself laugh.  Eli looks for something to do to draw the laughter out of others.

-Eli is rather mean.  Some people may be upset with me for saying that, but it is true.  People would rather hear other words than mean, things like "spirited," "boisterous," and "feisty" but those aren't accurate.  He's mean.  Just as he's very sweet, he's mean.  He's constantly hitting his brother.  Eli will tackle Zachary and pin him down while he bounces on him because Zachary is too nice to knock Eli off.  He throws everything {with pretty good aim, just ask Albert!}  He actually looks for the dog so he can throw things directly at him.  He has started pulling hair and trying to bite.  We know he's going to grow out of this {please tell me he will!!!} but I also have fears that he's going to be a combination class clown/bully.  But for every hit, throw, or head butt he gives, he gives even more kisses and hugs.

-he's starting to get really long.  His last appointment he was 33 1/2 inches long and just shy of 25 lbs.  It's getting very hard to find pants for him.  He's been wearing 12 month pants because he has absolutely no butt.  Seriously.  Twelve month clothes barely stay on his non-existent hips but they're becoming highwaters on him.  I'm having better luck putting him into one-piece rompers that look like pajamas so if you see him out and about in one of those, it's my attempt at keeping his legs covered in the cold weather.

-he wears a size 5 toddler shoe, shirts and one-piece outfits are 18-24 month, and pants are 12 month.

Eli is a fun little guy who keeps us busy.  I don't know what we did before he came along.  It saddens me to think how lonely Zachary would be if we hadn't had Eli.  As time goes by I'm beginning to realize just how lucky we are that he made it through those first 10 weeks of life before he was diagnosed and got proper treatment.  Every single day is a gift with both our boys.

~ ~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELI MARK!!!! ~ ~

If you choose to keep reading, I've ended with a list of Eli's vocabulary along with my lame attempt at his pronunciation.   It's much cuter to hear him though :)  I've included the list here because, if you remember from previous posts, this is our family record as well as a way for family & friends to keep up with us. 

Words He Says:
Mommy &/or Momma                                                
Daddy &/or Dada
Bubba   {Zachary}                                                         
Alba   {Albert}
bebe   {baby}                                                                
Mamaw
Papaw                                                                          
uh-huh
uh-uh                                                                           
baw   {ball}
foo-baw   {football}                                                 
Ah-mee   {Amy, for Dr. Amy}
hi                                                                                 
bye
up
nigh-nigh   {night night}
nana   {banana}
nak   {snack}
mok   {milk}
mor   {more}
b   {bear}
dooc   {duck}
mote   {remote}
teet   {treat}
aye   {eye}
bott   {bottle or pacifier}
ip   {dip or chip}
ett   {pet...as in he wants to pet Albert}
bubble
cheese
ack-pac   {backpack}
Mimi   {Mickey Mouse}
Momo   {Elmo}
too-tee   {Cookie}
me
ruck   {truck}
haw   {hot}
der-tee   {dirty}
Pabo   {Pablo, from the Backyardigans}
oot   {out}
cheer   {chair}
eeeees   {please, we don't hear this as often as we'd like!}
daw   {draw}