Oops, we haven't posted in a while...life is definitely busier!
One year old Eli:
Eli’s favorite things right now include eating, playing in water,
trucks, Benjamin and climbing. The boy
can put away food- loves protein; cheese, yogurt, ham, turkey, tofu (&
watermelon) are his favorites. He “vrooms”
cars up and down the couch and coffee table.
He loves to be watching, touching, next to or on top of his brother at
all times. He has a high pitched scream
that sounds like he is in extreme pain whenever Benjamin takes away one of his
toys (can’t wait till he learns to story of “Don’t cry wolf”). He is a master climber of stairs, pantry
shelves, pianos, dining room tables, bathroom counters. Benjamin
has been quite helpful in alerting us to many climbing catastrophes. He has taken his first steps, but still
prefers to crawl everywhere or push his walker.
He is FINALLY sleeping longer stretches- generally from 9PM-6AM. It’s early, but we’ll take it! Takes a short morning nap and a long
afternoon nap. He fights sleep with
every muscle fiber- it’s like trying to snuggle a spider monkey. Most clear words are “Dada, Uh-oh, Dog, Up,
More, Truck.” Appearance-wise I think he
is going to stay blue-eyed, but I’m still not certain if the red hair is going
to stay. His baby pictures most closely
resemble his Aunt Shelby, and she still had red hair at this age (now dirty
blonde). This kid is extreme- such a
smiley, happy, giggly boy, but tired or hungry?
Watch out! He has a fiery temper
and has already thrown giant temper tantrums.
Does not like to have his diaper changed at all anymore. Extremely ticklish. We have taken him to open swims at Benjamin’s
swim school and he adores splashing and playing in the water.
Three year old Benjamin:
Benjamin is my helper, snuggler and mellow man with
a tender heart. Unfortunately this means
his feelings get hurt easily and he can make great crocodile tears. He gets excited for “stay-at-home” days when
we don’t have to go anywhere. His
favorites include Lunch ‘n Play at preschool, riding his bike (with training
wheels), swimming lessons, dinosaurs, cars, reading, Duplos, coloring and
playing with his buddy down the street; Abbie.
He loves doing crafts and projects where he gets to sit up at the table
and cut, glue, color, paint and in general create things that he loves to give
away. He is great at entertaining his
little brother, helping put away toys, playing quietly by himself. He generally sleeps from 9PM-7AM with a 2-3
hr afternoon nap. My great eater is
getting a little pickier. Current
favorites are PB&J’s, mac ‘n cheese/crackers ‘n cheese, apples, watermelon,
and any puree that comes in those pouches.
Both kids still get to spend Tuesdays and Thursdays at Nana and Papa’s
house while Mama works, but this year Benjamin goes to the Three’s class with
Nana in the AM and gets to do Lunch ‘N Play Tuesday afternoons. Benjamin is a great admirer of Papa and is a
comedian in training, often repeating jokes spot on. Current favorite, “Why did the rabbit go to
the dr? Because he was feeling unhoppy.” He can write all the capital letters in the
alphabet and spells a handful of words like, “cat, dog, mama, dada, Benjamin, hug,
Eli, up.” Still a little awkward at
running (it’s endearing J
) and timid, but he’s still a little boy who loves to be outside digging in
dirt and playing with balls, rocks and sticks.
As Eli gets more interactive, it is really fun to watch the relationship between the boys grow. I truely believe they enjoy the time they spend together now, which is refreshing after the rocky first year of brotherhood.
