Dear Eli,
24 months- otherwise known as 2 years old! Only 2 short (depending upon how you look at them) years, and now I can’t imagine my life without you. This past month has been quite an eventful one for you.
Playing in the dirt is still a favorite activity.
You have started going to Speech and Occupational Therapy 4 days a week. It is really keeping us busy but we are seeing so much improvement already. One of the therapists has commented that you are such a fun child to work with because every time she sees you you’re saying new things. You are finally repeating words that you hear with little or no cajoling. Everyday I’m hearing you say words you have never said before. This is true in Spanish as well as English. Your current Spanish vocabulary includes agua, mas, arroz, hola, sopa and most likely a few more I can’t think of just now. I couldn’t begin to list the words you are saying in English anymore. One we are hearing a lot now is “Ergo” which means either you want to be cuddled in it or that you have had it with being inside and it is time to go. If it is the latter and I don’t take the hint you then bring me my shoes just to drive the point home.
Today at your group program I couldn’t get over how far you have come in just a few short weeks. You sat through both opening and closing circle times with just a bit of encouragement and redirection and actually participated. Your smile when everyone sang the Happy Birthday song to you was priceless. You also did quite well with participating in the various little classes as well… whenever you weren’t trying to scale Mama that is. It seems we’ve hit a new round of strong separation anxiety again and you would like to spend much more time in Mama or Dada’s arms than is possible at this point. I think my favorite part of the day was when you kept making your little plastic dogs kiss each other rather than matching them with the picture in the book like you were supposed to, not because you couldn’t but because matching is an inferior activity to kissing in your estimation. That’s my Eli… a lover and a rebel all wrapped up into one!
Trying your hand at eating with chopsticks.
You have always been sensitive and tender hearted, but this past month you have developed empathy. It used to be it didn’t phase you if you accidentally clobbered someone (usually me) while playing. You just didn’t get it. But now, if you think you have hurt someone else you are still sobbing about it long after the other child is done crying and has gone back to play. I never like to see you cry, but I do love seeing that you are becoming such a caring person. I was telling my cousin about this on the phone while following you around the toy section of the store. (Sherie always wants to know what is new with you.) I didn’t realize you were listening in so closely on my end of the conversation. Unfortunately all you understood was that I was telling somebody on the phone that you had hurt someone else. You immediately started shrieking and sobbing. It took you at least 10 minutes to stop crying. I really have to be careful about what I talk about around you now!
Working on your new puzzle with Cori.
You now LOVE to do puzzles, and you are pretty quick at it. One of the things you like about going to therapy is that there are many different puzzles. Since we started going you have gotten so much better at turn taking with the other children there as you put together puzzles together. You were thrilled to receive some new puzzles for your birthday.
You are beginning to show an interest in dressing and undressing yourself now. We’ve been working on being able to take your shoes off and you almost have it down. You take off your own socks. The other day you wanted to put on your own pants and ended up going to get your Daddy for a little help.
Having a jam session with Daddy.
You are liking your potty chair as well. I’ve been wondering about when the right time to start the potty training process with you. I think you have been listening to some of the conversations I’ve had with others about it. For about a week your Dad and I had been confused about a new sign you were using that we didn’t recognize. It turns out you were signing potty! Now you sign potty and we get out your chair. You will sit there for up to 20 minutes at a time if I stay with you and you have toys. When the anticipated action occurs you are so pleased and we make a big deal about flushing it. We are not doing any serious potty training at this point, but you are showing an interest which is an important first step.
You have a certain way of exclaiming that I just can’t figure out how to put into print as it it all in the tone of voice. You use it especially whenever you encounter something that is wrong or somehow inappropriate. Like the bulb syringe being on Daddy’s desk, or the door to Daddy’s office being open in the first place. (After all you know as well as I do that a certain wild toddler is apt to come rampaging through!) Or while at the store with your father and overhearing a woman say to her little girl, “Let’s go see Daddy.” Couldn’t they see that your Daddy was standing RIGHT THERE?
Enjoying a hug from Grandpa Jim.
In the couple of weeks that passed between your 2 birthday dinners (to be able to celebrate with out of town family, I’m pretty sure you now think a birthday is a month long affair) you learned how to blow out your own candle.
Here you can see your Daddy blowing it out for you.
Two weeks later you surprised everyone and had it blown out from across the table before we even finished singing.
So Aunt Jacki lit it again…
so we could catch the moment with the camera. And then we did it yet again, just for fun. 
You REALLY enjoyed the “cupcake” not minding a bit that it was actually a wild blueberry flax muffin with some frosting on it. Turns out the vegan bakery was closed that day and I didn’t have time to bake. I wonder if you will always be this easy to please. Somehow I doubt it, but if you take after your father, you just may be.
I cannot imagine feeling any more blessed to be a mother than I do with you in my life. I love you so very, very, very much!
Mama
