Twenty Months (Elliot's Monthly Photo)

Goodness gracious.  Time has flown since we got home!  Daniel went out of town last week, and then we hosted a baby shower for my sister in law last weekend.  It's been busy!  It's staying busy.  We're leaving in a few days for a 2 week trip to Colorado.  Can't wait!  But also... wow, it's been busy.



Anyways.  Elliot. 


 
Can you believe this little stinker is closer to 2 than 1 now??  It just occurred to me that I'll only take this photo 4 more times for him!  Wow.  He is growing fast. 



He is more articulate, but you still pretty much have to know what he's saying in order to know what he's saying, if that makes sense.  Words that sound closer to how they "should" sound include more ("moo"), Papa (bah-pa), nonna (for "nonni" or for "mimi"), milk ("mah"), that ("dah"), and his favorite: car (said, "Ahhhhr!"). 



He is down to a solid one-nap-a-day, usually taken around lunch time.

At prayer time (before meals), Elliot always interjects, "Bah-pa!" while we're praying.  As in... thank you, God, for this good food and for this day and for Papa.  We add it in to the line up of things we're grateful for every meal, at his prompting.  Lucy then adds, "and Nonnie!  and Mimi!"



He is a little fish!  He loves swimming now.  He is hit-or-miss, at the moment, with regard to his actual skill at swimming.  But he's got the survival thing down pretty well, and it's fun to take Lucy and him to the pool and send each one back and forth between the stairs and myself.



He loves sucking toothpaste off his toothbrush brushing his teeth. 



Daniel's mom pointed out the other day that although they both really enjoy building towers, they have very different methods.  Lucy has always been the careful builder.  Even at Elliot's current age, Lucy used to pause after each block to make sure it would balance before removing her hand.  Elliot is more of a volume block stacker.  He doesn't wait to see if it's going to fall, he just plops each block onto the one beneath it.  If it falls, it falls.  He barely pauses to notice.  He is a clean up machine.  If given a task like putting balls back into the ball pit, he is single-minded in the task and doesn't stop until it's done. 



He is still pretty skeptical of foods in a way that Lucy never has been.  I wonder if it's a texture thing.  He loves liquids.  Anything I'm drinking... coffee, tea, juice, coke, punch, etc... he wants it.  Lucy has never really cared especially for drinks besides water and milk (maybe the occasional cup of hot tea or coffee), but Elliot seems passionate for liquids.  It was this fact that recently inspired a short smoothie trend in our household.  I adore watching him slurp up smoothies loaded with kale, chia seeds, probiotics, and coconut oil alongside fresh and frozen fruits.  Awesome.



Elliot, we love you and are so proud of you.