You are growing and learning and getting to be super smart. I am so proud of how much you are learning these days. Our friends and family are going to get sick of me having you do all your "tricks" for them, but I'm just so proud! Plus, it's so fun to see their faces when you show them all you know.
Physically: You are a ball of energy that never stops. I think I've said that about you in every single monthly update since you were born (and actually before you were even born, you were in constant motion in my tummy!). You go, go, go and don't stop until it's time to take a nap or go to sleep at night; even then though you move all around and wiggle and wriggle while you're sleeping! You're just an active little fellow and I can already tell that I'm going to have to give you plenty of opportunities to use all that energy you have inside you so you don't get cranky and upset. You love all sports-baseball, basketball, soccer, golf, bowling, football. You have gotten really good at hitting the baseball off your tee and even hitting the golf ball off your Little Tikes tee. You used to only hit left handed, but now you switch it up every time, so we still have no idea which hand you're going to use when you get older. I think your Daddy hopes for left, but we'll just have to wait and see. You take great delight in jumping off of things these days; mostly, it's just your Mickey Mouse Clubhouse stool, which is low to the ground, but this morning during VBS you started jumping off the huge foam tunnel to the foam mat below (about 1 1/2 feet off the ground). You have been to the pool a lot already this summer and love, love, love the water. You kick your legs, "swim" to the wall with Mommy's help, slide down the slide, jump in from the side of the pool, and you have even jumped off the diving board twice. You would have jumped off the diving board more than that, but Mommy got tired of having to tread water :) You love walking backwards when you're in a silly mood and when you're really silly, you start to crawl like a baby because you know it gets a reaction from Mommy!
Verbally: You are such the mockingbird. I'd try to list all the words that you say completely unprompted, but it'd take awhile. I am kind of curious though, so I may write it down in your other journal I keep for you one day. You are still using 2-3 word sentences regularly, but most of the time it's to say, "Get down/up, Momma/Dada" or "Come on, Momma/Dada" or "Let's go, Momma/Dada." I've tried to get you to change from saying "Dada" to saying "Daddy", but you're still adamant about saying "Dada". You love to sing and will sing along with anyone that's singing. Your favorite song is "Jesus Loves Me" and I wonder if that might be because you heard that song SO MUCH when you were little from all of us when we were trying to rock you to sleep. You also sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and your ABC's. You are getting better at saying your name. For so long now when we've asked you what your name was you'd say, "Allah" because that's what Molly and her whole family called you (and still call you) since she couldn't say Eli. LOL! Now you'll say, "E!", and forget to say the rest. We're getting there though! I've also been working with you on spelling your name. I figure it's only 3 letters, so this should be pretty easy for you. Every time you pick up a crayon in the bathtub, you immediately say "E" as you scribble something on the wall, but you never say the rest. Oh well, you are only 19 months, so we've got a lot of time to work on that!
Sleeping: No changes here. Since in the past you've let us know when you were ready to do something-weaning from bottle, for example-we kind of hope you'll do the same with sleeping on your own. You still always start the night out in your crib, but it never fails that sometime in the middle of the night I sleepwalk you to our bed because I heard you crying. Oh well, I tell myself that if this is the only thing I have to complain about then we're doing pretty well. Besides, your Daddy and I love getting to snuggle with you; it's the only time we ever can since you're hardly ever still! You have been taking a 3 hour nap this week though, but I think that's because you're playing so hard at VBS and you're having to get up pretty early; however, if you'd like to continue a 3 hour nap for the rest of the summer, I'd be happy to oblige you!
Eating: You're a decent eater-not the best, but not the worst. You eat when you're hungry and when you're not no one can convince you to even sit in your high chair. When you say, "No!" you really mean it, so I just follow your cues. You do drink a Pediasure drink every day though just to make sure you get at least some vitamins and minerals you might be missing out on because of your diet. Right now your favorite foods are popsicles, lima beans, green beans, Gerber graduate meals, fruit snacks, yogurt, cheese, goldfish, cereal, and mostly all fruit. You love snacks, too. I think you'd snack all day long if we let you, but we're trying to limit what you get during the day so you'll eat better at mealtimes-sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't.
Fun Sutff:
-You carry your stuffed monkey, Mo, around with you a lot now. He's been to VBS with your every day this week. I think you're actually starting to get attached to him.
-You love having pretend conversations with people on the phone. You see my phone and say "dalk" (talk). I lock the keys so you don't call 911 or China, and your conversation will usually go like this: Eli-"Hey, Dada. Uh-huh. Bye!" It's so cute to watch!
-You request to watch something other than Praise Baby now. You're a big fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse now, which I'm okay with because it's very educational, but you still only watch about 10 minutes of it and then go back to playing with things in the house.
-You are starting to shows signs that you're ready to be potty trained at least according to the baby magazines I read that is. You're holding your pee-pee overnight and letting me know every time when you poo-poo. Good job, buddy! Maybe you'll be in big boy underwear sooner than we thought. I'm not going to push you though, because like always, you'll let me know when you're ready.
-You love to identify objects-cars, drinks, shoes, clothes, etc.-and then tell who they belong to. Mama's car, Dada's truck, Zue-Zue's shoes, Mamaw's car, Papaw's shoes, etc.
-You are beginning to learn your shapes. You know circle, star, and square. We're working on triangle and rectangle, too.
-You play by yourself more now and carry on a conversation while you're doing it. If you're playing with your cars I hear you say, "Vroom, vroom!" a lot. If you're pretending to cook, you give your stuffed animals bites.
-You know more colors. You know red, blue, yellow, and purple. You love to say that everything is purple at first, but then you'll usually say the right color.
-You know lots of body parts! You know head, hair, ears, eyes, chin, cheeks, ears, tongue, mouth, teeth, neck, shoulders, elbow, arm, leg, knee, toes, feet, booty, hands, fingers, nose, and belly.
-You love playing hide and seek now and are getting better about keeping your eyes covered.
-You're doing better with counting to 3 and sometimes even 5.
-You help me say your prayer every night before you go to bed. I say "Dear Jesus, Thank you for..." and then you usually start naming everyone in our family including Maggie. I must admit, it makes me tear up a little every time. It's so sweet to hear you talking to Jesus. My favorite part though is when you say, "A-men!" It makes me laugh every time!
Eli, you're so much fun! I've loved every single stage with you and I can't wait to experience many many more! I love you, sweetie pie!
No comments:
Post a Comment