A lot of playing & creativity goin' on!

This last week, we spent a lot of time learning & exploring Eli's new birthday toys/activities. First things first, we HAD to finish off the left over cupcakes. Eli asked for cupcakes everyday, several times a day, all week. I was glad when they were finally gone so we could stop lying to him & tell him they were really all gone:)

Grandma's art/lego table is a hit! Eli eats breakfast & snacks at the table, colors, & builds towers on his table. It's lightweight enough that he can move it around himself but we have found that next to the window to be the favorite location. That way he can look out the window & have "natural light" for his masterpieces:

Aunt Sarah & Aunt Stephanie got Eli this cool little booklet of "Thomas the Train" that is an aquadoodle book so when painted with water, scenes show up...yay for no mess!:

Crayola makes a variety of cool toddler friendly art supplies. Eli got the paint brushes, markers (paint/ink is in the brush/tip & you have to press down on the paper to "activate" the paint & once done using, it doesn't leak or dry up! Engenius!) & crayons:

In Eli's usual fashion, he tries numerous times a day to stand ON his table. Here he decided to sit under & mommy said "Yes, Eli, sitting UNDER the table is fun & safe!":

Eli's friend Aidan got Eli this really cool pop up train book. We keep it in a special (& safe from Eli) place & get it out about once a day to look at. Eli LOVES it & is learning how to be "gentle" & touch with one finger only:

Sophia's gift of a doctor's kit couldn't have come at a better time as Eli's 2 year well check was this week. We talked several times while using the toys about what the doctor would be doing. We even brought it with us to see if having his own doctor stuff would help. It did a little, but he still didn't like being touched & proded:

We've had vtech Vsmile Baby for awhile & just recently brought it back out again. Eli's favorite game is Baby Einstein where he touches the shapes on his game board & it colors like a coloring book on the screen:

We already bragged about Jack & Tori's gift of the play doh equipment but here is another picture of Eli playing with it:

Our backyard is now a soccor field, baseball diamond, football field, & golf course!! Eli LOVES all of his new outdoor sports equipment & always finds fun ways to use it all (not necessarily the conventional ways):

With the cool weather, we like to eat out on our deck. Here we are enjoying a yummy salmon dinner....mmmm!:

Eli giving himself a bath BEFORE his bath:

And all Bidney women should be excited about this one: Eli had peanut butter toast for the FIRST time today & seems to ALSO be in love with it! I knew he would be okay allergy wise since I ate peanut butter DAILY while pregnant with him & eat it a lot while nursing:

This morning was very cool (50's!) so Eli wore his Thomas the Train shirt (from a garage sale, yay!) for the first time & got really excited about it. He saw it and said "Thomas!!!":

Now some Eli news:

1) Eli likes to chew holes in his bread, hold it up to his eye & say "I see you!"
2) Eli (most of the time) can count to 10 all by himself & will randomly do so throughout the day.
3) When we return home & pull into the garage, Eli often wants to immediately get out & play with all his toys in the garage. Sometimes we do & sometimes we have to go inside for lunch or something. This week, we pulled into the garage & he started to whine about getting down. I then told him that we needed to get ready for lunch & he said "10 minutes?". I cracked up laughing because he hears me give him time limit warnings all the time before we change activities. He is already negotiating at age 2....oh boy! Oh, and I couldn't resist so we did play outside for 10 minutes!
4) Eli has learned to pick his nose....& eat his boogers!! This is another one of those things that I say "How did he learn that! WE don't eat our boogers!" While it's not the greatest etiquette, it helps me in that I don't have to try to hold hiim down to get his boogers out of his nose!! We just have to catch him soon enough before he eats it or wipes it somewhere!
5) We went to a water park this week (where water shoots up out of the ground & buckets dump down with water) & Eli really liked it!!

FYI, I'm not going to add any more words/phrases on the side of the blog. He pretty much says new words weekly & I just can't keep up!

This week I am throwing my good friends Tori & Cheryl a baby shower. Many of the mamas from our lactation/play group are bringing the food, drinks & games while I make some special items for the soon-to-be mamas (of TWO kids that is). Should be fun!!

We also are going to attempt to take Eli's 2 year pictures ourselves sometime this upcoming week/weekend. If they don't turn out well, we'll go to a professional but we want to try to see how they turn out. Wish us luck & I'll post some next week (if they turn out well!)!

I am hoping that my allergies slow down this week as today was HORRIBLE!! It sucks because the weather is nice & cool & I want to open up the house but as soon as I do, my nose turns into a faucet & I have sneezing fits (literally like 10 sneezes in a row). Eli now makes fun & mimics my sneezing he's heard me do it so much today!! This may be when I start to long for the first freeze!!

Hope every has a great week!