Eli update

Eli will be 27 months this coming week. Due to my fatigue, eating issues, & work, I have not done well with documenting Eli's last few months (with the detail I usually do, anyway). Here is my attempt to "catch up" and my hope to do better....after all, this blog is our digital scrapbook!

1) Eli has become quite the little "parrot" and loves to mimic us. This is too cute, except when he happens to hear a certain grandpa utter the words "G-- d--- it!". That's been a favorite of Eli's for about a month now.
2) Eli likes to say "okay" when asked something. Oh, and "no" :)
3) Eli is able to communicate his needs very well these days & it's great to have conversations (2 year old ones, but conversations none the less) with him. He can tell you what activities he wants to do & if he is hungry/thirsty & what he wants to eat or drink.
4) Eli has to have naked time after bath every night. This involves running around crazy while naked....although he sometimes pees on the floor. This is good to help him learn what peeing "feels" like, but he still doesn't like to sit on the potty....oh boys...

5) We had our parent educator visit this week and she did an assessment with Eli. She said he did very well. I don't remember all the questions/activities, but here are some:
a) asking Eli to name his friends-he was unable to but I told her that he talks about his friends A LOT!! He'll say "Callie? Cheryl? Jack? Tori?" several times a day.
b) stacking blocks and asking which tower was taller-he did this well!
c) asking him to jump to reach a ball-again, he did well!
d) asking Eli to draw lines-he did and also drew circles like below:

e) asked Eli to identify pictures of animals & the sound they make-did well!

Our parent educator also gave us a handout about what we should see in Eli's language & motor development from 24-36 months:

Look for your child to:
*Understand actions & events in simple story books: Eli can answer simple questions about stories he knows & also likes to pretend to read by babbling & running his finger along with words.
*Listen closely to conversations: as said earlier, Eli knows exactly what we are saying and can do as asked & ask for what he wants
*Initiate & carry on short conversations & be frustrated when not understood: definitely!
*Begin to use four word sentences: Eli has said some simple sentences lately such as "Eli eat cracker?"
*Understand 3 out of 4 words child uses: most of the time!
*Begin to use pronouns, verbs, past tense, and plurals: Eli does use "I" & "my" often. He also uses many verbs such as eat, run, cry, etc., etc. I do emphasize adding the "s" to plurals and past tense.
*Answer simple questions: yep!
*Ask where, when, and why questions: a little but we are constantly asking him these type of questions and he can answer them pretty well.
*Understand some prepositions, most verbs and most adjectives: Eli does well at saying what color things are "Eli cup yellow" and can say phrases like "Eli cup on table". Again, we model language like crazy all day with him.
*Name 3 body parts: Eli knows head, hair, ears, eyes, eyebrows, cheeks, nose, mouth, tongue, chest, tummy, arms, fingers, hands, legs, knees, toes, & feet. During bath I have always named body parts I am washing.
*Catch a large ball: yep! Eli holds his hands up and against his chest when we say "catch!"
*Jump up with both feet: yep!
*Begin to balance on one foot: just starting to balance better
*Pedal a tricycle: yes, on a decline or flat surface, not on incline.
*Walk up & down stairs alternating feet and without holding on: on short staircases, yes. Mommy insists on holding on if larger staircase.
*Use muscles in hands better to create: yep!
*Make purposeful strokes to draw drawing lines and circles while using more adult grip: yep-as seen above.
*Begin to use scissors: just started this a couple weeks ago....still needs work :)
*String/lace objects: we need to buy lacing activities which we will do soon!

Now for some fun pictures from the last few weeks:

Coloring with good friend, Jack:

Helping daddy with leaf duty:

Eli drew these with sidewalk chalk and then said "T!" "P!" (T on the right, P upside down on left):

Playing video games at the mall with daddy:

And the carousel:


Wearing daddy's shoes:

Monday our little one is 14 weeks in utero....yay! Have a great Thanksgiving!