Goofy

Here's a goofy picture of Elliot playing with me on the bed. And here's big and little together. Notice the similar hairlines.

Sharing

At first we thought Elliot was sharing his trains with Elsie. Later we figured out that he actually was just using her as a temporary storage space. When she reached out her hand during a later stretch, Elliot saw her hand precariously close to a favorite train. "No," he told her. She didn't respond.

Happy children

Here are both of our kids in their happy place. Elliot can push a button at this playground that makes the fountain sprout up from the ground. He loves it. Today he got a new train from his Yaya, Big Papa and Aunt J in Georgia. The train's name is Emily and the kid said "YEAH! EH!" about 8 times while Michael took it out of the package. It was a highlight of the day.

Elsie, sadly, has pretty much reached the level of colic that Elliot achieved in his young months. So, we pass her back and forth, wear her on our chests with the Baby Bjorn, bounce her in her bouncy seat, and sometimes just put her in the swing and close the door for a moment of sanity. We figure we're halfway done, though, as by around 3 1/2 months Elliot started to calm down a bit. The days are long, but we look forward to more moments like you see here, when she's just exercising on the couch.

At the zoo

So, Elliot has had a recent fascination with Babar. He would point to the bookpile and say "eh" meaning, of course, elephant. So we thought we'd take him to the free zoo and let him experience the real elephants, as he did the giraffes. He was not very impressed. He said their name, and then seemed ready to move on. So we took him back to the giraffes. He actually tried to get into their pen, as you can see here - he's trying to climb in. Guess he stiff loves the "waffs". Elsie also enjoyed the zoo.
Elliot has been learning colors and is really excited to tell you about them. He knows red, white, blue, green, orange and yellow. Sometimes he just walks around the house naming colors in a really excited voice.

Life with two

So, basically, grandma left, and the house fell apart. Thankfully, it's been put back together. But this is how we were looking on Saturday. I've thought about timing Elliot and keeping track of how quickly he can take apart a room. He's not yet old enough to do the whole challenge of "how fast can you put the blocks away?" Right now he just says, "no". I do look forward to more English.

Dress and popsicle

So, Elsie wore her first dress to church the other day. Of course it came with bloomers (thanks, Aunt Wanda) that have ruffles on them. She wasn't in the greatest mood when I was taking pictures, but she was extra cute in this outfit. Sadly, she's becoming a bit less content. She cries a lot now, and sometimes we can't get her to stop for long periods of time. Thankfully, she does not do this in the middle of the night. But when she's not crying and she's awake, just looking at you, she's the cutest thing ever.

Elliot has been enjoying popsicles, as we think he's still getting some big tooth - must be a molar? He and papa often eat them outside on the front porch while I finish dinner or clean something or feed Elsie or just sit in the quiet for a moment. He was not willing to share this popsicle with anyone- not even Elsie.

Tummy time

Here's Elsie getting a little tummy time in during Elliot's nap. She seems a little suprised by it, doesn't she? She likes to have a little mama time while Elliot's sleeping. So today we did a photo shoot...

Time out duck

So, we've been using time out with Elliot, who is 2 in every sense of the age. The duck has a timer which rings when finished, at which time Elliot is allowed to get up. Sometimes it really seems to help his attitude. The other day he had been whining about wanting to watch his trains, which he had already seen that day. Suddenly he handed me the duck. "On", he said. "You want me to turn it on?" I asked. "Yeah". "Do you need a time out?" I asked. "Yeah". So he walked over and sat down, waiting for me to turn on the duck. I did. And he sat there quietly. He got up before the timer went off, but I figured, hey, this is self-inflicted. The timing is not important. When he got up, his attitude was much better.

I think I should put myself in timeout as well. I need it as much as Elliot, most days.