Toddler Decorating

I love our sweet Eli - he just cracks me up sometimes. Life with a toddler is definitely busy, but it's also fun. For several weeks, I have noticed Eli placing some of his prized possessions carefully around our house, like he wants to leave little bits of himself everywhere. In particular, I keep noticing him hanging his little train cars off the hook in our armoire. He doesn't seem fazed that I take them off when we clean up, they are always put back up the next day. :)

In addition to the hook, he also likes to "park" some of his cars on the little shelf in the armoire.

As I was taking pictures of these little decorations, I decided to look around and see what other strange places he leaves his toys. This one is under the armoire.

And a little Fisher Price person in our door jam.

And finally, a mini board book in the mail slot. Maybe he thinks he's leaving me special treats or surprises all over the house. :)

I can't get over how cute Eli is getting. I love seeing his personality emerge. For the most part, Eli is pretty easy going and happy (except when he is teething with all four molars, like right now!!). Eli has so much energy - he loves to run and play especially at the park. He is a huge dare devil and doesn’t want my help as he goes down the slides and climbs the ladders. He loves to get dirty and play in the sand, sometimes putting it down his clothes and diaper!

Since Eli is only 18 months old right now, he doesn’t really understand that he will be a big brother soon. However he is very interested in babies, and likes to sign “baby” and wave whenever he’s sees one. Eli is starting to speak and sign a lot. He loves to say his “C” words: “car”, “crash”, “cracker”, and “cat” among other things. But most of all it is so fun to see him really taking off with sign language. He signs about 40 words, mostly things that interest him: “bird”, “airplane”, “dog”, “boat”, “ball”, “water” and “siren” or to communicate his needs: “help”, “please”, “thank you”, “sorry”, “more”, “hot”, and “cold”. We also have fun asking where his different body parts are for Eli to point to: “eyes”, “ears”, “nose”, “mouth”, and “belly button”.

Eli is also starting to show affection. He will spontaneously get up from playing to give me a hug and kiss or to cuddle next to me for a few seconds. He also likes to imitate what we are doing, like pulling the covers on our laps, reading a book, or typing on the computer (no matter how much I discourage that). I love that he wants to be so helpful now, following simple directions to bring me his shoes or close the door. Eli is such a joy, I can't wait to have another one and add to our family. I hope Eli will love his new sibling. BTW: We will (hopefully) be finding out the gender in two weeks, so if you haven't voted in the poll to the right, go ahead. I'm excited to find out. :)

On an unrelated note, if you haven't had a chance to check out my photography website for a while, there are a lot of new photos and updated info. In addition, there are several new posts on my photography blog.