2 1/2!

Eli is officially 2 1/2 as of yesterday! Blows my mind! He is such a little character and it has been a wild and amazing ride raising him so far. He is so full of passion (which can be a good thing AND a bad thing...you know this if you've ever heard one of his screams). He enjoys learning, nature (walks, forests, animals, trees, flowers, etc.), art (watercolors, chalk, markers, and finger paints), music (guitar and drums), etc. He is very well rounded. His passions are the drums, playing ball, and anything that involves running. Today we've been having fun singing the alphabet. He can repeat all of it with a few hilarious variations. "W" is the hardest for him to say and it always takes an interesting form. He knows all of his letters, numbers to 10, colors, shapes, etc. He can recognize words such as "Mom", "Dad", "Eli", "Nana", and more. He can tell yout lots of words that start with certain letters and has really taken off linguistically. I am very encouraged because he is talking more and more and is really TRYING to say anything we prompt him to. It isn't always right, but at least he tries now. He is super affectionate. It is probably my favorite thing about him. He has a super sweet snuggly side to him that just seems so out of character for his wild demanding little self. Most of the day I'm getting kissed, hugged, and snuggled. His sister receives tons of affection from him too. What a sweety he is. Eli has a wonderful sense of humor and is a typical boy to the core with it. Toots will get squeals of laughter and he loves being goofy.

I'm so grateful to be his mom. Our verse for him has been Luke 1:17 talking about John the Baptist: "And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."