1 And A Half!!!

Having fun at the park.

Eli Bear,

How is it that a year and a half has passed since you came into our lives? I don't even remember what life before Eli was like. A lot of time wasted, I'm sure.

As of Saturday, you are now 18 months old. Full on toddlerhood. This is the funnest stage so far. You are absorbing things so quickly! I feel like you learn something new everyday.

You are repeating lots of words lately. We're working on building your vocabulary. I can't wait until you can tell us what you want!



Saturday morning cuddles with mom.

Over the last couple of weeks you've learned to say shoes, huevos (eggs in Spanish), wuao wauo (woof woof in Spanish, when you hear a dog), ball/balloon, caca (when I change your diaper) and you also say three when you want to jump, as in "One, two, three!". You've mimicked a lot of the words that we say, but it's hard to get you to repeat them. Oh, and when we sing "Old Macdonald Had a Farm" You say, "eieio." Cutest.Thing.Ever.

The outdoors and playing with water are still your favorite activities. It's always a sad, sad, time for you when it's time to get out of the water or go back inside. I can't wait until you are a bit older and we can go on bigger adventures.



The most handsome boy I know!

You've also recently discovered bugs! You get really excited when you see one, I wish I knew what you were thinking.

Your favorite foods are rice (any and all kinds), bananas, blueberries, cheese, and cereal bars. You're starting to eat a bit more meat, but it's still not your favorite.

You are working on breaking two molars, that will put you at a total of 10 teeth!

You ROAR when you see animals that look ferocious, and you call cuddly animals kitty.

You love putting lotion on and keeping your hands clean. You are always stretching your hands out so mom can wipe. You can also wipe your own face with napkins.

A couple of days ago, you dug a broken hanger out of the garbage and went up to us and said "Puh puh" it took us a while, but we realized you were pretending to shoot us. I'm not gonna lie it was cute and scary at the same time. Cute, because your imagination let you play with a hanger and pretend it was a gun, but I'm not quite ready for my little guy to play those kind of games yet.

Wearing Grandpa Alan's hat.

You are learning a lot of this stuff from your new friend, Jaime. Oscar's step son is your BFF right now. He is 4 years old and LOVES you. I am glad that you have a friend to entertain you and it's probably the reason you get so sad when it's time to pick you up from Tere's house. The twins are also good companions. I am glad you have cousins to grow up with.

Lastly, you are still obsessed with HATS! It is literally the first thing you say when you wake up in the morning, and you have even gone to bed wearing your hat. Not sure what the appeal is, but it sure is cute!

Happy half birthday my little guy, I love you to the moon and back!

XOXO
Mama

Rock on little guy!

First Haircut!

Dear Eli,

Against my wishes, you got your first hair cut Saturday morning!

Daddy thinks you are getting hot, and with the heat coming quickly, he didn't want you to get overheated this summer. He's probably right, but goodness, I so didn't want to cut off those locks. I have conflicting feelings.

The last long haired bath.

Sometimes the hair gets in your face, and you are starting to be very aware of it, and sometimes you even pull on it. You don't like your hair brushed, I'm sure the tangles hurt, and you look like a mad scientists sometimes. But, my oh my, do you look cute in those locks. It's the first thing people notice about you and we always get comments on it. I guess I like that you have a little something special about you. I felt like you would look like an ordinary boy if we cut it all off.

Breakfast at Mimi's after your cut!

So, on Saturday morning, we packed into the car, drove to Cookie Cutters in Bountiful and did the deed! You were excellent! Like usual, we worried about nothing and you surpassed our expectations. You got to sit in a little police car and watch cartoons while the stylist trimmed away. You didn't make a single peep. You just sat there like a good little boy and took it like a champ! You were awarded a blue balloon at the end, and were on our way. I can't believe how well you handle certain situations. We had all these ideas of what you would do. Cry, scream, not hold still, want to touch the scissors, be scared of the trimmers, but none of that happened! There was a little boy, probably 3-4 in there as well, and he was screaming his head off and crying. You didn't even acknowledge that you heard him. You really are the greatest kid ever!

The most handsome boy ever!

Of course you look cute in your new cut, and it's starting to grow on me, but...I think we'll grow your hair back out. We'll see how the summer treats us!