i 2!!!!

Well, the day is here. The day I've been waiting for but also been in denial about-Elijah's 2nd birthday. My baby is gone. I now have a 2 yr old. Can I just say how thankful I am to be pregnant with another?? I LOVED Elijah's baby years and am definitely looking forward to squeezing more baby legs and cheeks.

Just look at the difference in chub!

People say that the first year is full of changes, but I think it's the second. Elijah was still very much a baby at 12 months. He walked later and was all around chubby. Throughout the last year, he has learned how to walk but also talk! Sure, he still has his own language and there are a few words that only Dan and I can understand. But for the most part, he can hold his own in a conversation with adults! He is perfecting his ABC's and is working on letter, color and number recognition, too. By the way, in case you've imagined me sitting with him at the table with flashcards, I'll have you know he does these things by himself, with his books in his room.

Elijah is our little introverted nerdy chatterbox. He is incredibly sociable and enjoys spending time with people. However, he definitely recharges by spending time alone. If we have a dinner party, Elijah loves being the center of attention, but when enough is enough, he will quietly excuse himself to play alone in his room. He probably spends 2-3 hours a day playing alone with various things throughout the house. Again-this is what HE chooses to do! I would much rather be out and about all day long, but I am realizing what a blessing this will be once baby number two arrives!

Although he likes a quiet space, Elijah really enjoys life. He will dance to the sound of a truck driving by or the coffee grinder. He loves ethnic foods and trying new things. He is polite and considerate with others saying "Thank you very much, you're welcome!" whenever he is helped by someone. He also is the first to say "bless you!" after anyone sneezes.

I love his blond hair that will not stop growing. In the last year, I've given him more hair cuts than I can count. This morning, he woke up with the craziest hair-do I've ever seen. He was awake and ready for his birthday! He asked to watch a show, so we let him watch the Harold's Birthday episode. Then we opened a present in bed (a small kitchen toy with play food) and played for a while before having blueberry pancakes.

Eli immediately washed his hands

By 8:15am, we were out the door to the Zoo. We didn't want to miss the free Sting Ray exhibit!!

We saw a fellow seminary family who happened to have an extra train ticket. Elijah and I have only ridden it once (It's 5 bucks!!) so it was quite the treat to take the train around the zoo.

We saw Eli's favorite animals:

The bears

The penguins

The hippos

The elephants

We spent a few minutes in the waterfall and then headed home for lunch.

By 11, we were pooped. Elijah fell asleep in the car and then proceeded to not take a nap ALL afternoon. Finally, he crashed around 3:30pm, just an hour before his birthday party. I think he knew something was up and didn't want to miss out. I woke him up just in time for his party guests to arrive. We played with his new toys, ate ice cream cake (home made by me!!) and danced to the Beatles birthday song.

Elijah in his new soccer cleats (hand me down's from Benjamin VandenBrink)

The kids hovered around Dan while he served up the ice cream cake.

Elijah carefully ate his piece but still managed to make a mess. It was awesome to watch.

The kids played well together in Elijah's room while the adults hung out in the living room. Every once in a while, someone would check in on the kids and this is mostly what we saw:

The party died down around 6:30pm and we realized we had no plans for dinner. Our friends Tim, Heather and their little girl Libby joined us at the Jensens for burgers. It was great to keep the party alive but at a different location. The kids swam in the pool while Libby and Eli splashed in the kiddie pool.

We kept Eli up way too late, but it was all worth it. He had a wonderful birthday and we really enjoyed celebrating with him. Now we are practicing the new answer to the old question "How old are you??". Eli usually responds "yup!" but sometimes he will answer correctly by saying "I 2!!"