Family Update

For Elias' 2 year Gotcha Day celebration we had some close friends and family get together for dinner. Elias has so much fun playing with all of his friends - he is very social, just like his Daddy. We are so happy he is a part of our lives!

Our kids are growing like crazy! It is fun to watch them interact and enjoy one another more and more. Elias is now well on his way to being a 3 year old. I am sure July will be here before we know it. Often I will look over at him on the couch or sitting at the table and wonder where my baby went.

He is officially over Elmo. This bothers me not because I miss Elmo but because this means my boy is big enough to be out of "a stage." His newest loves are Cars and Thomas the Train. He still loves being outside. His favorite thing to pretend right now is "picnic." Probably about 10 times per day he invites Isla and I to his picnic. When Daddy is home he is allowed to come too. We go sit on a pile of blankets and we have our picnic and eat a whole bunch of pretend food - that is until it disappears because the monster got it. Then we have to chase down the monster and start all over.

In the past couple of weeks Elias has also started stuttering and intentionally acting like a baby. If Isla is crawling over to me whining, Elias will be right there next to her doing the same thing. I am afraid this might get even worse when we have a newborn in the house who is getting attention...we'll see.

Elias loves to tease. Between Dad, Grandpas and Uncles I can't imagine where he gets that from. When you ask him a question he usually has one of two responses. If it is a yes or no question, Elias insists on answering, "maybe" in a wise guy kinda tone. His other response that

he is having a lot of fun with is saying, "what you just said?" when asked a question. He heard and knows exactly what you said but will continue on this course until he gets the kind of attention he is looking for (which usually consists of wrestling or tickling).

Brian and I went away from a weekend in January and came back to a child who says, "Oh come on!" when really frustrated about something. He picked this one up from his Uncle Israel. Whenever something is loud, Elias says, "that's louder!" He also likes to "hide in the darkness." He still loves to "play chickens on Daddy's doan" (play Angry Birds on Brian's IPhone). Brian worked with him on pronounces his F's. He now says phone perfectly but every other word that begins with an F still is mispronounced. If Brian emphasizes the F in a word, like food, Elias immediately starts saying phone. Poor guy just doesn't quite get it.

One of his favorite songs is Bruno Mars, Just The Way You Are. He likes to sing, "(Enter name here)'s amazing, just the way you are." He will sing it to whoever is around, like Mommy, Isla, Daddy, etc. Super sweet.

He has recently become scared of the dark, although it is already getting better after a couple of weeks. Since we didn't have a night light Brian took the desk lamp off the dresser and put it on the floor. It made me nervous but he figured it would just be there for a few minutes until he fell asleep. A few minutes later Elias came out crying and was pointing to his lip. Brian took him in the room and asked where he was hurt and he pointed to the lamp. Brian didn't really understand so he just put him back in bed. I didn't realize any of this had happened and went in a few minutes later as Elias was calling me. He said his lip was burning. I thought he had

chapped lips so I put some chapstick on for him. As I was doing so I noticed a big blister. I asked him what happened and he said, "I just kissed my light" and pointed to the lamp on the ground. He never ceases to surprise us with the things he comes up with and manages to do.

Elias and Isla are still two peas in a pod. He loves to answer for her and be her voice against the parents. One night the kids were playing and Brian said jokingly (super early into the evening), "Ok kids, time to go to bed." Elias looked at us shocked and said, "It's not time for bed. I don't want to go to bed and Isla doesn't want to go to bed." He is always looking out for her. Almost as much as he looks out for himself :)

They also have the same sexual deviant tendencies. Every time Elias gets out of the bath or shower (yes, he now loves to take showers by himself) he insists on running around the house yelling "naked boy!" Isla loves the sound of the shower and if the door is open she will be there in no time standing at the end of the bath, pulling the curtain open and peeping on whoever is in there.

Isla will be one in 6 days. Where has the time gone? She is still so small and so much my baby. She just cut her first tooth a couple of weeks ago. I doubt it will be visible yet in pictures at her first birthday. Despite not having teeth to work with she eats everything. Her favorite foods right now are scrambled eggs, veggie straws, pastas and breads. She is our little garbage disposal and will truly eat anything. She consistently out eats her brother every meal (which really isn't saying too much).

Isla is into everything. I call her "fingers" and "trouble" since they both fit so well. She loves to get into the dishwasher and just yesterday figured out how to turn it on. We have had to rubber band all of our cupboard doors shut. She has her favorite drawers and cupboards and empties them multiple times a day. She also loves to eat paper and has taken down a number of books, mail, tissues, toilet paper, Brian's music, and anything else paper-like. She can stand on her own for a few seconds and is getting really fast at walking along the furniture. She might take her first steps by time the new baby is here.

Speaking of the new baby we are down to 10 weeks and 1 day until our due date. Holy cow. 10 weeks. Not very long. Probably not quite long enough. It is hard to imagine our lives with a newborn thrown into the mix but ready or not here comes baby. We aren't finding out the gender and are super excited to have such a big surprise. Elias and Daddy think it will be a girl baby. More or less everyone else in the world who has given me their opinion thinks it will be a boy. I guess we will find out soon enough! And here's a little video I took of Isla today showing off her latest trick!