20 Months!

This past month was a whirlwind for us with our move, my family reunion, and my birthday.  Before we knew it, this lil' cutie was 20 months old!  With this new month, we also had a BIG change--a convertible carseat!  That's right, for the past 19 months Eli has been using his infant carrier.  (We have the Graco Snugride 35, so he just barely passed the height limit on it.)  Crazy!  He was pretty excited about this change.  Does he look like such a big boy or what?!

Last month I wrote about Eli being evaluated through the First Steps program, to see if he qualifies for speech therapy.  He does, and we will have a Speech Pathologist come to our house twice a month for an hour long therapy session.  SLP's are also qualified to help with feeding troubles, so she will be able to work with us on helping Eli to accept a wider variety of foods.  The amazing part of this is that the services are FREE!  Such a blessing.  He'll receive services for three months, and then they'll re-evaluate in October to see if he needs to continue services.  We are also able to stop receiving therapy at any time.  Eli's really making strides in his speech development lately, and we're hearing more and more words coming out!  We can't wait to see how quickly his language picks up even more after some therapy.

Since we moved into a house with much more floor space to sweep, it was also time to upgrade to a full-size broom.  The broom immediately became Eli's favorite plaything, and as soon as I took it out to sweep he would fuss until I let him do it.  : )  Such a good helper!

A cool spot to hang out in our new house seems to be our very skinny pantry!  It's the perfect size for a little toddler, and Eli loves to go in there, pull out each water bottle, and line them up on the table.  : )

Where's Eli?

Kitchenware will always be the #1 toy in the Hayes house.

Eli and his daddy sure know how to have a fun time!  Here's a couple of cute videos of them together:

#1 Kicking the Ball--Every evening David and Eli kick and throw this ball around.  Eli started running this past month, so he's always chasing after it, or running away from Daddy, squealing.

#2 Flipping--Recently David started doing these flips with Eli.  It scares me that Eli will get hurt, but he begs and begs to be flipped!

I picked up a few children's books at Once Upon a Child recently.  Two of them became instant favorites, and we have to read them both every day.  They are More Spaghetti, I Say!  and The Happy Hippopotami  (That latter one really is such a creative and enjoyable read.  I absolutely recommend it). We also acquired a great "new" toy at a garage sale--a golf set!  It's a toddler-size golf cart with two clubs, a couple balls, and a little flag and hole to hit the ball into.  Eli's really taken to it, and I think he'll be a great golfer (much to the delight of his Grandpa Metheny).  : )

What may be the most frustrating "milestone" yet is being able to unscrew lids!  Eli is constantly searching for a lid he can unscrew.  And if he can't get it opened with his hands he will open it with his mouth.  Grr...

He recently took an interest in my sunglasses.  He loves it when I let him wear them, and then he always tries to put them on me.  : )  He's also taken a major interest in belly buttons.  He loves to lift up his shirt and proudly display his belly button, but he also loves to dig around and do some tugging to find Mom and Dad's belly buttons, too!

Grandma and Grandpa Hayes got Eli this fun new desk and stool set!  Eli LOVES it!  He brings the stool with him all around the house, and spends time "coloring" every day.

Here's a cute video of him coloring--

There's an awesome splash pad just a few minutes from our house!  And every time we go it's practically empty!  

Getting a little thirsty--

Eli honking his nose, while making a little "honking" sound--

This is what Eli does whenever he hears a big noise, like an airplane or a school bus drive by--

Eli may look like the sweetest little boy (and most of the time he is), but occasionally we'll get an ugly preview of the "terrible two's."  He sometimes has a bit of anger management issues.  Generally when he's mad he throws things.  But when he gets very overtired (which thankfully hardly ever happens, but did during our family reunion), he gets really mad.  He takes his anger out on me, hitting me and whamming his head into my chest.  Let's just say it's not a pretty sight.  But again, thankfully this rarely happens.  

This little rocking chair was one that I played in at my Grandma Rosalie's house growing up.  My mom recently gave it to us, and Eli is quite fond of rocking in it.

Here's a super cute video to end with.  Eli's doing an awesome job lately at feeding himself with utensils.  In this video he's eating craisins with a fork--

Our little bundle of energy, smiles, and laughs sure is our favorite person to spend time with!