It is Official

Elliott is 2. Or at least acting like it. He actually not 2 for a couple more weeks until February 29, well, this year, I guess it is February 28.

So why am I so sure that Elliott has embraced his 2 year old stage of life?

I had to leave Fred Meyer today in the middle of my shopping because of the huge tantrum he threw. And I really didn't want to leave, but Elliott was wild. (so I had to finish my shopping 3 hours later during his naptime which means I didn't get a nap which means I am cranky).

What caused this tantrum? Milk

Early in the shopping trip, I put milk in my cart and he wanted some. NOW. I tried to calmly explain that we can't open the gallon of milk and drink directly out of it (that'll come later, I suppose) and that he could have some water from the water bottle.

Nope. That was not good enough...enter big tantrum. The kind where you throw yourself around in the cart and may hurt yourself. I tried distracting him with other things (pretzels, toy car, shopping list) but no luck. At this point, I was really scared he was going to hurt himself and so we hauled out of there.

And yes, everyone stared. A couple people got out of my way when they saw me carrying an arching, screaming toddler.

He screamed all the way home and into the house.

Now it is later in the day, and he's had some milk and a nice long nap and my sweet, calm, little boy has returned to me.

Con Man

Elliott came down with quite the cold last night. He woke up around 10 pm and was scary wheezy and coughing oddly. We called the doctor and she listened and suspected croup, but it hasn't turned into that so far. (Thank God). He seems to just have a pretty bad cold.

But cold or not, he was a little con man last night. The doctor suggested someone sleep in the same room with him to keep an eye on his breathing. So I went into compassionate-mom-mode and prepared to hunker down with my kiddo.

Plan A:
We tried snuggling in the rocking chair for over an hour.

It went like this: wiggle, snooze, wiggle, snooze, grab the eye brows, drink milk, snooze, repeat. We were both uncomfortable and not sleeping.

I gave up and went to plan B.

Plan B:
By this time, I was really tired and Elliott was not. He was THRILLED with my company. I made a bed on the floor with blankets and pillows. Elliott was fascinated. In the near dark, I tried to sleep and convince Elliott to sleep.

It went like this:

Snuggle, play with cars, escape the room and look for dad, drink milk, snooze, climb on mom and pretend she is a horse (to which I responded: "The horse is dead."), snuggle, grab the eyebrows, snuggle, snooze, and oh yes, fall asleep! Not more than 2 minutes later: wake up because Elliott's leg hit his toy piano and started up a song (you don't want to know what my response was then).

In desperation (mine, Elliott was having a blast being ''sick", mind you, he was breathing just fine the whole time), I went to plan C around 1:45 am.

Plan C:
"Mama is all done." (and oh, I was). Into the crib, goodnight. I shut the door and left the room. He cried for oh, about 3 seconds, and then passed out. I snuck back in after a 2 am snack for the other baby (you know, the one I'm growing), and slept in his room for the rest of the night... just in case.

Buddies!

Here is Elliott enjoying a morning with his buddy, Jack! Such fun friends!

Over the last two years they have evolved from blobs lying on the floor unaware of each other to playing happily in the same room uninterested in each other to playing interactively with each other.

They like to dance to "If You're Happy" (and you know it, clap your hands!), climb into boxes and laundry baskets, color (and throw crayons), and read books.

It has been quite a year of friendship and at the same time, Emily (Jack's mom) and I have evolved as mom friends. We've come along way from those uncertain, overwhelming first months to learning to be confident in our ever-changing parenting adventures. And we're about to jump into it again with new babies on the way! Hopefully Jack and Elliott will just entertain each other while we tend to our new babies. We'll see how that goes.....

Someone is craving pickles!

And is it not me! (Although I am pregnant.)

Elliott loves pickles these days. In the last two days, he has asked for them with every single meal. Pickles for breakfast...yuck!

He gobbles them up before I can get my camera, but I'm going to make an attempt to get him on camera tomorrow and post a picture.

Practice Makes Perfect

Elliott must know his birthday is coming up soon... he has been practicing his unwrapping skills!