2 Years Old and a lot of other things

I'm over a week late writing about this, but Eli is now two! His birthday was last week and we had a fun low-key evening full of tacos (he loves Mexican) and banana monkey cake. Eli got some great presents from his grandparents and has been enjoying them immensely ever since.

Below - playing with the tools he got from Grammy and Papa. He absolutely LOVES his new tool box full of tools to "fix it" - 'it' being anything and everything. He's a very handy guy. :) These are great because they look much more realistic than his other set (he has a lot of tools) but they're just plastic - mostly harmless. They also got him a little soccer ball that he loves - especially now that the weather is finally warming up!

Opening his presents from Grandma and Grandpa.

Reading and wearing one of the cute shirts my mom got him. He always says "New shirt from Grandma!" when I put him in one of his new shirts. :)

I've been meaning to document all the funny things he's been saying lately so I'm finally going to write down a few. I wish I would remember to write them down as they happen, because I always forget, but here are a few anyway.

• To Connor: "Hey sweetie" "Hey buddy" or "So cute!" all in a high-pitched voice
• The other day when I asked him a question, he held up his pointer finger and said "One second." Oh boy.
• "I call Grandma" or "I text Daddy". Another oh boy.
• "Awesome" "Good job" - said to himself all the time :)
• "Really handsome" when he gets dressed for church
• "Mommy hold you!" (when he wants me to hold him)
• He often recites lines from his books over and over to himself - I love that
• "I sleep well" when he gets up from a nap
• "Mmm. I like it." when eating something he likes
• "Eli do it!" about 150 times a day. He likes to do everything I do - by himself. Mr. Independent.
• "I fix it" pronounced "fissik"

He loves to help around the house and is actually sweeping the floor right now as I'm typing this - or at least that's what he says he's doing. :) He's dragging the broom all around anyway. He also likes to attempt to dress himself lately, which is always an adventure. He's a fun kid and we are enjoying him so much. It's been a little bit of a challenge to balance my time between the two boys, but it's getting easier and luckily he's been pretty good about it.

Which brings me to the next boy! Connor just exploded this week - in size that is; well let's be honest, in poop too :). He had a huge growth spurt earlier in the week - eating ALL the time, and he is really filling out. Just the past couple days we keep commenting on how big he seems! I was curious how much he weighed, so I had Jeremy weigh himself and then weigh him with Connor, and Connor is up to almost 12.5 pounds! That means he's gained almost 4 pounds from his 2-week check up 4 1/2 weeks ago. Crazy. I'm hoping with this increase in size we'll see an increase in sleep....

His face is also really clearing up from a bad bout of acne he had, and he's just such a cutie pie! The pictures don't do him justice. I love when babies start to fill out and get all squishy and extra kissable. :) He also started smiling this week! It's amazing how all the sleepless nights seem to be excusable when they give you that first real smile. It was so fun and we are enjoying trying to get him to smile all the time now. He loves to watch Eli and it's fun to see him smile at him.

His hair is also getting crazy. It's totally receding, so he's got the old man look going on, but the part that's still there is getting really long, so he looks a little crazy sometimes. Especially when I spike it right after a bath...like I did last night. :)

I just couldn't resist. And here are a few more pictures of Connor.

Pre-growth spurt:

And post:

Smiling!

Cute. Smiling at Eli.

And the two boys together: