18 months (and some days)

Eli has become more and more fun over the last two weeks.  He is becoming more vocal, and making a little more sense every day.  He is trying to learn his letters and numbers, distinguishing between the two camps. Letters are all referred to as "O" and numbers all have the title "two." He can count to seven, usually getting the order right, and loves to notice and count things. 

Everyone loves Eli.  He is such a people person, melting even the most thuggish hearts.  It amazes me to watch him interacting with people, with no respect to persons.  No matter who walks by our front porch or our shopping cart or our stroller, they receive a bright-eyed, smiling, "HEY!" that demands a response.  If he is ignored and gains no reply, the "Hey, Hey, Heys" will persist until the recipient finally breaks and replies.  Even the hardest ones usually give in with a grunted, "Hey Kid," giving Eli great satisfaction.  His smile lights up a room, and everyone at church loves to see him come.  He is funny and full of life.

Eli is quite the private eye, always noticing things.  His favorite things to spy out are balloons and trucks.  Not one within a mile radius are able to sneak beneath his super powerful radar. 

Thanks to Chloe, his name has been shortened even further, and the girls of the family usually refer to him as simply "E".  He doesn't seem to mind.  In fact, I think he may like it.  He loves his sister so much.  His whole countenance lights up when he hears her yell, "Come on, E! Come play with me!" from another room. He immediately takes off running.  Of course, he still loves his Mommy above all, and is most content when she is less than 6 inches away.

Favorites:

TV- Cedarmont kids

Books- Truck books (he always manages to find one at the library when I let him look for his own book), the Noisy Grasshopper, Eli's book (Good Morning, Good Night), and a paragraph here and there from his Toddler Bible

Things to Do- water play, playing with Thomas and Salty, tearing up Chloe's puzzles, running, jumping, sliding, jousting, throwing balls, getting into mischief

Places to Go: story-time at the Library (though not the actual stories), church, the pool, the park, the store, pretty much anywhere out of this boring (to him) house