We celebrated Elliot’s second birthday tonight. It was our first birthday party living in Des Moines, which was a little different. We were joined by the Reagens and the Lewandowskis. Holly tells me that she and Alex, Jill and Will, and my parents had a nice dinner, and at the end wished Elliot a happy birthday.
Leading up to 2 Elliot has really seemed a lot older. He doesn’t nap all the time now and he has been sleeping great at night. I am even thinking about moving him out of our bed, which would be the first time in over 5 years that Susan and I have had the bed to ourselves. I don’t think that he is there quite yet, but he is getting there.
At the age of 2, Elliot is a lot like Andrew, with some of Mari’s spunk. He likes to play games, and play with balls. Like all of our kids he likes to play outside. He still needs to be held a lot, and since we don’t have a baby this isn’t really a problem. He does great at meals but once Susan or I sits down he wants to come site on our lap, which we also tolerate. He is a fun kid.
For his birthday Susan made him a doll. This was a follow-up to the doll that she made Mari at Christmas. For Christmas she made Mari a ‘Little Sister Doll’, from Joyce’s Waldorf Dolls. It was basically your standard doll. She made Elliot is ‘Heavy Baby’, which is basically a doll head and arms, with a body that is filled with millet. There are no legs. Because it is a little heavy it feels a little more real than most babies. Because it is filled with millet we have to make sure that mice don’t find it.