Eland Turns Two!

Eland is Two!

Eland is such a cutie at two! What a fun little guy! Let's see what I can get written down about Eland at this amazing age..

(Sorry about the lack of pictures. Internet has been all screwy today. They will hopefully follow in the next few days--I have them all ready.)

Some of Eland's Favorite Things

Singing! Eland loves singing! He is naturally drawn to it. The first song he ever really sang came from me singing a terrible version of "How much is that doggie in the window" as I read one of our favorite library books, "Amos Camps Out." I'd sing a sad, weak version, and ever since then Eland regularly belts out, "How much doggie window!" every now and again. He asks for me to sing "Rocka-baby" aka Rock-a-bye Baby, "Twinkle-twinkle 'Tar", "Amazing Race" aka Amazing Grace, and one of his favorites, "Olemick!" aka Old MacDonald. On Old MacDonald's Farm we often encounter race cars that vroom, tractors that grumble, and trailers that rattle. Oh, and "piggies!!" that snort. 

At meal times Auggie and I have been working on memorizing Bible verses. I didn't think much about Eland picking them up, but he has all the keywords from Isaiah 42:6-7 down. Eland says it like this, "I Lord righteousness! I keep you.. make you.. convent people! Eyes blind, captives prison, reese dungeon darkness!" I've tried recording it several times but can never seem to get him to say it the way he does when it's spontaneous.

Reading! Eland loves reading and is interested in all kinds of books. He's begun to flip through all the big books himself, and I often find him and Auggie sitting next to each other on the couch reading. Right now he's very into asking me to, "Read Bearstain-Bear Book!" aka Berenstain Bears, but he will occasionally walk away or listen while standing by about halfway through the book as he tends to get a little bored with wordier books--but not always. 

Playing

Eland is such a boy and gravitates to "boy" things like helicopters, airplanes, trains, motorcycles, and pretty much any vehicle. And I don't ever force boy things, boys simply are boys. Play kitchens are very exciting for Eland, as are playing with Little People. He often talks to Nana, Papa, Gram, or Gramps on his play phone. Coloring, being outside, pressing buttons, and doing all the other things that kids love to do are things that Eland loves to do.

This may not count as playing, but Eland is my laundry helper. Anytime I have to load or unload the machine, he's right there with me putting clothes in or carrying wet clothes to the chair before they're hung up. He'll even put wet socks on his hands and call them puppets. :)

Movies

The American Pediatric Association recommends that kids watch no TV for their first two years of life. I was pretty good with this with Auggie, and unfortunately less-so with Eland. He doesn't watch gregarious amounts of TV, but I would prefer none. Although I have to admit that sometimes DVDs really help with grouchy kids before dinner, and rainy days when you're stuck inside. Back to the APA guidelines, Eland will actually ask to watch movies, so I feel like I've failed in that department. He'll say, "Watch Cars Movie!" or "Watch Hanny Manny Con-Srucktion!" (Handy Manny and the Big Construction Job, or something like that). I kind of feel like a bad parent, but such is life. I aim to keep TV time to once or twice a week or less. 

Speaking of movies, as a throwback to his youth, Dan has made sure that we have The Muppets Movie for the boys to watch. Auggie thinks it's a little weird, but Eland loves it. And what's even cuter is what he calls the Muppets: "Mr. Puppets!" Aw, I think that's adorable.

Outdoors

Like any children that come from our genepool, well, perhaps mainly Dan's, Eland loves the outdoors. He is thrilled anytime we go climbing, and will even try to climb the smaller rocks by himself. He also loves, loves, loves Auggie's balance bike, and can now finally fit onto it when the seat is in the lowest position. It won't be long before he's fully inherited it from his brother. Eland is also very strong and occasionally does "push-ups" like Dada--except he tries to do them while hanging on the bathroom sink in pull-up fashion. While he's not allowed to, he also occasionally tries to climb up the drawer handles to the kitchen counter. He's a pretty muscular little dude.

Language

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned this in previous posts about Eland, but he completely disregarded any attempt to learn sign-language. He would have none of it--because he preferred to talk! And hey, I guess you don't need signs for a kid who can communicate just fine verbally. Eland is very verbal and communicate almost perfectly with Dan, Auggie, and me, and on top of that I'd say that strangers can understand 70% or more of what he says. I'm already teaching him to refer to himself in the first person. Sometimes he gets it wrong, but oftentimes he's right on with how he refers to himself. It's usually when Eland is distressed that he starts referring to himself as "you" again. 

I'm trying to think of funny things that Eland says, but am only coming up with one example from lunch today: Eland bit his finger on purpose, told me with a cry, "Finger bite you!" and then said, "Need Band-aid!" To which I replied that he only gets a Band-aid if I see blood. ;)

As the younger brother

Eland can be quite the little rabble-rouser at times. He and Auggie are getting more and more into play wrestling. If things get particularly rough, Eland will grab a handful of Auggie's hair and have him in tears within seconds. (Btw, I don't condone this behavior.) Sometimes he smacks Auggie around, but I think it has more to do with lack of understanding than being hurtful. As a two-year-old he doesn't yet understand the concept of consequences very well, although he is learning and does go to the timeout chair when told to. He'll count to ten--which he can actually do!--and then get down. 

Eland often copies Auggie's mannerisms and imitates his playing behaviors, but on the flip-side Auggie will also copy what Eland does from time to time. It's an interesting thing to watch.

Food

He's a great eater and usually tries anything, although he won't always eat all of everything. Eland's biggest meal by far is breakfast. He loves eating eggs with a bit of ketchup--[pointing] "Put ketchup here!", oatmeal with raisins, warm milk, bananas, pancakes--whatever he's served he'll eat, and he eats it all quickly! By lunchtime he's happy to have peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese sandwiches with apple slices, and then come dinnertime he's only moderately interested in eating. He likes pastas, chicken, rices, even curries and more exotic dishes, but he generally eats about half of what we give him (maybe we should give him less!) because he simply doesn't eat all that much at dinner.

I've always wanted to have a kid that would eat tomatoes right out of the refrigerator like Ellen--however much of a nuisance it is, and I finally have one now. Eland can't yet help himself, but he loves tomatoes ("Puh-May-Doe's!), cucumbers, and bell peppers, too.. "Eat saoh-ad!" aka salad.

When I am baking Eland will run off to get the a chair and pull it up to the counter all by himself so that he can help me, "Make shu-gar!"

Sleep

Eland still sleeps with Doggie Blanket. Yes, he loves his Doggie dearly and still holds Doggie with his right hand while sucking his left index and middle fingers to fall asleep. Sometime I can hear him sucking his fingers in the middle of naptime, which can mean that he's waking up, but usually means that I have another 45 minutes or so of him asleep. Eland often knows when he's tired, and if I haven't been on top of getting him ready for sleep, he's been known to ask to go nap or go to bed for the night by telling me, "Mama, go night-night!" 

Eland's crib has a pretty serious collection of very necessary stuffed animals for sleep each night: aside from Doggie Blanket, there's also Elephant, Puppy, Zebra, Seahorse, and Hummer--although Hummer is actually a little toy car and not a stuffed animal.

Potty, or lack there of

I've had exactly zero motivation to potty-train Eland. I know he can do it--he tells me when he's pooping: "I go doo-doo!" But I think because of our big move, I just couldn't handle potty-training right away. We have a potty, and last night Eland asked to use it and even peed a little bit, but unless he wants to train himself--which seems entirely possible after yesterday's experience--I'm not going to bother until October or so when the weather warms up a bit and I'm more comfortable with him walking around pantsless. One thing that may be tricky is the fact that we're not cloth diapering here. Auggie always knew when he was wet because of the cloth, whereas I don't think Eland understands pee quite so much. At the same time I guess since he totally gets pooping he'll hopefully figure it out without too much trouble. We shall see!

Favorite People

Eland is very good at remembering his favorite people, and I am thankful to report that even after our move here, we have enough friends for Eland to even have favorite people. He asks "Pam and Niel come over?!" all the time.. Or "Small group come over?!" If I say, "Guess what we're going to do today?" when I get him up in the morning, Eland will reply, "See Sandrine!"  (We see Sandrine on Wednesday mornings.) He also asks for our friend Elke, and will run to and be held by her during worship on Sunday mornings at church. I love that Eland is such a securely attached little boy that he's very comfortable being friendly with our friends. (And on the flip-side, he stays close to Dan and me when appropriate. ;)

Eland in South Africa

We often have to explain why we named our second son Eland, because here people actually know what an elands are: large, immensely strong, and yet very graceful creatures that can jump a 2-meter-high fence and even take on two lions with success. We were inspired by the strength and grace of the eland when naming our little guy, and find that as a person Eland himself is very strong, very solid physically and emotionally, and yet is full of kindness, love, and grace. 

It's kind of funny to look back at life without Eland and wonder where the heck he was all that time, because I can't imagine him not being here. Auggie loves his brother dearly and certainly couldn't imagine life without him either. What a delight this little guy is--inquisitive, friendly, occasionally mischievous, and so much fun. We love our little guy so much! Happy 2nd Birthday, Eland!!