What you're doing now

We thought it would be nice to post a general overview of what our boys are up to now, something they can look back on when they are older.

So, Eliot, you like to ask us experimental question about how to treat animals. We saw a little bird at the zoo, on the sidewalk, and you asked, "Can I step on it?" And we said, "No, you can't step on it!" and then looked at each other in exasperation. Then at a children's clothing store, there was a papier-mache hippo. You asked, "Can I knock it over?" And I said, "No." And the lady who runs the store said, "You can give it a hug." But days later, when passing a farm with baby lambs and pigs, you said, "Can I pet them?" and "Can I play with them?" to which, unfortunately, we also said, "No, we just look at them." But sometimes you do get to pet the goats at the zoo.

You are starting to ride a balance bike on your own. Not very far, but you're tall enough now that your legs reach the ground properly and you can make it go without us holding it. After about a block you're done with it.

You're 2 years and 2 months old. You still wear diapers. You have used the potty occasionally, but mostly have no interest in it. And often, when you have a poop, you're loath to have your diaper changed and refuse to admit you have poop in your diaper. Sometimes, recently, you will tell us before we smell it, which is helpful.

You are sleeping in your big bed (a twin), as of last week. You're very good about staying in it all night and during your nap. No more crib! Silas will probably graduate from our room to the crib in a few months. Osito sleeps in the bed with you, at the foot of the bed.

You often want us to call you Gloria. I told you your giraffe was named Gloria, and you said, "No, that's Gloria!" and pointed to yourself. So I called you Gloria for a few minutes. Then later that day, you reminded me, "No, mama, that's Gloria!" and pointed to yourself again. You have done that for 5 days now, off and on. Dada got a bit irritated that you were constantly asking to be called by a girl's name, so he said, "Are you Jorge?" and you said yes. So sometimes you are Jorge, but mostly you want to be Gloria, and you say that Dad is Eliot and he's at school teaching kids to read and write, and Mama is Dada.

Your favorite color is usually blue. You usually want blue things. If not blue, then stripes, or some crazy, super bright colors.

You are allowed to watch TV about 20-30 minutes every other day, or every few days, and you like this DVD that Aunt Stacy sent called The Letter Factory. And because of it, you know the phonetic sounds of most of the alphabet now. And you look for and can recognize the capital letter E anywhere, and also S for Silas and M for Mama, and sometimes D for Dada. A few other random ones too.

You love to kick the soccer ball, but your most recent favorite game is basketball; you love to shoot hoops in the living room with your miniature basketball hoop. You love to draw and paint and play with playdough. Also, you love, love, love to sing and dance. You play Puff the Magic Dragon over and over and over and over on your Fisher Price MP3 player that grandma bought you for Christmas 2010. You have some other favorite songs too, but that is the most recent #1 hit on Eliot's radio.

Silas! Silas, you are 11.5 weeks right now, so you're not doing a ton of stuff. But, you smile a lot. You laugh sometimes. You love to stare at Eliot. You love it when Mama or Dada plays pattycake with your hands. You like baths. You nurse very quickly, and only when you are hungry (not really for comfort, it seems). We still swaddle you for all your naps and bedtime. You nap sometimes in a mechanical swing, and sometimes in a hammock baby bed. At night you are now mostly in the hammock next to me by the bed, but sometimes in the bed with us (and I bring you into bed to nurse). You nurse about 3 times per night now. You were a really fussy infant because you had a lot of stomach gas; so did Eliot. As we recall though, you were even fussier than Eliot. But now you're easier. Your gas has subsided (or rather, you can deal with it and it's not painful for you any more). Your eyes are blue (at birth they were steely gray). You have blonde hair. You love to suck on your fingers. You have cradle cap on your scalp (so did Eliot, for a long time, until 18 mos when we discovered some food sensitivities, and then finally it went away and his hair started to grow). You're very, very cute. That's about all.