Birthdays and Holidays

Eli turned 2 in mid-November.  I can't believe how much he's grown physically and mentally this year.  It's hard to imagine a bigger jump in both departments at any other point in his life.  We feel so incredibly fortunate to have such an awesome little guy in our lives, even though he can throw an epic tantrum occasionally.  :)  Rebecca made him an awesome cake, truly a work of art.  Eli loves construction equipment so he was psyched to see an excavator cake on his birthday.  We had quite a few people over at our house for his party and there were lots of kids running around and playing.  It got off to a bit of a rocky start with a good number of people arriving before he woke up from his nap.  He came out of his room to a bunch of strangers in the house and went into immediate meltdown mode.  After a short stint outside he came back in and all was well.

Christmas is rapidly approaching and even though this is Eli's second Christmas it is the first one where he will be actively participating.  He doesn't really understand Santa Claus but he still thinks he's cool.  He helped decorate the tree this year and is a big fan of Christmas lights.  We'll be in the car and he will ask us to listen to Christmas music.  This year has been really interesting because we have realized that we need to start building our own Christmas traditions for Eli.  Experiencing Christmas through your child makes it so much easier to get into the holiday spirit.  It's going to be a lot of fun watching him tear through presents and get excited about being with family this year.