A concert from Elliott and Elmo.

Elmo's voice is at least an octave or two too high.

Consider yourselves warned:

Things we're working on

Five minutes ago, Elliott and I were watching Bob the builder on the couch, when out of nowhere, he smacked me in the forehead. He's been a little more aggressive lately, taking other kids toys and grabbing them in the back of the head to get to whatever they are working with. He likes to watch the adult in charge, too, so he can see just what he can get away with.

So after the forehead smacking, he got a firm talking to and lost his show. When he got upset about losing his tv show, I walked away from him acting out. He came over to me and said, "You watch Bob the Builder, Mommy?" So I told him "No, we are not watching shows because Elliott is being mean. Mommy is not happy, Elliott."

To which he replied, "Where'd Mommy's happy go?"

Things I love...

Elliott sings himself to sleep. Tonight's concert has included "Do you know the muffin man", "The wheels on the bus", and now "Old MacDonald". All of these are sung loud enough that we can hear all of the words from upstairs, even though his door is shut.

Also, forgive me for being crass, but my friend Lizann insisted I share this with the blog...

This morning Elliott and I were playing with his new train set, and he (ahem) passed a little gas. Being the paranoid mother of a potty-training two year old, I start questioning him:

Me: "Do you need to go to the bathroom?"

Ell: "NO."

Me: "Are you sure?"

Ell: "No. I burped?"

Me: "You burped?"

Ell: "Pants burped."

You're welcome, and please forgive me. Thanks.

Birthday party!

Are you bummed you couldn't attend Elliott's second birthday party? Well, bum no more. I have some treats for you guys, and aside from missing out on the cake and fajitas, it's almost like you were there with us!

First off, we all know this wouldn't be my blog if there weren't a picture of an adorable little boy with no pants on. So here he is. He got a skuut balance bike (and I realize the bike is put together wrong. I had to flip the frame to accommodate some small little legs) on Thursday morning. It's still a little tough for him to maneuver, but look how proud he is!

I dug out his birthday banner, the birthday table cloth that grandma made (although it is pulled up in this picture to avoid staining it with pumpkin oatmeal), and his birthday crown. He LOATHES the birthday crown. See his little hand? He is going to yank it off his head for the fourth photo attempt in a row. Booyah, Elliott. I got a picture anyway.

I decided since he has really been into trains lately to have a train themed party. I found the most adorable cake pan that made individual train car cakes, and it was a pain in the neck to decorate. My initial plan was to make one long, elaborate train cake. Three cars into decorating, I made a sheet cake and decorated it like a track with some grass around it and plopped six of the cars on top. I don't have time for that mess right now.

We ended up having a party for our friends since Elliott's friends are really more like people who fight over the same toys. We had fajitas, chips and dip, cake, punch, and frosty cold beverages :)

Elliott cleaned up. This is a toy that holds four wooden balls, and when you pound on them, they roll down the wooden tracks and get spit out another side. He loved it. He also got some new books, a wooden tool set, and a soccer goal!

Elliott also got a wooden train set, and he really liked it. He provided the party entertainment, and we watched him play for most of the night. The cars to the train are magnetic, and he had a little trouble with matching poles and then getting the whole train to stay on the track. One of our friends, Adam, kindly gave Elliott a lesson on how magnets work, and then later another friend told us that the freight car is carrying "soda pop". Love that, don't you?

Another awesome thing to know? When the train cars fell off the track or came apart, Elliott said "Aw, snap!" When he managed to put them together and get them successfully on the track, he'd say "Teamwork!"

He knew how to blow out candles this year, which made it all the more fun. He saw his cake when he got up from his nap, and could not understand why he couldn't eat his "birthday" right then and there. "Wanna eat my birthday! I get it. No mommy. I get it." I'm very lucky that my reflexes were awake today, otherwise he would have succeeded in pulling the cake on top of his head.

Happy birthday (party) E Monster.