Elijah is two and a half!

On Tuesday I took Elijah to see his doctor for his two and a half year old well kid visit. He did very well. They measured him like a big kid for the first time, which was fun but seemed a little less precise, since he definitely was not standing straight up when they did his height. Officially, he only grew a 1/2 inch or so since July, but I know it's been more than that - you can see how much taller he is, plus in July he was wearing size 2T, and has since grown into his 3Ts, and they're getting less long on him all the time. Anyway, he is 38 inches tall (give or take some slouching!) and 33 pounds, and in the 85th-88th percentile for both. Wow! After a pretty lightweight first year or so, Elijah's weight has been steadily drawing even with his height. I'm always amazed and proud of him when he's gained weight, but I think I can safely get out of that "must feed the boy!" mindset for now (at least until he gets to high school and starts growing too fast for his own good).

E is meeting all of his milestones within a normal range - a little ahead in some things (like counting, recognizing his letters, and verbal skills), right on schedule for some things (like gross motor skills, turning paper book pages, and memorizing favorite books), and a little behind in some others (like chewing well - his 2 yr molars are just now coming in). We did not have the (rather silly) milestone questionnaire with his new doctor here that we had with his doctor in Colorado, which I didn't mind at all. (I really liked his doctor, but the questionnaire was a little over the top, I think.) At his new doctor the conversation went more like this, "How's he doing? Do you have any concerns?" Very laid back, which is nice. We talked about vitamins and when to start going to the dentist. (Oooh, doesn't that sound like fun!) Elijah hasn't been interested in potty training at all yet, but I'm not worried about that yet. The doctor said that since Elijah is so verbal, we should expect him to start the "terrible threes" any time now. I think he actually turned three about a month ago.

We have been a little sorry that we took Elijah's pacifiers away lately; with Molly teething and crying a lot during the night, he has been less able to sleep through it all without the help of his pacifier. But there's always something - there will be lots more teething to get through - and I didn't want to keep putting it off forever. He hardly even mentions them anymore, and I think he got over it pretty quickly. I have been putting Molly in our room some days during their shared afternoon nap so he can actually sleep - we're all much happier when he sleeps well.

Elijah has been doing a really good job with letters and the sounds they make. He can tell what letter most words start with (there are a few confusing sounds in English that he has trouble with, of course), and enjoys playing the, "What starts with [letter]?" game. He is still counting well, and getting better with the big numbers all the time. I think the highest he's gone so far is 109. Some of his favorite sayings right now are, "I just want to play for a couple minutes," and "I don't want to [whatever]!" He likes to wash his hands and to help me with the laundry. He just keeps growing up!