Elliot 2.5

Wowzer, what an amazing time of ups and downs! One minute I'm beaming with joy and pride at all the amazing accomplishments, wondrous words, shows of manners and acts of kindness that Elliot surprises me with on a nearly daily basis, and the next I'm ready to wring his little neck.

One thing for sure is the our not-so-little Elliot never ceases to amaze us. At two and a half, Elliot's extra-large personality continues to shine. I'm so proud of his bravery, zest for life, independence, and self-confidence, and I so hope that life never sucks any of it from him.

But with this strong personality also comes, some fierce "my-do-it-ness", willfulness, and quite a lot of dramatics and emotional outbursts. And honestly, these things sometimes get just a wee bit tiresome (maybe even more so because he takes after his mom in these departments and it drives me crazy!)

Elliot's energy and fearlessness make it really easy on us sometimes too. We've been awfully busy lately, and Elliot just rolls with it. We've had another crazy work spurt on the house (putting in grass and the grey water system and finishing the interior of the guest room, play room and second bath) and Elliot just loves helping out whenever he can! In fact, spending time with Daddy digging in the yard or watering the garden or sweeping the front porch are all favourite things. In fact, doing anything outside that requires getting extra dirty is pretty awesome to Elliot.

We've also been busy this month going to some pretty cool concerts. We went to see Play School live (Play School is an Australian TV show where they sing songs and play pretend and make crafty things) with Aine and also to a kid's concert put on by the Western Australia Symphony Orchestra. As always, without any self-consciousness, Elliot jumps on up and follows along with all the songs and dance moves grinning shamelessly the whole time. I could just eat him up sometimes!!

Now that the weather has been getting better, Elliot's been having a great time on our new grass riding his skuut and blowing bubbles until he gets light-headed. And when the weather isn't better, he's pretty happy playing endless games of hide-and-seek (where Elliot always gets too excited to remain hid and ends up jumping out saying "here I am") spending time in our new playroom bouncing on our little bouncy castle (that I found for $15!!!) and wrestling with me or his dad or Blake or Nacho or even Oliver if nobody else is obliging.

He's also discovered his artistic side and loves spending time painting on his new easel and doing cuttings (playing with scissors and cutting any piece of paper he can find into a thousand little pieces) and gluing together little foam creatures and drawing and tracing and colouring and pasting and molding and creating and putting together puzzles . . . . I just love that he's happy to spend some quiet time concentrating on these new hobbies and isn't completely transfixed on watching DVDs and playing on my iPhone 24/7 like he was a few months ago.

Elliot continues to love daycare and swimming lessons and Tumble Tots which we've taken up this term. He's a bit of a teacher's pet and loves to show off whether it be shouting out answers or proudly demonstrating his ability to follow instructions. He's also super keen to help out every chance he gets. If only he were so helpful, putting away toys or following directions at home!! That said, we've started him doing a couple of chores: feeding Nacho and putting his dirty clothes in the basket, which he quite enthusiastically completes nearly all the time.

And here's a little story to sum up our spirited little go-getter: At the Broome markets a few weeks ago, Elliot was playing with a stick he found. The next thing I know, a four or five-year-old boy had the stick and Elliot was charging at the boy intent on getting the stick back. Both boys were rolling and wrestling on the ground by the time I was able run over to break it up. Elliot was crying, clearly stunned at the way things had ended up but showed no signs of letting up. In the end, the boy gave up the stick and ran off.

Later on at the markets, Elliot was off exploring with Paul and the lure of a life of crime seems to have got the better of him. Without Paul nor the vendor (who apparently has quite the reputation of catching kids with sticky fingers) noticing, Elliot had pocketed a little frog-shaped clay flute.

And then, that night we were all at a pub for dinner when Elliot followed Paul to the bar to order some drinks. Elliot climbed up on a bar stool and when he wasn't getting the attention he wanted shouted out, "Lady, get me my drink!" Apparently it was quite a hit with the other guys at the bar.

You can't help but loving our little monkey, half-terror half-angel and always bigger than life. I'm an eensy bit nervous that we're going to have our hands full with this boy . . . I mean, even more than we already do, but it surely will be a fun ride.