Kiss it

A few days ago Elijah was carrying on as though he might die, but since this is a normal event for him I wasn't too alarmed. Once he calmed down a bit I asked him what was wrong.

"Ouchie." Imagine a pouty expression and a pudgy finger pointing to his face.

"Your head?" I ask.

Negative.

"Your face?"

Negative.

"Your mouth?"

Negative.

"Young!"

"Young?" Pause. "Tongue?"

Affirmative! He bit his tongue.

"Are you ok now?"

"No, Kiss it."

"I can't kiss your tongue."

"Kiss it!" This time it's a yell with intensity.

I kiss his cheek. "There, all better now."

"No, here," pointing inside his mouth. He then lays his head back with his mouth wide open.

"I can't kiss it, see. . ." I lean over to show him that my lips, luscious and full as they are will not go inside his mouth to kiss his tongue. "Sorry."

"Kiss it Mommy." Now he sticks his tongue out for me and waits expectantly.

Would you kiss the tongue of a two year old?

I did. My lips passed very briefly across his little stuck-out tongue. And he was happy.

Then yesterday I was changing his diaper--a stinky, poopy diaper. He said, "Ouchie Mommy!"

I asked what hurt. He said, "Bum."

I just stared at him, and saying nothing went on with wiping his cute buns.

Ever persistent, he wasn't giving up. He said, "Kiss it, Mommy."

"What?"

"Kiss it, bum."

My two year old told me to kiss his bum!

So now you're wondering if I kissed his behind. I have limits people, I have limits.

Haircut

When Kate did this. . .
We decided the clippers needed to have a meeting with Elijah.

Much better.

Totally Two

One day around Eli's second birthday while I was feeding Henry, Elijah was doing his usual. . . Find some way to get attention from mom routine. He picked up something off the ground and said, "Eeewwwww gross!" Then laughed hysterically as soon as I looked over at him.

Then he found the stool (his new favorite way of getting anything and everything) and carried it over to the sink and started grabbing everything he could and throwing it on the floor before I could stop him. Then he laughed some more. At that moment I wondered to myself, "Where did my baby go? How did he grow up so fast?" Shortly after that I thought, "I really need to hide this stool or get rid of it." I'm sure removing the stool will somehow thwart his development. But it's become his #1 tool for satisfying his curiosity sans parental supervision.

Elijah turned two on December 9th. He is so very entertaining. He's saying (or trying to say) so many things. He's recently added, "Barf" to his vocabulary. I have no doubt one of the big kids taught him that but no one is telling who it was. Although he's super cute, he's also quite a handful and if you turn your back, watch out. In just a few moments he has likely colored on himself or something else (thank you to the inventor of washable markers!),

snagged one of the older kids' toys or gotten a hold of a treat and he's quietly trying to confiscate the evidence, like he did with this banana bread.

It was whole and sealed in the bag at the back of the counter before he snagged the aforementioned stool and went to town.

Each time my kids have reached this age and their curiosity levels rise to the height of teenage hormones I am amazed at the things they do and the things they understand and the ways they try to get what they want. I struggle with thoughts that I am obliterating any creativity he might have but, we have to have some semblance of order don't we?

Happy Birthday Elijah!