Life with a two year old

This morning Elijah nearly had a complete meltdown because when I went into the pantry to pick something for his breakfast, he decided to choose his own. Of course, he first picked microwave popcorn, when I nixed that he then settled on a bag of garlic and Parmesan croutons. So finally I just grab his hand and start to pull him out of the pantry. He's grabbing frantically for the croutons and crying, "Noooo". So I try to placate him by promising him milk and yogurt. He keeps sobbing, "Noooo". He's now happily eating his yogurt and the croutons are forgotten, for now at least.

He also wowed us with a never-before-heard sentence last night at the dinner table. After finishing everything else on his plate, and finally trying a bite of chicken, he looked at Matthew and said quite plainly, "I don't like it." I, of course, was offended since he always has loved my cooking and, come on, what toddler doesn't like Cajun grilled chicken?? Okay, so maybe it wasn't quite seasoned to his liking, so we took care of it like any other responsible parent would. We smothered it in ketchup, and then he ate it.

Yesterday he added yet another sentence to his vocabulary; on one of his many trips to the potty he looked at me and said, "I ain't gotta go." Where on earth he learned to talk like that, I have no idea!! I blame it on tv. Sure enough though, he didn't have to go!

You remember the little stuffed monkey from the zoo? When we ask Elijah what the monkey's name is he answers, "Lijah." Today I told him, "You dropped monkey, come back and get him." He comes back, picks up the monkey and looks at me very seriously, "Lijah." Sorry, I forgot the monkey has the same name.

And last but not least, we have reached the lovely age in which your child discovers that you have another name that you answer to, besides "mommy". Elijah now alternates between calling me Cacey and Mommy. Last night he was in our room with Matthew, he came and stuck his head around the corner and hollered, "Cacey, come here!"