Nicknames

In case you ever wondered, why people named Robert get called Bob, we now know the answer.  Eli has christened Roby, "Bobby."  It's starting to stick.

Eli, who is old before his time, can often be heard muttering under his breath, "Baaaaahbeeeee" and shaking his head as in "tsk tsk tsk" when Roby does something Roby-ish like climb out of his crib or dump out the legos and destroy the train tracks that Eli has painstakingly  pieced together.  Eli LOVES trains, all things trains.  He loves his ChuChu blanket, he loves his "rain" books (the t is silent) and most importantly the wooden train tracks.  He can ALMOST put them together himself.  He can definitely organize someone else to put them together for him.  He can run a train up and down the tracks for minutes on end (that's like saying "for HOURS" for a normal human being.  21 month old boys don't qualify.)

In addition to his train love, Eli seems to have his dad's cleaning gene; last night Roby dumped out the legos.  At first he looked surprised at the very loud noise.  Then he looked pleased.  Then he nearly pounded his chest in glee (earning his other nickname Captain Destructo).  I sighed and got down on my knees to clean up the mess while Roby looked on, smirking. I started to sing the clean up song "Clean up time, clean up time, time to put the XXXX away..."  hoping it would inspire him to help.  Eli, who was several rooms away, heard the song and came running, never one to miss an opportunity to clean.  Roby was in the way.  "Beep beep Bahhbee, Li keen" he said ("Excuse me Roby, Eli needs to clean.")  And clean he did, all the legos got put away.

Roby is more than Captain Destructo.  He has recently discovered that books are good for more than banging on his brother's head or throwing out of his crib.  His most recent favorite is the Big Red Barn.  He noticed that there is a cat (aka a "meow") on several pages and he turns each page in anticipation that it might be there and is so excited when it is.  "Meow, meow, meow!!!!" and bang bang bang with his finger. He will sit and look at books for a very long time (at least measured in 21 month old boy minutes.)  He gets quite annoyed when someone tries to read a book to him; he prefers to drive.

Below are some of my recent "RoLi" favorites from my phone.

Eli's cheese face

 Roby at the park

Terrible picture but here's a morning in our house: Sarah Jane in chicken costume, Anna naked, Roby dressed in Alice and Wonderland costume, Eli normal.

The boys at the park

 Eli "riding" his bike

 Eli and Roby in my bike on the way home from CostCo

 Eli hanging with friend Kylie at the park

 The boys playing with their beloved trains

A recent half-hearted attempt at potty training.  The boys are fascinated with potties and love to sit on the toilet (the big one, not the little one.)  We haven't seen any real action yet but we are ready to go with our jelly beans when we do.

 Reading!