20 months old, almost 21

For those of you that just follow our blog to read up on Mattaw, well, this post is only about my blue eyed baby boy. I haven't given an update on just Elisha in awhile. Elisha is growing up so fast. I realized he is now a toddler (and has been for awhile) and no longer a baby. I pulled out some new clothes, 18-24 month clothes, and about panicked at how old he looked in them! He is saying new words it seems everyday. Yesterday we spent the day at home resting, just the three of us, (well four including the one on the way) and we got a lot of laughs playing with Elisha. He is quite the entertainer. Here's some of the words he says now:

-mama
-dada, or preferably Baba, which is dad in swahili
-dog (many animals are dogs to him)
-cow
-ball
-kuku (chicken in swahili)
-juu (up in swhahili, but he calls birds "juu!")
-please
-thank you
-this
-NO!
-makes noises for a sheep, cow, dog, cat, duck, bird, and lion
-bye
-sign languages for "more"
-toto (baby in swahili)
-sticks his hand out to shake hands when someone new walks in (a must know for this culture)
-eat
-head
-eyes
-nose
-sticks his tongue out when we say tongue
-lifts his shirt when we say button
-when we say bath, he runs to the bathtub quaking and flapping his arms like a duck (his bathtub is an inflatable duck
-runs when we say "kimbia" (run in swahili)
-jumps when we say "ruka" (jump in swahili)
-sits and stands when we say it in swhahili, but also knows it in english
-dances when we say "cheza" (dance in swahili)
And probably more, just can't think of what else!

His cough is almost gone. Thankfully mine is too. We survived and praying that doesn't come back. When it comes to eating, some days his belly seems bottom less and others we wonder if he'll wake up in the night hungry. Usually he doesn't. He usually is asleep by 7:30 or 8pm and wakes up by 7am. He loves to play outside but when he gets tired he knows the t.v. and how to turn it on. His favorite shows are the Tweenies (European show we get here), Elmo, Lazy Town, and wildlife animal shows. I read that the American pediatric association recommends children under two not watch t.v. and if they do only 30 minutes of it. Oops. Well, he plays plenty outside and with toys inside. And I figured when we go on long road or plane trips, it'll be easier to get him to sit and watch something. He's super active that's for sure. We're not sure what his favorite food is. He's pretty crazy about any candy he gets which we try and make that a rare occasion. He is picking up a habit my nephew had when he was this age and loves cheese and tomatoes. He'll eat meals with steak, chicken or fish faster than grill cheese, pb&j, macaroni and cheese, or spaghetti. No complaints here! Oatmeal and eggs are always a guarantee to get him to eat in the morning. Bath time and anything dealing with water is one of his favorite things to do. He also could spend hours jumping and kicking balls on the trampoline. There's really not much for me to take him out and do outside our compound so thankfully we have a big yard with entertaining things to do for a one, almost two, year old. (such as catching bugs and wrestling dogs) We go out to Mattaw every now and then but he seems to catch whatever sickness is going around pretty easy. I'll take him grocery shopping with me every so often just to get him off our compound but that can be an event with so many people staring, following us and touching his hair. It doesn't seem to bother him too much but it sure does me! He is definitely a mama's boy right now. He hasn't hit a daddy stage yet but we think he's getting there! Yesterday he was following Bud around every time Bud would walk away from him after playing something. I'm sure once he's old enough to realize dad will be more fun at playing cowboys and indians, he'll want dad more. He is so much fun though. I'm blessed to have such a sweet little boy. He is super active most of the time but he does love to cuddle up. He's usually good about playing by himself but I sure can't wait for him to have a little brother or sister! Here are some pictures from the past few days.

We found some chef boyarde ravioli in Nairobi so brought back a few cans. He actually wasn't too interested and didn't eat much. He insist on feeding himself these days. He rarely sits in the living room to eat!

So old!

He would stack the blocks and get super excited about knocking them down

And he uses either a bat or his belly to knock them over

More to come soon....

Mama Kim