Terrible Twos Make an Unwelcome Visit

I just finished a Google search on dealing with temper tantrums while I ate ice-cream straight out of the carton. That's a good glimpse into my day so far. I guess I was under the wrong impression that I had five more months of a sweet toddler before terrible twos set in.

Yesterday Eli and I went to Wal-Mart for what turned out to be the most stressful shopping experience of my life. Eli screamed as if he was in excruciating pain the whole time we were there. People actually stopped just to stare at the two of us. I smiled the whole time to give the impression I had the situation under control. I tried to hold Eli to calm him down, to which he stiffened his whole body -- making it impossible to hold him any way other than horizontally. That wouldn't work. So I put him back in the cart to which he kicked me and flailed his arms at everything within reach. That wouldn't work either. I resorted to plopping him in the basket portion of our cart which did work. Until he found all his favorite foods down there with him and began tearing into cracker boxes and biting through yogurt lids. Never have I hated Wal-Mart more than yesterday.

Today he's followed suit, but I've kept us confined from the judging eyes of Wal-Mart shoppers. And besides, all is well now that Eli's down for his nap and I'm able to think of all the cute things he's been doing in between his tantrums.

When we ask Eli what his name is, he says, "Name." When we say, "Say Eli." He still says, "Name."

His "No"s have evolved to "No way!"s.

He got quite attached to Jeff over the Christmas break. We went to Chuck-A-Rama a few nights ago and every time Jeff got up to get food Eli called out, "Dada! Daddy! Dad!" until he got back. Perhaps Eli's temper is flared up this week because he's suffering from separation anxiety.

When he called out for me yesterday, I'm pretty sure he yelled Sarah.

Sometimes he will come hug or kiss us unprovoked. There's nothing sweeter.

He can't say Grandma or Grandpa to save his life, but he's really good at saying Carson (our tentative name for #2). It's adorable.

As for #2, here's a belly shot:

I'm so relieved Jeff finished the painting during his time off. I didn't want to deal with assembling the new room after #2 arrives, and painting was the most overwhelming part of the new room process.

Next time I'm trying to be inspired for room decor, remind me not to be inspired by an obscure colored rug and that I should instead choose a bedspread to inspire me. That would have made my life a lot easier. True, I wouldn't have been able to get so much use out of my new sewing machine, but I also wouldn't have had to make thousands of trips to the fabric store to try to create a quilt. 

Mind you, I really don't even know how to make a quilt. Mind you again, I'm making a quilt with designs on each side because I can't figure out what kind of quilt would look good with striped walls. Gah. 

Here's the truly quilted side so far. I fell victim to the trendy chevron pattern. Which I'm regretting now because it looks like Charlie Brown's shirt.

 Eli seemed to like it.

For a minute. And then he scowled at it.

Here's the other side. I think I want to put  cars on this side and write on it, "Beep Beep" and other carish phrases. But until I figure out how one would go about writing on fabric with fabric, I'll stick to the patchwork on the flip side.

Here's to hoping I didn't waste Eli's whole nap blogging so I can get some more sewing done (and maybe even get dressed for the day)!