Kickin' our way into the new year

Happy New Year from the Barrel! We hope that our faithful readers had a splendid holiday season. Elias is now talking up a storm, however only 25% is actually decipherable.  We are not sure if he is fluent in toddler speak or if he is talking in different languages. He definitely understands both the English and Spanish spoken to him and has developed quite the opinion on what he wants and doesn't want. So far we have figured out:

"I play ball": This is the first thing out of those little lips each morning.
"I love you Mommy/Daddy."
"What's that?"
"I want that"
"Ball"
"Book"
"Duck" which is occasionally accompanied by flapping arms
"Dog" which is almost always followed by "Bow Wow Wow"
"Goal" which is always accompanied with two arms in the air
"Elmo"
"Elias"
And of course "No" and "Yes" with the former being most popular

Today we decided to channel his love of balls into a soccer class in the land of suburbia. Before piling in the car to go, he decided to study more moves from the EPL and practice a bit:

       

At class provided by the Indy Lil' Kickers was great fun and very enjoyed by Daddy and Elias:

Elias favorite activities were running on the field and running/kicking the ball. He looked like a natural out there. On our way out we picked up his new uniform to be worn next week.

Family fun on a nice spring afternoon...

We headed up to Wabash this weekend to visit Grammy, Gramps, and Elias' "great" aunts. Grammy even let Elias play with Gramp's prized tractors!

Great Aunt P let us play with her new iPad. This baby LOVED the bigger version of Mama and Daddy's iPhone. (Daddy loved the new Apple gadget as well!)

The best by far was when Gramps let Elias play with his cane. Check out Baby Moses!

 All this excitement makes for a very tired boy(s).

In other news, in addition to being weeks away from walking, Elias is now talking. First word from last week was, "Cat!" He also says "Mama" and "Dad." But his favorite is "Cat," since that is his play friend in the house. They even shared cat food together when Mama was off in the other room for a matter a seconds. Oh dear....