Another milestone

Eli is officially old enough to give yard work chores to!  We need to embrace this time before he starts asking for things in exchange for his toiling, like an allowance or some other such nonsense.  Our yard was far overdue for a little raking and if I have a blister or two on my hands it was totally worth watching Eli swagger around the yard in those big gloves.  He rakes in short bursts and then runs and jumps in the piles, which I guess is the whole point when you're 3.  I love that we live in a place where there are big piles of leaves to jump in.  I did it growing up and am glad he gets a shot too.

3 year check up/tv addiction/guns

 3 year check up/ tv addiction/guns

Eli's television obsession grew to new heights over the Thanksgiving break. We were off any sort of schedule and Eli was practically begging to watch it A LOT. When he returned home on Sunday, he was quite frustrated when we wouldn't turn it on. He returned home a day after Bill and I b/c he couldn't bare to leave Nana, Papa and his cousin, Grady. He said "I'm sad. I don't want to leave Nana and Papa's" and cried uncontrollably when Bill was packing the car. He also really liked the extra tall blow-up mattress they got for him to sleep on. Sunday night Bill said that he climbed on top of the coffee table, crouched down, raised his hands as if pleading to God and asked "why am I not watching tv right now. I watch tv not all the time." 

Eli also has a new obsession with guns. He has moved to the playground with 3-5 year old kids and its a whole new world. Bill picked up Eli recently and he and 2 other boys were building w/ Duplos. In the car Bill asked what he was building and he said "we were making a gun to shoot things." Bill told him that he didn't like guns because they are dangerous and they hurt people. Eli said "Dad toy guns don't hurt people. They're pretend. Blocks don't hurt people. They're pretend." 

On our way to watch the Hillsborough Christmas parade, Eli said he was "shooting the trees." When told that I don't like guns and that they hurt people he said "I can't hurt them because they don't have eyes." When I said it is a plant and we don't want to hurt plants, he said "you're a mean mommy. Can I shoot the grass?"

At his annual check up today, he was 40.25 inches tall (95th percentile) and 35.8 lbs (75-90th percentile). Since birth he's been in the 75th percentile in both areas so he's jumped a little bit. Bill said Eli performed all the tasks the developmental checklist requested. Apparently threatening to run away is not on the checklist, but if it were, we could check it off today. He came out of his room several times tonight at bedtime and he did not like it when I stopped conversing with him about it. He said "I'm going to run away." I keep trying to convince myself that it is good that he is such a clear communicator. He also says incredibly sweet things like "you're my favorite mommy" and all the times he says the unsolicited "I love you." Tonight in the pet store he was looking at a guinea pig and said "look at this little fella." It's a lot of fun to read The Grinch Who Stole Christmas with him. He's memorized a lot of it and cracks up every time he says "Who-hash." We get him to eat these days by telling him different foods are Who-hash. Please let me know if anyone has tricks for making washing your hands and putting on your coat fun and interesting. 

Until next time, happy holidays! 

3!!!!!!!!!!!

Eli is 3!  He made it in spite of himself trying to do every dangerous thing he can think of.  I know every parent thinks their child is funny and hyper but seriously, Eli is crazier than the other kids.  I've seen other kids match his energy level on occasion but it never lasts.  He can sustain it all day.  It's amazing.  Running and yelling ALL DAY.  No hyperbole, no exaggeration.  It's exhausting trying to find ways to channel that energy.  :) 
He got 4 different-sized Buzz Lightyears for his birthday.  One for all occasions.  A small plush one, a large plush one, a small one that makes noises and a large one with all the gadgetry and buttons.  Loud, too.  It's all about Toy Story and Cars at the moment.  You can see from the pics above the awesome job Mommy did on the cake this year!  It's such a cool tradition to have her customizing a cake for him.  Quite impressive.  Now we are gearing up for Christmas and I think this is going to be a fun one!  He's really aware of it, the tree and decorations and presents.  We got a tree last night in record time because Eli was making the shopping process as challenging as possible.  Tonight we are let him decorate it.  This ought to be good. 

A Dash of Halloween

What a great couple of months its been! Eli has celebrated his cousin Grady's 1st birthday and the birth of his first female cousin. Lily's arrival has spurred lots of questions about being a "brudder." We're sorry to disappoint you Eli, but there are no plans for a brudder or sister any time soon. It's all about you! Speaking of you, you love to sing except during music class. Eli makes it about 15 minutes into music class and then it is obvious he would rather be running, jumping or anything physical. Not only does he want to be moving, he wants to be moving fast. It is only fitting that he will be Dash from The Incredibles for Halloween. On Monday Eli moves across the hall at daycare and will be on the playground with the big kids. 

Almost 3!

You should see the looks on people's faces when they ask how old Eli is and I tell them 2.  He's a big kid and does act older than he is, unless he's throwing a tantrum on the floor because he can't watch Super Why.  There are a lot of big things around the corner for a kid his age.  We have Halloween in a few short weeks.  The front-runner for his costume is the aforementioned Super Why, followed by a spacesuit and a big dinosaur.  We'll see what wins out.  I know one thing for sure, we are going to get something at the last possible second when we know what the weather will be like.  We learned that lesson last year. 

Eli's 3rd birthday is right around the corner as well.  It feels like he's been with us a lot longer than 3 years.  I'm still blown away by him constantly.  Little kids are incredible with how they take in information and learn about the world around them.  He's also been really sweet lately and has surprisingly good manners.  All that time spent making him say please and thank you to us is finally sinking in!  He usually wakes us up in the mornings by crawling on the bed and giving hugs and kisses.  How cool is that?  Last night he woke up in the middle of the night and came to our room, wanting to sleep with us.  I got him some milk and put him back to bed.  When he laid down he said, "Are there monsters?"  I said, "No, just your family."  "Will you sing me a song?"  So I sang him the theme from Thomas the Tank Engine.  Then I heard a little sleepy voice from the dark say, "Good night, dad.  I love you, dad."  I have to document these moments so that in 10 years when we are having battles over haircuts and allowances I know there's a sweet boy in there somewhere. :)

The Little Mermaid. Are you kidding me?

The end of summer marks the end of Eli's time in the younger 2 year old classroom. Ms. Aurelia and Ms. Angela eased Eli into life at Hope Valley Preschool. We give them credit for potty training Eli, but most importantly they are patient, positive and caring people. So Eli moved to his new class last Monday and today is the first day he went w/out a complaint. He told us at the dinner table last night that he was not going to cry today and he didn't! His new teachers are also great and the lead teacher played the Wool E. Bull song this morning when he arrived to gain his positive attention. Thank you Ms. Toko! Ms. Toko also made a comment about Eli being a future Harvard grad. As soon as I told Nana and Papa about that comment, Eli asked me to find him (his version of hide and seek). He looked at me and told me he was hiding, walked 5 steps, crouched down while still peering at me and said "find me Mommy." Yep, that's our Harvard grad.

We had a great weekend with our family at Pamlico. Aunt Kathryn started her first year teaching. She handed over a slew of Disney princess books to share w/ our 5 year old cousin. It will be a miracle if we can relinquish those books from his vice-grip. He LOVES The Little Mermaid. During the car ride home from Pamlico, he exclaimed "I have 2 mermaids (books)!" I should also mention that we attended Bill's company's picnic where a balloon extraordinaire made things for the kids. Once Eli saw a girl w/ fairy wings, he was in love... with the fairy wings. After patiently waiting for 20 minutes he received a special pair of fairy wings.

He says funny things all the time. For instance Bill helped Eli put on his gorilla pajamas last night. Bill said "look at all these Elis on your pajamas." Eli contested and Bill kept saying "no, they're Elis." Eli smiled and said "are you kidding me Daddy?" He's also made me aware of the embarrassing things that I do. One example is that he walked inside on a really hot day, put his hands on his hips and said "whew." It was such an adult thing to do and am now aware which adult he learned it from. I'm apparently exasperated at least 3 times a day.

Lately, we have been working with Eli on his letters. It's an easy game since they are everywhere. Sometimes we write a letter on each of his hands before sending him to daycare. He loves it, he thinks he is getting stamps. When I go to pick him up he always has those same letters on his hands but in a different color. I can envision exactly how it happened, too. Eli goes to the potty and then has to wash his hands. He freaks out because he realizes that, in all likelihood, he will lose his letter Bs in the washing process. In order to appease him they rewrite the letters on his hands. More than once I noticed letters on other kids' hands as well. :) I have tried to start him with writing some using this great little dry erase writing book my mom got for us. You can tell from the video that he's a natural if we can just get him to sit still long enough to do it.