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.

The force is strong with this one.

Ever since I explained what the lightsaber on Eli's Star Wars shirt was he has been all about them.  Rather than have him grab the swiffer to swing it around as a lightsaber, I made a couple rudimentary ones out of watercolor paper.  They only stayed intact for a few days but despite their falling apart, he and I are still battling the cookie monster in the never-ending war to keep him away from the toy box.  I love this kid's imagination.  With him, a blanket suddenly becomes a kitchen where we make spaghetti or a chair suddenly becomes a riding lawnmower for us to use.  He is at a really fun stage right now except for the last 3 days of getting up and walking into our room at the crack of dawn.  If only we could Jedi mindtrick him into staying in bed til 7.

Summer fun

Big Boy Beds and Sleepy Heads

I know its ridiculous and probably unsafe, but Eli has been sleeping in his crib up until now. He loves it and why mess with a good thing? He sleeps from 7:30-8pm until 6:30 or 7 am and never tries to get out. We knew our days were numbered because he has started wearing underwear. Diapers will soon be off our grocery list! Tonight Eli did not want to wear a diaper to bed. I told him he needed to sleep in his big boy bed before he could sleep in his underwear. Tonight was the first night he said he wanted to sleep in the toddler bed, so I went with it. We did the same bedtime routine (reading books, brushing teeth, singing songs, saying 'Night, night. Sleep tight. I love you') and I didn't hear another peep. I'm not crazy enough to think it will be this easy every night, but for now, I'm very grateful. What will the morning have in store for us?

How could he not crash at night? The kid doesn't stop moving! Yesterday he paused during one of our afternoon walks and when asked what he was doing, he replied "I'm relaxing." It was odd to see him stop even if it was just for 30 seconds. Of course I thought he was having an "accident." The word "accident" takes on a whole new meaning when potty training a toddler. I won't go into all the trials and tribulations, though I will say that road trips are much more interesting and lengthy.

We're also seeing a more sensitive side to Eli. Tonight Pepper was participating in her favorite activity, counter cruising. I sternly said "Pepper, down." Eli looked at me and said "Pepper's sad. Mommy scared Pepper. Mommy are you mad at Pepper?" This parenting thing is hard. Every moment seems to be a teachable moment for all of us and sometimes that feels like a lot of pressure. Luckily, most of the time its fun.

World Cup Fever!

Eli has caught World Cup Fever! Inspired by the US team's unlikely tie against England (thanks, goalie!) Eli decided to get ready for the 3 year old leagues early. Go USA! The reason he's running around with no pants is that we are in full-on potty training mode at the moment. Why soil shorts unnecessarily? We do enough laundry as is. :) It's going pretty well so far but we have a little ways to go. After this stage comes the toddler bed and I can't begin to tell you how much Rebecca and I are dreading that. Anyway, remember this video because it won't be long before our little Pele' is abusing David Beckham's kids on the national stage.

Let's hear it for... Conjunctivitis!

This little guy has been through it the last couple of weeks.  The last blog chronicled his adventures getting tubes in his ears.  Right on the heels of that Eli contracted conjunctivitis, which made his eye swell up like he'd gone a round or two with Mike Tyson.  With the tubes, we had to put drops in his ears a couple times each day and he was not very high on that process.  Well, of course the medicine we were prescribed for this were eye drops.  We have had to come up with some really interesting distraction techniques to get a drop in his eye but none of those as nearly as effective as watching daddy put a drop in his own eye first (not of his medicine but Visine).  The things we do for our kids. 

In just a few short days, Eli will officially be 2 1/2 years old!  If you ask him, he'll tell you he's 3.  I can't believe some of the stuff he is saying these days.  It is amazing to have conversations with him because he will constantly surprise you with something.  We recently went on a trip to Charlotte in which Eli kept urging me to drive faster.  I tried to explain the speed limit to him and how we need to stay at a certain speed.  At that very moment, a car passed us going at least 80 mph and Eli said, "He's going faster."  What do you say to that?  I couldn't stop laughing.  A couple days ago he pointed to the sky and said, "Look, Daddy, an enormous airplane!"  Enormous?  It's times like that when I realize he is hearing EVERYTHING we say.  Guess I better watch my colorful descriptions of bad drivers on the road.  :)

Totally tubular.

Poor Eli had to be taken to the hospital to have tubes put in his ears. Originally, they gave us a 12:15 surgery time, which meant he would have to miss two meals and cut into naptime. We were pretty annoyed by that knowing that the morning would most likely prove brutal to get through. We were fortunate on two fronts, the hospital bumped our time up an hour and Eli was totally amazing all morning. He didn't complain about being hungry once. In fact, the only thing he really complained about at all was the hospital smock he had to wear for the surgery. He wasn't a fan of that at all. The doctors said he didn't fuss at all, just looked curious about everything. Sure, he was a little cranky when he came out of it but who doesn't feel that way after being put to sleep. We tried to feed him when we got done but he just ended up puking all over the kitchen floor. He went down for his nap and after sleeping for 4 hours he was like his old self again. This video was taken shortly after. What a little trooper. :)

The Era of the Boo-Boo

Eli is an adventurous little guy willing to sacrifice his body in the name of fun.  Lately, the spills and tumbles have become more spectacular as Eli gains confidence in his coordination.  Unfortunately, this all leads to scratches, bleeding and band-aids.  Since he associated band-aids with getting shots for a while he was not a fan.  He has scratches all down his back right now from a couple falls, scratches on both knees, and a fat lip from slipping and going face first into the water fountain at his school.  I was actually there for that and it was awful.  I thought he had knocked some teeth out.  There was blood everywhere.  Seeing your 2 year old like that is traumatic.  In true Eli form he bounced back quicker from it than I expected.  He will almost completely forget about the boo-boos until bath time and then it's all about, "No let the water touch my boo-boo!"  Ever tried giving a kid a bath without water touching his knees or lower back?  Yeah, good luck with that.  :)

HEY, MR. ELEPHANT!

Last weekend we packed up the car and headed to the Asheboro Zoo early Saturday morning.  We met our cousins there and had a blast cruising around and seeing the animals.  Finally, we found a place with enough stimulation to keep Eli busy!  :)  The protocol for seeing each animal never varied; Eli would run up to the fence or divider and yell, "Hey, Mr. Elephant!" or "Hey, Mr. Lion!"  Then he would turn to us and ask, "What's he doing?"  

I think one of the funnest parts of the day for him was watching the adults have to repeated shoo away the geese that kept approaching us in the picnic area trying to get at our food.  The kids thought it was the height of hilarity, their moms and dads running, clapping, and howling to get the geese to scram.  We must guard our pimento cheese with our lives!

The other thing that he really loved doing was running over the big floor vents in the aviary, which is reflected in the second photo above.  They were like giant fans under the floor blowing up and they were spaced out all over the aviary.  Of course Eli looked at some birds but then it became all about standing on a fan and running to the next one.  Look at the joy on that kid's face.  Good stuff.

Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy!

Well, this latest phase of life with a toddler has certainly been, well, interesting.  The 'Terrible Twos' might be the most appropriate moniker I've ever heard of.  Eli has pretty much been a snotty mess for a month straight, with a couple ear infections and who knows what else sprinkled in there.  Just this morning he told me his belly hurt.  I really want to get past this winter and its germs with all speed.  We don't know if it's the sickness or what, but lately he's had plenty of crazy tantrums and has taken to waking up at 5 in the morning screaming.  All of this has come at the same time as a hardcore mommy phase.  Some of our exchanges are downright ridiculous.

Eli:  I want some milk!
Dad:  Ok, I'll get you some.
Eli:  NO!
Dad:  You just asked me for milk.
Eli:  I want mommy to get it!
Dad:  Well, I've already made it.  Here you go.
Eli:  NO!  MOMMY DO IT!  *throws sippy cup across room*
Mom:  *picks up milk*  Here, Eli.
Eli:  I don't want the milk!
Mom:  Alright, I'll put it back in the fridge.
Eli:  NO!  I WANT MY MILK...WAAAAAAAAHHHH  *15 minute tantrum ensues*

Last night was the first night he's slept past 6 am in a while, so that's a step back in the right direction.  Rebecca said she thinks of moments like these as Eli basically saying, "I want to be independent!  I don't want to be independent!"  That rings so true and does seem to be the big struggle.  Hopefully our household can get rid of all the little ailments and get back on track.  There is a ray of hope for Rebecca.  During one of the most recent meltdowns, Eli started screaming, "DADDY, DADDY, DADDY!"  She shot me a sideways glance, cracked a smile and mouthed, "YES!" at me.  Uh oh.  :)  

The Snowy Day

Every once in a while, we actually get snow in North Carolina.  The last time we really got a decent snow Eli was only about a year old and had not been walking very long.  He didn't even really like the crunching sound of the snow under his feet at that point.  The 2 year old incarnation of Eli was all about the snow.  He did his first snow angel and we even got started on a snowman that fell by the wayside once we got out the sled.  As you can see, he was a fan of the sled and the snow in general.  I'm a fan of it too, until 8am Monday morning when I have to navigate these roads to work.

The last two or three weeks Eli has been fighting ear infections, which has been no fun for anyone in our house.  As I type this, he is sitting in Rebecca's lap digging at his ear.  He is bouncing back though and the sweet boy is making a reappearance, finally replacing the angry, whiny little demon child we have seen recently.  Once this stuff is in the rearview mirror we plan on being gluttons and attacking the potty training head-on.  Yikes!  

I need a pick.

Before and after

Bill has written every blog update since this thing started and for that and many other things I am very thankful. The holidays have been busy and a bit emotional. Eli completed his time at Mrs. Linda's daycare and I definitely had the hardest time saying goodbye. Mrs. Linda did a great job teaching and caring for Eli. He was 100% ready to go from being in a daycare of 4 kids to a daycare of a lot of kids. He loves the new Preschool. We took him there for a couple of days before and after Christmas and didn't cry once. He talked about his friends and new teachers over the holidays. Christmas was really fun with our families. Eli had a great time with his cousins Jack and Grady. He loves his family and talks about them all the time. He also loves mac-n-cheese. About a week ago we were going through his nighttime routine and after he said "I yuv you Mommy," he looked right in my eyes and whispered "Mommy, I yuv mac-n-cheese." He just says the funniest things these days. The other day he said "I don't want to wear the the pants. I want to wear the jeans." Like father like son as far as jeans and t-shirts go.

Eli spent a couple of days with Nana and Papa (Bill's folks) while Bill and I spent New Year's with great friends. Thank you Nana and Papa! With the new year came a nasty cold for Eli. He turned into a little monster and we were wondering what happened to our sweet kid. He wasn't just pitiful and sad. Eli was angry with seemingly endless tantrums. We finally took him to the doc on Wednesday because we didn't know what else to do. All the conditions were right for an ear infection but it wasn't infected yet. DeeDee (my mom) came and saved us and the other kids at daycare. Friday afternoon Mom said he sat on his little stool, put his elbow on his knee and his head on his hand and declared "my ear hurts." He also said "my head broke." Since starting the antibiotic, we feel like we might be able to go out in public again.  :)

I love you, Mommy.

Ahh, the holidays.  Christmas trees, green and red, family, gifts, and great food.  Oh yeah, let's not forget communicable disease.  Groups of little kids become amazing germ distributors, so if you have a toddler, he or she WILL get sick.  No two ways about it.  Our little guy is sick right now.  It's made all the more pitiful by the fact that he can verbalize how he is feeling now.  When you hear Eli, who is 100 miles an hour all the time, say something like, "Daddy, I'm really tired." at 4pm you know something is amiss.  It's not all negative though...  He does become a little more snuggly and last night he whispered in Rebecca's ear, totally unsolicited, "I love you, Mommy."  It was so incredibly sweet that I can't believe she didn't start crying uncontrollably right then and there.  Get well soon, Eli!  We need you full force for the holidays.