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.