Fun filled Friday

Eli and I had a blast today. He played with Alex in the morning again -- and they just love the same things so it is a perfect fit. Eli was SO excited about Alex coming over that he gave Alex huge hugs which quickly turned a bit rough and then he tried to bite Alex. I think he is just so overwhelmed and excited that he doesn't know what to do. I know I have trouble not biting my friends when they come over....

In the afternoon we went to the South Salem track and threw the ball for Wally. Eli helped by picking up the wet, slobbery, muddy ball and putting it into the ball flinger for me :) He also ran through the grass laughing and pointing at an airplane, a crow and other amazing sights.

We made chocolate chip cookies when we got home and Eli helped stir the batter. He only stuck his hand in it once (I swear we had just washed his hands, for anyone reading this who ate those cookies!) He sort of likes to help, but mostly he likes to have access to the counter where all the cool toys are kept: the blender, food processor, crockpot, etc. Parents keep all the best toys for themselves...

A baby fading away

When I put Eli down for a nap today, he was still pretty awake. He started doing his intense smiles (kind of the same way he grabs his blankie and shoves it in his face) and I would laugh and do it back to him. We were totally cracking each other up and trying to do funnier and funnier faces each time. I had never had an interaction like that with him before. It was so fun!

Before nap time, Stef and Alex came over and Eli and Alex really played together -- they are interested in a lot of the same things: opening and closing doors, opening and closing lids, turning water on from the faucet (and only occasionally turning it off) and going up stairs. Alex taught Eli to jump on the bed and they spent a lot of time rolling around on the bed, playing in the shower stall and going up the stairs. They had a blast :)

The other photo is Daddy and Eli feeding the ducks on Saturday afternoon in the beautiful sunshine. Eli had trouble throwing the bread to the ducks. Instead he would let a piece roll down the bank and a brave duck would have to come very close to snatch it up.

Anyway, all of these things remind me how fast he is growing up. He is joking around with me, which seems so kid-like -- not baby-like, he is playing with another boy his age and he is learning to throw. His babyhood is fading away....

A nap...

Today, Mama needs a nap. Eli, apparently, doesn't. He went in his crib at 1 p.m., asleep by 1:30 p.m., and now, I believe he is awake -- at 1:45 p.m.

Unfair, yes?

Rated R

Several days ago Michael and I were scrolling through some old videos of Eli, marveling at the ability of parents to utterly forget what their children were like just a mere 4 or 6 months earlier, when we noticed that we couldn't play the "Eli eats his toes, June 1, 2008" video. Eli happens to be in his bathtub naked during the video and I am worried that YouTube took it down because of the nudity. And I can't decide whether I am outraged at YouTube for being so ridiculous about a naked baby or sickened by the thought that YouTube has those kinds of rules because of creepy people out there searching for such videos....

Showering

Eli loves our shower in the upstairs bathroom. It is a standalone shower and Eli now knows how to open the shower door. During the day, he'll play in there -- picking up each of the shampoo bottles and putting them on the bathroom floor. Of course, he is soaking wet when he is done playing because inevitably he wanted to play in there right after one of us took a shower.

Yesterday, Michael decided to take a shower with Eli. He loved it. I hopped in the shower after them, and Eli wanted to take a shower with me too. And then -- even though he had been in the shower for about 25 minutes -- he cried so hard when we had to get out.

Today I took a shower with Eli and we were in there for about 20 minutes (it's hard to get clean while you are holding a baby -- it takes longer!). Still, the second he opened the door and stepped onto our bathroom floor, Eli peed. All over the floor. Seems like that would be something he would feel the urge to do while IN the shower, wouldn't you think?!?

Shoes

Eli spent a good 30 minutes today trying to put on my shoes. He was grunting and pushing his foot into the shoe over and over. And even though my shoes are about 20 times bigger than his feet, he didn't manage to get them on.

Sweet kisses...

Tonight after Eli drank his bottle, I lay him on my chest to burp him. He pulled his head away and started kissing me on the lips. Little tiny baby kisses, over and over, probably 30 times! I was giggling in the beginning, which was shaking his entire body, but he didn't stop. Eventually he said "Bo" and started pointing at things in his room, so I knew I needed to put him in his crib so he could go to sleep....

Eli makes the newsletter

The YMCA Child Development Center newsletter for March 2009 came out today and I picked up a copy when I dropped Eli off at daycare today. Each classroom in the center has their own section. Eli's room, the Crawler Room, had a story about Eli in it:

As many of you have noticed we have posted our baby signs at the children's level. We are encouraging the children to use baby signs to ease their frustration with communication. We encourage you to use them too. The classroom has copies of our most used baby signs. Have you heard the latest classroom joke? Eli will be playing on the floor with his toys and friends. He will use his sign for sleep to his teachers. When we ask him if he wants to sleep, he will shake his head no and verbally say no. Then Eli will laugh and laugh. What a great spirit he has!

I think it is the funniest story ever. It also is very consistent with my new theory that he is something of a class clown. I'll let you know in 10 years if I am right!

Washing hands

I am trying to teach Eli to do more and more things for himself. One of the things I had been trying to teach him was to wash his hands. But of course, he can't reach our sinks himself so I would always have to hold him up, which would occupy my hands so I couldn't show him how to wash his own.

Anyway, Stefanie got me reading some Montessori books and they suggested a "hand-washing station." I bought a small end table at Goodwill ($7.99) and a small glass pitcher ($1.99) and a stainless steel pot ($1.99.) I set it up at home but Michael thought it was in the way (I had put it in our narrow dining room so Eli could wash his hands before eating.)

Michael worked on it and now it is just perfect! It fits in the bathroom, which is where we wash our hands anyway, and it has its own mirror and tile surface and soap dispenser. Eli loves to wash his hands there. In fact, he washed his hands there before and after sitting on his potty AND before taking a bath. Now it is so fun to teach him to wash his own hands :)

Some things about Eli....

Yesterday I had this flash of Eli in the future -- he was the class clown, trying to get all the other students to laugh. The reason I had this flash? Because Eli and I were at the dining room table and Eli did his typical full-body excited shake. Something that I had always thought was involuntary. But when I started laughing, he did it again. And again. Probably about 7 times total, and he just keep checking in with me to make sure I was laughing. I love these little glimmers of his personality peeking through.

These days Eli is really enjoying learning new tasks. I am trying to teach him to feed the dogs. He loves it although the food often ends up on the floor instead of the dog bowls. The dogs don't seem to care :) He is learning to wash his hands, wipe off the table with a sponge and drink out of a cup by himself.

Perhaps because he wants to learn new tasks, he doesn't want me to change his diaper -- maybe that takes him away from learning new tasks for too long? Anyway, he screams his head off when I try to change his diaper. It is very tiring... He does the same thing about getting into his car seat. Ugh. I dread both of those things most days :)

Tonight, Eli helped us make chocolate-chip cookies. He stood on a step stool and helped stir the dry ingredients (read: spill the flour all over himself) and mix the wet ingredients (read: eat the butter). Oh boy does he like raw cookie dough! I thought we would never get him out of the kitchen!

Hugging-my-head game

Tonight I was putting Eli in his car seat to go to the doctor's office -- his ear was bugging him and we wanted to get it checked to see if he had an ear infection -- he doesn't -- and Eli kept touching my face and then hugging my head as I was trying to strap him in. I started kissing his neck and he kept laughing and laughing, and then hugging my head again. He also tried to kiss me on the cheek but he sort of just shoved his teeth into my skin. I was laughing so hard I was cracking Eli up too. I didn't want to end our little hugging game but I had to get to the doctor's office.....

A Mama freak-out

I went to my knitting group this evening and stayed later than I thought I would (hey, knitting can get a bit out of control!) and got a call from Michael just as I was leaving. All I could hear was Eli SCREAMING in the background.

Turns out, he went to bed OK, only to wake around 9:15 p.m. When Michael went into his room, Eli asked for Mama. When Mama didn't arrive promptly, Eli started the screaming. Michael asked if Eli wanted to look for Mama, he said yes. So they searched every room, each time finding no Mama and Eli crying. They even looked in the garage. When Michael called me, I tried to talk to Eli to calm him down but he couldn't hear me because of the crying OR he didn't want me in the phone, he wanted me next to him.

Anyway, when I got home, he acted like nothing was wrong. Just wanted me to hold him while he ate some cookies. Then I gave him more milk and he is now sleeping peacefully. Oh dear, Mama practically had a heart attack trying to get him to her screaming Eli....

The birds

Eli and I picked up Stef and Alex this morning and went to Ankeny Wildlife Refuge, just south of Salem (a lot closer than I thought!)

We saw tons of geese and heard them honking and honking. We saw tons of ducks and heard them quacking and quacking. We saw a HUGE nutria in the grass. And Eli and Alex saw lots of the parking lot, which was -- by far -- their favorite part. There were rocks and puddles. What more could boys ask for?

This afternoon, after Mama went for a run with Eli in the jogging stroller and both dogs tied around her waist (holy cow that was the hardest workout EVER!), we met Alicia, Rowan, Sarah and Elliot at Minto Brown to see more birds -- mainly very friendly ducks and two bully geese. I brought some bread for Eli to feed the ducks but every piece except for one he promptly put in his mouth instead of on the ground for the ducks. Either he was hungry or he didn't believe the ducks were hungry enough...