Conversations with Eli

One of my favorite things to do is figure out how Eli's mind works. If you have or had a 3-year-old, you know what I mean. 3-year-olds think about things very logically, carefully and literally. It is hysterical to watch that process. Here are some examples, but of course, there are thousands more that I can't remember:

Turning leaves into gold

Eli said he wanted to save his money so that he could go to Africa. This has been a theme for some time -- he wants to see lions, elephants, cheetahs and giraffes.

I told him he had to save a lot of money because it is very expensive to fly to Africa.

Eli: But how will I make money? Will I go to work with Dadda?

Mama: No. You could do things like mow people lawns or rake their leaves when you get bigger.

Eli: Yeah! I can do that!

Long pause.

Eli: Cuz why, we make money out of leaves?

Turning Ewan into a grown-up

Eli got a magnifying glass from his Grandma last month. In the bathroom one morning, he held it up to Ewan.

Mama: Oh, does Ewan look bigger?

Eli: Yes! He looks like a grownup!

A sheep joke

In the car, on our way up to the Oregon Zoo, Ewan is babbling loudly in the backseat: babababaabaababa.

Eli: We should leave baby at a farm.

Mama is about to say, "That's not very nice Eli!"

Instead Mama says: Why?

Eli: Cuz why, he is a sheep!

Animals for eating versus animals for everything else

For several weeks, Eli was very interested in categorizing animals into the ones we eat and the ones we don't eat.

Eli: Do we eat sea turtles?

Mama: No.

Eli: Oh right, cuz why we would break our teeth on their hard shells!

Ewan is 9 months old!

Ewan turned 9 months old 3 days ago!

He now crawls around on his belly. He is working on getting up on his knees -- he rocks back and forth trying to get the momentum to lurch forward. So far, no luck.

He puts everything into his mouth. We've fished leaves, paper and onion skin out of there. Ugh.

You might mistake his nursing for wrestling. He is up on his feet, rolling around, grunting and pushing with his arms -- all while attached to the boob. It looks quite ridiculous, but I guess it works for him.

He says all kinds of semi-words: mamama, dadaadda, bababa, gagagagaaga.

Ewan still is a pretty bad sleeper, and Mama still can't get used to it. Especially when she has to answer "why?" at least 7,500 times during the day by Ewan's older brother.

He's still got his very bright blue eyes -- yay! And his smile is as big as ever, although it still only contains two teeth. He's working on getting some new ones very soon.

He likes to eat puffs, likes to feed himself (mostly unsuccessfully) and doesn't much like to sit in his high chair unless he is starving.

He's getting big super fast and I can't believe he is almost a year old!

Gentle sawing

Eli, getting frustrated trying to put the blade on his chainsaw: Argh! Daddy can you help me?

Daddy: Right now?

Eli: Yes, cuz why I want to saw my brother.

Daddy: No, we don't saw people.

Eli: No no Daddy. Just very very gentle sawing!