Awesome 3000

Eli ran in the big Salem race called the Awesome 3000. He was very very excited and he ran his fastest! It is a 300 m race for the 3-and-under age group. But he could have run the full 3000 m if they would let him run with Daddy!

He was most excited about the Clifford book and water bottle that they gave him at the end of the race.

Never stop talking

I don't think that 3-year-olds ever stop talking. That can get old when you are on your 6th hour of conversations and your sentences are interrupted with "Why?" every six seconds, BUT 3-year-olds also have a way of making every conversation seem VERY important. And Mama gets a kick out of them! Some recent examples:

Text delivery

Eli asked if we could invite Elliot to play one day. I said, "Yes," and then texted Elliot's mom. A few minutes later:

Eli: "Can Elliot play today?"

Mama: "I don't know. I texted him. But I haven't gotten a message back."

Eli: "I think the mailman is still delivering it."

A new rule and a time for no rules

When Eli feels shy or anxious or ?, he growls. No, it's not funny. It is quite annoying actually. But there it is. One day, I was talking to him about how it is not nice to growl at people.

Mama: "Should we write down a rule that says don't growl at people?"

Eli: "Yes. But we can growl at wild animals who are trying to eat us?"

Mama, sighing: "Yes."

Eli: "Cuz why we don't want to get eaten!"

Dadda: "There are no rules when a wild animal is trying to eat you."

Africa

Eli still talks about Africa a lot. He still really wants to visit Africa. And he worries about how we will get there, what we will see there, if we will get eaten by a lion, etc.

Eli: "Do they have dirt in Africa?"

Mama: "Yes."

Eli: "Then I think we should bring a digger so I can dig in the dirt!"

Mama: "OK."

Eli: "I think you should bring crayons and paper and toys on the plane too so I won't feel bored."

Eli, after a pause: "My bottom is going to hurt for sitting that long!"

Marriage woes

The other day, Eli asked me what Daddy told the man who was driving the UPS truck.

Mama: "He told him that he will ask his wife to move the car."

Eli: "What's a wife?"

Mama: "I am Dadda's wife. He is my husband. We call each other those names because we are married. We are married because we love each other very much ..."

Before Mama could continue discussing marriage, Eli says, "I don't want to get married."

Mama: "OK"

Eli: "You tell them that?"

Mama: "Who?"

Eli: "The man who makes people get married."

Mama: "There isn't a man who makes people get married ..."

Eli: "Then who makes people get married?"

Ewan is 11 months old!

Ewan turns 11 months old today!

He has two teeth on top -- his second top tooth broke through just yesterday. It makes his smile look so different. He is not happy about this new development. He is cranky, picky about food, and dealing with a runny nose all the time. Ugh. This is a huge contrast to his usual SUPER happy, smiley self.

Ewan is a super fast crawler now and if you turn your back for a second, he's gone. He likes to make a break for the refrigerator or any kitchen cabinet when the door is open. He also likes to sneak his way into the bathrooms when no one is looking. Upstairs he pulls himself up on the tub and turns on the faucet (and cries LOUDLY when you take him away). Downstairs, he likes to pull himself up on the toilet, the tub and the garbage can.

Amazingly, another place he crawls to is the playroom -- to play by himself! It is absolutely incredible to me. I'll be working in the kitchen and he'll play there for awhile. Then he'll take off down the hall, scooting on his knees, all the way to the playroom. He enters, looks around and then starts playing.

His favorite toys are: Eli's big green garbage truck, his Leapfrog table, and any car or truck. He doesn't really play with any of the toys Eli played with at this age because there are so many more big-boy toys around.

Ewan's taking two naps a day these days, and they are both about two hours long. He must be resting up to keep up with his brain development and motor skills. He pulls himself along the couch and from chair to chair -- preparing to start walking soon I think! And he definitely understands more of our words. Sometimes I say, "Ewan come here, come into the kitchen for some food," and he crawls right into the kitchen. He plays peek-a-boo -- holding the napkin in front of his own face and peeking out after we say, "Where's Ewan?!" And he even responds to my "Ack, ack, ack!" which tells him not to touch whatever he is touching!

He's also eating a lot, and he's not satisfied with just pureed baby food. He wants to eat finger foods, and more importantly, he wants to eat what we are eating. We give him whatever we can from our plates and if he doesn't like it, he feeds it to Zula!

Ewan is still nursing -- about four times a day. He's still squirmy but he has many moments where he is calm, especially before bedtime.

Ah, bedtime. Ewan has been sleeping through the night for months now and this Mama is quite content about that. Ewan goes to bed about 8:30 p.m. and wakes at 6 or 7 or even 8 a.m.! Glorious!

Now that Ewan is almost one, Eli is really enjoying his little brother. One time he said, out of the blue, "I just love Ewan. I love his face. I love his eyes. I love his hair!" (He does have hair; it is very fine and very blond and VERY hard to see :) ). At the dinner table, Eli and Ewan sometimes play a tug-of-war with Eli's napkin and both of them laugh a lot. Eli loves to hug Ewan, most of the time too tightly. Eli is genuinely excited for his brother's accomplishments, which is just about the cutest thing to witness. When we said, "Ewan's top tooth broke through," Eli clapped his hands and his eyes grew bright and he said, "YAY YAY YAY! Now he can eat pretzels!"

Our family is looking forward to Ewan's first birthday in a month. Eli talks about how fun it will be for baby Ewan to eat a cupcake for the first time!

An ant problem and unspoken rules!

Yesterday at lunch, Eli was crying a little bit. Daddy had told Eli he couldn't eat his grilled cheese sandwich in the living room like Eli wanted to. When Eli asked why, Daddy explained that the crumbs would exacerbate our already bad ant problem.

Mama: "I think you should eat something and then we'll get ready for rest time."

Eli: "Why?"

Mama: "I think you will feel better. You are a little cranky from being tired."

Eli, crying harder and whining: "I'm not cranky because I'm tired... I'm cranky because of our ant problem!"

After rest time, we went for a walk to Bush Park. On the way, we ran into two older kids who live nearby. The boy, probably 7 or 8, asked Eli is he wanted to have a playdate.

Eli, very serious with his hand on his hip: "The problem is that my mom and dad don't know your mom and dad so ..."

The little boy, anxious to assure Eli that it is OK, starts telling Eli all about his family -- his mom's name, his dad's name, his phone number, etc.

Eli just shakes his head: "My mom and dad don't know your mom and dad."

I was really happy to see that Eli understood these unspoken rules about playdates. (And also a little relieved that he didn't insist on a playdate as I don't know these kids and don't really want to meet their parents!)

Airport rules

Daddy: "I want you to eat a good breakfast this morning."

Eli: "Why?"

Daddy: "Because we are driving to the airport to pick up Grandma Nancy. It's a long drive and I don't want you to get cranky.

Eli: "Cuz why they don't allow cranky kids in the airport?"

Mother's Day

It doesn't get any better than this:

Today, Michael asked Eli what he wanted to be when he grew up.

Eli thought for a moment.

"A mama."