Conversations with Eli

Multiple jobs
Today, Eli used Mama's camera to take pictures while we were at the park. After awhile he said that he was good at taking pictures.

Eli: "I want to be a picture taker when I grow up."

Mama: "Oh great. You want to be a photographer. That's a fun job!"

Eli: "Yeah, but I want to be a paleontologist too. So you know what I am going to do? I am going to take pictures of dinosaur bones!"

A new porch
On a walk in a different neighborhood, Mama sees a house she loves -- mainly because of its wraparound porch.

Mama: "Oh Eli, I love this house. Look at that porch!"

Eli: "We have a porch."

Mama: "No, we have a patio and a deck in the backyard, but we don't have a porch."

Eli, very serious: "OK Mama. How about this? Daddy and I go to the basement and get tools and then we build you a porch?"

Mama: "I would like that very much Eli."

Eli: "For real, Mama. How about we do that for real?"

Wearing skin
While dancing in the living room with Mama and Eli, Ewan sits down to take his socks off.

Mama: "Oh your feet are hot? You want to take your socks off, Ewan?"

Eli: "Yeah, take your socks off Ewan. You can just wear your skin! See, I'm wearing my skin!"

Learning is fun!
Eli, jumping up and down in the kitchen: "Mama, Mama, guess what I learned today?"

Mama, laughing: "What?"

Eli: "I learned that the sun is a STAR! It is the closest star to us. Can you believe that?!?"

Ewan is 17 months old!

Ewan is 17 months old today.

Ewan and Mama have been taking a music class together and we love it. Ewan sings and moves to all kinds of music now and he'll even try to drum on the ground when he hears a song he likes.

Ewan understands practically everything we are saying, but he still only says 'Hi' and 'Bye' in addition to 'Mama' and 'Dada'. We swore he said 'E-i' one day but it must have been a fluke!

He is intent on doing things for himself. He has to feed himself (he's been doing that since he was at least a year!), but now he wants to put his own shoes on. He can't do it yet, and that is frustrating, but he keeps trying. He is very interested in the potty, so we brought up Eli's old potties and Ewan sits on them, carries them around the house and puts stuffed animals on them. Before we know it, he will be potty trained (we hope!).

Ewan enjoys going to his daycare two days a week. For awhile he just screamed when I would leave. Now he runs in and plays. It is so nice to know he is having fun and learning a ton while he is there. He does artwork, plays with different toys, and plays with friends.

We are excited to see how Ewan likes Christmas time. But we are sure he'll like the boxes and the wrapping the best :)

Post-nap thoughts

Eli woke up from a nap the other day, walked down the stairs and said, "Mama, I have a very important question for you."

Mama, thinking the question was about watching a video, absentmindedly said, "Yes?"

Eli: "You know how you have to flush a toilet to push the poop and paper through that little hole in the toilet and then get it to go down the pipes, through the house and out to the street?"

Mama, puzzled: "Yes?"

Eli: "Well, how does it keep moving in the street pipes? There is no handle to flush at the street."

Hmmm...this Mama doesn't know. And she wonders what this 3-year-old boy is dreaming about at naptime!

Halloween

Eli and Ewan had a blast on Halloween. Eli couldn't wait to wear his Tyrannosaurus Rex costume (which needed two people to get on him), and Ewan was finally used to his giraffe costume (after screaming multiple times while wearing it around the house!) Ewan did not understand trick-or-treating; he kept trying to walk into people's homes. But he LOVED giving out candy when kids came to our house.

Eli also loved to give out candy, but only to kids. At one point he asked me -- while putting candy in a bag -- "is that a kid?" I mumbled, "Yes." Eli said, "Just an adult-sized kid?" I didn't really know how to answer that. Then Eli peered behind the "big kid" and said, "They are ALL adult-sized kids?" Seems that he had some sense that you don't trick-or-treat when you are that big!