All boy!

I just can't keep Ewan inside anymore when Eli is outside playing. So yesterday, I took the laundry outside and tried to fold it on the table while the boys played. In mud. Ah yes, Ewan is ALL BOY!

Dinosaurs!

ROARRRR!

Eli is very very obsessed with dinosaurs. We read dinosaur books almost exclusively (thank you Salem Public Library for your wide selection of dinosaur books). We play with dinosaur figures (I have my eyes on a huge brachiosaurus at Toys R Us for Eli!) We pretend we are dinosaurs (sometimes too many times for this poor Mama who gets eaten by a T Rex, an allosaurus or a velociraptor multiple times a day). And at night, when I pull my covers back to fall into bed, I am greeted with plastic dinosaurs (and their sharp tails!)

This morning while reading a dinosaur book, Eli asked me how dinosaurs got sick.

Mama, being silly: "I don't know. Many people were coughing on them."

Eli: "That's a good theory, Mama. But people didn't live with the dinosaurs so they couldn't cough on them!"

(LOVE that he told me I had a good theory! He can't really say "theory" so it comes out kind of funny too!)

Then tonight at dinner, while he pretended to be a brachiosaurus who was eating trees aka broccoli (and LOTS of it!), we had this conversation:

Eli: "Do you know why brachiosaurus had lips?"

Mama: "No, why?"

Eli: "To keep their food in their mouths when they are chewing."

Mama: "Oh. Is that why people have lips?"

Eli: "No, people have lips for kissing."

Mud!

On Thursday, the sprinkler was on in Bush Park and it created the most perfect little mud stream for Eli, Ewan and Eli's friend, William, to play in! Eli and his friend built boats, ran through the mud and just generally got super messy.

Brothers

These boys look so alike to me here.

Pants?

Who needs pants when you've got your mud boots on? This is a look we like to sport more often than Mama would like to admit.

I want to be big!

Eli has to spend at least part of his day outside, even if it is pouring rain. On this particular day in early May, Ewan wanted to be outside also. It was such a sweet moment to capture -- Ewan watching Eli build with sticks in the rain. But so sad too, because Ewan SO wanted to be outside with his big brother. (And yes, my backdoor is THAT dirty!)

Climbing trees

Eli loves to climb trees. In the park the other day, he met a new friend, who was 5. This friend had never climbed trees before... until Eli showed him how. The two of them were climbing trees for the next 30 minutes.

The photos are of Eli climbing the cherry blossom tree in our backyard in early May. When he got in the tree, he needed me to hand him his chain saw so he could cut it down. (We didn't get into the fact that you might not want to cut down a tree that you are in!)

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."

Real or pretend cuts?

A conversation while out for a walk...

Beth to Michael: Did you see that the Superintendent is proposing to cut all school librarians from the district?

Eli: What? What happened Mama?

Mama to Eli: Oh, the schools don't have enough money so they want to cut the school's librarians to save money.

Eli: For real or pretend?

Mama, puzzled: For real.

Eli: But that will hurt when they get cut (making a sawing motion with his hand).

A boys' bath

Last week, Eli and Ewan took a bath together. It was the first time they really played together in the tub. And now that Ewan can sit up by himself, it's much easier for them to play in the water. Eli makes Ewan laugh by pouring water on his own head!

Shellburg Falls hike

A spontaneous trip to Shellburg Falls today was fabulous. Eli hiked 4 miles without complaining; Ewan fell asleep in the carrier on Dadda's back; and the waterfall was gorgeous!

Brain size

Eli is very very obsessed with dinosaurs these days. All he wants to do is play with his dinosaur figures or read books about dinosaurs. We get lots of library books about dinosaurs, and many of them discuss their brain sizes. An apatosaurus, for example, has a brain the size of a walnut. Suprising, given it is one of the largest dinosaurs that ever lived. Anyway, I am not sure that Eli understands exactly what a brain does or is. But he likes to talk about brains and brain sizes. When we wear helmets for riding bikes, he says he is protecting his brain. Today, on our way to Toddler Time, Eli told me to run. Mama: Oh, Mama can't run today. Eli: Why? Mama, pausing because she is so tired. Eli: Cuz why your brain is too small?

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!