Conversations with Eli

Who is bigger?, and thus, knows more

We spent New Year's Eve at A.C. Gilbert House -- it is the 3rd year in a row! This time, Eli and Ewan were playing in the Oregon room. At the area with the beach, Daddy said, "Oh look, a hermit crab."

A little girl next to him said, "No that's not a hermit crab, that's a (some other kind of crab)."

Daddy didn't say anything.

As they walked to another room, Eli said, "Daddy, are you bigger than that girl?"

Daddy said, "Yes, why?"

Eli: "So it was a hermit crab afterall?"


A walk in the park

While walking to Bush Park yesterday, Eli found 5 sticks he just couldn't pass up. He was dragging them to the playground, telling Mama all about the sticks, when he stopped.

Eli: "Mama, the thing about carrying all of these sticks is that other kids might ostracize me."

On the way home from the park, Eli and Mama (with Ewan on her back) were pretending to be allosaurus dinosaurs hunting for prey. Eli said we were to really use our sense of eyesight, smell and hearing to find prey, but then we would just pretend to eat it.

Upon seeing two teenage girls on the sidewalk in front of us, Eli yells, "Look meat!!!"

Luckily (for Mama), they didn't know he was talking about them.

About the babysitter

Eli met a new babysitter a few days ago. At dinner, Daddy asked if Eli liked her. Eli thought for a moment and then said, "I don't like her hair, but I like her body."

Eli cuts two teeth at once

Eli cut two teeth today! I was feeding him some mashed banana on my finger and he bit down and, OUCH, I felt his teeth. They must have just come through because two days ago I saw his gums were swollen. I can't believe he got both of them at the same time. Well, I guess I can -- he has been so upset lately. Mostly I am sad about his teeth because I love his toothless smile. I tried to capture it on film today but no such luck. I still got cute shots of us playing.

We spent some time in the nursery this morning on the quilt I made for us. I gave him a baby massage. We sang songs and shook a rattle. I made him almost giggle by pretending to eat his cheek.

I am on my part-time schedule now so I only had to put in 4 hours today. Eli was an angel and took a 3-hour nap from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Holy cow. I finished my story and made some calls on some other stories and then still had the afternoon free.

We went for a walk with Stefanie and Alex around Bush Park. When Alex got a little fussy in his stroller we sat in the grass and the boys had fun grabbing the grass and trying to eat it. Then we took them swimming. Eli last about twice as long as he did the first time he went, but then he was wailing in the locker room. We'll try again...