Eli and Ewan together

This morning, Ewan and Eli spent some time together. Eli was very excited to hold his baby brother, so I put Eli on my lap and then Eli and I held Ewan together. Eli said, "When I get older, I'll hold Ewan by myself!" Eli was very sweet about being gentle.

Then Mama read books to Eli and Ewan.

Up until today, Eli has been calling Ewan "baby Patxi" but today he said, "baby Ewan" for the first time. We'll see how long "baby Patxi" lasts. I actually hope Eli sticks with it -- it's a cute brother nickname.

Boo-boo, er, rosy cheeks

Lately, Eli has been very concerned by drawings of rosy cheeks on kids or animals in books. He furrows his brow and points to the rosy cheeks and says," Boo-boo," or "Owww."

He also sometimes tries to pick up pictures in the books and asks for help. Not sure if the picture looks so real that he thinks it should be 3-D or if he thinks it is a sticker book!

NO! Mine!

Apparently at daycare on Thursday, Eli picked up all the books from the other kids and made a pile in front of himself. When the teacher went to get one of the books to give back to another kid, Eli said, "No! Mine!"

Michael and I couldn't believe it because we have never heard him say "mine" before.

Great Aunt Gail visits

Eli's great aunt Gail has been visiting since Friday. It has been the most gorgeous weather since she got here -- about 70 degrees and bright and sunny. We've taken advantage of the good weather to go to a pumpkin patch, a cool park in Silverton and Bush's Pasture Park by our house. Can you tell that Eli is having a blast?

Today he found the built-in bookshelves in the living room. He pulled many, many books off the shelves and had a blast doing it.

Other things Eli loves right now: Playing with the showerhead while he is in the tub and getting sprayed with water from it.

Oh, and did you know Eli was going to be a monkey for Halloween???

Library card

Eli and I went to the library today and he got his own library card. He thought it was a very fun toy and chewed on it for a bit. We checked out seven books with his card -- two of them are the same series of dinosaur books that he loves. The one we own is "How do dinosaurs say Good Night?"

When I read him the "How does a dinosaur eat?" book, he seemed confused and then kept reaching for the one we own. It was like he was saying, "this is not how this book goes!"

8-month update

Eli was in such an amazing mood today. He had these HUGE smiles on his face all day and he kept squealing and (I think) trying to hug me. He grabs my face, opens his mouth and tries to put my entire face in his mouth. I read somewhere that it means he is trying to hug or kiss me and doesn't know how. All I know is that I love it. It is totally adorable, even when he gets drool all over my face.

Needless to say, I love the 8-month stage. He is happy almost all of the time. He can stay awake for quite awhile now -- this morning he lasted for 3 hours. He is sleeping great so I have some time to myself at night (tonight I made these lemon scones that are to-die-for!). And he can play by himself for a little bit of time, even though he mostly wants to play with me (which is also quite alright!)

We've been doing cloth diapers now for a month and it is going great. It is super easy. We only use one disposable diaper a day -- at night. He has been sleeping from 7:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. and a cloth diaper just won't keep him dry that long. He took a two-hour nap this afternoon with two cloth diapers and a fleece liner and he was soaked when he woke up. So I just don't want to ruin his good nighttime sleeping.

He loves to look at books, play with this big metal coffee can and watch Wally and Zula. He also LOVES to swing so I usually put him in one of those baby swings at the park and he just smiles and giggles the entire time. I am a little worried about the fall and what we will do when it is raining :(