Eli is Eli

I just love that my toddler makes me laugh (when I am not pulling my hair out!)

Here are a few funny stories:

A few nights ago, I asked Eli if he wanted to help me give Ewan a bath. This is usually something Eli asks if he can do, especially if it is past time for his own bath. Instead of yelling "Yes!" like I expected, he said in all seriousness, "I can help you just a little bit and then I have to run buck naked. Sorry."

When he was putting broccoli on the ground and laughing wildly when Zula ate it, I asked him to stop feeding Zula. He said, "I'm not feeding Zula, I just put food down on the ground for her to eat."

When he was screeching some nursery rhymes at the top of his lungs, I asked him to please sing more softly. He said he didn't want to. But he came up with a great solution: going into another room and closing the door. Except he decided to go into the hall closet. After a few minutes of loud singing, Eli came out and said, "It's too dark. I can't see my words!"

Yesterday, when we were reading books upstairs, he said he wanted to read Babar. I told him the book was downstairs and I asked him to get it. He said, "No, you get it. And don't dawdle, cuz why you might get hurt."

A laugh

Last night, while Michael was bouncing Ewan on the exercise ball so that he would fall back asleep, Ewan laughed. He opened his mouth, and it sounded like "Haa haa haa." Michael couldn't believe it! I missed it, of course, because after 4 feedings, I was exhausted.

Ewan still smiles a lot in his sleep and it is super sweet to watch. He still likes to sleep a lot during the day and then look around and get bounced on the ball at night. But last night was a really good night with pretty easy transitions back to the bassinette after nursing. I just need to get used to getting up all the time to nurse... do you ever really get used to that? I just can't remember.

Burping and giggling

At lunch today, Eli burped in between bites and I giggled. (Yes, I realize that this is not appropriate behavior at the table, but I can't help it.) My giggle made him laugh, which made me laugh. For a good 3 minutes, we were sitting at the table laughing at each other laughing. The harder he made me laugh, the harder he laughed. It was like we were both in on some silent joke. I loved it.

When Michael got home from work and we ate dinner together, Eli did a similar thing with Michael. Michael was making faces at him and Eli kept laughing and laughing, which made Michael laugh. It was so fun to watch.

For the first time today, I dropped Eli at the Kids Court, a daycare room at the gym. I went to yoga and Eli played in the playground. Apparently he did well in the room so I am planning to do that more often. It gives Eli a change of scenery and I get some (desperately needed) exercise.

Laughing

Eli and I laughed and laughed today. He was sitting on the floor in his nursery and I was holding one of his soft blocks. I threw it up in the air and said, "Where did it go?" and then it would fall back down between us. It must have seemed like the block came out of nowhere to Eli. We just played that game over and over again and we just laughed and laughed. I could have done that for 4 hours with him :)

He was pretty fussy in the afternoon -- I think his teeth were hurting. So I gave him a foot massage with some Burt's Bees apricot oil and he calmed down a bit. I kept telling him how much he needs a foot massage to release all of his tension and it struck me as very funny that a baby who can't walk yet gets a foot massage. We laughed about that also.

Sitting up and falling over

Eli is learning how to sit up. Today we practiced several times. Once he lasted for about 10 seconds, which is pretty good. When he falls over, it is very cute. He sort of slumps to the front or side and then slowly falls to the ground. He always looks a bit startled that it happened, but I usually laugh, and then he smiles.

Today we went for two walks -- one with Sarah and Elliot in the morning and the other with Stefanie and Alex in the afternoon. He was in his Ergo carrier for both of them -- he likes to be next to his mama :)

I kept trying to get him to laugh again today. I would blow on his belly and pretend I was eating him up, and he kept smiling really huge smiles and then going, "Ack!" Very sweet.

Eli laughs but doesn't get weighed

Eli laughed today at the dinner table. It was so great. I yelled to Michael to get the camera and he came running downstairs but Eli wouldn't do it again. No matter how hard I tried. I posted one video of my attempt to get him to do the full-fledged laughing again, but mainly you will just hear me laughing. Sorry about that. You get to hear Eli giggle a little bit.

We missed our doctor's appointment so no update on his weight. I thought it was at 11:30 a.m. but it was really 11 a.m. Bummer. We have to wait until July 10th for a full report.

I think Eli is getting in some more lower teeth. His gums are really swollen. I just hope that it isn't as bad as his first two...