Almost...

Eli is quite good at putting together puzzles. Before Eli could talk, Michael would say, "almost, almost..." while Eli tried to fit the piece into its proper place.

Then when Eli could talk, he started saying "almost, almost..." (although it comes out, "ahmost, ahmost) to himself as he was trying to fit his pieces in the puzzle.

And tonight, when Michael was doing a puzzle with Eli, and Michael was pretending to have a hard time fitting the piece in its spot, Eli said, "Ahmost Dadda, ahmost Dadda..."

Tools

Yesterday when Eli woke up, he was rubbing his eyes.

I said, "Do your eyes hurt?"

Eli said, "Yes."

I said, "Do you want me to fix it?"

He got this bright look on his face and said, "Tools!"

Ride?

Eli is obsessed with riding animals. Every animal we see in a book -- snakes, porcupines, alligators, giraffes, bugs -- he says, "Ride?" "Ride?"

I have been very careful to tell him which animals people ride and which animals people don't ride. It seemed to me like he was categorizing the animals: those we ride, and those we don't ride.

Michael thinks I am being too literal. So Michael tells Eli, "Yes, Dadda rides alligators. In fact, Dadda rode one to work today."

Eli gets a confused look on his face, and then nods and says, "Yes."

Dadda is magical :)

Mama play too!

This morning, Michael got Eli out of bed and was playing with him in the living room before I came downstairs. When Eli heard me coming down, he raced up the stairs to meet me and took my hand to bring me to the living room.

"Are you playing with Dadda?," I asked him.

"Mama. Play. Too," Eli said.

I believe that is his first three- word sentence. Pretty sophisticated stuff!

No voice

Eli has been very patient with Mama since she lost her voice on Tuesday (a head cold thing).

I've been whispering all week to Eli, and he usually stops what he is doing and listens very carefully to what I say. He definitely knows what a tap on the shoulder means now too.

When Zula is barking in the backyard, Eli runs and opens the backdoor and yells, "Zooo, la, come!" One time, Zula actually listened.

He's been very good about playing low-key games since I've been sick. He is having so much fun with his animal sticker book and drawing with markers. During our typical dance time, he is OK if I sit on the couch and watch and clap instead of actually dancing with him.

A random note: one of my favorite new Eli words is mayonnaise. It comes out "may-maise."

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!

Duh, Mama, I used my hands!

Eli likes to drive our car. In order for that to be a safe playtime, I make sure the driver's side window is halfway down, Eli has keys that do not include the actual key to the car, the emergency brake is on, the car is in the garage, the garage door is shut, and the garage door opener is on the roof of the car. Only then is Eli allowed to play in the car, and only then am I comfortable enough to be in the kitchen for 45 seconds or less before checking in on him.

Last week, while Eli was playing in the car, I went inside to grab his shoes for a walk. When I walked back to the garage, the garage door was opening.

I was shocked. I pointed to the roof of the car. "But the garage door opener is on the roof."

Eli smiled broadly and stuck his hand, clutching the opener in his fist, out the halfway-opened window. Then he pointed to the roof and nodded.

"But how did you reach the opener, Eli!?!? It was on the roof of the car!"

Eli furrowed his brow. He looked at the opener. He looked confused.

Then he smiled and said: "Hands."

A pumpkin patch!

Eli and his good buddies Koren and Elliot went to E.Z. Orchards Friday to pick pumpkins, pet some farm animals, eat pumpkin donuts, sit on hay and ride miniature tractors. It wore Eli out so much that he slept for 3.5 hours when he got home.

Art

Eli and I took the bus home from school/work today and after we started our ride home, I asked Eli, "How was school today?"

"Yes," he nodded.

"What did you do today?"

He looked up at me, said, "Art." And then showed me with his hand how he drew.

It was the first time he said, "art," and it was a very fun conversation where I actually got information from him that I didn't know when I asked :)

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Michael took the afternoon off on Monday and we took Eli to the Oregon Zoo. We went straight to the new Serengeti exhibit, where a cheetah paced in front of Eli a few times. In case you've never seen a cheetah in real life, a cheetah is about as tall as Eli! Eli was fascinated and scared at the same time.

Eli loved the elephants, especially the baby. He kept saying "baby, baby" over and over again as we watched the mama and baby elephants eating hay. Eli also fed some parrots and watched a very slow-moving tortoise get a drink of water.

Of course, his favorite part was in the petting zoo area where he got to sit on a tractor and pretend to drive it. In fact, he didn't want to get off the tractor even though the zoo was closing. We had to drag him off it, screaming.

Of cattails and praying mantis...

The Casper family went to Ankeny Wildlife Refuge Sunday afternoon for a short jaunt to see some birds. Alas, no birds were to be found. But we found cattails and a praying mantis. Who knew one little boy could have so much fun with cattails and a praying mantis?

A trip to the Oregon Coast

On Sunday afternoon, Michael, Eli and I met Sarah, Jeremy and Elliot in Neskowin for a sandy outing. It was so fun. Jeremy dug a huge hole, which Eli and Elliot loved crawling in and out of. They dug in the sand for at least an hour. Later that day we built a fire inside the hole and roasted hot dogs, brats and marshmallows.

The only bummer was that we hadn't gone to the coast sooner this summer.

It's like the Princess and the Pea...

At night, Eli and I sit in our rocking chair and read books before bed. He is in my lap, leaning against my belly and chest. We've had this bedtime routine since he was about 6 months old.

Now, at 21 months, he notices if I am wearing a belt. He says, "OWWW" quite loudly, pulls up my shirt and points to my belt. Then he points to the ground.

We can't continue reading books until I've taken my belt off and he is sufficiently comfortable. What a little Prince...

Whoa!

"Whoa!" has become a unit of measurement for Eli. It started when I asked him, "How big was the snake we saw in the grass?"

"WHOA!" is how Eli responded.

And at first, he only used "whoa" when discussing how big the snake was (it was quite big, by the way). But then one day Michael asked him, "How much does Mama love you?"

"WHOA!" is how Eli responded.

Now he uses it anytime we ask "how much" or "how big."

I like it. I like to think about a scale where a loud "WHOA!" is on one end and a teeny, tiny squeak is on the other :)

Two-word sentences...

Eli is definitely working on his verbal abilities. He continues to repeat everything we say but now he is also coming up with his own sentences. Today, when his eggs were too hot, he said, "Daddy, blow" to get Michael to cool off his eggs. This evening, he said, "Mama please" to get a cookie. And he's been identifying himself more. "Eli ride" he said today about wanting to get on the bus. "Eli walk" when he wants us to put him down. Of course, he doesn't quite say Eli. More like "E-i."

He is back in swim lessons again and he loved it today. Mama's arms are a bit tired though from having to go through all of the songs with a much heavier child! He is really good at getting out of the pool on his own and getting his ears wet. He kicks a bit but still doesn't move his arms too much. We've got 5 more weeks though...

Words, and lots of them

Eli says all sorts of new words these days. After getting a moose in the mail from his Grandpoppins in Minnesota, Eli now knows how to say "moose." If I tell him I missed him while he was in school, he says "miss." Yesterday I cut up some ham for Eli and he kept saying "haaam." He sounds British when he says it. Anyway, it is super fun to listen to him try out new words. Today for the first time, he put two words together: "mama" and "drive." I was taking him home from school. We are working on getting his subjects and verbs to agree :)

Getting socks on

Eli has been trying to put his own socks on for a long time. The thing is, it's hard to put on socks. BUT... it's not hard when you find a pair of Mama's stretchy, never-wear-in-public clown socks! They are super soft, super stretchy and oh-so-big to get over Eli's toes, feet and knees!!! So for the first time, Eli was totally successful at putting on socks today.

Making pizza...

Eli and Mama made pizza together tonight. Eli loved helping. He helped chop the mushrooms and zucchini and onions and spinach. He washed the spinach and loved spinning all the water out in our salad spinner. Then we took a break while the pizza dough rose. Then he helped roll out the dough (that was his favorite part!) and spread the sauce, drizzle cheese on the pizza (some on the floor) and then add the toppings. Most of the toppings went in his mouth before heading to the pizza, but we managed to have a pizza with some toppings, mostly lumped together in Eli-sized handfuls. Didn't matter... it tasted great! And he was so proud of his work to make the pizza :)

Eli can count to Beesh!

Michael, Eli and I walked home from work today. When Eli was in the middle, holding our hands, we were counting to 3 and swinging him in the air. As any child would, he loved it! He even started counting by himself, "One!" ..... "Toooo!" ..............."BEESH!"

I was right

Eli does NOT want to walk home from school anymore, he wants to take the bus. Oh dear, today was a long slog home. Eli wanted out of his stroller and there's only so many times I can say, "When we get home, you can get out of your stroller."

Michael met up with us and Eli played at the playground for a break. But he did not want to leave the playground so he cried the entire way home from the playground. For those of you who know where I live and know where the Crooked House Playground is, you understand my pain.

Night night.