All Done

As a mom I have many roles that I play each day, and with a toddler on of the more difficult ones is the job of translator. Many words sounds the same, so we have tried to make this job a little easier with the use of baby sign language. We have not given Eli very many signs, since he does have a pretty extensive vocabulary for a 15-month-old, but the most helpful ones relate to eating. After Eli is finished eating (which, by the way, occurs several times throughout the day), we ask him if he is "all done." This usually is a long process, because one of the joys of feeding yourself is also getting to play with your food. In fact, this is generally one of the first signals to me that Eli is getting full. So I will ask him several times, "Are you all done?" I will occasionally receive an emphatic "all done" sign. More often than not, though, he ignores me completely and continues to play with his food. Lately he has come up with a more unique way of telling me that he is finished... any food left on his tray gets dropped on the floor. It is as if he is so full that he can not stand the sight of his food any more and has to get as far away from it as he can.

This is where it comes in handy to have a dog... whom we should have named Hoover.

Mmmmm... burnt sienna

I walked in to the bedroom this morning to find Eli "redesigning" the cover of Stephen King's Cell with a ballpoint pen. Figuring that he was feeling inspired and needed an outlet for the pent up creativity, I sat him is his highchair with a couple of pieces of paper and some crayons. Chris had just gotten home from the gym and was in the kitchen eating breakfast, so I left the boys in there while I finished picking up the bedroom. A few minutes later I hear Chris saying "Ugh, Eli!", and came out to find Eli with a much shorter crayon and green teeth. No matter what Chris or I did, he kept trying to shove the crayons in his mouth. He was bound and determined to get them in there.

I think this is a good sign that my son is going to be the kindergartner that everyone calls "the paste-eater."

Eli's first "real" haircut

Eli went to the barbarshop for the first time on Monday. Varsity Clips... a "man's" beauty shop complete with jerseys on the walls and TVs whose only channel is ESPN. Chris' stylist Courtney did the dirty job, and did it very well. Eli was remarkably well-behaved, partly because he had Mommy to sing him the bumblebee song, and partly because of the cool monster smock that he got to wear, but mostly because he could watch himself in the mirror. He looks very cute with his new 'do. Much better than the chop job that Chris and I had done in the past.

What's that smell?

I was making Pizza Rolls for breakfast this morning in the toaster (I know, not a healthy breakfast, nor a good example for Eli, but we will talk about that some other time), when all of a sudden I smelled this horrible burning. I knew that the Pizza Rolls had not been cooking THAT long. Plus this was more of a rubber tire smell. I didn't know why my Pizza Rolls would smell like tires, so I checked it out. In the toaster I found not just Pizza Rolls, but also MY DATE BOOK! Now luckily this was a free book that I got from Truman and I had not written in it in months (if ever), but I really don't remember deciding to store it in the toaster. I would be willing to bet that a certain little boy thought, "Hey, I wonder if this will fit in here." Granted I will have to take the blame for this because I do occasionally let him play with the door to the toaster. Don't worry, I am standing right there and the toaster is unplugged. I do wonder how he got it in there without me noticing, since it was really crammed in and I think that this would require a certain amount of time and effort that would be impossible for me to ignore. I guess I will have to start looking inside of our appliances before I use them. This really makes me wish that we could find a lock that would fit on the oven!

By the way, did I mention that last week he put his pacifier in the VCR?

Children's music

Recently I purchased a CD of children's songs to put in Eli's Easter basket. I got this because 1) Eli really seems to enjoy children singing in his Baby Einstein videos, and 2) I am really tired of listening to all of our old CDs. Eli is not quite sure what to make of it yet. In fact, I think at this point that I am enjoying the CD more than he is. It's fun to think back to my own childhood and hear the songs that I once learned and loved.

On that note, I do have a beef to take up with the CD company, or for that matter society in general. They took what used to be some fun songs and made them "politically correct" so as not to offend anyone listening to the music. Ten Little Indians, which used to be a fun song complete with tribal whooping and hollering, is now Ten Little Monsters. I guess it could be worse... they could have changed it to Ten Little Native Americans. Another song that they have, in my mind, completely destroyed was The Animal Fair. Here is how the lyrics went when I learned the song:

I went to the animal fair.
The birds and the beasts were there.
The big babboon in the light of the moon
was combing his auburn hair.
The monkey he got drunk
and sat on the elephant's trunk.
The elephant sneezed and fell to his knees
and that was the end of the monk.

I the new version, the monkey bumped a skunk before sitting on the elephant's trunk. Do they really think that the original song, by having a drunk monkey, is going to condone alcoholism in our toddlers? On the contrary, I think it teaches our children a valuable lesson... alcohol abuse = crushed to death by an elephant.

On a different (and lighter) note, by listening to this CD I have developed a new definition of hell. It is being woken up by your toddler multiple times in the middle of the night, and playing over and over in your head the whole time is the Weenie Man song. For those of you who don't know it, this is a very deep song about falling in love with the owner of a hot dog stand. After 12 hours of "I know a weenie man...", I was willing to do just about anything to get that song out of my head. Luckily it went away, but only to be replaced by An Austrian Went Yodeling.

It does a body good

Houston, we have milk mustaches! That's right, Eli is drinking milk (insert happy dance here). After the realization that Eli was really skinny for his age, I wracked my brain trying to think of ways to get him to drink the forbidden liquid. We had tried early on to mix it with breast milk, which backfired completely since Eli refused to drink breast milk from a cup. So I gave up on milk and instead force-fed multiple daily servings of yogurt and cheese. After the visit to the doctor, it became clear (at least to me) that water just wasn't cutting it, since it lacks both the fat and protein to make Eli bulk up. It finally occurred to me that we had tried to titrate to cow's milk using breast milk, which Eli won't drink, but had not tried water, which Eli will drink. Lo and behold it has worked! I still have to water the milk down a little bit and put ice in the cup, but he is now getting 6-8 ounces a day of whole milk, plus the all yogurt and cheese to which he had become accustomed to eating. With any luck he will actully gain a couple of pounds by his next check-up. Yippee!

A Barrel of Monkey (singular form intended)

Falling over laughing Eli moment of the day: I was in the back bathroom getting ready for the visit from our Parents as Teachers parent educator, when I heard soft whining coming from the living room. I figured that Eli was just getting bored with his movie, or had lost something, and I would finish what I was doing and then go find out why he was whining. I had just checked on him, and he would be OK for another 30 seconds. I finished what I was doing, and the whining was still going. So I walked out into the living room and saw this...

And of course I had to get a picture before I could help him get out!

Nonnie

Eli is addicted to Baby Einstein. Every morning immediately after breakfast he walks over to the bookshelf, points to it, and says "nonnie," his code word for movie. Yes, we actually had to give Eli a word for his Baby Einstein videos, since previously he would just bang on the TV and grunt when he wanted to watch them. It has gotten so bad that I actually have to limit him to one movie a day, otherwise he would spend all day glued to the tube. Then again, you have to understand that it could be worse, because Eli plays with toys, looks at books, and climbs on things while he is watching the video. It is not like he is just sitting there, becoming the stereotypical TV-watching obese child (refer to my previous post 15 month check-up if you don't believe me). Plus, I would like to think that these movies are actually educational, and I do try to spend a lot of the time talking to him about what he is seeing. I guess what I am saying is that there are worse things to have as an addiction than Baby Einstein.

For example, Goldfish crackers.

Summertime!

Eli was born to be outdoors. This past week has brought Columbia some beautiful weather... sunny, warm, and very little humidity! We have been outside for a good chunk of the day every day this week. The average day consists of going to a park in the morning, coming home, having lunch and a nap (not necessarily in that order), and then playing in the backyard in the afternoon. Eli loves to play in the sandbox, or the pool, or sometimes both at once. The hardest part for me is fighting the urge to try to keep everything clean. I am not sure what I expect of a 15-month-old. I mean, what harm is he really doing by dumping the sand outside of the sandbox? I have resigned myself to putting him in a swim diaper and letting him run back and forth between the sandbox and the pool, which results in a thoroughly sand-caked toddler and a pretty messy house when he comes inside. It's a good thing we just bought a new vacuum cleaner!




Eli's cute moment of the day: I have been wearing a swimsuit while Eli is playing outside so that I can get in the pool with him. He discovered the straps today, and snapped them lightly a couple of times. The third time he pulled the strap out as far as he could, and then let go, which would not have bothered me except that my straps have 2 wooden beads on them. OUCH!! Check out the welts left on my skin. The beads are now at the very BACK of my suit.

My apology to Chris (make a note of this!!!)

So it seems I may have been a little harsh on Chris during my post about Eli's scraped nose. Let me just clarify that this was not Chris' fault. Eli also takes after me in the fact the he is a huge klutz and often trips over his own feet. I would like to think that I have developed a decent "mom sense" for when he is doing things that are dangerous. For the record, though, since Eli scraped his nose playing with Chris he has 1) fallen off the kitchen table (under my watch), 2) fallen head-first into the bathtub as it was filling with water (again, under my watch), and 3) hit his chin on the coffee table and bit his tongue so hard it bled (you guessed it, under my watch). I guess my mom sense still needs a little honing. Where is Spiderman when you need him?

15 month check-up

Eli visited Dr. Boudreau today for his 15 month check-up. The good news is that he is no longer in the 5th percentile for his weight. The bad news is that he is now so low it is not on any or the growth curves. THe average weight for a 15-month-old boy is ~25 lbs. Eli is 30.5 inches long (right on target) but only weighs 19.8 lbs. And that is after a REALLY big breakfast and a whole bowl of Goldfish crackers while we were in the waiting room. Doc says not to worry, it is probably just genetics. So I am left to wonder three things: 1) Exactly where did Eli get these genetics, 2) Can I have some of them, and 3) How can I make him gain weight, short of deep-frying his daily yogurt :)

Eli's grandparents will also be happy to know that he takes after his Momma. He had a great time playing in the waiting room, but the second we walked into the exam room he started screaming. He screamed while I undressed him, while the nurse weighed him, and while his temperature was taken. As soon as the nurse left the room, he was fine again. He enjoyed seeing the doctor, but started crying again when the nurse came back in for his immunization. Apparently he remembers the five shots that he got last time he was there. I highly doubt that he is scared of the nurse, since Brenda is about the nicest person on the planet and is anything but intimidating in her Cat-in-the-Hat scrubs and pink shoes. I think I will have to take the credit for these genes.

A boy named Rudolph

I took Lacey for our evening run tonight, and upon entering the house, I hear Chris yelling the words every mother dreads hearing... "Don't worry. He's alright." Well, I wasn't worried until I heard THAT! It seems that during a very rambunctious game of tag that Eli fell and scraped his nose on the magazine rack. This was compounded by the fact that he had strawberries for dinner and had large red stains all over the front of his shirt. Had I not known better I would have truly panicked seeing him with a gash on his face and a blood soaked shirt. His whole nose is bright red, despite several applications of neosporin. Unfortunately this is only the beginning of the war wounds. Heaven help me when he REALLY injures himself!

Just like a little sponge...

I will probably say this many, many, many times over the course of this blog, but it amazes me just how quickly Eli learns. Sitting with him last night, he learned how to say horse and elephant (!), what they looked like, and what sound an elephant makes. The pointer finger still isn't out, but he is making progress. We sat down with his animal book and he pointed to all sorts of animals on command and made their sounds. His favorite right now is definitely a tiger, though I'm sure that will change in a few days. Just last week his favorite word was "meow."

Almost as amazing as the speed with which he learns (and definitely cuter) is how much he tries to imitate what he sees around him. My favorite is when he tries to "work out" with me. I will be stretching my hamstrings, and he will stand nearby and stick his leg out like me. Another favorite is his rendition of "head, shoulders, knees and toes," which consists of moving his hands between his head and tummy repeatedly. Thank you Baby Einstein!

By the way, have I mentioned just how much he likes Goldfish crackers (it's the snack that smiles back)? I think he would eat an entire pack, if we would let him. At least I can assuage my guilt about feeding him such junk by the fact that we buy the calcium enriched Goldfish. Sometimes I can even convince myself that if he is not going to drink milk, at least he likes his fish crackers!

Up, up, and away

Just to let everyone know, Eli has figured out how to climb up on the kitchen table (see pictures below) and get into his highchair by himself (no pictures of this... sorry).

Just when you thought you knew him

Eli surprised me today by actually ASKING for a nap. This is the same child who, now at 15 months old, still wakes up 3 to 4 times a night. Eli was kind of crabby around lunch time, so I fixed him a hot dog and put him in his high chair. I thought he was saying "hot dog" repeatedly, but when I listened more closely I realized he was saying "night night" (yes, believe it or not, these do sound similar when coming out of the mouth of a toddler). So I picked him up, put him in the crib, and he went right to sleep! If only everything were that easy!

Mr. Personality

At some point in time over the past few weeks, my sweet, agreeable little boy turned into someone who not only has opinions, but openly expresses them and throws a fit if I don't share his point of view. I have read so much about toddler temper tantrums, and most books say that they occur because the child is frustrated because he can not communicate. Let me just say here that communication is NOT the issue. Wanting to stand on the table, or run into the street, or eat crackers 24 hours a day... THESE are the issues. I often wondered how a parent can just stand there and let a child throw a tantrum while doing nothing about it. Surely there should be some form of punishment that can be exacted. I now understand that when the day is one constant tantrum, you learn to either 1) ignore the child, 2) tune it out completely ("You say Harry has been screaming for 10 minutes? I hadn't noticed."), or 3) drink heavily. Days like today put me on the edge of #3.

A dog of our own... take two

Saturday afternoon we got a new friend for Eli... a one-year-old lab/collie mix named Lacey. She is doing pretty well. She adores Eli. Not so fond of the cat, though. Thus far Eli has refused to learn her name, so he just calls her "doggie." He is very good at sharing his toys with her, and she readily accepts! He has even tried some of her dog treats. How thoughtful of him to make sure that they taste good for her.