The good life

Eli is at an age where he truly is a lot of fun! He loves pretend play, and we can spend hours "cooking" or playing with cars. He loves to sing, or rather, to listen to someone else sing. If you pause during a song, he will fill in the word for you. He likes finger games, like 5 Little Monkeys or The Itsy Bitsy Spider. During the course of the day I can have Eli help me around the house, such as moving the laundry or feeding the dog. We are still working on picking up his toys, since once we have put them into their buckets he prefers to dump everything out again. We can talk about the things that he sees and hears in the world around him and actually carry on a two-sided conversation!

Anyone know how I can prolong this age for another year or two?

Waiting for DFS to knock on the door

Eli's temper has many levels. At it's worst, he becomes a kicking and screaming banshee child. At the mid range he starts arching his back and calling on Nemo to come and help him. When he is just a little mad, though, he likes to hit whatever is closest to him. Unfortunately, the thing usually closest to him during a mad moment is... me. The first couple of times this happened, I held his arm, made him look me in the eyes and said "You do NOT hit me." He has gotten the message. Now when he starts to get mad or if he thinks he is in trouble, he will look at me and say "Hit me," clear as a bell. And just in case everyone in earshot did not catch it the first time, he will say it again and again, while I look around nervously to make sure no one is reaching for their cell phones.

The Little Gym: blessing or curse?

Eli LOVES going to The Little Gym. We have a lesson there on Mondays for about 45 minutes, and he gets to play with bells and balls and climb and swing and jump and basically be a little boy. Each week they learn 3 new skills, and have recently learned to hang from a bar. Being the boy that he is, Eli has expanded this skill to hang on everything possible. His latest conquest? Our buffet!

Eli's "curse word"

We have pretty much managed to keep Eli's temper tantrums under control. In most cases, they last less than 10 seconds, and very rarely become a thrashing-on-the-floor fit. Being a toddler, he does need some way to express his frustration, and Eli chooses to do it verbally. When he gets mad, he just uses his "curse word"... NEMO!

That sound you hear is Walt Disney rolling over in his grave.

Potty Success!

Eli used the potty for the first time today. By the way, there is nothing cuter than a mini-person on a mini-potty reading his mini-book with his pants around his ankles.

Taking it to a new level

Eli's fanaticism for jumping has reached new heights (pun intended). We went to the play area at the mall to let Eli run off some extra energy. All of the climbing structures in the play area are relatively soft, and the floor is similar to one you find in an aerobics room; a little softer than your average floor for moderately cushioned falls. The area is also sports themed: the slide is a basketball, the tunnel is a basketball net, and the kids can climb up a big shoe, a soccer ball, and a football. Eli's favorite has always been the slide, though not for obvious reasons. Instead of sliding, he usually prefers to run up and down the stairs, much to the dismay of all the other kids who want to actually SLIDE. The stairs have apparently run their course, and he has found a new use for the slide. I wish I would have had a video camera today to capture the collective gasp of all the parents in the area as Eli decided to JUMP OFF THE TOP OF IT, which by the way is about 3 feet high. Even more amazing was that he landed squarely on his feet, and ran around to do it again... and again... and again! My knees and ankles hurt just watching him.

The Big 2-0

Eli turned 20 months on Thursday. I don't know why, but it just seems so much older than 19 months... and so much closer to being 2. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that, yet. Not the terrible two's (those started a couple of months ago), but for him to be one year older. Chris is already talking about pre-school and kindergarten, and I am already in denial that I will ever have to send my baby off to school.

The best place EVER!

Well, maybe I am exaggerating a little, but it is definitely up there. For our trip to Kansas City this week, we looked for a place that would be age-appropriate for Eli and that was different from anything that we have in Columbia. Hence our discovery of Paradise Park. This place was SO much fun that we could have spent an entire day there had Eli not needed a nap. As it was, we were there for almost 5 hours and Eli was still going strong, though a little bleary eyed.

Paradise Park is a family entertainment center, but we spent the entire time in the "Children's Edutainment Center", which is designed for children age 9 and under. Some of the fun things that they have are:


Block Play / Construction Play -- we made a castle!







Soft Play -- made a GREAT area for Eli to practice jumping... not that he needs any more practice!










Outdoor Adventure Garden -- they had some really neat stuff that would have been more fun if Eli was just a little older.








Pedal Go Karts -- otherwise known as tricycles









Hy-Vee Supermarket -- in my opnion the coolest part of the whole edutainment center, but a little too old for Eli






Pretend Restaurant -- he had a great time cutting the pretend pizzas and serving them






Dress Up Room -- Eli as a pilot. He was not too thrilled about this but he humored me anyway. What a trooper!












Pretend House -- Eli can never get enough of "cooking"








KinderCare Classroom -- Eli showed off his knowledge of numbers and letters







Water Play -- we had such a hard time getting Eli out of the water area!







Art Studio -- when I asked Eli what he was making with the play-doh, he said, "cake".







Interactive Kitchen -- Eli got to make and decorate his own cookie!




The whole trip was a lot of fun and, even better, wore Eli out! He fell asleep before we even put the car into drive, slept the entire 2 hour trip home and another 45 minutes in his own bed. I highly recommend this to anyone that lives or visits KC and has small(er) children. It is fun for the kids, and fun for adults as well...

Eli's Little Red Friend

Will somebody please explain to me the toddler obsession with Elmo?

I don't get it. Eli has liked Elmo even before he saw the "living" version of the muppet. It all started with his Elmo book. Then he had a couple of bath toys, and most recently we bought him an Elmo cell phone. In the package with the cell phone was a free 20 minute Elmo DVD about music. Eli has been hooked ever since. Elmo is the first thing he asks for when he wakes up in the morning and the most common word in his vocabulary. And apparently Eli is not the only toddler with this "problem", as evidenced by the release of T.M.X, the 10th version of Tickle Me Elmo, that is being released this month and the fact that "Elmo's World" fills the last 20 minutes of every episode of Sesame Street.

It was not until last night that I realized the strength of Elmo's hold over Eli (WARNING: a long, seemingly unrelated story is coming. Bear with me). We went to Kansas City for a night as a mini-vacation, and I will describe the trip in more detail in another post, but for now know that we stayed in a hotel and did not get a crib for Eli. We stayed at this hotel a couple of months ago and their "crib" is actually a pack-n-play with no sheets, covers, or anything bed-like about it, so we opted to put him in the other bed in the room. Afraid that he would fall out of bed in the middle of the night, we pulled the mattress onto the floor with the bottom and one side against walls and half of the other side against the "naked" box spring mattress. Eli was more restless than usual and somehow managed to wiggle down to the bottom of the bed and fall off the side next to the box spring. This really startled him, and Eli cried inconsolably for 7 or 8 minutes. All of a sudden, in the middle of a wail, he cries out, "Elmo!" Not daddy, not grandma, not auntie, but Elmo. Because the muppet with the falsetto voice is going to make everything all better.

At least he has enough sense to dislike The Wiggles.

Just what every parent needs

A leash for their toddler

I'm a big kid now

It is with great trepidation (and a little excitement) that we boldly go where millions of parents have gone before... potty training! Eli is a little young, so I really don't have high hopes that he will be diaper-free anytime soon. But we thought we would give it a go since Eli is exhibiting most of the "potty-readiness signs" that books, websites, and the know-it-all mom at the library talk about. He is VERY interested in the potty and in watching other people go to the potty, he tells us when he has to go/has gone potty, and he seems to be able to control his potty habits. I've noticed this last one when he is in the bathtub, as he actually makes quite an effort to pee in the water. He does not like to sit on the big toilet (not that I blame him, skinny as he is), so we went out a couple of weeks ago and bought him a Royal Potty. It makes a noise when he sits on it, and then sings a song when he actually goes.

At least that is what it is supposed to do. I wouldn't know. Eli won't sit on it, clothed or otherwise. He does like to throw the occasional toy in there, and he has his "potty doll" (Happy from the seven dwarfs. We have Grumpy, too, but I thought that might send the wrong message) that he will put on the seat so it can go potty. Otherwise he will not touch the thing.

I'm sure he will get there when he is ready. Until then, I have to avoid kicking the potty in the middle of the night, because that is enough to make it sing.