The Monkey House

Just a suggestion...

2008-01-28T14:37:00.000-08:00

For each child that she bears, a mother should sprout AT LEAST one more set of arms.

Long Time No Blog

2007-11-30T20:21:00.000-08:00

Wow! It has been a REALLY long time since I have posted anything to this blog. Part of me wants to go back and try to fill in the holes of the last 7 months, but I realize that this would pretty much be impossible. Eli has just changed so much since March, and so much has happened. Plus, we have a new addition to the family, and since I (obviously) have trouble keeping one blog up to date, I am forsaking the notion of giving Brayden his own blog site. So I am taking all of the posts from the old Brayden site and publishing them here. We truly do have a Monkey House now.

Let me start by introducing Brayden. He was born October 18th, 2007 at 7:45 am, weighed 8lbs 2 oz, and was 20 inches long. Since Eli was born via c-section, Brayden's birth day was scheduled months in advance, which was strange but at the same time comforting. On those days when I was tired of being pregnant (which was pretty much every day of the third trimester), I at least knew when the end would be. No guessing.

Let me also say how much easier motherhood is the second time around. I am much more calm. If the baby screams, I (generally) don't panic because I know that babies do that and it won't hurt him to cry for a little bit. Plus, the child knows how to sleep. A very good thing, because I like my sleep. Granted, I still am lucky to get 6 hours a night, but one of my biggest fears was being up all night with a baby (which I was with Eli when he was an infant... and a toddler) and then being up all day with Eli. I am very relieved that Brayden is usually asleep by 11:00 and only gets up once or twice a night, eats, and goes right back to sleep. He is a pretty good-natured baby, too. Sure he has his quirks, but we have figured them out and can usually avoid endless hours of crying.

At the time of this post, Brayden is 6 weeks old. He is smiling at us, tries to reach for his toys, coos when he is happy or when we talk to him, and is a very healthy eater. I am guessing that he weighs at least 11 pounds, and is wearing 3-6 month clothes, depending on the brand of clothing. He rolled over for the first time tonight (front to back), but I was not able to get it on video. He started to do it when I had the camera rolling, but then realized that he was laying with his mouth on his arm and it was much more fun to suck on that. He LOVES to watch Eli, though Eli is no really interested in entertaining him. We can occasionally get him to sing Brayden a song, but that is it.

As for Eli's adjustment, it has gone pretty well. He does miss having our undivided attention, and is purposefully mischievous as an attention-seeking mechanism. I know he feels neglected when he gets destructive. Honestly, the hardest part of having 2 kids is trying to figure out who needs my attention more. That, and trying to leave the house. I can't imagine trying to do it when they are both mobile.

Here are some things that Eli is doing right now. He is still very active. We need to leave the house pretty much every day so that he can go burn off some energy. He loves going to the play area in the mall, to Lend and Learn, and to Little Gymmers at the ARC, and he almost always finds another child there to be his friend for the day. Such a little socialite. He still loves music. His favorites right now are the Doodlebops, Garth Brooks, and Carrie Underwood. He has several musical instruments that he will play as accompaniment, but the cutest is his guitar. Or as Eli says, Gui-tah... darn the Wiggles and their Australian accents.

I think that covers most of it for now. Now that I have some updates, I can start posting regularly again. The hardest part is getting started.

News

2007-04-04T18:29:00.000-07:00

For those of you that do not know, Eli is going to be a big brother. We are pregnant with baby number two, due on October 22nd. And in keeping with the tradition of this blog, I have started a new blog for the newest Wolf. I have been submitting entries since we found out about the pregnancy, but did not want to make it public until we were a little further along. Here is the link if you would like to check it out.

Not so subliminal messages

2007-03-13T17:50:00.000-07:00

The people that work in advertising really know what there are doing.

At least when it comes to selling a product to a two-year-old.

Eli obviously recognizes the golden arches as the place for french fries, but he also know that tacos come from Taco Bell, CDs (DVDs) come from Blockbuster, and that Applebee's = lunch (by the way, we have never been to Applebee's for lunch). The other day he saw the keys to Chris' Ford Explorer, which have the Ford logo stamped on them. Eli immediately got excited and said, "American Idol". "American Idol" is sponsored (heavily) by Ford. Of course, the Ford logo looks very similar to the "American Idol" logo, which I realized when Eli started talking about the show again when we passed by Culver's.

What do you think? Compare the show's logo:

with the mistaken ones:

Breaking several child labor laws

2007-03-10T17:40:00.000-08:00

Eli's new favorite activity is to do the dishes. Which is good, because we have plenty of them. Mostly he just stands at the sink and makes a big mess with the water, but he does pretty well rinsing his plastic dishes, bowls, and cups so that we can put them in the dishwasher. The good part about this is that I can do the dishes and I don't have to worry about what he is doing while I am in another room where I can't see him or hear him. This means less time in front of the TV, which is what I normally would have to do to keep him occupied and out of trouble. He is a bit of a sink hog, though, so he likes to push me out of the way when I need to rinse a dish. And it is slightly frustrating that he keeps taking the clean or already rinsed dishes out of the dishwasher and washes them again... and again. It is kind of wasteful, because it means that I have to keep the water running while doing the dishes instead of just filling the sink, but I guess that it is worth it to be able to accomplish SOMETHING during the day.

I reserve the right to change my opinion when we receive the next water bill.

Eli's Alphabet

2007-02-08T06:41:00.000-08:00

A B C D E F G H I J K Elmo Poopy Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Head over heels, part 2

2007-02-07T18:58:00.000-08:00

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better...

We were cooler before we were parents (I think)

2007-02-05T14:53:00.000-08:00

While most adults our age in the U.S were watching the Superbowl (or at least the commercials) on Sunday, we were watching something much more interesting...

Head over heels

2007-02-04T12:47:00.000-08:00

Creating bad habits

2007-02-01T17:58:00.000-08:00

Eli takes a Flintstones gummy vitamin everyday (well, most days), and he really likes them. The problem is that we are having a hard time explaing to him that he can only have one a day. The other day he asked for a second vitamin, and I told him no, that he only can have one, but he was really persistent. None of my usual distractions were working, so I had to move on to my last resort.

I gave him some chocolate.

Changes

2007-01-23T21:39:00.000-08:00

Sad to say, we are no longer doing The Little Gym, even though I bragged about it so much here and here. The session has ended, and we are not re-enrolling for the coming semester. About halfway through last semester, Eli decided he was afraid of The Little Gym. He stared whining when we walked in the door, and by the time was walked into the classroom he was in full-blown panic. Crying, clinging to me, asking to go home. On some days I could get him to participate, but he obviously was not enthralled with the gym anymore, so why spend the money and put him through that every week?

Instead, we are doing a music class that was organized by one of our friends. Most of Eli's little friends are in the class, it is a small group, and there is lots of singing, clapping, jumping, and playing instruments. Right up Eli's alley. Plus, it is MUCH cheaper than The Little Gym, and if Eli stops enjoying it, we can stop the class right away. I think (hope) that he will enjoy it, but I guess we will have to wait and see.

It was bound to happen sometime

2007-01-22T19:06:00.000-08:00

Eli injured himself climbing today. If you are really interested, you can see pictures on Yahoo photos. He turned over the trashcan in his room and was using that to reach onto his dresser to get his piggy bank. Instead of getting the bank, he got a fat lip. And a bruised cheek. And a guilt-stricken mommy.

Because he was tired of eating gruel

2007-01-18T20:04:00.003-08:00

The most popular phrase in our house these days (besides “No” and “Listen Raffi”) is “Eli do it.” He has all of a sudden become very independent and wants to do EVERYTHING himself, especially if it is something he sees mommy and daddy doing. Today, he got a piece of cheese out of the fridge. He tried so hard to get the plastic off himself, but eventually gave it to me to help him. I took it off only part of the way so that he could learn how to do it himself. He grabbed the partially unwrapped piece of cheese and ran into the living room. A minute later I heard him coughing, at which point I realized that I sent my toddler off with a plastic sheet and right now he could be holding it over his nose and suffocating. Luckily this was not the case. The cheese was sitting on the coffee table with several bites taken out of it, still half-wrapped in the plastic… which also had several bites taken out of it. In fact, plastic has become part of his daily diet, because at least once a day I will find him sitting in front of the open fridge door (after just 3 weeks, he figured out how to undo the childproof lock) trying to bite his way though a piece of plastic wrapped Kraft cheese or a cheese stick. And he usually succeeds in getting at least one bite. I really don’t think that plastic is on the FDA food pyramid.

So long, farewell, aufwiedersein, goodbye

2007-01-15T19:59:00.000-08:00

I guess that I’ve put it off long enough. We finally took away Eli’s pacifier. At his 18-month appointment, I asked the pediatrician by what age we should take it away. Dr. Boudreau just stared at me for a minute, and then said, “Now would be a good age for that.” I have a feeling he was thinking that we should have taken it away a long time ago. But Eli was just so attached to his binkie that I was not ready to deal with the separation. I really just try to avoid confrontation any time I can, because, let’s face it, Eli is a toddler and we sometimes have whole days that are nothing but confrontation. So I set the deadline that when Eli turned 2, the binkie went bye-bye.

January 8th, the day after he turned 2, Eli took his first nap without a pacifier. OK, I cheated because he fell asleep in the car, so he really did not even realize that his binkie was missing. That night, when we got to the point in his bedtime routine that he would normally get his pacifier, we did not give it to him… and amazingly his head did not explode! I’m not sure he even noticed. In fact, he has only mentioned the binkie once since then.

It has not been smooth sailing completely, because the binkie was his sleep cue. All of the progress that we made transitioning him to a twin bed went right out the window. He goes down for naps relatively easily, but will only sleep for an hour or so. Bedtime is a struggle. He often will not get to sleep until well after 10:00, and then is up early in the morning. I have considered getting rid of his nap altogether just to get him to sleep at night. Without a nap he is actually fine until 4- or 5-o’clock, but after that he is just grumpy. Hopefully all it will take is some time, because I really need his naps, even if it is only for an hour.

Moving up in the world

2007-01-12T20:01:00.000-08:00

Just after Christmas, be bought Eli a little wooden stool. Now the reason that we bought the stool was so that Eli could reach he sink to wash his hands and brush his teeth. It has instead become an extension of his arms. Eli carries that stool all around the house getting into all sorts of previously unreachable places. Often I will be doing something (like making dinner) and I will hear a thunk beside me, then Eli’s head pops into view and he says, “Mommy doing?” I can’t wait until he figures out that he can use the stool to climb to even higher places, like the bookshelves in the living room.

Finding creative uses for household electronics

2007-01-09T20:04:00.000-08:00

Chris went into the living room one day to find that Eli had pulled the front off of our wedding video. The next day, we got the VCR out of the attic so that we could transfer our videos to DVDs before he destroyed anything else. Unfortunately, Eli had broken the VCR before it went into the attic in the first place, so it spent a few days on the kitchen table before we threw it away. One day, Eli was sitting at the table in front of the VCR, and he said, “Oh no! Carrot go?” which translates to, “Mom, I put my carrot in the VCR and now I can’t get it out. Can you help me?” So I went and stuck my hand in the VCR in search of the lost carrot. The carrot I did not find. I did, however, find Eli’s toothbrush. The most amusing part of the story is that I had spent a good 30 minutes looking for his toothbrush that morning, and I had already checked the VCR. Because if I were Eli, I would have put the toothbrush in there, too.

Happy 2nd Birthday!

2007-01-07T18:06:00.000-08:00

Kitchen decorations for the family party

Presents!!!

A keyboard! It goes nicely with the drum set that he got for Christmas.

Uncle Tim and Aunt Angie just earned themselves a bunch of very noisy toys for their kids.

The cake.

Can you believe that this only took me 8 hours to decorate? My hand hurts just remembering it.

Eli hid every time we sang Happy Birthday to him. Either he is being selectively shy, or he REALLY does not like our singing.

Eli's friend party at Going Bonkers

Pizza, friends, and fun

A kid can never have too many presents

Eli's new room

2007-01-06T18:05:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in an earlier post that Eli has left behind his crib and made the move to a twin bed. The transition was not an easy one, but as not as painful as I had expected. We prepared for the move by taking off one side of Eli’s crib and putting the twin sheets on the crib mattress. This gave him the security of still being in the familiar crib and the freedom that his new big boy bed would allow. We also lengthened his bedtime routine to give him sufficient time to calm down before going to sleep. He gets a long bath (with lots of play time), several stories, and a couple of lullabies before finally settling into bed.

Even with all of these changes, the first week and a half was pretty rough. Did I mention that he also learned to open doors about the same time that we switched him to a new bed? That made the game even more fun. We would put him in bed, tuck him in, and leave the room each night. A minute later, we could hear Eli fiddling with the doorknob. So one of us would go in, tell him to get back in bed, and leave the room. Next thing we know, Eli is at the door again. This would go for, oh, 2 hours. Eli was getting to sleep at nearly 11:00. Then I would be up half the night, worrying that Eli would get up in the middle of the night and do something dangerous, like diving off the back of the couch, and I would not hear him. Naps were just as bad, so Eli was really sleep deprived.

And then one day, he decided that he was tired of the game. Or maybe he was just tired in general. Now he may get up once or twice before finally settling in, but even that is a rarity. It is nice that Eli can get himself out of bed in the mornings, because more often than not he just crawls into bed with us, and I can stay under the covers where it is warm for a few more minutes. Even better, if Eli has a rough night, I no longer have to sleep on the floor. I can just climb into bed with him.

Here are some pictures of his new furniture (including the train table that he got for Christmas) and the blanket and curtains that I made. He ended up with a baseball-themed room after we found some cute stuff at a garage sale in Jefferson City, and the Cardinals blanket is to balance out the Cubs pillows that his Aunt Sarah made him. They are cute (and VERY comfortable), but I am from St. Louis, and having Cubs paraphernalia and no Cardinals stuff is just sacrilegious.

Crime and punishment

2007-01-05T18:05:00.000-08:00

I have once again been outsmarted by my toddler. At work today Eli kept throwing his toys. Because he can very easily start setting a bad example for the other kids, I am a little stricter there than I am at home. He gets no warnings, but is sent straight to time-out. It did not take very long before Eli figured out that he could do what he wanted as long as he was willing to deal with the consequences. Soon he was throwing toys, and then immediately putting himself in time-out. Once he just pretended to throw a toy and gave himself a punishment.

What is worse is that he is pretty cute in time-out. He just sits and faces the wall. He (usually) doesn't cry, or get upset, or beg to get up. Just sits there. Occasionally he will let out a really loud sigh, to let us know that he is bored. If he is really bored, he will make popping sounds with his mouth. Like Donkey in Shrek 2 when they are traveling to Far Far Away. I have to leave the room to keep from laughing, because laughing will just encourage him. How can I punish him when really I just find him amusing.

I really wish that I could find the instruction manual that came with him.

You can dance if you want to

2006-12-30T18:03:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago, my parents sent Eli a DVD of Raffi in concert. Eli loves it. In fact, the first words out of his mouth EVERY MORNING are "listen Raffi." Raffi is more important than waffles. More important than Nemo. Even more important than Elmo, and I didn't think anything would replace Elmo until Eli was at least 6. The bonus of a DVD is that we do not need to have the TV on, so he can hear the music but I feel less guilty if he is not actually watching television. He has seen the concert several times, though, and has memorized all of the accompanying dance moves for the more active songs. Here is one of his (and my) favorites, though this is not nearly his best performance. Keep watching, and my dad joins him for the last half.

Kids say the darndest things

2006-12-28T18:05:00.000-08:00

We were in St. Louis for Christmas Day, and went to my dad's church for the service that morning. Often during the sermon, the minister will use a PowerPoint presentation or some video clips to illustrate the day's message. The Christmas sermon was no different, so when that point of the service came along, a screen was lowered from the ceiling. Eli was so excited. He thought we were going to watch a movie! In fact, he even shouted out his request.

Being true to the season, Eli yelled, "Grinch!"

The 12 days of Christmas

2006-12-27T18:06:00.000-08:00

Well, it seemed like 12 days. Over the course of a week and a half, Eli got to see all of his grandparents, some of his great-grandparents, and lots of aunts, uncles, and second-cousins. He now has more toys than we have space in the house. We have lots and lots of pictures. You can see them all on our Yahoo! account, but here are some of my favorites.

Monthly update

2006-12-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

I realized that it has been over a month since my last post. Eli has been up to so much, I can hardly remember what has happened, which serves me right since that is pretty much the purpose of this blog. I think that I will have to rely on some pictures to jog my memory:

Eli was thrilled that the Cardinals won the World Series (OK, so that happened in October, but I just HAD to throw it in there).

Ah,yes, more pictures of Eli playing with his yogurt. What is the difference between these pictures and the other 47 that we have taken? Eli has discovered that yogurt makes a GREAT hair gel. In fact, just about anything will go in his hair: hand lotion, deoderant, applesauce, etc. If Eli can get it on his fingers, chances are I will find it is his hair later.

Thanksgving at Grandma and Grandpa Kirtley's. Eli was not too excited about the food (though it was REALLY good), and only slightly interested in the bucket of toys. He rather preferred to relocate the contents of the entertainment center to the middle of the living room. This picture does not begin to do justice to Eli's remodeling abilities.

Eli did have a good time petting and feeding Grandma and Grandpa's horses, and is still convinced that the brown one is a moose!

Thanksgiving weekend also marked the first night that I spent away from Eli since he was born. I thought that I would be anxious about being so far away from him, but I was just happy to have 6 uninterrupted hours of sleep!

I am not sure when Eli learned this trick. I am so proud.

This past weekend Eli saw his first "real" snow. We were stuck in the house for several days in a row and it was quite a challenge to find ways to keep Eli entertained. We did lots of singing, silly play (Do you like the headband that Eli put on my head?), and jumping around the house. Friday we made sugar cookies and Eli had a great time decorating them... and eating the icing!

Eli sat on Santa's lap. Chris spent several weeks telling Eli about Santa Claus and pointing out pictures of him so that Eli would be prepared when it came time for him to meet the "real" Santa. We even got a smile out of him!

Some other things that Eli is doing but of which we do not have pictures:

* counting -- he can get all the way to 20 (on a good day) and is really starting to understand one-to-one correspondence. In some cases he can look at a set of objects and tell me how many are there without counting out loud.
* language -- he is combining 2,3, and sometimes 4 words or phrases at a time. This often has some funny results, especially since he likes to put the word "it" after a verb, in addition to the noun the verb is modifying. For example, "find it apple". But he is much less frustrated because we can better understand him and can get whatever it is that he wants more quickly, and I am less frustrated because I don't have to ask an endless string of questions trying to get at the root of what he is saying.
* climbing and jumping -- no explanation necessary on this one.
* his own big boy bed -- exciting for Eli, frustrating and saddening for me. Merits its own post when I get the chance.

Wow, I think that covers it. I think I will try to post more regularly in the future. And I think that I have made that promise before.

Sweet Revenge

2006-11-03T13:12:00.001-08:00

When it comes to eating, the likelihood that Eli will try a new food is relatively unpredictable. Sometimes he will eat the unfamiliar food right away, usually when I least expect it (mmm, lima beans). Other times he will turn his nose up at something that he normally would try right away. If Eli does not like a food, that is OK with me. It is his right as a human being, and expected given his parentage, to have an opinion about what goes in his stomach. I do ask that he at least tastes it first, which occasionally means that I shove the food in his mouth, saying "Try it. Just try it!"

Aaaahh, the tables have been turned...

The second time around

2006-11-01T14:42:00.000-08:00

It is amazing how much difference a year makes.

September, 2005. I decided that I wanted to make Eli's Halloween costume, so I spent a month and a half finding a pattern, buying all of the supplies (fabric, ribbon, bells!), and sewing. I stayed up late at night for 2 weeks straight just so I would have it done in time for the playgroup Halloween party. The result? A too big but homemade monkey costume...

October, 2006. When the playgroup Halloween party came around this year, I still had no idea what Eli's costume would be. I dressed him in jeans and a t-shirt, threw a cowboy hat on him, and he was a cowboy. I felt kind of guilty about this, until 2 other moms did the exact same thing!

October 31st, 4:45 PM. Chris calls to tell me that he is on his way home from work, and asks if he can pick anything up on the way home. I replied, "Can you stop by the Party Outlet and pick up a COSTUME FOR ELI so we can go to the family fun night at 6:00?"

Last minute, but still pretty darn cute.

Future boy scout

2006-10-27T14:21:00.000-07:00

What is their motto? Be prepared!

In case Eli decides to run away from home he is all set. He has his port-a-potty...

and a snack for the road!

Making Smart Choices

2006-10-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

As we were walking through the kitchen today, Eli spied the plate of cupcakes on the counter.

"Cupcake!" he shouted.

"Would you like a cupcake?" I asked, since I have found that he is more agreeable if he actually gets his way sometimes.

"Cupcake! Cupcake!"

I took that as an affirmative and strapped him into his highchair. That is when he saw the bag of apples next to the tray of cupcakes.

"Apple!" he shouted. Eli does not say anything in a normal volume.

"Do you want a cupcake or do you want an apple?"

"Apple! Cupcake! Cupcake! Apple!"

Poor guy was so conflicted. I gave him both.

At first glance

2006-10-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

Eli loves to play with my make-up. To his father's relief, he does not try to put it on his face, but he does like to unscrew caps, open compacts, and use my make-up brush as a drumstick. He has a particular liking for lipstick, I assume because he can take the lid on and off repeatedly. He grabbed it this morning, for only a minute (or so I thought), and stuck his thumb in the tube. Easy enough to clean, and I was relieved that was all he did because I was running late for work... again. Ten minutes later I grabbed Eli to hastily change his diaper and get him dressed so we could leave. I laid him on the changing table, and there in the middle of his forehead right at the hairline was a glob of lipstick. Pardon me for being graphic, but at first glance it resembled clots of dried blood. Needless to say, I had a small heart attack, assuming that I had failed to notice Eli impaling himself with one of the many sharp objects we have hanging around the house that we always think is out of reach until he comes over and hands us the paring knife off the counter. I hadn't heard him cry, but maybe Elmo had worked his magic and hypnotized Eli into forgeting his pain. Luckily the only pain that Eli experienced was the trauma of having greasy lipstick removed from his hair with fourteen wet wipes.

Just hanging around

2006-10-17T12:10:00.000-07:00

Eli's new favorite TV-watching position:

I have been trying for weeks to a get a picture of Eli doing this, but every time I run for the camera he dismounts and chases after me. Normally he will balance with just his shoulders on the couch instead of his whole back, but I will take what I can get.

It's Fall!

2006-10-12T12:01:00.000-07:00

You know that autumn is here when we make our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. We head to Peachtree Farms, about 15 minutes outside of town, for a hayride, petting the animals, and picking pumpkins. Of course, you also know it is fall when the weather is 30 degrees, there is a 25 MPH wind, and your mother fails to check the weather report that morning so you are inappropriately dressed and REALLY cold!

Halloween costume ideas

2006-10-06T06:44:00.000-07:00

There is a site on the internet called My Heritage. You can unpload the picture of any person and find out which celebrities they look like. I plugged in a couple of pictures of Eli, just for fun, and here are the results! If you would like to try this for yourself, just click here.

The good life

2006-09-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

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?

2006-09-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

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"

2006-09-24T12:47:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-09-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-22T18:40:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-09-08T05:57:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-07T19:31:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

A leash for their toddler

I'm a big kid now

2006-09-01T11:32:00.000-07:00

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.

Animal cruelty

2006-08-23T12:14:00.000-07:00

Eli "invented" a new game this weekend. He loves to chase the cat (whose name is Chloe) and throw a ball at her. Actually, he likes to throw ANYTHING at her... or try to hit her with his shovel! We limit him to plastic balls that cause little damage. And for those of you now on the verge of calling PETA, Eli has horrible aim and has never come close to hitting the cat. In fact, I think she likes playing with him, because she will run away to a fairly obvious place instead of crawling under the bed or jumping to the top of the cabinets.

Here is some video of Eli chasing the cat. If you watch closely, you will see that Chloe sneaks off when Eli is distracted.

I am just waiting for the day that I find Eli in the backyard with a magnifying glass burning ants.

Addendum to the "Jump!" post

2006-08-23T12:10:00.000-07:00

Here is some video of Eli jumping off the couch. You will also notice one of the problems associated with trying to videotape him... he REALLY likes to watch himself! When the camera comes out, he thinks that it is time to watch the Eli show.

Taking a cue from Van Halen (Jump!)

2006-08-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

Eli's current favorite activity is jumping... on the floor, off the couch, from the top of the stairs, etc. Since he has not gotten hurt doing this yet, he pretty much has no fear. In the backyard the other day, he started jumping from the top of the slide without anyone there to catch him (Chris had remedied this by the time I had the camera ready).

At least once a day I will pull the cushions off the sofa and onto the floor. Actually, this activity will keep him entertained for a good 20 minutes. He loves to climb onto the couch and jump onto the cushions and then to the floor, and he has recently discovered that he does not have to land on his feet. It is just as much fun if he lands on his bottom. Thank goodness for well-padded diapers!

Blogging slacker

2006-08-18T16:11:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed an absence in posts over the past couple of weeks (or maybe I overestimate how interested everyone is in this blog and you haven't noticed at all). My (fairly poor) excuse is that I have been taking on some extra shifts at the gym to help out a friend whose son was in the hospital and have had some training sessions for the new equipment at the lab. My work schedule should calm down a little bit now and I will hopefully be able to focus on the important things like blogging and soap operas.

A clarification

2006-08-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

I suppose I should probably explain my last post in a little more detail. Eli did not throw up on purpose (this time). After his strep diagnosis on Wednesday, he was feeling much better on Thursday thanks the antibiotic shot that they gave him at the doctor. He was feeling so much better that he was bouncing off the walls, trying to make up for his 3 days of relative calmness while he was sick. We were at the mall and I let him run around in the play area to work off some of his extra energy. Unfortunately he was still not completely better, so when he got too excited he would start coughing. I pulled him away from the play equipment during his coughing fit so that he would not spread any latent germs and infect other children, but he was coughing so hard that he threw up, just a little. I caught it in one hand and put it in the trash can (I know, wierd, but I didn't know what else to do with it). Luckily I am not bothered by puke, probably because I handle much more disgusting substances from complete strangers when I work in the hospital lab. After this small episode, Eli was still coughing, so I decided he had played enough and walked to the stroller. As I was about to put him in, Mount Vesuvius erupted... all over my clothes, Eli's clothes, and part of the stroller. I am not sure if I received more looks of disgust or pity as I traipsed my half-naked child and puke-covered self ALL the way through the mall and out to the car.

Mementos

2006-08-03T14:59:00.000-07:00

I have a new entry for my you-will-never-see-this-in-a-baby-book book.

August 3, 2006 -- First time Eli vomits on me in a public place

Little drummer boy

2006-08-03T14:50:00.000-07:00

I must be crazy, because today I bought Eli his first music set, which has several noisemakers, a tambourine, and a drum.

Now, you may be asking if I ever put clothes on my child.

The answer is: No, because you never know when vomit is going to strike.

Mommy guilt

2006-08-02T13:22:00.000-07:00

It seems that there is a reason for Eli's excessive grumpiness... strep throat.

Sorry, kiddo. Please be patient with me... this is all new to me, too.

The post office story

2006-08-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

Something so strange happened today that I had to write about it. We were in line at the post office and Eli started to do his "shy act" (where he gives a little half-smile and buries his face in my shoulder) with the man behind us. I tried to get him to say hi, but he was sick and not really in the mood. All of a sudden, the man takes a post office beanie-baby bear off the shelf, gives it to Eli, and says that he wants to buy it for him. I was completely perplexed about how to handle this. I know that Eli is cute, and people are always talking to him, waving at him, or telling us how adorable he is. Once someone came up to us in a restaurant and complimented us on our well-behaved child. I've even had a woman chase us down in a museum in Branson JUST to get a close up look at Eli. But gifts from perfect strangers? I tried as best as I could to refuse, but of course I lost in the end. The really sad part about this is that instead of being grateful and accepting the gift, I was very suspicious of this man that only wanted to see my son smile.

By the way, Eli loves the bear.

My son the bulimic

2006-07-31T13:20:00.000-07:00

Eli discovered a new trick today. If he sticks his fingers down his throat, he throws up.

Wonderful.

Rapidly reaching the end of my rope

2006-07-30T09:40:00.000-07:00

I am not sure if it is teething, his cold, general toddlerhood, or a combination of the three (my vote is for the last one), but Eli has been MUCH more disagreeable than usual lately. I seriously can not do anything to please this child. The answer to anything is "no", or more specifically a violent head shake. So I try to ask all of the "right" questions, meaning one of two things: 1) Not asking a question at all (as in "we are going to go change your diaper now"), which generally results in a tantrum, or 2) giving him a choice where "no" is not an option (as in "would you like to change your diaper on the changing table or the floor"). In this case I normally get an answer, he changes his mind several times, and then whatever we finally do causes, you guessed it, a tantrum. Even if I ask an open ended question (as in "what do you want for lunch") he still throws a fit when I give him EXACTLY WHAT HE WANTED.

Oh and he is sooo picky. I have no idea where he gets this trait. Today he had a waffle for breakfast, because that is the ONLY food there is for breakfast. Anything else might cause his head to explode. I used to tear it up, but now he wants it whole. So today I gave him his whole waffle, which was apparently still too hot because he put his head in both his hands like he does when something is too hot. I went over a tore off a piece to test it for temperature. BIG mistake. HUGE! Who would have thought that something so small could cause a meltdown in the kitchen.

Hopefully this is just a phase that will disappear in a few weeks and not return until Eli is a teenager.

Why are you laughing?

Hello, Molar

2006-07-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

Eli's first molar FINALLY popped through the gums. This tooth has been coming in for about 3 months, and honestly has not given him too much trouble. Hopefully more will soon follow, at which point we will have to teach Eli to chew his food instead of his current shovel-and-swallow approach.

Eli likes...

2006-07-27T18:24:00.000-07:00

... lima beans?! I made some to go with the spaghetti that we had for dinner tonight. He ignored the spaghetti, which was not unexpected. I had given him some plain meat from the sauce figuring that he would not eat the pasta. But never would I have expected him to skip to meat and go for the lima beans, much less eat every single one of them. This completely goes against Eli's aversion to eating anything green. He will eat green grapes (not surprising since I have yet to find a fruit that Eli does not like) and cucumber (which is more of a translucent yellow without the peel). That's it. No green beans, definitely no broccoli, and sometimes no green M&Ms. Maybe next I should try brussels sprouts... at someone else's house, of course.

Sucker

2006-07-22T14:58:00.001-07:00

Today Eli figured out how to drink from a straw. We bought him a special straw cup a few weeks ago. The straw is a little more firm than your traditional disposable straw so that it does not easily collapse, especially if he chews on it. It has been sitting unused in the cupboard, and I would give it to him every once in a while just to let him try it out. Usually he would get frustrated after a few seconds and whine for his sippy cup. I tried again today, solely because it was the only clean toddler cup in the house and I was too lazy to wash any of the other ones. Luckily, this time he figured it out right away!

Honestly, I am excited about this because it makes it soooo much easier if we go out and I forget to bring along a sippy cup. Not that I do it very often. OK, I will admit it. I forget Eli's cup about once a week. He does not mind too much... just as long as I don't forget the graham crackers

You're turning violet, Violet!

2006-07-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

There is nothing in this world that Eli loves more than Baby Einstein and waffles.

Except blueberries! He just can't get enough of them. Last week he had an entire pint of blueberries IN ONE DAY. Most parents would cringe at the thought of giving their child such a potentially messy food when they are not strapped into their highchair. Not I. I know that Eli will never let one go to waste. Eating blueberries is serious business, and blueberries are NOT a toy.

It's too bad Eli does not feel the same way about vegetables.

Eli's new trick

2006-07-18T10:34:00.000-07:00

Coloring with his toes!

2006-07-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

New pictures are up on Yahoo! for those that wish to print them.

Things that make your heart stop

2006-07-17T06:46:00.000-07:00

Moments ago I walked into the living room just in time to see Eli stand up on the loveseat (which is about 2 ft. away from the coffee table), yell "Fly!", and take a running jump off of the couch. With images of broken legs and head injuries going through my mind, I raced over and caught him in mid-air. The cushions are now on the floor, the coffee table is on the other side of the room, and Eli is happily doing pratt falls on each of the cushions.

Must be a boy thing.

Eli at 18 months

2006-07-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

We are nearly a week overdue for this, but I wanted to wait until we had his check-up before I gave Eli's 18-month update. So here we go...

Note: anytime I use the words "knows" or "recognizes", I mean that he can point to and tell me the name of any of the following objects.

* Eli is 31.5 inches tall (though I think this is wrong because Eli would not lay down to be measured) and weighs 21.8 pounds... still in the 5th percentile for weight, but at least he is consistent.
* He has lots of words. Our Parents As Teachers home educator told me that by 24-months children should have 50 words. I laughed at her.
* He knows all of the shapes that I think are reasonable for a small child. These are circle, square, triangle, rectangle, heart, arch, star, and oval.
* He knows all of the colors that, again, I think are reasonable for his age. These are red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, black, and brown. He can sometimes recognize lighter and darker shades of these colors, meaning light blue is still blue. If he is unsure, the fall-back is always yellow.
* He recognizes the numbers 0-9 and can count to ten. Sometimes he will throw in 11, just for fun. He kind of gets the concept of one-to-one correspondence (counting objects), but will often count the same object many times (does not eliminate once it is counted).
* He recognizes all of his capital letters and about half of the lower case ones. This is cheating, somewhat, since many lowercase letters look nearly identical to their uppercase counterparts (Ss, Xx, Kk).
* He recognizes a couple of words by sight, including his name.
* He is trying to jump on two feet, though usually just ends up galloping across the room.
* He can eat with a fork and spoon relatively neatly, and can drink from a cup without a lid. It does seem to be more fun to pour the contents of the cup on his head, though, so he still uses a sippy cup.
* He will drink milk with breakfast, mostly because he is so thirsty by this point that I could put anything in his cup and he will drink it. Whatever works.
* Temper tantrums -- after some doosies, they are now relatively mild. Usually just a few seconds to get out some frustration and that is it. Now behavior correction, that is another story.

Our busy day

2006-07-12T20:24:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun today that I just had to write about it.

We started off going to The Little Gym with Eli's friend Bella and her mom. Maybe started off is the wrong phrase, since this was at 10:15, a mere four hours after we got up this morning. Anyway, today was bring-a-friend day at The Little Gym, so we went and tried it out. Eli was shy at first and did his tree frog impression (the one where I can let go of him completely and he will stay attached to my hip, clinging on for dear life) for ten minutes duing the group activity. Group activity involved songs, marching, and a parachute, which Eli normally enjoys but he was a little skeptical since it was a new place. He probably was afraid that I was going to leave him there. He definitely came out of his shell after these activities were over, and had a great time with the equipment, the balls, and the bubbles. He did a somersault on the mats and walked the balance beam like a pro! He even tried to run on the beam, but slipped after 4 or 5 steps. Not quite ready for that yet, I suppose.

After Little Gym we went to the ARC for Little Swimmers. Basically it is toddler time in the indoor pool, the main part of which is only about 18 inches deep and has an attached deeper pool and a lazy river. We met Eli's friend Solomon and his mom and played for about 40 minutes. Eli loves running around in the water, and was trying to imitate some of the bigger kids that were going under the water. He would squat down until the bottom of his nose was under, realize that he could not breathe, and then pop back up.

Finally, after coming home for lunch and a nap, we went to the local library. It has a really nice children's area where Eli likes to play, and we almost always meet someone new there. Today we made a new friend, Louis (and his mom), who is from Great Britain and in Columbia for 2 years while his daddy (who is a doctor, too) is doing a cardiovascular research assistantship, or something like that. We played for a little while, checked out a PAL (Play As Learning) bag full of musical instruments, and came home for dinner, some more playing and bedtime.

I'm tired just thinking about it!

2006-07-11T16:14:00.000-07:00

Looks like Eli found a way to use the boot cup from Dixie Stampede that Granny and Grandpa Wolf brought this past weekend.

Baby Einstein strikes again

2006-07-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

Afraid that I can not take credit for this one. We have run out of videos that teach "school skills", by which I mean numbers, colors, shapes, etc., that Eli does not already know. So we have moved on to Baby Galileo (stars, planets, clouds, and more) and Meet the Orchestra (instruments). These are fun beacuse Eli tries to repeat each of the objects as they are introduced, often with amusing results.

Then Eli surprised me by naming the instruments by sound. It started with the tuba. Now he can pick out a guitar and piano, just by listening. It adds a fun new dimension to our car travels because we will listen to music and name the instruments that are playing, and this time I am learning (or more accurately, relearning), too.

I wanna be Hulk Hogan

2006-07-10T19:55:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I look at Eli and wonder "what is wrong with my child?" We all know that he is a climber and a tad rambunctious. His new favorite activity involves running back and forth across the room (or the house, depending on the day) and throwing his whole body into the largest object he can find. I feel like I am watching a one-man version of WWF wrestling. He will run across the living room and throw himself into the couch. Then he turns around and runs full force into the wall... on purpose! Then he runs back into the couch, then into the wall, over and over again. Is he losing brain cells with every hit and that makes him forget the beating his body just took? Is this his idea of fun? Can I just move him into a padded cell for the next 17 years of his life? Hey, that's not a bad idea!

To add to the insanity, today I caught him head-butting the TV screen. Maybe we really SHOULD invest in a straight-jacket.

Firecrackers

2006-07-05T12:48:00.001-07:00

We were at some friends' house last night for a Fourth of July BBQ. Nearby, a neighbor was shooting off firecrackers. Since this was Eli's first experience with firecrackers, and he could not actually see them being set off, he searched his mind trying to find something to which he could attribute the new noises. The answer? It was a kitty. Meow!

Boys will be boys

2006-07-04T07:36:00.000-07:00

Some things just don't need to be taught. I am constantly amazed at all of the sterotypically "little boy" things that Eli seems to pick up on his own. He loves to get dirty, and at the playground will boycott climbing, sliding, and even swinging to dig and dump sand, dirt, or mulch. I think his favorite part of the day is when Daddy comes home and he gets to wrestle (Mommy tries wrestle but I just don't do it right). Lately he has started making a fort under the kitchen table. He will pull out a chair, drag under a rug and a couple of toys, crawl under the table, and then pull the askew chair back in. I certainly did not teach him this... he did it all on his own.

The Great Cookie Caper

2006-06-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

On a whim today I made monster cookies. This recipe combines all of the great things that you can put in a cookie: peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chips, and M&Ms. After the cooled I gave Eli a piece. Not the whole cookie. I know better than that. Just a small piece. I am not sure if it ever made it to his mouth, though, because when I saw him next he had crumbled the cookie onto the kitchen floor and was in the process of stomping through it. What occurred next felt like a scene from Mission: Impossible:

Good Morning, Stephanie. This is Eli, age 17 months. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to catch the running toddler before he reaches the living room and stains the carpet with his chocolate covered socks. This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds. Good luck, mom.

It is amazing how fast you can move when your carpet is at stake. Mission accomplished.

Mommy poll

2006-06-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

This is an honest question for any moms (no matter how old your children are) that read this blog:

How do you get your child clean when during every bath they pee in the water?

I can read... sort of...

2006-06-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

The source of Eli's klutziness

2006-06-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

This story starts out being about me, but is ultimately about Eli.

We were out and about this afternoon when I needed to change Eli's diaper and use the restroom. As usual, Eli and I went into the handcapped stall in the bathroom since the normal sized ones tend to get a little crowded with both of us there. When I stood up, I conked my head on the toilet paper dispenser, which was much higher than usual, and said, "Oh, Jeez!" Eli's favorite word is now "Jeez". It's a good thing I did not say anything worse.

For those of you with babies that are wondering when you need to start watching your language, it is around 17 months.

My favorite part of the day

2006-06-25T17:51:00.000-07:00

Every morning Eli wakes up between 5 and 6 o' clock, and I have gotten into the (bad?) habit of rocking him back to sleep and then pulling him into bed with us for another hour or so. My favorite part of this is when he wakes up for the morning in our bed, crawls onto my chest, and lays there for a few minutes while he finishes the waking up process. Who can resist smiling when they are getting Eli snuggles?

Lil' Elmer Fudd

2006-06-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

After talking on the phone he goes to hunt that wascally wabbit...

Disappearing signs

2006-06-23T14:49:00.000-07:00

All of a sudden the few baby signs that Eli had left have disappeared. The last holdouts, which have vanished in the past couple of days, were "water" and "more". He has a period of maybe a day where he will use the word and the sign interchangeably. Then the sign is gone. This is good, in a way, because I can not always see when he is signing. However, I do not always know what he is saying, so in a way it is more frustrating.

Shocking!!

2006-06-20T06:03:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you need a haircut, Daddy gets bored, and there just happens to be some hair gel nearby...

Happy Father's Day

2006-06-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

Over the past 17 months I have watched you grow as a father, and I am so proud of you. Eli could not have asked for a better Daddy. Happy Father's Day!

In lieu of a bath

2006-06-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

In general, Eli has mastered eating with utensils. The problem comes in when he gets full, and then gets bored. Stuck in his highchair, the only thing that he has to play with is his food. Not a big deal, unless that food happens to be something other than completely solid. Examples include applesauce, ketchup, and Eli's favorite, yogurt. Since Eli does not stop playing when it is time to get down, I thought I would document the process that I have to use to minimize the post-eating mess.

Here is the "before" picture. Note the upside-down bowl and the yogurt swirls on the tray. This is because Eli thinks that his food can double as finger paint.

First I have to remove any bowls, plates, utensils, and cups from the tray. Unfortunately, this only makes Eli more focused on the paint-like quality of his yogurt.

Next, I wipe the excess yogurt off the tray. This still leaves yogurty hands (as Eli so nicely tells me) that usually mess the tray up again, but this greatly decreases the amount of "free-yogurt" in the area.

Then, I wipe off his hands. I actually have to wipe off one hand and remove the tray and his bib while wiping off the other one. Otherwise, he will rub his hands together and then put the dirty hands on the sides of his chair.

Finally, I wipe off his face (not shown here... have you ever tried to take a picture while wiping a toddler's face? It does not work well), and do a cursory wipe of his hands, legs, clothes, and if necessary, his hair.

The only thing that I have found more successful than this method is to hold him over the sink and hose him down with the nozzle. But then I need to clean up the water mess on the floor...

Before there was Eli...

2006-06-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

... there was a wedding!

Happy 6th anniversary to the one who makes all my dreams come true. I love you, now and forever!

Gene Expression

2006-06-08T18:33:00.000-07:00

There is no doubt that Eli is related to his Grandpa Kohlmeier. I grew up in a house that had a seemingly endless supply of classical music records, and from an early age I learned a love of Beethoven and Bach. Eli, too, has loved music since before he was born. Music has always been able to soothe him, and his favorite TV show is not Sesame Street but American Idol. Even when we are in the car, music has to be playing. If we ride too long in silence, I hear Eli say "deet deet" from the backseat, which I have determined is Eli-speak for either music or CD. In any case, he says it when he wants me to turn on some music or put in a new CD.

Lately, Eli has become a little more discerning in his music selection. I have three types of CDs in my car (well, four if you count my non-Eli collection): 1) children's songs, 2) Praise Baby, and 3) classical. Eli is not very fond of #1, so we don't listen to them very often. He likes #2, but definitely prefers #3. If I put in Classics for Intelligence, gets this huge grin on his face and starts bouncing up and down in his carseat. The bouncing is pretty cute, too, because I think he squeezes his butt muscles to do it. Classical music is another way that he gets his daily glute workout.

Shadow

2006-06-06T12:20:00.000-07:00

In the past couple of weeks Eli has really started to imitate a lot of the things that Chris and I do. One of his favorites is to "talk" on the phone, usually to his grandma (though I am not sure which one). He found the house phone today and was playing with it, so I unplugged the cord from the wall so that he did not accidently call China or 911. When he was finished he left the phone on the floor. A few minutes later my cell phone rang, so he ran over, picked up the house phone, put it to his ear and said, "Hello, grandma?"

At lunch today I caught him dipping carrot sticks into imaginary dip and then eating it, just like I was doing with my lunch.

By far the cutest, though, happened last night at dinner. Eli put his hand to his mouth, made a fake coughing sound, and then said "meep me." We think one of us coughed or cleared our throat with our hand over our mouth and then said "excuse me." He was still doing this even at breakfast this morning.

A sign that we eat too much fast food

2006-05-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

We made a trip to the library today to drop off a couple of books that were (over)due. I pulled the car up to the drop box in the parking lot and rolled down the window, which made Eli say those two magic words...

... french fries.

Someone get this kid a dictionary

2006-05-30T06:55:00.000-07:00

I am not quite sure that Eli gets the concept of yucky. He knows that some things are yucky, and he knows what those things are, but I don't think he truly grasps what that means. I was sitting here reading Zach's blog when Eli started saying "yucky". I looked behind me and he was heading for the litterbox. I pulled him away and told him, "No, don't touch, that's yucky." Not 3 seconds later Eli had his hands in the litterbox, saying "yucky".

I think this is all a big ploy to get to wash his hands in the sink.

A budding comedian

2006-05-27T06:24:00.000-07:00

A momentous occasion occurred the other day. One for the baby book, not that this category is ever included in such things. Eli made his first joke. It was bath time, and he was looking at his bath number book. He was pointing to each number on the page and we were taking turns naming it. Now, there are only four numbers on the page, so we covered each one multiple times. All of a sudden Eli points to something other than a number. Then he looks up at me with this little grin, just waiting for me to name it. "Flower," I said, smiling, and he bursts into laughter.

Toddler humor.

My turn to talk about poop

2006-05-26T20:16:00.000-07:00

We may begin potty training a little sooner than expected. Eli has taken to telling us when he has a soiled diaper. I think a large part of it is that he just likes to say the word... poopy. We just introduced that word last week; before that we had just been calling it stinky. This afternoon we were playing when I noticed that he was, uh, filling his diaper. As soon as he finished he ran over to me and said, "poopy," followed immediately by "stinky." Granted, this does not necessarily mean that he wants me to change his diaper. He just likes to let me know that it is dirty. Getting him to the changing table still takes 20 minutes of prodding, bribery, and whining (by me).

Now what do I complain about?

2006-05-25T11:52:00.000-07:00

Eli is a pretty good kid. If fact, the only thing that I could really complain about was his sleeping, but that is now a thing of the past. Eli has slept through the night for 4 consecutive days! Honestly, I was wondering if I would ever see this day. I was content to get up with him a couple of times a night for just a few minutes at a time. That was much better than being up for 3 hours straight with a child that wanted to play and talk to you. But this is even better! I find myself waiting for HIM to wake up in the morning. It's amazing how quickly it happened, but I'm glad that it finally did.

Another woman says it all

2006-05-24T14:27:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned before that I worry about pushing Eli too hard. It's not that I think he will burn out by the age of four, but that he will be too hard on himself when he is not always perfect. I don't want an 11-year-old with ulcers. I did read some words of wisdom today on Dooce (thanks, Kate!) that not only describe how I feel but give me some insight on what to do about it.

I’m not so sure it’s a bad thing that we tell her that she is beautiful or smart, as long as she knows we love her despite those things. They have no bearing on how much we love her. The bigger challenge is making her feel and understand something that has taken me a lifetime to learn, something I would have rather heard than any comment on my looks or intelligence. I want her to know that she will always be good enough.

Einstein, or DaVinci?

2006-05-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

Colored pencils are the current method of choice for keeping Eli occupied while I try and get things done around the house. I can put him on the floor with some paper and pencils and he will entertain himself for 30-40 minutes... pretty amazing for Eli! If I move to another room, he will follow me with his paper, plop right down on the floor and continue to "draw". He went through an entire pad a paper in just a couple of days! Oddly enough, he even understands it when I say, "you can only draw on the paper," so we have very few stray markings around the house. Unfortunately, "paper" includes books, the mail, and Daddy's work articles, so we still have to watch him pretty closely.

Celebration

2006-05-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

Eli slept through the night!!!!

A graduation gift to Uncle Tim

2006-05-19T17:50:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets. How long until he figures out how to get all the way to the top?

Eli's new binky holder

2006-05-19T17:25:00.000-07:00

Today was hot. Have to turn on the air conditioning hot. And I am always cold, so it must have been hot. After Eli woke up from his afternoon nap, he was noticably warm and dehydrated, so we went to the kitchen to get some water. I gave him his cup, and he takes his pacifier and sticks it in my mouth. Not in the "Ha ha Mommy looks funny with a binky" sort of way. Not even a "Done with this, this goes here" way . More of a "Here, keep this warm for me".

It's nice to know that I am needed.

Welcome to the klutz club

2006-05-18T19:49:00.000-07:00

It seems that Eli is just as accident prone as his mommy. We were at the park today for our weekly playgroup. Eli had just gotten off the slide (Eli does not actually go down the slide... he just climbs up and down the stairs), and I was brushing the debris from his shoes off of my pants, when I hear a twang resonating from a few feet away. It was the type of sound you hear if you hit your hand against a hollow metal pole. For reference, go smack a swing set or a radiator pipe. After the twang Eli was lying on his back on the ground and had started to cry. I walked over, picked him up, and he had a DENT in his forehead. Not a bump, a DENT! He was lying next to a metal balance beam that was about, oh, forehead high, so I can only assume that Eli was walking along and walked straight into the beam... HARD. My only consolation is that about 20 minutes later, another child did the same thing. Oh, and Eli is OK. Just a small bruise.

This reminds me of an encounter I had with a stop sign (if you don't know this story, Chris would be MORE than happy to enlighten you)...

In honor of Tricia's OCD

2006-05-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

The destruction that occurs every day in the Wolf household as a result of hurricane Eli.

Happy

2006-05-16T19:47:00.000-07:00

For Eli's first birthday, Uncle Tim gave him an Elmo puppet book. You can put your fingers in the back of the book and make the puppet move his arms and mouth, all while singing "If you're happy and you know it". Consequently, Eli has started calling this book "Happy". I have never allowed Eli the joy of watching Sesame Street. Oddly enough, I did not want Eli spending the entire day watching television. Six straight Baby Einstein videos are OK, but heaven forbid he watch an hour of Big Bird and his friends. No one ever said that I was rational. Actually, I think it is more that Sesame Street has changed its format since I was a kid, so now I am biased against it. Either way, the only reason that Eli even knows of Elmo is through this book. Now, anytime he sees Elmo he calls him Happy.

It's a good thing he applies this logic only to his Elmo book. Who knows what nickname Chris or I would have!

New photos

2006-05-15T11:47:00.000-07:00

FYI -- I posted some new photos in Yahoo! photos. Follow the "pictures of me" link and check them out!

Well rested!!!

2006-05-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

By writing this post, I am probably dooming myself to several more months of sleepless nights. However, I do have to celebrate the fact that Eli is (almost) sleeping through the night. I know, he should have been doing this nearly a year ago, but after many failed attempts at "sleep training" I had just resorted to the fact that he would do it on his own when he was ready. I have broken as many of his bad sleep habits as I can. I stopped nursing him to sleep several months ago (granted, weaning at ~13-months helped because he no longer has that as an option) and I no longer rock him to sleep. Just a couple of lullabies and into the crib he goes, usually completely awake. Lately he has only been waking up twice a night, and last night he was only up once! By "up" I mean that I actually have to go into his room to get him to go back to sleep. He still wakes up and fusses several times a night, but will often take care of this himself. I am actaully well-rested for the first time in 2 years (I did not sleep very well when I was pregnant... in any of the 3 trimesters. At first I thought it was just a cruel trick of fate, but now I realize that I was just being prepared for what was to come). So I guess the overwhelming message is... HOORAY!

Tricks of the trade

2006-05-12T11:42:00.000-07:00

Since Eli now has 8 teeth, he is having a wonderful time experimenting with them. We brush his teeth 3-4 times a day, he REALLY likes biting, and he has discovered that he can scrape them together and they make a lovely fingernails-on-the-chalkboard sound. Even more satisfying is that this last trick makes mommy cover her ears, dance in circles, and scream "stop, stop, STOP!" Determined to break him of this habit, I figured the best way would be to make him think that it does not bother me. Here is the scene the other day in the kitchen:

Eli: (scrapes teeth)

Me: (looks up, smiles slightly, looks back down)

Eli: Mommy?

Me: (looks up) Yes, Eli?

Eli: (scrapes teeth)

Me: That's nice. (looks back down)

Eli: (goes back to eating his lunch)

Wait, did that just work? It must have, because he has not scraped his teeth since. What other sneaky tricks can I employ to get him to do what I want? I will have to think about this!

Baby Einstein

2006-05-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

On behalf of all of the movies that he so loves to watch, I have given Eli a new nickname. Mother's prerogative allows me to honestly believe that my child is the most brilliant baby to ever have walked the Earth and to shamelessly brag about him. So without further ado, here are some of Eli's more recently acquired impressive feats:

* He can identify the numbers 2, 4, 5, and 8. By identify I mean he will say their names if you point to them and he will point to them if you ask him to find the number.

* He is learning his shapes. He can say square (kwee), circle (coo-coo), and oval (ho-ho), and can point to these three along with triangle and rectangle on command. I was changing his diaper in the mall today, and while on the changing table he says "square". I followed his gaze and, sure enough, there was an electrical panel on the ceiling in the shape of a square.

* He knows the color yellow. I know, it is only one color, but kids aren't supposed to understand the concept of color until AT LEAST 18 months, so I am pretty impressed. We are working on others.

* He knows A LOT of animals and their sounds, most of his body parts, and lots of foods, all leading to a pretty big vocabulary for his age.

The funny (and slightly frustrating) thing is that he is pretty stubborn and will only do these "tricks" when he wants to do them. So I will say to somebody, "Watch Eli count to four," and then he just stares at me until I feel like the big lying mommy. But I know that he can do them and I guess that is really all that matters.

A trip to the zoo

2006-05-08T20:46:00.000-07:00

Chris is on vacation for a few days this week, so despite an impending rainshower, we made the trek to STL to visit the zoo. We have been wanting to do this since Eli was, well, still a figment of our imaginations. So needless to say, Chris and I were pretty excited. At first Eli was unimpressed. We hit Big Cat Country first, figuring that even if it rained, at least Eli would get to see the lions and tigers (his current favorite animals). No such luck. The big cats were nowhere to be seen. We had to settle for a whole bunch of zebra and about 13 different kinds of antelope. I mean, who really cares about antelope? Things got better from there, though. We saw the sea lions being fed their lunch and visited the primate house, where Eli appropriately decided to climb on every bench in sight. After lunch, we went to the River's edge exhibit and saw rhinos, elephants, and a very close encounter with a couple of hippos (they are the ones in the water... not the white shirt).

We rounded out the day with a trip to the children's zoo, where Eli could pet some goats,

play on the playground,

and get completely soaked in the fountains!

Luckily Chris had the foresight to pack a full change of clothes. All in all, it was a very fun trip. The one thing that would make the day perfect would be if Eli slept through the night, but I am not holding my breath.

I think that I will leave that to the other hippos.

Our little monkey

2006-05-07T12:01:00.000-07:00

Eli has become pretty adept at climbing. In fact, I rarely have to help him into a chair... he does pretty well all be himself!

Eli in the refrigerator

2006-05-07T11:45:00.000-07:00

I just had to capture Eli's version of the word "cucumber." Keep your ears open, because it just sounds like a jumble of syllables. But you will notice that he says it the same way every time!