A few thoughts

Nap time is almost over...he's getting restless... but I thought I'd steal a few minutes to write about a few things before I forget.

When Eli wants something, he's getting better about using the word "want." He'll say "want banana" or "want baseball." But very frequently, he just adds "a" to the end of what he's saying. Lol. I love figuring out his little codes. So if he wants a book, he'd say to me.. "book-a?" Cars: "cars-a?" and so on. lol.

His favorite nursery rhymes this week are still humpty dumpty and yankee doodle, but he's also now become obsessed with Hot Cross Buns and A Tisket a Tasket. Lol. He HAS to run and get his cars when we get to the Tisket-a-tasket page, because there is a small road on there and he likes to drive his cars over it.... a million times. I sang the song about 56 times in a row on Sunday night. He also now LOVES the hush little baby song and this morning kept saying "bull! cart!" etc.

(He just laid down again..... dare I hope? more time?)

He said his name correctly for the first time on Monday! He usually calls himself "E-I" but he was actually saying ELI! woohoo!

I don't know if I mentioned this before (think I did) but when we used to show him pictures of himself as a baby, we'd always ask who it was..... to which he'd always reply... "baby!"... to which we'd always reply... "No, it's YOU!" So now what does he say when we ask? "Baby you!" Lol.

Favorite books right now.... (other than the nursery rhyme books that he's obsessed with).... Curious George goes to a baseball game, The Berenstein Bears play baseball.... and Bob the Builder. He also enjoys reading Clifford "Tifford."

The Boo mommy game has now evolved.... instead of me running into the kitchen with the football, then throwing it to him, chasing him to the other side.... etc etc..... He now enjoys fumbling the ball on purpose (he throws it and says "oops!") so that I can go "OH NO! FUMBLE!" and try to steal the ball from him.

The other day, I was trying on pants of his to see which he's outgrown and which he'd grown into.... much to my surprise, as soon as I started doing that, he yelled "TOO BIG!" Lol... guess my little skinny guy is used to pants being too big for him!

Amazing how much they pick up when you're not even sure if they are listening. Yesterday on our way home, he correctly told me we were driving in a "tunnel" "under water."

He can now ask me things.... like... if he's looking for his baseball, he'll say "baseball?" and put his hands up in a questioning pose. Today, I took a super quick potty break, only to hear him saying, "Mommy? What is this?" Lol. he was holding a candle. I heard him smelling it exaggeratedly. lol.

ok..... nap time is over! He wants to "play play!"

3rd trimester!

Yesterday, I hit a big milestone.... 27 weeks pregnant! I've been looking forward to that day, because it means that if the baby was born now, there would be a 90% chance of survival. Obviously it would be a super long and bumpy road, but 90% sounds pretty encouraging. I did not realize, however (you forget these things), that 27 weeks also means I've officially entered my 3rd trimester! Woohoo! It's SO ironic to me that yesterday was the day, because yesterday was the first time where I really started to feel like I'm slowing way down. I was having a hard time moving around after lunch yesterday (my theory is cause my organs were all being extra smooshed) and I was having rib pain and slight difficulty breathing (minor, minor). When I got home from work, Eli wanted to me chase him around ("Boo, mommy? Boo, mommy?") and I really couldn't run! What a sight... me doing the preggo shuffle back and forth across my apartment, "chasing" Eli with his football.

He was a relatively good boy in church yesterday evening, and provided us with a few really cute moments. When the three of us make it to church together, we attempt sitting as a family in "our row." That usually lasts for about 2 minutes before E starts screaming and then one of us (usually me when it's the three of us, cause there are many times when Mike has to take Eli to church solo if I'm working) takes Eli to the back of the church to limit the disruption. (Our church has no "baby" room or "quiet" room, so we're still in the back of a super big, super echoey church... but at least we're not bothering the people directly around us that way. Anywho... yesterday, he managed to last all the way through the first reading! He wanted to hold the "Bible, mommy?" and pretended to flip through the pages. It really looked like he was following along. When the cantor started singing, Eli had the book open to one of the songs (not the correct one, but still) and was bopping his head side to side. Lol. I could hear the people behind us laughing.

My FAVORITE part of church yesterday, however, was when the priest (an older gentleman... the one who actually baptized Eli) made his way to the pulpit for his homily. He started out by singing a few verses, and while he has a pretty good voice, he still said "my apologizes to the cantor for that feeble attempt at singing." Eli took his cue and started LAUGHING hysterically - like the kind of screaming laughing that kids do when they are tickled beyond words. Obviously he didn't know what the priest had said, but the timing was impeccable. It was embarassing for me, but oh so funny at the same time. I'm surprised the priest didn't comment.

He lasted as well as a kid his age can last in church.... and after the homily, he decided it was time to go. He kept telling me "outtide! outtide!" When he saw that I wasn't taking him outside, he upped the ante and said "Bye Jesus! Outtide!" Lol.

Ok... off to work I go. Boo.

Pa-ta-dee (Basketball)

Today has been a really great day with my little guy. We spent a ton of time reading this morning and pulled out some "new" books.... like the Berenstein Bears baseball version. I also got him Curious George goes to a baseball game yesterday when I was out, and we read it 5 times in a row this morning. Baseball is currently his favorite sport, and he alllllllways wants to play. Most of the time, he wants to be the one with the bat and makes me put on his little glove and pitch to him. He'll swing and miss and then run after the ball, drop his bat and assume pitching stance. It's HYSTERICAL to see him pitch, cause it's obvious he's trying to copy the guys on TV... he gets the leg up and everything. Lol. The only problem (for mommy) is that he INSISTS that I squat down in the catcher position. He doesn't want me on my knees or sitting down - I must be squatting. That gets super tiring for mommy after a while!! This morning, we changed it up and HE was pitching and I was the batter... that was a lot of fun, though I would have gotten to take base TONS of time for all of the times he hit me. :)

After about 30 min of playing baseball this morning, I got him to agree to go outside (he loves being outside... he just doesn't like the whole getting dressed/shoes/coat on part) to play basketball. He was so excited that he actually BROUGHT ME his coat and sat down so I could put it on. He held his little basketball the whole way and kept saying "pat-a-dee!" "shoot!!" When we got to the court/playground, I was a little frustrated to see a group of guys already there.... I was hoping we'd have the place to ourselves, because he thinks he's a big kid and wants to go over and jump right in. It was hard work corralling him off to the one court where the big guys weren't playing... he kept running over and throwing his ball at the big guys. Lol - when I DID get him to stay and shoot, he kept screaming "SH*T! SH*T!" He was really saying shoot, but it sure didn't sound like it. hahaha. It was hysterical. After basketball, we went over for a maaaaarathon playground session. He's getting much better at climbing and doesn't want to hold my hand anymore. He took two NAAAAASTY falls (one while chasing his basketball and one time he went flying and slammed his chin on one of the steps)... but he was ok after a minute of mommy hugs. It's SCARY letting your children run around on those playgrounds, but it's something that has to be done - can't hold mommy's hand forever! About half-way through our playground adventures, a school of little kids (they looked to be about 3-4) came over to play. ALSO scary letting your child watch all these daredevil acts these kids are doing (going down the slide headfirst, jumping off of high things), but I can't keep him in a bubble! He immediately ran to the slide and went down head first. Sigh. He's SUCH a friendly little guy and it's so cute to see. At one point, he went around waving and saying hi to each and every kid. I love that about him. OH - and how could I forget. This kid is SUCH a flirt. Anytime he sees girls, he instantly becomes "cute." lol. Today, he ran over to a group of girls (teenagers), threw them his ball and then (NO JOKE) showed them his muscles. hahaha.

He still LOVES nursery rhymes right now and will sit through entire long nursery rhyme books. It really surprises me how many he remembers. This morning, I was trying to flip past Tom Tucker (cause it's boring) and Eli flipped back and said "tucker?" He LOVES simple simon (lol... mom, the "creepy" guy that you hate), humpty dumpty (lol... whom he calls "homo"), yankee doodle ("doodle!"), jack and jill (he loves anything where anyone falls). I've found that if I relate his food to nursery rhymes, he's much more likely to eat it. I made him macaroni the other day and he ate the whole thing cause I sat there singing Yankee Doodle ("and called it macaroni!!!) on repeat. Yesterday, he ate some green peppers because I kept saying "Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers" over and over. Good times.

I just ordered him two sesame street DVDs for his second birthday... sing-a-long ones that have some of his favorite songs (Itsy Bitsy spider, wheels on the bus) on them. He's going to love them, and mommy's going to love having something for him to do while I take care of the new little one!

I went to barnes and noble yesterday looking for Bob the Builder books, and they didn't have any! The woman told me "they're not IN right now." Crazy, right? Guess I'll be ordering those online, too. I saw the cutest little toolbelt in the store the other day and am thinking of getting him one. I'm not entirely convinced that he wouldn't try to use them as weapons, though. :)

He LOVES talking to "Riley" and "Tiffy" and was playing baseball with them this morning. I'm so glad we have pets. :)

His newest favorite thing is carrying his table and chairs into the kitchen. Apparently he prefers eating in there. Lol. It was super cute to see him lifting and carrying the chairs... he was like a little mover guy.

He continues to LOVE being a ham at the grocery store. All of the grocery store checkout people love him cause he becomes Mr. SUPER animated smiley guy around them all. Yesterday, the workers were coming from all of the aisles cause he was singing and giving out high fives to everyone. Lol.

Ok.... going to attempt getting in a nap myself before he wakes up. It was an exhausting morning!!!

Consignment Sale

WOOHOO! Consignment sales are the BEST! Are you ready for this one? I got a double stroller for $5!!!!! FIVE DOLLARS. All because it's missing the front bar, the one you can hang little animals from. Pffffffft. It's so funny how much more laid back you are the second time around. The first time, everything has to be inspected carefully and checked thoroughly... lol - this time, I'm like pffffft - hope you don't fall out!! hahah - i'm kidding, mom, i'm kidding.

It won't be the stroller we use every day, but will be the perfect stroller for Grandma's house! :) I also got a lot of other great things, too! Woohoo! SUCH a great night. Now if I didn't have to go to work tomorrow....

Confusing age!

I'd just like to take a minute to say how so very confusing this age is!!! Eli's becoming a whole lot more vocal in what he wants and can often tell me and get his point across, but there are times where I just feel like banging my head against the wall... times like today, where he was asking me "Pillow? pillow?" When I gave it to him, he said - "NO PILLOW! NO PILLOW!" so I took it away... then as soon as he saw me removing it, "No, mommy! PILLOW! PILLOW!!" I'd give it back and hear "NO PILLOW." Sigh. He does the same thing with his music at night. He asks us to put it on and as soon as we do, he starts screaming "NO MUSIC!" I turn it off and he has a fit, pointing and screaming "MOMMY! MUSIC! MUSIC!" Sigh.

On a happy note, he's been much better about entertaining himself these past two days, even allowing me to *gasp* cook dinner two nights in a row! Today, I started a maaaaasssssive reorganization project (some call it nesting, I call it a realization that another kid is going to be living here and we have to make room) and dumped out 3 boxes filled with toys Eli has outgrown. THAT kept him busy for a few hours. It was fun to see all of the old stuff.... and I think it really hit me that WOW - another baby is going to be here again!!! I organized the living room closet (I'd just been throwing stuff on top of stuff on top of stuff for the past few months) and made room for two crates.... one filled with toys for the baby, and one filled with toys of Eli's that I'm keeping on rotation so he doesn't get bored. Those were previously in the bedroom, so that freed up some space. I also went through my huge pile of clothes that I've been throwing on the floor next to my bed (who has time to sort or put away laundry!) and got things ALMOST put away. I moved the chest my dad made me to the side of the bed to see if there would in fact be room for a pack n play for the baby to sleep in -- and there is!!! Woohoo! I'm going to split up Eli's wardrobe into green and blue hangers.... that way I can keep the clothes straight and the baby can share. I'm going to also clean out two of Eli's dresser drawers for the baby clothes... but that's a project for another day.

I moved a little shelving unit (not heavy! very light) into the living room and put in baskets to help separate Eli's toys.... it worked great! Now there's one drawer for his animals, one for his cars, one for his trucks, and one for his play food. yay! I think I need to get one more shelving unit and I'll be set. My next plan is to tackle the hall closet to organize all of the bath/shampoo stuff... but I don't know if I have enough energy for that today.

Clothes-wise, we are COMPLETELY set. I was thinking I might have to go out and get girl stuff just in case, but on Monday I looked through my niece's stuff..... we have BEYOND enough girl's clothes. Yay!!!

I'm going to a consignment sale tonight sponsored by a ton of moms and I just got an email saying there are close to 5,000 items for sale! Woohoo! I get to go to the pre-sale, before it's open to the public, so I'm hoping to score some good things. I'm in the market for a double stroller and another pack n play. Should be fun!

Ok..... Mommy's lunchtime is almost over so I better skidaddle...especially if I want to even think about taking a shower today. :)

Mid-March

In two days, Eli is going to be 22 months old. Wow!

What are we up to these days? Well, we took a trip down to Maryland to visit Grandma and also got to see Emily and Great-Grandma. We also got to see Laurie and her kids, visiting from Turkey (!!!), which spawned a fun college-roomie get-together. It sure was a different experience having us all get together with all of our kids (8 under the age of 5). It was one of those super cool moments in time, though, when we were all at the playground with our kids.... what a difference 10 years makes, right?

The weather was nice enough when we were in MD that we got to go outside to play at Grandma's house! That means we pulled out the T-ball set that Emily gave Eli for Christmas.... the kid was a natural! My mom and I were in SHOCK when we saw him wack the ball 20 feet.... It's so fun to see how athletic this little guy is. Such a cute picture to see this little guy, bundled up in his hat and coat, swinging the heck out of a ball and launching a ball. Super cute. I picked up a little landscaper kit for him when I was at Toys R Us, so he also had fun raking with mommy (though his idea of raking was spreading out the piles mommy had collected) and collecting sticks from the backyard with Grandma to put in his wheelbarrow. Yes, he occasionally used the sticks as pretend light sabers. Lol. He also LOOOVED reading with Grandma and has a new favorite book now (as if anything could compare with Curious George!)... Bob the Builder. He looooves kissing Wendy (Bob's helper), Bob, and all of the machines.

Speaking of kissing, he's huge into kissing things right now. It's so sweet. He only wants to kiss Mommy and Daddy 50% of the time we ask for a kiss ("NO NO NO!") but loves kissing people goodbye, his teddy bear, and anything else we ask him to kiss. :)

He's BIG into nursery rhymes right now... his favorites being Humpty Dumpty, jack and jill (he loves anything where people fall), Yankee Doodle, and Baa Baa Black Sheep. It's funny to me which ones he loves (Old King Cole?) and which ones he doesn't (hickory dickory dock).

This morning when we left to go for a walk, he wanted to do the stairs by himself... not holding onto Mommy. Mommy held on to HIM..... noooot looking forward to him falling down steps!

Ok... naptime is officially over!

one more thing.... it's getting harder to carry the little guy! mommy is getting tired and winded and has a hard time breathing (still ok, just harder time) when I have to carry him for more than 5 minutes. He's still light (24 lbs), which I'm SUPER grateful for, but man - it's not easy! It's REALLY not easy when he throws one of his I'm-not-getting-into-my-stroller-and-you-can't-make-me fits. NOT cool.

Oh - and he LOVES coloring and we color in his coloring books several times a day. Still loves coloring Mickey, Elmo and Star Wars (did i mention that a game he likes us to play is where I say "Hello Eli... I'm _____ (fill in the star wars character)"). He allllllways asks to color with the orange marker first. I think that's his favorite color!

ok - the screams of mommy are getting louder!