Eli's Favorite Things

Just wanted to take a moment to talk about a few of Eli's favorite things right now. We've been going to the library a LOT (got him his own Library card 2 weeks ago!) and getting stacks and stacks of new books. This has been GREAT for both of us... Eli cause he loves all of these new stories, and mommy cause we don't have to read Curious George over and over and over and over.

He's been playing pretty sweetly with people his age and that's fun to see. He has a little buddy from the playground, Elias (ironic, no?) who we also saw in the library. They play nicely together, running after each other and egging each other on to do daring things. There was no hitting and only minimal yanking away of toys, so that was nice. When they were in the playground, Elias let Eli hold his bat while he pitched the ball to him. They never connected bat to ball, but it was super cute to see them try. Yesterday, at the playground, Eli was playing with a little girl and they were both being pretty good sharers. They were taking turns rolling big cars down the slides... that was cute to watch.

Speaking of watching, his FAVORITE thing to watch right now (and what he always asks for as he's going to sleep) is The new Woody Woodpecker. Hilariously, he calls it "Woody and Pecker" no matter how many times we've tried to correct him.

He has sat on the potty several times (Mike said one time for 45 minutes!) but has yet to go. Sigh. He wants nothing to do with the fun toy story/batman/superhero underwear I bought him. I put a pair of Batman undies on Liam, over his diaper, and Eli wanted them "OFF! THOSE ARE MINE!" But he still refuses to wear them. He prefers to go poop in the corner and if I come anywhere near, I'm told to "Go away! Stop watching me! Don't look at me!"

Everything these days is narrated with "Suddenly...." If he's looking at pictures in a book, he'll add "Suddenly, the wolf CRASHED into the tree." etc etc. Suddenly usually is connected to crashing.

He loves wolves. Wolf stories are his favorites. Whenever we see fluffy dogs outside, he thinks they are wolves. Yesterday, he saw a siberian husky type dog and was like - OH NO, MOMMY! Look - there's a HUNGRY WOLF! I told him 75 times that it was not a wolf, just a doggie, but he responded each and every time with "No Mommy - that's a WOLF."

His other favorite book right now is Three Billy Goats Gruff.... He LOVES trolls. Now, whenever he sees a bridge, he calls it a troll bridge (which sounds just like he's saying "toll" bridge) and looks for the troll.

We're back into watching Toy Story (The BLUE ONE!) and he likes to show me that he's buzz lightyear when he's jumping off the couch. He first presses his invisible button (to activate his wings) and then closes his eyes, puts his arms out, and says "TO INFINITY.... AND BEYOND!" He then jumps from the couch arm to the couch, usually doing a tuck and roll too.

He's been a really good eater recently. I had been complaining that he's a picky toddler eater, but really he does pretty good. He'll eat carrots, broccoli, edamame, peas, cheese, pasta, breads and any fruit he sees. He still doesn't care for sauces, but we can now get him to dip things in ketchup from time to time. He's more apt to eat things if I come up with fun names for them.... hence his spinach pasta circle things are called "truck wheels." Last night, I introduced ziti as "pasta tubes!" and he gobbled them up. He's still not big on meat, but we're going to try chickpeas again today... wish us luck. :)

He's been given the green light to eat all nuts (except for those that pose a choking hazard) by Dr. Grant, because he's so verbal. she said she doesn't let non verbal kids eat them cause then they can't tell us if their throats are feeling funny. Dr. Grant was impressed with his vocabulary and asked him to draw her a rainbow picture for his next visit. Ha - little does she know that he's still going through this interesting phase where he refuses to have more that one color on a page. I got him to use purple AND green yesterday, but that was a rarity. A rainbow should be interesting.

He LOVES "playing" with Liam but since Liam is a little more stable these days, the tackling/kicking down/hugging to the floor has gotten more intense. The two of them can giggle so much when they are together - it's very cute to see.

Eli learned this week how to open doors. Sigh.

He also learned that he can climb up his crib, stand on the rails and then climb up on his dresser. Lovely. He did this 43 times yesterday instead of taking a nap. Each time I would come in, he'd say "Sorry mommy" and lay back down. Sigh.

He's upped fake crying to a whole new level this week. It's awful.

Let the adventures continue!

Liam's 9 month checkup

This will have to be quick because Eli is, instead of napping like he's supposed to be doing, continuously climbing out of his crib and on top of (yes, that's right) his dresser. Sigh. I'm very grateful I hooked up the camera again. Every time I go in there, I tell him I'm like Mrs. Potato Head in Toy Story - I have one eye in his room that can see him at all times.

Anyway... we had Liam's 9 month appt today and he's now 17lbs, 4oz, placing him solidly in the 5th percentile for his age. Woohoo - back on the charts! His height also increased to the 34th percentile and she said his head circumference was much better as well. Yeehawww.

She said he looks great and wasn't surprised to hear how advanced motorically he is.... she said the second kids are usually much better with their motor milestones and much later with their speech. No shots today - woohoo!!!!

A few days ago, when he was with Mike when i was in Guatemala, he said his first "word!" It's "UH-OH!" He will repeat it any time you say it and I've also heard him say it a few times when something has fallen. Super cute. He's also trying to repeat me when I ask him to say things like Mama or Dada.

Yesterday, he had a huge milestone - I was waving at him, saying "Hi!" and he waved back!!!!! He got soooo excited and proud of himself when I got excited. He did it many more times in a row, and then even started doing it when I just SAID (and didn't demonstrate) Hi. Yay!

Yesterday, he also stood SEVERAL times for a few seconds. One of the times, he was standing in front of his toy crate and was so engrossed by what he was doing that he forgot he wasn't holding on. He stood for at least 10 seconds that time, but by the time I got my camera, he had plopped down. Most of the time, he only stands for 2-3 seconds. Today on the playground, he did it a bunch of times and even took a step with me holding just one of his hands. Eli walked at 10 months (on March 27th!) so we'll see how Liam does compared to him.

Liam is FINALLY starting to show interest in books, though he still mainly wants to eat them. I've finally been able to get him to sit in my lap and read a few books - woohoo! Mike said he caught him flipping through a book the other day. I hope this continues!

Liam has his bottom left tooth (right if you are looking at him) and his other center one is starting to come in. He also has his top left tooth and it appears that the teeth on either side are starting to come in... maybe that explains why he's still getting up at night!

He continues to take super short first naps, usually only 30 minutes, and short-ish second naps, anywhere from 45 min to an hour and a half. At night, he usually goes down around 7:30 and sleeps til 2 or 4... then goes down again til about 6:30 or so.

And now he's up, too - time to continue our day!

Liam is 9 months old today!

I can hardly believe it. My little baby is 9 months old. That feels old. That feels very close to one year, and that is just unfathomable. He's growing (not necessarily in size, lol, but I do feel like he's getting taller!) leaps and bounds each day and I'm constantly amazed by the new skills he's developing daily.

I'm not sure how much he weighs (his doc appt isn't until the 29th) but he's in pretty age-appropriate clothing. He's in the 6-9 month clothes, though growing out of most of his 6 month ones. The onesies he can still squeeze into, but jammies or pants are too short.

He's in size 3 diapers, and I'm sure he'll be in them for the next year. Lol.

He no longer pees on us every time we change his diaper. He's still IMPOSSIBLE to change when he wants to get away. It's truly amazing how strong such a little guy can be when he wants to be.

He LOVES playing with his big brother and follows him around a lot. Eli likes to play a game where he'll rev up one of his cars/trucks and send it across the room to have Liam catch it. The second he gets to it, Eli makes it head off to a different part of the room. Liam doesn't get frustrated...he just giggles and turbo crawls it to the next location.

He's great at standing and can stand most of the time with just one hand. Today, he kind of pushed up on me really quick and essentially stood up on his own. We're getting closer and closer to walking and I wouldn't be surprised if he walks at 9 months.

He is a pretty good eater, though some days are better than others. He's currently drinking 4 bottles a day, anywhere between 6oz and 10oz at a time. He's eating the equivalent of 2 stage 2 foods (medium jar) three times a day. I've been trying to remember to stop and give him snacks. I'm getting braver with finger foods and today chopped up teeny pieces of celery, fig newtons and cheese. Most of it ended up in his lap, but that's ok. He LOVES cheerios. If Liam wakes up in the AM when mike is still here, I put him in his high chair in the kitchen, where daddy is, and load up his tray with cheerios. Then I get to sleep in (ha) til 6:30 when mike leaves.

He HATES being in the stroller unless it's moving. Bloody murder crying. Sigh.

He loves throwing a ball and then chasing after it. Catch with himself. Pretty fun to watch.

He KNOWS he's not allowed to play with the cord in the corner of the room or play in the kitty litter (as evidenced by the fact that he always turns around to make sure i'm watching...), but that doesn't stop him.

he typically sleeps from 7:30 to 3:30 or 4 and is then up for a bottle before falling back to sleep. He always wakes up around 6am.

He may be allergic to eggplant.. he got a big rash on his face when he tried it.

He still LOVES the cats and watches them/chases them any time he gets.

Liam has the BEST baby laugh ever. He laughs if you kiss his belly, tickle his chest or lift him high up into the air.

He has craaazy energy. The child does not/will not sit still. At night, storytime in "the big bed" is getting VERY hard, especially if one of us is not there, because he literally is climbing over EVERYTHING. Yesterday and today, he climbed over Eli's motorcycle (laying on it's side) instead of going around it.

Hate to say it, but he's a big wuss! lol. He criiiiiiiiieeeeees so hard if he even taps his face/head on the ground. You think he'd be tough with Eli as a big brother (surviving being ridden like a horse, sat on, hugged to the ground, dragged), but pffft. Maybe he's just looking for sympathy! Eli's new favorite thing to do to his little brother is put blankets on top of him. Sigh.

Liam, you're an absolute joy!!!

Eli, Mr. Slim, can EAT!

Eli has been an eating machine the last few weeks... you'd never know it to look at him, but this kid pretty much eats all day long. I jotted down his foods (at least for the morning) for the past few days just to share.

(And Becky, you're going to laugh, because he eats HALF of what your boys eat and I still think it's a lot. Shout out to their amazing endless pits.)

Yesterday:

7:30am: 4 mini waffles, a bowl of mangoes, 3 large slices of watermelon

8:10: A large bowl of craisins (the red ones)

8:15: A large bowl of raisins

8:45: A cereal bar

9:30: A good portion of pretzel goldfish

11:30: (he had been whining for food earlier, but we were out) A peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a CliffKids fruit rope, a Cliffkids chocolate chip bar, a baby pouch (he wants them cause Liam had one) of veggies.

Lost track of the rest of the day, but you get the idea.

Today:

7:15am: 4 mini waffles, a bowl of blueberries, 1/2 of a plum

8:45: Another set of 4 mini waffles

9:20: About 1/4 of a mini watermelon, a bowl of blueberries

10:30 or so: A bowl of dried cherries

11:45: Lunch: an asian pear, more blueberries, some puffs he stole from Liam, a whole wheat burrito wrap, a slice of provolone cheese

He took a looong nap today

3:45: a granola bar

5:30: Dinner (light...he's not so big on dinners). No meat cause of Lent, but he rarely eats meat anyway. We can get an occasional chicken nugget or beef empanada in him, but that's pretty much it for meat. So tonight he had: a bowl of mini red/orange/yellow peppers (couldn't believe he ate them. He thought they were Spider-Man rings, so we ran with that), a few slices of mangoes, a bowl of blueberries (when he gets on a kick, he gets on a kick), 4 mashed potato/french fry smiley faces.

His morning is basically a looong stretch of continuous eating, with breaks to play. And no, he won't sit still enough to eat more at a time. But hey - that's the way it's supposed to be for optimal health, right? Frequent smaller meals.

He does definitely have a toddler diet and frequently tells me that he doesn't like something before he even tries it, but I have to hand it to the kid... he does try a LOT. He will rarely eat more than a bite of something that's new, but 8 times out of 10, he'll try something that we ask him to try. Yes, it usually takes bribery (most often with a yogurt pop...something he thinks is a dessert, but is actually just a yogurt stick frozen), but I'm pretty proud of him. His diet is very fruit-heavy...always has been...and aside from grapefruit and blood oranges, he will eat any fruit you give him. Veggies...he's decent. He'll eat broccoli always, peas 70% of the time (more if I tell him that Liam forgot how to eat peas and I need Eli to SHOW him how to do it...mwahahaha), peppers sometimes, asparagus very occasionally, corn on the cob 80% of the time, spinach 95% of the time, carrots 75% of the time (especially if I talk up how CRUNCHY they are and emphasize that I want to hear the crunch).

He's only allowed to drink water and milk, something I have always felt very strongly about. Juice is empty calories and I'd much rather him drink water. It's cheaper and better for him. And hey - it's not like he needs the fruit, so I can't even justify that! I would love for him to stay away from juice for as long as possible.

His favorite snack foods: goldfish (which he has for EVERY car trip... I think I've Pavlov conditioned him to need goldfish when we drive), peanut butter crackers, raisins, Cliffbars, CliffKid Fruit ropes, "a square" of bread...and many others.

He DEFINITELY has his mommy's sweet tooth and would eat ice cream, cookies, cake, etc every day if we let him. He thinks the sole purpose of having a birthday is to have cake, and if he hears that it's anyone's birthday, he will say "Can Eli have cake?" He knows that his birthday is "May 12vthhh" and that "I'm going to have CAKE!"

We've discovered recently that he likes fish, so Mike has been sharing whenever he has it. I've also been pushing new foods on him that have amazing superpowers. For instance, I have him TOTALLY convinced that beans (pinto and black, so far) can make him jump REALLY high every time he eats them. He is a good pasta eater, but when he's not, I tell him that pasta makes you run REALLY REALLY fast.

Oh, good times. :)

Closer and closer to walking!

Five minutes ago, Liam let go of the chair he was holding onto, went down into a deep squat (like he was going to sit on the floor) and then raised himself up - all without holding on. Two days ago, he was holding onto me with a few fingers and when I moved out of the way, he stood for about 3 seconds without holding onto anything before he realized it and came crashing down. He's pretty good at cruising around holding onto the couch and can take an extended reach to get something he wants (like... if he's standing at his little table and the couch is a foot away, he'll reach out and grab it without falling). This kid is going to walk at 9 months... I can feel it.

Liam has four main missions in life right now:

1) To get the computer cables

2) To get to the media cable by the door so he can try to pull it out from the wall

3) To get to the kitty litter boxes

4) To get to whatever food Eli is eating so he can flip the bowl. (Eli is good about protecting his food and yelling - MOMMY! UH OH! GET LIAM!)

He can make it across the room in less than 5 seconds, so I am constantly on the move. If I put a toy (musical, preferably) in front of him, it can occupy him for up to a minute (if I'm lucky) and it gives me a minute to sit down.

I should know better than to try posting on here when the boys are awake.... in this short post alone, I've already gotten up about 5 times.

We're going to the farm in a little bit - it's supposed to be almost 70 degrees today! I can't wait!

New set of Rules

Being the mother of a toddler can be very interesting at times. I THOUGHT he was asserting his independence before, but this week has brought with it a whole new set of rules I must follow....

I am no longer allowed to:

-turn the pages in his books

-open or close the refrigerator when he wants to look inside

-get the food out of the fridge that he wants to eat (he must do it)

-turn on the faucets when washing his hands

-look at him for most of the day

...you get the point.

Random Eli quotes

So, in cleaning out multiple boxes, I found countless little scraps of paper with random Eli quotes scribbled here and there. If I go through and actually try to figure out which ones I've already posted and/or try to figure out when exactly it was that he said them, I know that they'll never get posted. So I'm just going to throw them all together here... a hodgepodge of glorious Eli quotes that I don't ever want to forget. Forgive me if I've already posted some of them.

Here goes:

"We're going to go to the playground on the next morrow."

He used to introduce his brother as: "His name's with Liam!" Now, he says: "These are my friends. This is Mommy and this is my brother. His name is Liam!"

Whenever he wanted to sit on the couch with something, he'd say "I want to go with it." (Meaning, he doesn't want to sit in his chair...he wants to go over there with it.)

One day, when playing with his Spider-Man house, he put The Green Goblin up on Spider-Man's window. He wanted me to ask... "Why is he up there?" to which Eli's answer was "Because he wants to know Spider-Man's secrets!" (I thought that was pretty clever).

Whenever he comes upon anything small or miniature, he refers to them as "the Liam ones."

One day he said: "Uh oh! A cactus! A cactus SCARES me!"

If there's anything that is broken, "Daddy can fix it! Wait til he gets home."

(We're painting as I type this. He loves to paint but now insists on only using ONE color per page. A purist. God forbid we use red AND orange on the same page.)

There's a frequent commercial on the radio for a place where you can donate your car.... 1-877-Kars for Kids... K A R S, cars for kids.... it's the most annoying song ever and gets stuck in your head if you hear it. Mike and I make fun of it ALL the time because he loathes it. Well, guess who sings it all the time now? Yup! Mr. Eli. Classic.

Eli LOVES Katy Perry. He has since he was little, always wanting to watch that YouTube video of her on Sesame Street (the one that was banned because of her scanty attire). Now, he loves hearing "The One That Got Away." He always asks for it (luckily, it comes on the radio every 10 minutes) and likes to dance to it in the backseat.

If I don't know the answer to something (usually the name of a superhero), thank GOODNESS he accepts the answer "Maybe we should ask Daddy."

Yesterday, he found some money on the table and told me that "I have money, too!" I totally wasn't expecting the next part... "to use for special programs for a fundraiser at the Children's Hospital!" (We've read Curious George makes Pancakes 75,000 times, and that's what they raise the money for).

In January (I wrote that down), he told me: "I have to tell you a secret - come!" When I got there, he whispered to me "James is a VERY fast engine!"

I always try to get Eli to help clean up after his colossal messes, and he always has very clever responses for why he can't. He likes to tell me he can't because he's too busy or too dizzy. The best was when he told me "I don't want to clean up. I'm not very good yet." or "maybe when I get bigger I can help you!"

I am often telling him that he and/or Liam can do something when he/they get bigger. Sometimes, when he wants to do something that Liam can do but he is too big for (eating puffs, sitting in little chairs, sitting in Liam's car seat), he tells me "when I get little, I can do it."

A few days ago, Eli told me that Liam wanted to go outside to the ice cream truck.

Me: "Really?"

Eli: "Yes. He does."

Me: "What does Liam want to get?"

Eli: "Hmmm....let's seee (finger on chin)...uh..... He wants the SPIDER-MAN one!"

Yay - now I can throw away all of those little scraps of paper!

Right now, Eli is big into watching "The Little Engine that Could" on Netflix... a cute little animated movie with some fun voices (Whoopi Goldberg, Jamie Lee Curtis, etc)... but he only likes to watch up to the "SCARY PART!" I showed him Monsters Inc yesterday and he really liked it. When he started talking about "how the little boy was laying in the bed and got scared of the monster!" I realized I should proooobably hold off on it.. I don't want him "pretending" to get scared of monsters. He seems to genuinely enjoy monsters, though.

His favorite things to do are play with his new Little People Barn (which Liam likes to do, too!), ride around on his little horse that makes neighing sounds with Liam watching and trying to catch him, standing up on his motorcycle trying to reach things high up (resulting in bad things... knocking things over, reaching things he shouldn't, and falling down with a big crash). As always, his favorite game is to have mommy be the green goblin, chasing him and tickling him. (I have to go stand in the kitchen, look out the window, say RAAAAR and chase him... he then ice freezes me while he gets into the proper position....up on the arm chair of the couch...and then unfreezes me so he can fall backwards onto the couch and have me tickle him. repeat. repeat. repeat.)

Ok.... off to be the green goblin!