Big-brother Eli!

Time for a post about big-brother, Eli!  

Eli is certainly one fun-loving, sweet, and crazy boy!  Since Clara was born David and I are both always commenting on how big he's getting and how much older he seems.  I've especially been impressed with his language!  It's amazing how much he knows and remembers.

Reading in the car--

Eli is a terrific older brother!  He has been so patient and understanding.  When Clara cries he says, "Mommy!  Help Baby!" or "Mommy!  Feed Baby!"  Sometimes he gets a little sad about things, like when we can't read books in the chair in his room because both he and baby can't fit on my lap at the same time, so we have to read on the couch instead.  But he bounces back quickly.  He's been really good about me having to nurse so much.  Besides for watching shows, we do puzzles, play with stickers, read books, and drive cars together while I feed the baby.  He's also learned how to open the fridge, so he can even grab himself some snacks!

Before Clara was born Eli had a hard time letting David do things for him.  He was also kind of rude with David and too bossy when David tried to play with him.  Since I've been busier with the baby, Eli's now become best buds with his dad!  He's always happy to see him come home, they enjoy "wrestling" together and doing all kinds of stuff.  One fun thing they started doing was practicing somersaults.  Eli likes to say (in reference to somersaulting), "That's not easy!"  Saturday mornings they always go out and do things with just the two of them.  I'm so grateful that instead of getting upset and jealous of my time spent with the baby and less time I have with him, he's taken more to David.  A huge blessing!

He thinks it's pretty fun to play in/with all of Clara's baby items--

A sweet thing Eli's started doing is running up to me throughout the day and hugging me and saying "I miss you!"  or "I love you!"  It sure always makes me feel good!  He also sweetly/sadly will say, "I miss my daddy at work."  : )

One of the books that we read is called What Time is It, Peter Rabbit?  Ever since we started reading it, Eli has become obsessed with the time.  All day long he looks at the clock and asks, "What time for is it?"  I'll tell him the time, and he'll always respond with, "6:15 again?!" (or any other time that I say it is.)  It's very cute and funny.

Enjoying a popsicle on a hot day--

Found a funny old wig to play with.  Tehe.  : )

Now that we always have the camera out to take pictures of Clara, Eli all of a sudden wants his picture taken, too!  It's fun that he hasn't been shying away from the camera like he usually does, but it does sometimes make it harder to only get a picture of the baby!  : )

Usually Eli watches his same old favorite shows over and over and over.  But lately he's been up for trying new shows (we just have Netflix).  He's never seen the movie Cars, but he enjoys a show called Mater's Tales.  So he was pretty excited to have accumulated THREE toy Maters and one Lightning McQueen, thanks to Grandma Hayes and Goodwill.  : )  He's also been watching Thomas the Train lately.  The first time we went to the library and played on the train table after watching Thomas he was SO excited to play with the same trains from the show!  Another set of shows he's been watching are these educational videos on different "things that go."  There's one on construction trucks, firetrucks, tractors, monster trucks, etc.  I think they are quite dull, but he loves them!  He's gonna be the smartest kid when it comes to "things that go"!  The other shows he's been watching are books that were made into shows, by a company called Weston Woods.  He's enjoyed such stories-as-shows as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Danny and the Dinosaur, and Is Your Mama a Llama?.

Also since Clara was born Eli seems to get especially excited about doing things "together!"  For example, he's never been a fan of swings at the park.  But now he likes to say, "Let's go on the swings TOGETHER!" So he sits on my lap and we swing together and he LOVES it.  Other examples are, "Let's paint together!"  "Let's sit on the couch together!"  "Let's have fruit snacks together!"  : )

Eli and I stamping "together!"

As I've talked about in the past, Eli is quite attached to his pacifier.  It was really getting out-of-hand at the end of my pregnancy.  It was supposed to be an only-at-sleeping-times thing, but had turned into a thinks-he-needs-to-have-it-all-day problem.  Whenever I'd say "You don't need your paci, you're a big boy!"  He'd respond with, "I'm not a big boy!  I'm growing smaller!"  Surprisingly he's been doing so well at giving it up during the day now!  After he gets out of bed we put his paci in the napkin basket in the kitchen.  He seems to like that paci has a specific place that it goes when he's not using it, and it's a place that he can't see the paci during the day so he's not reminded that he doesn't have it.  Our goal is to have him completely off the paci by his 3rd birthday.  We've stopped bringing it to church, and even stopped bringing it on long car rides, so I think we'll be okay!

One funny thing that I love about Eli is that he often makes up songs to things we just talked about.  He'll randomly go over to the piano, or play on his xylophone, or sing at his "conductor stand."  I always wish I had my camera on me so I could immediately start video taping his songs because they are just so cute. 

 Hopefully someday I'll catch that sweet little (loud) singing voice on camera, so we can remember one of the funny little songs he came up with.  : )

Swimming at G&G Metheny's--

Eli's always loved his pajamas with construction trucks on them, but lately he begs and pleads to wear them every night!  I always think that after the kids have worn pajamas one night they're dirty and need to be washed.  So it's really hard for me to allow him to wear his dumper jammies multiple nights in a row without washing them!  At times when I don't let him wear them he still wants to sleep with them in his bed!  Haha!  

Eli sporting the infamous dumper jammies!

Speaking of dumpers, a couple weeks ago Eli came home from a Goodwill trip with David with a new toy excavator!  It's fairly big, with an attached cord that has a remote control with different noise buttons to push.  After Eli got it he of course wanted to take it to bed, to the store, to the park, etc.  (I didn't let him, but it was rather amusing where he thought it could go.)  One of the buttons plays rock music, and after Eli pushes it he jumps up fast and starts dancing!  

A naughty thing Eli's been doing lately is slamming doors and locking them (he always refuses to unlock them, so we make sure to keep the key nearby), and turning things on that are battery-powered and just leaving them on.  He's always turning on the baby swing and bouncy seat when Clara's not in them, as well as trying to turn on lamps and flashlights when they don't need to be on.  Grrr...

Eli has quite a fascination with firetrucks.  At home he has several toy firetrucks and always wants to play with them.  He likes to drive them around me, making a loud siren noise, and yelling, "There's a fire!  We need to put it out with this hose!"  Then he proceeds to "spray" me and declare, "All gone!"  Every single time we're in the car he begs to go see firetrucks at the fire station.  We have a couple that are fairly close to us, so when we're around those areas I try to take him over there.  He sure would get the biggest kick out of a field trip with a tour of the fire station and getting to sit up in the firetruck!  Someday.  : )

And lastly, here are some funny things/things Eli says on a regular basis--

"That be good."

"That be fun."

"Why??"  (Asks about EVERYTHING)

"Please? I NEED it!!"

"No!  I don't wanna get baptized!"  (said in reference to getting his hair rinsed in the bath)

"Be quiet!  I'm trying to read!"  (said in the car while Dave and I were talking and he was looking at a book)

"I'm not really very happy."

"We're here!!  YAY!!!" (says about most places we go to once we arrive)

"They're not moving, they're taking lunch break."  (says in reference to when we see the construction trucks on the highway and no one's working in them.)

"Talk to my poopie."  (What he says when I change his diaper.  I think this came as a result of David commenting on the contents of his diaper...)

"It's not bedtime, it's good morning!"  (Doesn't think it should be bedtime when it's light outside.)

(Hold out hand like he wants you to shake it) "Hi! I Eli, who are you?"

What a fun boy I have to spend my days with!  : )