Vacation Part IV

In between the cousins' birthdays, we of course had to have a party! Eli was very gentle with the cake, patting it lightly like we teach him to pat the dogs. Once he had a piece of his own, however, he went to town. He very possessivley covered it with both hands so no one would take it from him. Magically, the small amount of blue frosting on top of the cake covered his entire face by the end!

After cake and industrial cleaning supplies, we/he opened presents! A hit was the singing book from Grammy. It helped that she put his picture in it and he was on every page. My how handsome the main character was, even Madelyn thought so!

Vacation Part III

Beach, boardwalk, Funland. It just works! What better way to spend birthday party Saturday than at the boardwalk! We weren't quite sure how the kiddos would like the rides. Our first attempt was the carousel. Eli was a champ and loved sitting on the horse. It took him a minute to realize that he was moving up and down though.



Since the carousel was a go, we tried the flying helicopters. Eli got very impatient that the ride took so long to start, and I am pretty sure I was having way more fun than him, but overall I think it was a positive experience. The thing you need to know though is that you move the lever in and out and the helicopter goes up and down. Well, Eli just liked pushing it in and out really fast...luckily we didn't really take flight!

Helicopters led us to the hot air balloon ferris wheel. I let Jason climb into the mini ballons and was able to snap this adorable picture. As soon as it started moving, Eli stood up, he's such a little daredevil.

As if the day wasn't busy enough, we packed up and head back to the house for the party... and of course cake!

Vacation Part II

Once in Delaware, we packed and packed and packed to go to the beach. Eli and Madelyn wore show-stopping outfits and had no idea what was going on.



Once we found a spot, Eli was so heavy that I just plopped him in the sand and he LOVED it. It didn't matter that sand found its way into all the creases, of which he has many, or that killer 6 inch tidal waves flattened him, he always got up for more! Jason and I bought him a new hat to wear. We only found one "boy" had that a strap to it, but everyone kept making fun of our little German soldier. I thought it was cute! 4 hours of preparation made for a fantastic 2 hour beach excursion.

Vacation Part I

Jason had two weeks off from school/work and we took advantage of it! Our first stop was the lake for a fun weekend with Jason's family! Gran and Granpa showed up with one of the coolest toys Eli had ever seen. Here is he playing with it:



He kept pushing it round and round and round the house. When he wasn't playing with and empty plastic box, we went swimming! We plopped him in his crab, tied a rope to a claw, and gave the other end to Granpa and he had a great time. (Both Eli and Granpa!)

He also liked playing with daddy in the water too. It was the first time that any of us had gone kayaking as well. Now that is a good workout! Before we left Texas, we went to Coolidge to track down some ancestry links for Randy. We visited cemeteries and found headstones and even walked through the house his grandfather built in the early 1900's! It was so neat to find everything almost exactly how he remembered it. After the lake we headed to Dallas and on to Part II...

Playing

This is the face I see at least 10 times a day. It can mean anything from "I didn't do it!" to "Are you sure your my mom, you're so weird!" to "I know you think it's cute, so I do it!"

(No, I did not take this most excellent photo, but I'm glad I have it!)

Here he is post-sprinkler fun!

Eli is so busy all the time. I turn around and he has discovered a new game or toy. Recently, he has found a red ball on page two of his new favorite book. On page three he found the sheep, and on page one he discovered crash cymbals. It was the first time he really noticed things on a page, and I was so excited! Now he sits in his play area and organizes his books, putting them in the basket, or sometimes the tupperware, and taking them out again. I realized I had been stifling his reading experience because I thought he was closing every book I opened, when he was actually very clumsily turning the pages!

The first steps have been taking....and forgotten. Eli is a fan of standing, but not walking. I partly blame Tank (who gets blamed for all the weird things in our house) for Eli's race-quality crawling. They are now head to head on the floor and when your bestest friend is the same size as you, why change a good thing! I've never seen anyone crawl this fast! Tank has the uncanny ability of making Eli belly laugh like Jase and I can not. If only we could record it for you. Unfortunately Tank isn't as big a fan of Eli as Eli is of Tank!

Splish Splash

We had fun in the pool today with Jody and Clara! Eli liked floating around in his crab, it made him anything but crabby!

There could have been more pictures, but I was having too much fun too!

He's gonna love sprinklers!

He didn't want it to end!

He's getting so big! His feet touch the ground when he sits on the front porch!



Remember the tupperware? Some of it did not make it back in the cabinet. He likes to push it around the floor, occasionally trapping one of Tank's toys underneath which drives him crazy. This particular dish became a step stool. You just know that he is looking down thinking "I didn't know this would make me taller. Maybe if I find a really big one, I can finally get on the other side of this gate and eat the dog food!"

I call this "The Tippiest Tip of His Tippy Toes".

The great outdoors

After a walk around the neighborhood, we parked him on the back deck while we mowed and tended to the yard. The lawnmower captured his attention and as you can see, left him spellbound.....with his ankles crossed.

Eli is also the master of silly faces. Here is his "I'm so exicted and full of energy that I just can't stand it so every now and then I just have to make a freak out face." What you can't tell is that every muscle in his body is tensed.

This is his "I know that I am adorable and that by putting my hand on my knee and looking intently yet with a hint of surprise off to the side I can make mommy's heart melt" face.

A clean mess

The other day, Eli discovered that he could open our kitchen cabinets. I steered him clear of the cleaning products under the sink, the glass by the stove, and the blender. I didn't put everything off limits. I thought to myself, "Self, would it be so bad to let him have some fun in the tupperware cabinet? He can't break anything, he probably won't get hurt, and you are standing here doing dishes. How bad could it be?" What myself failed to consider was just how loud, messy, and adorable it was.

He has just begun. By opening just one cabinet door, he was able to survey the situation and plan a strategy.



After thinking about it, he decided to open both doors and pull the front things out to get a better view of what was piled in the back.

After exploring the lower shelf, he decided that the best noise makers were on the top shelf.

Making such a mess is hard work and eventually he just had to sit in the cabinet to continue playing.

All in all he had a grand time playing with the tupperware. Usually he would be banging a dish only to have it fly out of his hand, strike another dish which would then become the object of his affection. Mommy and Daddy have since made the decision to put baby proof latches on ALL cabinets. Eli still tries to open them and when he sees only a little crack he peeks inside to check on his treasures.

Playing

Eli has recently discovered the "big" toys! Instead of just stuffed animals and soft things, we have cars, tables, and tunnels. His favorite is to be pushed around on his car. The other morning, he drove himself right up to his table for a little drive-thru breakfast. Of course, it was cookies, but I guess since they are plastic it won't ruin his appetite!

When daddy was working nights, Eli and I got really tired of looking at one another. We treated ourselves to a trip to IKEA. The carts there really swivel and the child seats aren't as confining as the grocery stores are, so Eli thought he was on a roller coaster ride, especially the way I was driving! I couldn't resist buying a crawl tunnel for him. He loves it! He'll hide toys in it, carry his cellphone (my old one) in there and make secret phone calls, and crawl so the tunnel rolls around and scares Tanky.

We took another trip to the park where Eli found more cars! He really enjoyed sitting in it and watching the other kids run around. He kept kicking his feet, he just can't wait to be running around too!

Later at the park, I wanted to see if Eli could climb steps. We don't have any at home so we borrowed some at the park. It took a while to find a playground without a lot of big kids to run him over! As you can see, he is pretty good at climbing steps, already working on his second one!

Our 85 degree weather made him hot and sweaty so we had a nice cool bath at home. As he was standing on the bathmat after his bath, his little feet were leaving these adorable footprints that I just couldn't resist getting a picture of!

I've also noticed that Angela is posting pictures of Madelyn's bruises, and I was wondering why I didn't have those kinds of pictures of Eli. Then I realized that Eli doesn't get bruises, he gives them to me. Maybe that is a boy trait?