for the love of art

Eli is totally into 'art' these days. He must get this skill from his father because I am possibly the worst artist ever. Well, in terms of drawings, etc... Eli's love for tools has taken on a whole new obsession lately as he is constantly wanting us to draw pictures of tools for him. Well, we were outside the other day doing sidewalk chalk and he said, "mommy, eli drew a screwdriver". Lo-and-behold, I look over and sure enough...

I think it's pretty darn impressive, don't you?? I swear, he did it all on his own. I was amazed. Really, it's one of the first times that I was speechless. Really, it actually looks like a screwdriver. Amazing. Then, he tells me that it's a flathead screwdriver and not a phillips head. I am not lying.

His fine motor skills are impressive. He is so studious about little details. I mean, check out the grip.

Okay, this is a little bit of a 'bragging' post but I am just amazed.

STTTTRIIKKEEit

Possibly one of my favorite pictures of all time. A genuine smile...priceless!

Pretty good stance for a 2 year old!

Just because he is so cute

Eli loves baseball. I don't know if it's the idea of throwing something when he doesn't get to normally throw anything or if it's just a guy thing. But, the kid loves baseball. Or, as he calls it, baseballs. He is actually really good at throwing the ball and pretty good at hitting!

This is the look I get when he knows he is about to do something that he shouldn't

And, then he does it anyway...throws the bat instead of the ball

He was so proud of himself though

Too bad he is out of focus because this picture is adorable. I love the laugh

preskuls

Eli started preschool. Sigh. Weep. Tear. Okay, not really. Maybe it's because he has been in a home daycare setting his whole life or maybe it's because I know this is the next step or maybe it's because he was so excited. Either way, I was happy for him and I didn't shed a tear like many, many of the other parents. He was so excited. He marched with his little backpack and carried his little lunchbox and it was darn near the cutest thing that I ever saw. More on that later this week. But, last week was orientation. He got to spend about an hour in the room with the other kids while we went to a little meeting for the preschool. So, I'll post pics of that today and more on the first official day later. I got the cutest pictures on my iphone so I will figure out how to upload that later.

New kicks for the start of school...it was a nightmare trying to get him to wear these but now he loves them

Minus the granola bar, Adam says he looks "so GQ" in this picture

mommy lovin

Sometimes he just likes to snuggle

First lollipop

The thing might as well have been gold!

pretty smart

First, he scoops up the water with the excavator

He decides that it is just easier to fill it up with the hose

the carefully dumps it into the bucket

decides that's too slow and that the hose is much faster

carefully transports the bucket to the sandbox to make mud

can you tell it's hot out?

Check out the red cheeks! So irritated that the first one is out of focus because I just love it!

such a good big brother

If you ask Eli what he is(ie;boy, girl, etc...) he, without fail, will say, "i'm a big brother". And, he sure is. He is such an awesome brother. I just couldn't be prouder!

The latest is that he likes to feed her. He will climb up onto his chair to get a spoonful of food for her then carefully climb down the chair(we have a high kitchen table) with spoon in hand and walk over to Teagen, climb in my lap with the spoon still in tow and o-so-carefully feed her. It's quite the ordeal but well worth it in the end!

pictures mommy

I think Eli was jealous when I was taking pictures of Teagen the other day so he requested that I take pictures of him. Here is how it went

He specifically requested the above picture and was so proud of himself...

he can be such a handful! but he sure is cute!

I'm pulling my hair

Really, son? Two hours. You screamed and tantrumed for 2 hours today. This could make me loose my mind. Your dads out of town, Papa came over(then left), I took the IPhone away from you and that's how it all began. It was a combination of many things but it was a hell.of.an.afternoon. I finally put you to bed at 5:40. I was done. You were done. We needed a break. I went back in after I put T down and we read stories and you just wanted to rock. It was a LONG evening. 

This only marks the 3rd tantrum that Eli has ever had. However, I vivedly remember every one of them. Probably because Adam was gone for all of them and that just left T and I to droan out the screaming by talking to each other. 

Funny story though(okay, not really at the time but looking back). Teagen was napping, Eli was screaming so I took him outside(really, I dragged his rear end out the door while in my mind thinking not-so-pleasant thoughts about him waking his sister up). I was on the phone with my neighbor while my child was screaming at the top of his lungs and grabbing at my pants. I was ignoring him. Really, I am a behavioralist and I am not even going to try to reason with that. So, I just kept doing my thing. He knows the routine...you calm yourself and become civil and then we can talk. Well, in the midst of all this, a cop drives by. He literally stops his car and stares at me. I break from the phone conversation, look up and wave. Really, what else was I supposed to do? He must have felt sorry for me because he just waved and drove off. Man, what a night. In the end, he woke up Teagen anyways so we might as well have just stayed inside...

In all honesty(and I am not making excuses), Adam has been traveling A LOT lately. This is not something that we planned for but something that has become a reality. It's hard on the little man. They are sooo close. Tonight, he just told me that he missed his daddy. "mommy, i really miss daddy. Can daddy rock me?" Everytime he hears something, he thinks it is Adam coming home from work. It's hard. Really hard. What do you do? We just talk about it and try to keep going. But, it's hard. They have this special 'manly' bond or something. It's not something that I can compensate for. Sometimes, a kid just wants his daddy...

My little man

There are a few things about my little man lately that I just want to document for my own record. 

1. He has become so protective of his little sister. He loves her so much. Many times we will find him just holding her hand or 'talking' with her. He loves to play 'this little piggy' with her feet. 

2. He is talking. Man is he talking. Some of his latest are, "I'm looking for somefing", "It's comin this direcshin(direction)", "Eli doing somefing" or "what's wrong mommy?". Sometimes throughout the day, when I am in another room, I will here him saying, "I love you mommy". It just melts my heart. 

3. He is eating much more. Adam and I just took the approach that you will eat what we are having or just not eat at all. We never force fed him or punished him or made him eat, we just waited. Many-a-foodless nights and he finally came around. He is trying new things or atleast putting them in his mouth before proclaiming, "no likey". This has made dinner time much more enjoyable. We also don't make him take X amounts of bites. When he is done, he is done. 

4. The other day, he peed in the toilet standing up. All by himself. Now, this might seem a little crazy but he didn't need a stepstool, he didn't need me to hold him over the potty. He just stood there and peed. My god, adam and i just looked at each other in amazement because, I swear, a week ago, he would have just peed on the floor. My point...he has gotten so tall!!!!

5. He loves his daddy. This is a special bond. He is really liking the men these days. Papa Bob, Uncle Andy, Grandpa and his daddy. Must be a man thing. 

Rain!a

It actually rained here one day. With temperatures staying well over 100 for the past who-know-how-long, it was a nice relief. Two months ago, Eli would have just wanted to watch the rain from the window. But, I tell ya, his swim lessons have done wonders for him. He has developed a true love for water; swimming, the rain, a sprinkler, the water hose, etc... It has been so nice and has opened up so many new things for us to do together. 

here he is covering his head from the rain. 

 

welcome back and swimming

We have been busy around here! Lots of changes coming our way but for now, we stay sheltered in our little home. Away from all the chaos that seems to be chasing us at every corner. I love spending time at our house, as a family, just hanging out. Nothing to clean. Nothing to do(well, there is always stuff). Just playing. Laughing. Running. Jumping. All those things that bring you happiness. The simple things. 

Aside from hanging out in the house, away from the heat, we have been spending a lot of time at the pool. I have ventured to the pool twice now with both kids. One time, I had friends there but the other, just me. It was scary. I won't lie. The little boy wants to swim. and jump. and run all around. and blow bubbles. and anything else that you can think of. He keeps me on my toes. Teagen stays in the water sling that I got to wear her in. It works pretty well but, even with the mesh, the heat is still unbearable for her. So, we are limited to about 45 minutes to an hour which can be hard to find in between T's naps and Eli's nap...but it's well worth it! 

Daddy went to the pool with us this day

they are so stinkin cute!! Enjoying our picnic dinner!

I had to do a self-portrait so I could remember that I did actually take them by myself!!

Coming up later...Eli's first true snow cone experience!