As you can see, Eli needed no help in identifying his chocolate kisses stocking stuffer from Santa.
We purchased our main gift for Eli off of EBay this year with the help of Eli's great aunts: Aunt Sally, Aunt Lucy and Aunt Lora (thanks!). We got him several Duplo sets: mostly Bob the Builder and a few Winnie the Pooh sets. As you can see in this picture there's some fun to be had with an EBay gift like that -- multiple Bobs. I figure it will come in handy for "toddler sharing" at our house.
Here Muck helps read one of Eli's new books.
"Ahhh"-- what Eli said when he unwrapped the wipes box. He knew what it was, and wasn't sure why we were giving it to him for Christmas. Fortunately, for him one of his Duplo sets was hiding inside.
Then, after opening our presents together, we headed over to BaBo and Grammie's house to open presents with them, Aunt Seana and Uncle Brian. Grammie was saying that this is probably the last Christmas that we actually have to encourage him to open presents. He enjoyed it, and he is definitely enjoying all his new toys, but he was more interested in playing with one or two toys at a time. It actually worked out well for the rest of us, he was usually occupied with a new toy while the rest of us opened our presents.
Here's Eli talking to BaBo about his Elmo Dominoes, a favorite present of the morning.
He seems to have opened most of his presents on Daddy or Uncle Brian's lap.
Here he's demonstrating his ability to multi-task.
And, finally sharing a smile with Mommy.
We went home, got some much needed rest, then headed back to Grammie's house for a delicious Christmas dinner with Grammie, BaBo, Aunt Seana, Uncle Brian, Dendi, BaPa, and the Summervilles. As you can see from the pictures, Eli was not in much of a photo mood, but we did get a few posed group shots. In fact, I think Eli was pretty tuckered out from the festivities in general.
We made it an early night for two reasons: Eli was done and Eli had a run in with Uncle Brian's very sweet dog Lyric. Unfortunately, about eight months ago, a neighborhood dog escaped it's fence and ended Eli's good relationship with dogs. She was a medium sized dog and she came running from across the street. Before I could get to Eli, she had her paws up on his shoulders and she was barking in his face. Even though she didn't mean any harm -- I think she was just excited, Eli was not impressed. Then, a few days later, she escaped her fence again while we were playing in the backyard. Eli was playing in his play house, she ran over, jumped up on the door and barked at him in his house. He was trapped inside. In both instances, she didn't hurt him, she's just hyper, but it changed his attitude towards dogs completely.
So, on Christmas, Uncle Brian brought his dog, Lyric down from Atlanta. She usually stays out on the back deck when Eli's over, but it started to rain, so Brian brought her inside and put her in the laundry room. Eli had seen her in there, but I think in all the excitement he forgot. After dinner, Eli and BaBo were playing a variation of hide and seek with the sliding dining room door while the rest of us were playing Apples to Apples (a great game) in the adjoining living room. Eli shut BaBo in the dining room, ran down the hall to hide in his second favorite room, the laundry room. We all heard a terrifying guttural scream coming from down the hall. Scott and I got up and ran to Eli -- I don't actually remember the trip there, I think I was preparing myself for all the awful scenes that might be awaiting me. The first second that I saw Eli I didn't even remember that Lyric had been in the laundry room, and I couldn't figure out why he was standing in a corner screaming.
We pieced together later (from Eli's own account) that Lyric had not touched him, licked him or even sniffed him. Eli said she pushed past him so that she could go find Uncle Brian. He said he loves Lyric when she's outside. But, after a day of excitement and over stimulation we decided to head home.
No comments:
Post a Comment