Naughty Day, New Photos and Coloring

Yesterday, Eli behaved horribly. It was almost shocking. He ran away from me twice at the book store, ran away from me at Jumping Jellybeans, colored on his wall with crayon, threw socks at me (after being explicitly told not to), kept getting out of bed and running around the house while he was supposed to be napping, and generally complained, whined and cried at every one of my requests. All in all, I was fried when Scott got home. As punishment I tried time outs, I told him that we wouldn't be returning to our favorite places, he had no dessert, and I took away one of his very favorite things -- me. Usually at night Scott and I share the good night routine. We take turns reading to him, singing to him and laying with him while he falls asleep (which we are slowly weaning him from.) He's accepted Daddy sharing in the nighttime routine since this summer but, for the cuddling and falling asleep part he always wants me. Sometimes, if Keira needs me, I'm not able to lay with him but, I always try. Last night, I told him that I wasn't going to cuddle with him. I told him that because he was so naughty, I was exhausted and I needed a break. I think taking away the cuddling and the chocolate had the most impact.

Fortunately, he's with Dendi today, and he seems to be behaving a lot better. I think we both needed a break from each other. My guess is that this behavior is a reaction to no longer being the center of attention and his "terrible threes" behavior. He was such a good two year old. I've heard they either misbehave at two or three. For Eli, it's definitely his third year that's been a challenge.

I'm finishing this post now, it's later in the day, and Eli has returned from Dendi's. Fortunately, he is behaving normally, and is pleasant to be around. Thank God!!!

In other Eli news... Eli continues to love taking pictures. Here are a few of my recent favorites: Keira in one of her favorite places -- her Jumperoo and his two Slinkies in a tangle.



His new favorite pasttime is coloring. Until the last month he wanted nothing to do with coloring. He'd rush through it and scribble. But, for some reason a few weeks ago it clicked. Scott sat and colored for him, and I think then he understood how you could do it carefully. Now, he spends many hours each day coloring. Grammie found an activity book for him at the thrift store with dot to dots, mazes and color by numbers. Now, he wants us to make all of his coloring books color by numbers.