I've been jotting down random cute things that Eli has said or done for a few months now. I keep meaning to post them and there's no time like the present. As I have been collecting these sayings for months, I'm sure this is the first post of many posts. Here goes, in no particular order...
-- One pair of Eli's fuzzy winter pajamas has a hole in one of the feet. I keep meaning to sew it up, but you know how that goes. One morning while changing his diaper, Eli started talking about his big toe that was sticking out of the hole. He told me it was the "Mother" or "Mamma" toe. I guess he extrapolated that, if the little toe was called the baby toe, the big toe must be the mom.
-- One of Eli's favorite munchies are Goldfish. We usually have them packed in a tupperware in the backpack. When we are at home, I open up the tupperware and place it on the ottoman where he can graze when hungry. Daddy likes Goldfish too, so one afternoon he was helping himself to some of Eli's snacks. Eli told Daddy not to eat all of them. Scott said that he had just bought a BIG container of Goldfish. He made a big deal about it, taking the new container out of the pantry, showing it to Eli and telling Eli that there were "TWO POUNDS of Goldfish," so there was plenty to share.
About a week later, Scott was taking Eli out of the house on an outing. They were trying to decide what kind of outerwear Eli needed. Eli opened the front door to check the temperature. Scottie asked him if it was cold. Eli turned and emphatically said that it was "TWO POUNDS COLD!" I guess it was very cold.
-- Until just recently, the only breakfast (and really lunch) that Eli wanted was pancakes and waffles. He liked to alternate, one pancake, one waffle, etc. At the beginning of breakfast he would ask me what he had last, so that he could keep up his rotation. Then, one morning when he was really hungry, he ate his pancake, and his waffle and asked for more. Surprised, I told him that he already had "a pancake and a waffle." Sooo, he told me that he now wanted "b" pancake and "b" waffle.
-- We seem to be raising a future lawyer, politician, or mediator. He is a VERY effective and hilarious negotiator. He's so good that Scott and I frequently have to lowball at the beginning of the negotiations just to break even. We list his choices, and he usually likes to tell me how I could have better presented these choices. He even, unsurprisingly, suggests alternative choices. At one point he started saying, "Ummmm...Idea," whenever he wanted to make a suggestion. He would say this while holding up his right index finger, as if to accentuate his point. He still does it, but far less frequently, and sounds just like a little man when it occurs.
-- We were shopping for place mats, and thought we'd show Eli some of the educational ones at the local toy store, as he loves letters and numbers. We let him pick out his own from the available collection. He chose letters, numbers to 100, and addition & subtraction. I thought that the addition & subtraction was a little over his head, but Scott figured it couldn't hurt. A few days later I was fixing Eli's breakfast and, while I was working, I set the addition & subtraction place mat in front of him. Eli began looking at the place mat while talking to himself. At one point, during this one-way conversation, he said to himself, "What's A plus 1? Well...what comes after A? B. So, A plus 1 equals B." I hadn't yet talked to him about addition or subtraction, but maybe Scott had. In any case, I hope this all means that he has inherited his Daddy's math genes.
-- Eli self-weaned in late January. My milk supply dried up due to my pregnancy. So, to compensate, his sleepy time routines have gotten a little more complicated. Now, before nap or ni-night, he has "quiet time" in his room. Eli has fought sleep since he was a tiny baby, so quiet time is a way for him to wind down. A nice byproduct is that Scott and I get a little adult time. Quiet time means that he can do whatever he'd like in his room by himself. It's built some good independence, and I think it will be a boon for me once baby girl arrives. After quiet time, we generally read a little in bed, although he often opts out of this at nap time. Then, I climb into bed with him and we cuddle while I quietly sing songs. He gets three songs at naptime and five at bedtime. Since the establishment of this new routine, he has taken to singing to himself while "reading" his books during quiet time. He sits with his books, runs his finger under the words and sings his sleepy time songs. This "reading" also comes in handy in the back of the car during outings.
-- Another thing that he likes to do with his beloved books is count the page numbers. While I'm folding laundry or doing dishes he often sits next to me and we count page numbers. I'm not sure why this is fun for him, but he loves it. And, it's something that I can do while only giving half of my attention to the task. He frequently borrows mommy and daddy's books because they have a lot more page numbers. He's even taken to counting page numbers in his room during quiet time. At times he will yell out from his room, "What comes after 29?"
So, the other day we were heading to Chick-Fil-A. He asked the classic question of, "Are we there yet?" Scott said that we would be there once he counted to one hundred...nine times. Surprisingly, Eli started counting. He actually got to one hundred all by himself without making one slip, which completely floored the both of us. It seems, though, that it might have been a one time thing. He still asks the "what comes next" questions. Then again, maybe he just wants a little more attention.
-- Here are two things that I overheard Scott saying to Eli that made me laugh out loud: "Oooh, don't paint the kitty," and, a few days later, "Yeah, you don't fix kitty cats with screwdrivers." Apparently the paint brush was dry, and the screwdriver was of the plastic toy variety, but both comments were still hysterical.
-- Here's another Scott and Eli tidbit. It all harkens back, and is a reference, to the movie "Galaxy Quest." In the movie, which is a satire of Star Trek, Sigourney Weaver's only job is to repeat what the computer says to the crew and to repeat what the crew says to the computer. It's a jab at how sexist Star Trek was and how meaningless the female roles were on the original show. Anyway, when Scott and I are talking to each other, Eli often repeats what Scott or I say. Furthermore, Eli says it with such authority, as if he is the one who said it to begin with. Scott is so amused by this that he has started saying, "Okay, Sigourney," to Eli whenever he repeats what we say. We know it is a developmental stage for Eli to repeat things back to us, but we also thinks he does it because when he was learning to talk, we purposely repeated back to him what he said. We used it as a way to clarify and correct his grammar and language in an informal and holistic way. So now, since we've spent all his speaking life repeating what he's said, I guess Eli figures it's his turn.
More later, time for our nap...
