Splish-splash! But wait, it's not bathtime...

This past Friday, before we headed out to Ohio to visit Missy's family, Missy was in the bedroom, packing clothes and watching Eli. I was sitting in the office at the computer, not feeling well (I ended up being sick all weekend -- hopefully a decent excuse for not helping pack!) :-)

I became aware that I was hearing kind of a splashing sound. I must have tuned it out at first because I assumed that Missy was giving Eli a bath -- but then it occurred to me that I had never heard the water running to fill Eli's tub...

I hurried into the guest bathroom (located between the bedroom and the office) to find Eli happily standing up and splashing away with the water in the toilet! He grinned up at me, really proud of his fun new discovery.

Oops -- it turned out that Missy thought *I* was watching Eli! Well, no real harm done. (Fortunately, we have our stairway gates up and installed now so there was no danger of Eli trying to venture down the stairs while he was unattended.) I washed Eli off and changed his clothes (as his shirt sleeves were all wet), and told him that Daddy's sorry, but no, that thing that looks like a fun toy is actually not for babies.

So we need to keep the toilet lids closed! Of course, next, Eli will be figuring out how to open them. So we really just need to keep a closer eye on our little guy... and maybe order some toilet lid locks!

Eli's First Easter

Eli had a great first Easter and was able to spend time Easter weekend with two sets of grandparents, lucky boy! My Mom and Dad came in to visit and help us with some projects around the house, and after church we went over to Jon’s Mom’s house for Easter dinner. Great-Grandma, Great-Grandpa, Uncle Jeremy, and cousin Camper the Dog were there too.

Eli sat at the table with everyone during dinner, and ate like a pig all day long. He discovered that he likes Grandpa Terry’s mashed potatoes (he makes weird faces with all other mashed potatoes but couldn’t get enough of Grandpa Terry’s), and tried to drink Grandma Amanda’s wine (bad boy!). Grandma offered a sip from an extra water glass instead, and Eli decided to splish splash in it, getting Grandma and himself all wet! Funny duck – its dinner time, not bath time!
After dessert and a nice visit it was time to head home though. The day went by so quickly. What a wonderful first Easter for little Eli!

Stooping!

For the last week or so Elijah's been looking at the toys he drops on the floor while he's standing, and even tried to bend over and pick them up once or twice, but has never been able to accomplish it. The attempts usually have resulted in a quick fall onto his face, or him getting halfway down to the toy and then deciding to abort the mission (Danger! Danger!).

Today, while he was standing up and holding on to the refrigerator, Elijah dropped the magnetic remote control for our kitchen cd player and tried to bend his knees and pick it up. He was unsuccessful, but oh so close! After the failed first attempt, Eli stood back up and got a better grip on the fridge, then bent his knees, reached out and picked up the remote, and stood back up straight - with a huge smile on his face! Then, to show off his new skill, he kept taking the remote off the fridge, dropping it on the floor, bending down and picking it up, and sticking it back on the fridge again. Jon and I were both there cheering our little man on - he looked so proud of himself. Elijah can officially "stoop" to get toys now!

Feeding the (toy) giraffe!

Despite being sick on and off, Eli just keeps on growing and learning new things! This week, he learned to operate one of his toys the "right" way for the first time! A "peek-a-block" gets placed into the top of the giraffe toy, and then it goes down and comes out the bottom, and triggers a tune to be played. Eli figured out how to pick up blocks, move them up to the opening at the top of the giraffe, let go of the block, and then do it all over again!

Once Eli got the hang of it the first time, he was able to do it over and over again immediately. He seems to be a little bit more coordinated with his right hand than his left; I wonder if he'll turn out to be right-handed. I'm not sure how early you can tell. (He also prefers to suck his right thumb exclusively these days.)

It's amazing (normal, but still amazing really) how much Eli has developed and learned in just 10 months. It really wasn't all that long ago when all Eli could do at play time was lie on his back and bat at some hanging toys.

Can we read it just one more time, Mom? Please?

I went to the library with Elijah on Monday night quickly, to drop off some books that were due, and while we were in the children’s section Elijah was standing up by the bins and found a book we had taken out previously. It’s called “Pickle and the Blocks,” and when Eli saw it he pulled it out of the bin and started laughing. We took it home with us, and on Tuesday afternoon he wanted me to read it to him – over and over and over and over and over. Literally, 6 times in a row.

He would make me read the first few pages quickly (I barely get all the words out and he’s already flipping to the next one), until we got to the page where Pickle plays with his blocks and it reads “Bang them. Bash them. Clank them. Clash them.” Eli just cracks up the minute he sees that page, and sits there laughing. Then it’s more quick page flipping, until we reach the page where Pickle knocks down his block tower and “Clitter clatter. Watch them scatter.” More laughs, and then Eli flips the book back to the beginning and wants you to start over – but get to the “bang” page quick, Mom! That’s the one I really want to hear!