What a load. Of laundry that is!

One of Elijah's favorite activities is doing a load of laundry with me. Since we seem to have a never ending supply, he gets to partake in this activity almost every other day. All we have to say is laundry or wash, and it's like he's shot out of a cannon he moves so fast to the laundry room.

Laundry's fun, if your Mommy is as silly as mine!

Eli's place is in the laundry tub next to the washer. I'll hand him clothes and he throws them in the washer (with appropriate sound effects as he sees fit), then when it's all full we get the water going and he points to the detergent for me (just in case I forget). Once that's in he starts saying, "blue stuff," (no one in the world besides me would know that's what he is saying, but he is) and pointing to the dispenser in the middle of our washer where it goes.

The blue stuff in question is the fabric softener. I don't know why I started calling it blue stuff a few months ago when he started helping me with the laundry, but I did, and now that is what Eli calls it too. Once the blue stuff is in Eli either plays in the water (unless it's hot water, in which case I'll tell him it's hot and he'll blow on it to cool it down), or starts his little "laundry tub dance," as I call it, in the tub. He holds on to the side of the tub and stamps his feet and shakes his butt. It's adorable!

Preparing my handholds so I can "shake my groove thing."

Once the water stops filling the washer then we close the lid and the washer starts swishing the clothes around - which is when break into the "washing machine dance," either moving our upper bodies side to side, pretending we're running in place, or just shaking as fast as we can.

After that then Eli usually climbs up on the washer and spins the knobs for a bit. Then he'll stand up and point to everything on the shelf until I name everything for him. A new variation in the whole routine is that Elijah has discovered the light switch and the fan switch. So sometimes we do laundry with a cool strobe-light club atmosphere going on. And with all the cool dance moves we're bustin' out while doing laundry, that's really more appropriate it, isn't it Eli? :)

Standing on the dryer, making child-safety
experts everywhere shudder! Haha!

Elijah helps with the trash . . .

Also from a few weeks ago . . . I should check my "draft" versus "published" tags a little more closely from now on when I'm writing my entries. :)

I was emptying the trash on trash day, and Elijah was helping me carry the bathroom cans and empty them into the big bag. After we emptied the downstairs bathroom trash he wanted to carry the can. So I asked him to bring the can back to the bathroom. He toddled off, went in to the bathroom, and I heard a little clink (like he was setting it down), then he came back out. I congratulated him profusely and went about other things.

When I went to actually use the bathroom a bit later I discovered that, just as I had asked, Elijah had indeed brought the trash can back in to the bathroom. Only problem is that he had put it in the toilet instead of back on the floor! Guess I'll have to be a bit more clear on my directions in the future. On the brighter side, that trash can is cleaner than it's ever been now that I've scrubbed it down! :)

You didn't say where in the bathroom to put it, Mom!

I'm so upset I'm going to hide!

This is from a few weeks ago, but I forgot to post it . . .

Elijah is firmly in the tantrum stage, and after having a tantrum where he didn't get his way one day, he skulked off in to the corner. To hide behind the plant and pout. At first he didn't think I could see him, and he kept up his upset chatter to himself. Then he saw that I saw him, and shot me a dirty look.

I'm so mad at you right now, Mommy!

Then he hunched down . . . and discovered that the leaves make good peek-a-boo props!

Hey, I see you! Peek-a-boo!

After a few times of peek-a-boo with me, Elijah remembered that he loves his mommy very much . . . even when she doesn't give in to his tantrums!

I love you Mom!

It's official - we do live in a nuthouse!

Elijah has picked up a new word, which he annunciates quite clearly. We were cleaning him up from dinner a few nights ago and some food dropped on the floor as I took him out of his high chair. I said my favorite exclamation of the moment, “nuts” and then I heard a little soft voice behind me say, “nuts.” Clear as a bell. With perfect annunciation (which is a first!). Jon and I were a little shocked, and were like, “What did you say?” So Eli repeated it. “Nuts.” We couldn’t stop laughing, seeing this little cutie looking at us and saying “nuts.” He says it really softly, with an emphasis on the s, but still clear as can be. Our laughter prompted further usage of the word of course! Nuts! Nuts! Nuts!

I thought he would forget it, but today when I was changing his diaper I dropped the new one on the floor and before I could even say it he said, “nuts” and started laughing. Then when daddy got home and they were playing ball Elijah started saying nuts again. It’s so cute, but I’m so glad that I wasn’t saying anything worse than nuts!

"Schoth"

The day after we got home from celebrating Christmas in Grand Rapids, Elijah and I were eating lunch and talking and I said something about Dante. Elijah started woofing the way he does (woo woo!) and I said, “Do you miss Dante and the boys, and Aunt Jill, and Uncle Scott?” And then Elijah said, “Scott”! Okay, it sounded like “schoth” but it was for Uncle Scott! Now whenever we say something about Uncle Scott he says “schoth” with a big smile. That's the first uncle or aunt name he's been able to say!

When I'm putting Eli down for bed I usually sing to him, and one of the lines to our song is "I love you, Eli Scott." He's been saying "schoth" for Uncle Scott for the last week or so, and tonight when I sang the Eli Scott line to the lullaby, Eli popped his thumb out and said, "schoth." So he can say it for Uncle Scott and for Eli Scott now. And it's sounding more and more just like Scott and less like "schoth" every day.