Parks

We have been enjoying lots of parks lately, and Eli has gotten on a bit of a kick about trying NEW parks. He loves Whistlestop Park, one of our favorites, but we’ve been there so much already this year that last week when I suggested another outing there he told me, “I’m getting soooo tired of having to go to Whistlestop Park. You make me go there ALLLLL the time. There are other parks out there you know!” Yes sir! ;)

Since then we’ve spread the park love around a bit and gone to four different parks, including a new one that we happened to pass that we didn’t know existed and is less than 5 miles from the house (and which of course I have no pictures of since it was an impromptu stop). We’ve been having fun enjoying the outdoors and exploring new places together!

We visited Frog Hollow park, which Eli never liked the last two years. I think it was too difficult for me to get to him quickly (the play structure is laid out kind of funny in my opinion) and that made him nervous. Now he’s over that and loves it.

Matea claimed this tunnel as her own and screeched repeatedly(and, yes, I mean screeched) at another little girl trying to get in the tunnel.  Not my proudest mommy moment. She’s still so stinkin’ cute though.

Eli really liked the big swings they have at the park. He thinks they are like rocket ships.

We also visited Lakeside Park in Caledonia (I forgot my camera in the car while we walked to one side of the park so my pictures are only from one of the playgrounds there).

Another tunnel – and this time she’s sharing it!

How old are you going to be, Eli?

Yep, definitely going to be a 5 year old . . . BOY!

Eli helped Matea down every time (and he never dropped her!).

Having fun in the tunnel (they were singing together).

Peek-a-boo, I see you spying on me, Mom.

She’s hanging. On purpose. Over and over again.

Her hanging act was finished off with a dance performance.

“Mommy, look at my socks. They’re so dirty! Sweet!”

Summiting Mt. Goodyear.

Then we went to Kelloggsville Park (by Jon’s work).  It wasn’t as well kept up as last year and there had been a lot of vandalism, so I’m not sure we’ll be visiting there much more. Still, they have a really big slide which Eli loves!

Eli insisted on pushing Matea, and for once she let him!

Eli had to get in a little swinging too!

I was instructed to take a picture that shows how high he is. :)

Eli read bedtime stories to ME tonight!

We just had a great weekend visit at our house with Grandpa Bob and Grandma Sherry.  An offhand question earlier this weekend from Grandpa Bob, “is Eli reading yet?,” set me thinking. 

So, tonight at bedtime, I got out some “easy-to-read” books: Dora's Picnic, My Dog Buddy, and the Dr. Seuss classic In a People House (which used to belong to me, and which Grandma Amanda gave to Eli for Christmas in 2005).

This was the first time I’ve ever tried to have Eli read to me.  I read him books at bedtime most nights these days, and I knew that Eli recognizes probably 50-100 words on sight (many of them related to video games – words like “save”, “menu”, and “Mario”!).

Still, I was a little bit surprised when Eli did really well reading these books to me!  He did recognize many words on sight, and he was able to sound out most others and/or infer them from context clues.  I did help Eli out with some longer, trickier words, such as “chocolate” and “brought” from the Dora book, but Eli di most of the reading on his own.

Missy and I are going to start doing more reading with Eli.  He’ll be all set for kindergarten this fall!

NO! Uh huh, right here . . .

Matea is talking up a storm now and able to really communicate what she wants with us. She just started saying a few two word phrases, but they are pretty random (I think “Hello monkey,”  “Grandma cracker,” and “Bye bye rock” count as random, don’t you?).  She has mastered the art of the words “no,” “uh huh” (to signify yes), and “right here” (complete with finger pointing to the spot she means.  She is VERY opinionated with those phrases however!

The other morning at breakfast I was asking her what she would like to eat and told “NO NO NO” to oatmeal, yogurt, and eggs. I asked her if she wanted toast and she said, “Uh huh” and smiled. In Matea-land that is a definite yes. After making her the toast, and cutting it in to 4 sections, she pointed to a spot on her plate for the first piece and told me, '”Right here, right here.” I obliged, of course, good mother that I am.

Once I set it down she pointed to another spot, “Right here, right here,” for the next piece of toast. Dutiful mother obeys. Next toast, next spot, “Right here, right here.” This time I DISobeyed and puts the toast elsewhere, just to see what would happen. :) Matea responded loudly and immediately, “NO NO NO NO,” then lifted up her toast and put it in the spot she had pointed to, saying, “RIGHT HERE!” and shooting me a dirty look. The last piece of toast she told me where it went and then watched me very closely to see that I obeyed.  Moral of the story: when Matea tells you, “Right here,” you’re going to get it if you don’t obey. :)

Eli’s bedtime stories: Normal, “Crazy,” and “Mario!”

When I (Jon) read Eli stores at bedtime, we generally end up going with one of three possibilities:

Option 1 – Eli picks out about 3 stories, and I read them to him.  Interestingly, this is Eli’s least favorite option!

Option 2 – Eli picks out about 3 stories, and I read them to him “crazy",” as Eli puts it.  This consists of me completely disregarding the text and making up my own story to go with the pictures in the book – the funnier, the better! 

One example is that some of his Little Critter books, in addition to the primary story about the boy (the “Critter”), the art shows a little mouse on every page somewhere.  So I made up a new story about the mouse (and the funny things that the mouse sees the Critter doing), and tell that to Eli. 

Another example is in one of Eli’s books about Clifford (the giant dog), there’s a page that flashes back to when Clifford was a normal-size puppy; instead, I made up a story for that page where instead of Clifford being small, Clifford’s owner Emily-Elizabeth becomes gigantic, even larger than Clifford!

For whatever reason, Eli really likes it when I do this.  “Read it crazy, Daddy!” is what I typically hear when I pick up a book at bedtime to read to him!  (I do typically insist on reading a book normally if it’s one that I’ve never read before – it’s easier to make up a funny story that is at least somewhat coherent with the art on the pages if I know what’s coming in advance!)

Option 3 – I’ll just make up a story and tell that to Eli.  Eli is very into Mario right now, and his favorite made-up stories are ones that I make up involving Mario and Eli going on an adventure together. 

I’ve been telling Eli these stories ever since he was 3, and he’ll be turning 5 in about a month in a half as I write this, so he’s heard a lot of different ones.  In the stories, Eli and Mario have done lots of different things, like going exploring together, saving Princess Peach from Bowser, doing Mario Kart races, or playing team sports like baseball or soccer – that last one is a good one to bring other people from Eli’s life like cousins Lexi, Tori, and Noah into the story to help fill out the team!

The stories are mostly just fun, but I try to work the occasional life lesson in there too, like the importance of being honest, or how to go about interacting politely with other people (i.e. basis like saying hello and “How are you?” when meeting someone), or being wise with money (how to spend those Mushroom Kingdom coins that Eli and Mario find on their adventures!). 

Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64 was (and remains!) one of my favorite Nintendo games; instead of being a traditional “run and jump” action Mario game, it’s a role-playing game with a fairly involved quest and story.  In my Mario stories for Eli, I draw many of the locations that Eli and Mario visit from that game – both central locations like Mario’s house, Princess Peach’s castle, and Toad Town; and also settings for adventures such as Dry Dry Desert and Yoshi Island. 

The fun thing is, now that Eli is a little older, I recently downloaded the Paper Mario game onto our Wii, and Eli and I have been able to play through it together!  Even though the game is text-heavy (being an RPG), it has been Eli’s favorite game on the Wii to play since we got it.  Missy or I will read the text to Eli, and Eli spends most of the time holding the controller and controlling Mario.  The game has been educational for Eli as well as fun; in addition to the reading, the combat system is math-based, and Eli has learned that if a particular enemy has (say) 5 hit points, it can be defeated by one attack that does 3 points of damage followed by another attack that does 2 points.

I’m certainly enjoying reading and telling stories to Eli while I can, since sooner or later the day is coming when Eli won’t want to hear stories at bedtime anymore!

Easter Egg Hunt

An Easter egg hunt with our cousins has quickly become a tradition that both the kids and the adults (well, at least this one) love.  After lunch, and the stuffing of the eggs, Jon and Jeff headed out to hide the eggs (as much as we could with the limited shrubbery we have around our house). Then it was time to let the kids loose! Matea quickly caught on to pick up the eggs as fast as she could get them! The bigger kids got the more obscure eggs, and to keep Matea entertained would throw eggs back on the ground a little ways in front of her if she couldn’t find any. Cute!

We’re ready . . . we’re set . . .

GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’ve got the hang of this!

I’ve got to get the the next one quick quick quick!

Jon and Jeff hid plenty eggs in plain sight and covering the lawn, but also hid them in trees, on cars, and even in “the jungle” (as we refer to the empty overgrown lot next to us).  The kids had to look high and low to get them all!

Hey, reindeers don’t lay eggs! Or have them on their ears!

What birdie left this one here?

Three kids under the deck . . . busy de-egging the property.

Off in “the jungle” . . . scary!

After finding all the eggs (we’re pretty sure at least), Matea still wanted to find more. So Noah took an egg out of his basket, put it by his shoes and said, “Matea where can you find more eggs?” At which point she promptly reached into his basket and took one. :) HILARIOUS! From then on Noah would put one on the ground and then hold his basket out of Matea’s reach. Smart boy. Her swiping continued when we got to time to open the eggs. She kept grabbing eggs from Lexi and Tori when she could. Sneaky girl.

Yeah, I see the one by your shoe, but I see a whole basketful in front of me ready for easy pickings!

Noah got smart to Matea’s tricks.

More eggs! I need more eggs!! And I’m not above stealing them.

One of the candies in the eggs were super sour bubble gum. Eli was excited since he loves anything sour, and I thought his faces were priceless as he tried the gum.

First lick - “What is this?!”

Entering the not-so-sure-about-this phase.

Finally, acceptance. Afterwards - “I love this stuff!”

I didn’t notice while the kids were emptying their eggs until my Mom pointed it out, but Eli organized his candy by type when he opened them. I love it! Organizing candy? He’s mine alright!