Busy Boy

Eli does so many fun things these days that I thought I better blog about them before I forget! I've been terrible about writing in my journal and I don't scrapbook, so if it doesn't get on the blog, it will be lost forever! (That's how much I trust my memory).

So...here are some random, writing-whatever-comes-into-my-head interests/activities that Eli has been into lately:

• Trucks and trains - anytime he hears anything that remotely sounds like a truck or a train he perks up and says "truck!" or "choo-choo!" and gets very excited and then points to me and says "mama" so I can take him to the window and show him the trucks outside (except usually they're just driving by and gone by the time we get there). He loves Friday morning when the garbage man comes. We stare out the window until all the trucks are done and gone. That's a big highlight in his week. :)

• Books - this kid loves to read/be read to and I love that he loves it. He will often get all of his books out and pile them together and then grab my hand and bring me over to read to him. He also likes to get a blanket out to put on the couch so we can snuggle and read books. Very cute! My favorite is when he "reads" to himself. It's pretty darn adorable. He also has three books that must be read to him before bed - "Choo-choo" (All About Trains), "duck" (One Little Duck) and "book" (Little Boy Blue - it's just "book" to him).

• Letters - along those lines, he's starting to learn some letters. He knows o and s and we're working on a few others. Yesterday, while I was making dinner, he was laying on the floor on his tummy reading some books. He kept pointing to different words and I would hear "O" or "S" randomly. I love it!

• Observing - it's amazing to me (and I'm sure all mothers feel this way) how much kids see! It blows my mind how much Eli notices. He is very aware of everything we do, especially the things I never notice I even do, and it amazes me when he mimicks them. The other day I said "Okay, mommy needs to go get ready" so he ran into my room like he always does when I say that and then pointed up at the light for the vanity because he knows I always turn that light on when I get ready. Then today after I got out of the shower, he reached in my drawer and handed me my deodorant. Haha. What a kid. He loves to assist Jeremy getting ready in the morning too by giving him his razor or stealing his gel and trying to do his own hair. :)

• Helping - along with the observing, he knows how to help (when it's his idea and he's in the right mood of course). If I tell him I need to clean the bathrooms, he goes over to the cupboard and tries to open it to get the cleaning supplies out and then ways "wash!" until I hand him a towel to help me. He loves having the job of carrying the supplies into the bathroom. Very important work. (He's washing the floor in this picture - I was cleaning the bathroom. I swapped that water spray bottle for the windex I had been using)He also likes to help put things away (although he takes things out much more often!), water the Christmas tree, empty the dishwasher, put the clothes into the dryer, etc. He also likes to put things in the trash - luckily it's just been trash. Here's a picture of him helping with the trash. This was the day after Thanksgiving. Jeremy said he was going to take the trash out, so Eli went in his room and grabbed his trash can, brought it out, and took out the bag to hand to Jeremy.
• Kisses - Eli is very loving and snuggly which we are so grateful for! He's always been a bit of a snuggler (Jeremy and I both were too) and he also gives great kisses. He'll kiss anyone who asks for a kiss. How sweet.

• Snow - he is fascinated with the snow. He doesn't love to touch it with his hands, but he likes to stomp on it and he loves to look at it out the window. The entire week of Thanksgiving we heard "That's snow!" over and over and over again. (said more like "das no") He still randomly points to the window and says the same thing.

• Tupperware and bowls - my goodness, Eli LOVES getting out all the tupperware and bowls he can reach. He'll fill them with his toys and then transfer the toys from one bowl to the next or stick them in a pitcher ("juice!"). Jeremy said we should just give him tupperware for Christmas. Haha.

• Hi! - lately he just randomly comes up to me and says "hi" with a big smile. He does it like 15 times a day. It's pretty cute.

And as if this post wasn't long enough already, here's a little video I took this morning. It's not very exciting, but I thought I hadn't taken a video of Eli in awhile, so I did. Somebody put a different setting on and I didn't notice it until after, so that's why the lighting is a little weird. He wasn't in the mood for another video after I fixed it, so oh well. :)