Momentary Interruption
Ok so I know I said my next blog was going to be all deep about the sovereignty of God based on the book of Daniel. Yes, I'll get to that. (I'm still working on the draft for it) But I simply had to share a few recent Eli stories with you so please let me interrupt the regularly scheduled programming..........
Today is brought to you by the letter 'B' and the color green.........
(Caution: It's not easy bein' green!!!)
I get so amazed as I watch Eli grow. Each age continues to get so much more rich. From the very beginning when His tiny face first lit up with a gummy grin, to when He began to belly laugh. Then came rolling, then crawling, then walking. Then finally, learning the archaic stages of communication- which consists of different influctuating grunts and sighs until eventually these babbles become more intricate and expressive so that consonants are able to be recognized. Then...da da da daaaahhhh- words can be heard and thoughts expressed! So fun and this is only the beginning.
Now that Eli has realized how much fun it is to perfect the mastery and potential of his tongue, lips and teeth, he has become such a big talker! He is my little mocking bird, imitating everything I say. This certainly makes me think twice before I speak! Not only are little ears hearing, now little tongues are mimicking.
Eli loves belly buttons. He is starting to call any round shape he sees on a moving breathing eating object (which we learned from Sesame Street yesterday is the way to tell whether something is alive or not) a belly button. Eli identifies these round objects with as much excitement as he can muster up, "elly utton!"
He hasn't quite figured out how to say the 'b' sound yet. But Eli certainly gets an 'E' for effort. He tries very hard to make a 'b' sound. He tucks his top lip under his bottom lip so his bottom lip is sticking way out, then he sort of hums and grunts at the same time blowing out tons of Co2. He does a great job of getting his point across.
Eli is particularly excited about his own belly button. It provides him with countless hours of entertainment. I love to hear him through the monitor while he is 'napping' exclaiming, "elly utton!" I can only imagine him standing in his crib with a smile on his face and his shirt pulled up under his chin inspecting this curious round phenomenon on his tummy.
Eli's favorite toy, which trumps all other toys by a longshot, is definitely a balloon. Publix, where shopping certainly is a pleasure, gives the little tikes balloons for free when they come to the store. We have just started taking advantage of this service.
About a month ago I thought Eli might enjoy getting a balloon from the store. We picked out the shiniest brightest blue balloon we could find. I think I was a bit more excited than Eli was. I put it in the car next to Eli in his car seat and he cried the whole way home.
Then, once we got home, I was trying to show him how much fun a balloon could be and he stared at me like I was saying the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. You see, at this point balls were Eli's favorite objects. Balls trumped everything. Balloons were like balls but only crazy and frustrating balls.
Balloons have a mind of their own. You can't throw them because they just go straight up. You can't kick them- they just float. You can't let them rest in your lap and enjoy the camaraderie and companionship a ball can give because balloons would rather be resting above your head.
Balloons also have a crazy annoying string attatched. The string gets stuck between your toes and wrapped around your wrist and tied onto your toys! It's awful... just awful!!! I was beginning to be convinced by Eli that balloons really weren't such a great invention afterall.
Somewhere, at somepoint in the past month, in a subtle way, Eli began to develop an appreciation for balloons. This appreciation has blossomed into quite a strong love for these round containers of helium.
When Eli is awake he has to have a balloon close by. Even if he is playing with another toy he likes to keep the balloon in sight just in case he suddenly needs to squeeze it or pull its string or... you get it- the possibilities are endless.
Any books with balloons in them are his favorite books right now. His favorite page of the book? You guessed it: the pages with balloons on them. He'll stop the story and stare at the balloon page for minutes- which if you have ever spent time with a toddler you know that minutes to them are like hours to us!
Eli asks for his balloon first thing when I wake him up. He can't wait to be reunited with his long lost friend. The only very sad part is when his friend ends up in parts.
The first time Eli's balloon popped he was so confused. He looked at me, with pieces of green in each of his hands, unsure whether to cry or not. He said 'please' and asked me to fix it. When I said I wasn't able to do that for him he didn't get upset. He got determined. He began trying to put the pieces back together himself...to no avail. (We went to Publix that next morning. We needed milk and of course, a balloon.)
Leapin' Lizards and the Boy Who Conquered...
I often point things out to Eli that I think he will get all excited about. Most times either he doesn't notice them or he simply doesn't think it is as cool as I'm making it out to be. I have tried to get him to notice lizards before. They are quite silly and quirky creatures. But Eli has never been interested until...
Well, we were out on our back porch near the pool which is all screened in. Eli was throwing his ball near the corner of the screen where it meets the house. That's when we spotted him: a sweet innocent green lizard. He was trying to play it discrete but he couldn't hide from Eli and me. He quickly got our attention. Eli was quite intrigued.
Eli managed to trap the poor lizard in the corner of the screen. The lizard was getting old and was a little on the thin side, as far as lizards are concerned. My expert lizardology prognosis for his condition was: severe old age. He definitely seemed like a grandfather lizard. Because of his condition he was not as fast and jittery as most lizards are. This was just perfect for Eli. The battleground was a bit more even.
Most lizards run away from Eli causing him to lose interest very quickly- but this lizard was stuck. He had no where to run to. He tried with all of his might to get to the grass that was in sight but seemingly just out of reach for his 3 inch body to find refuge in. If he jumped off of the screen he would have had to get around Eli the Conqueror, which believe me, that was not likely!
Eli waited long enough for the lizard to decide what to do. Then he took matters into his own hands...literally! He reached for the lizard and the lizard bit him on the finger holding on for dear life. This made Eli giggle and giggle. He thought it was a riot to catch a lizard on his finger! When the little green critter finnaggled his way off Eli's pointer, Eli simply had to get him back again.
The game was only beginning! The leapin lizards adventures were only beginning. Eli was ready to conquer the world one green lizard at a time. Snap! The lizard was defeated by Eli the Conqueror again: laughter and delight...Eli had conquered the world on his fingertip.
Let's end our time with a short story about a sweet wake up moment.
The other morning I heard Eli playing in his bed before I actually went in to get him up. When I opened his door he said, 'Grover?!?' So I handed him Grover and he smiled. Then he said 'ball?!?' So I handed him the ball and he smiled again. So then I looked at him and said, 'Well... what about Momma?' Eli looked at me, squinched his nose and eyes in a ear to ear grin, reached up his arms and said "hi!" That melted my heart! Gosh I love this boy!!! He has totally got me!!!!
posted by Kellie # 11:45 PM
