Eli 3.5

This amazing boy lights up my life. 

He has beautiful eyes that just take my breath away.

He is a mini-Andy.  He is smart as a whip and full of joy. Total and 100% joy.

When someone leaves the house he likes to announce how many boys and how many girls will be left in the house.  (He knows that Bailee is a girl).

He doesn't like to play by himself and thrives with friends.  He is more like his dad on how social he is.

He loves to kick balls in the basement. He says "Hiiii-ya!" as if he is doing a karate move.  He tries to kick field goals if you hold the football for him and he even likes to do soccer "headers".

Eli is in to legos, trains, art projects, marbles, games, books and puzzles.  Have I mentioned the puzzles?
He can do a 100 piece puzzle in less than an hour and only needs a few reminders to match the colors. 

He challenges us with a little bit of older boy attitude. He loves to talk about ninjas and shooters (nerf guns) and would love to romp aggressively all day.  He plays bedtime games at for hours (although a little less lately) hard core. 

Eli is stubborn.  Loud. And funny.  He likes to cup his hands over his mouth and laugh when he gets in trouble. He has the phrase "I'm sorry for not listening mama" down.  He usually remembers to say "excuse me" when he interrupts but doesn't wait for you to finish what you are doing before he bosses you.  He likes to call "Hughie" from the other room and yell over and over again for him even after reminders that Hugh can't yet follow instructions. He likes to open the bathroom and bedroom door and tell Hughie to close the door so Hugh can get in trouble. 

Eli is sensitive when I'm upset. He checks on me to see if I'm ok.  But he doesn't yet understand that I'm a real person. But that's ok because I'm the perfect mom for him. I think he tries to bully me in to playing with him every moment of every day.  He is the one who forces me to surrender, push through, count to ten and start over.  And when he sees me crumble and then straighten back up, he smiles because he knows he is the reason for my happiness despite my fatigue in the moment.  He glows when he feels special.

He walks slow to the car and wants to bring a new toy every ride.  This is one of the battles I hardly ever fight with him.  When I come home from work I can always hear Eli running towards me, jumping up and down, "Mama mama, mama mama!"   He always asks "how was your day?" and always makes sure that he knows who made dinner so he can say "did you make this all by yourself? thank you".

Eli still is a very, very slow and small eater.  He will pick his vegetable and fruit up with his fingers and eat the whole serving before touching any portion of the main entree.  He loves cereal and tacos (or anything wrapped in a tortilla).  He doesn't like pickles (yeah! no sharing for me).

He adores his grandparents and cousins.  I dream of inviting each cousin over (separately) for a sleepover with him. 

Here are some non-professional shots of Eli in action.

(Sorry for this huge photo dump.  But a mom is a mom.  1 picture won't do it.  We brag. We adore. We gloat.)