Dear Eli: Month Fifteen

Dear E,

Listen, naughty boy, has anyone told you lately that NO MEANS NO? Every time I shriek "NO E!" you turn around and smile at me coyly. You have no interest in stopping or giving me a moment's notice. You are such a stinkerpot. You have gotten a lot better about eating, although you still pick up your plate and dump the leftovers on the table/floor/yourself and tonight I had just had it. I said "NO, Eli, pick those noodles up and put them in your bowl!" Gray got very worried and said, "Mama, can you teach Eli to say sorry? Eli, can you tell Mama you're sorry?" You looked over at me, totally confused, and signed sorry (which is a very cute double belly rub, in your case).

Speaking of signing, you don't have much use for it. I have completely lost count of all the words you know because the list is endless: park, slide, no, dinner, hungry, car, football, bubble, balloon ("bah-lu!" is your current obsession), all of our names (including Papa and Nicki), up, book, bath, choo choo, duck, cow, cat, penguin, gorilla, etc etc. You are pretty good at making your needs known and I have to say I'm impressed. Last night around 11:30 you woke up (which isn't unusual, you tend to wake up once or twice a night and cry for a minute). But this time you complained for 15 minutes or so and I finally went in to see what was up. You reached for me and said "MILK!" so I took you in the kitchen, poured you a cup and you drank and drank and drank... I felt so bad, you were obviously parched. Then I took you back in your room and you went straight to sleep. Today we were in the basement and you wanted this big exercise ball we have. It is too high for you to reach, so you pointed at it and said "Ball. Up!" about 50 times. Then you looked at me and pointed to the ground in front of you over and over. E, you are so cute. (I still didn't give in though- you have about 10 other balls to play with. Speaking of, last night at the store I bought you a football- "fuhbah!"- and then had to confiscate it this morning when there was a bite taken out of it. I will be on the lookout for that chunk in upcoming diapers.)

We went to visit Terri today and walked on the trail by her house. You had a great time throwing rocks, picking up poop (ugh, Eli, this is so characteristic of you), and waving sticks around in the air. At one point we passed a house that had some music blaring loud enough for you to hear so you stopped and started to wiggle your hips. You love to dance and I love to watch you when you do it. You have started to run, you can "jump" and you bolt for the stairs every chance you get, now that you can wiggle your way down them. You love, love, love the dogs which I find totally adorable. You love to lay on Charlie and give him hugs, and you always let Archie lick your face and hands. The weather is getting warmer so we are spending more time outside, which delights you to no end. You gather your broom and rake and then wander around throwing rocks. One of these days you are going to hit a window or a dog, you naughty child!

As naughty as you can be, you sure do love to sit and look at books. The other night we sat and read for at least an hour and you requested your top five favorites, which are: Brown Bear (you can say this pretty clearly), Where's the Green Sheep ("BAA!" you command- until very recently, every time we got to the end of the book and found the green sheep you cried), Old McDonald ("Donald!"), Yummy Yucky ("Yuck!") and Blue Hat Green Hat ("Hat!").

You are always attacking your Dada if he has his iPad out, saying "tuh! tuh!" because you want to touch it. Grayson is never safe from you since you love to be where he is, doing what he does. You are always tackling him and trying to hug or kiss him, which makes him nuts. Many times if I can't find you (and you aren't laying on Charlie, behind the fireplace or reading a book) you are digging in his "goodnight stand" drawer, where he keeps his treasures. I have a feeling this is going to be something that continues over your life together, huh? You guys have a ton of fun together and I know that's only going to get better as you guys get older.

Sweet boy, you are like sunshine. I need a dose of you every day for my well being. You are also totally exasperating but your sunny personality makes up for the mischievious part. At least for now.

Love,
Mama