Milk Tooth

Not long after this last dentist appointment Eli noticed a loose tooth.  I was excited about it and only told him positive things, but he just asked "when is it coming out? will it bleed?"  He wouldn't wiggle it to get loose and I was worried we'd have to take him to the dentist.

Thursday his friend was over and I made him a treat of a lunch (hotdogs!) which he stopped eating and said he was full.  I figured it was the tooth.  He just hung his head and started crying out of fear. It had gotten unbearably loose and so the I made the poor boy a milk shake instead.

Before dinner we tried to get his tooth out and there were lots of tears and bargains, but all our attempts were foiled by the slippery little thing. Luckily it came out on its own the next day.  He came running "I feel something!" between sobs and spit it out into my hands.  I hope the rest of them aren't this dramatic.

He did have a sense of humor the next day. He kept tricking me by saying that he had another loose tooth.

New Smile

Best Big Brother

Eli's always doing thoughtful things for his sister.  On this particular day a week or two ago it was warm and I sent the kids out to play.  He saw Esme struggling and helped her into the swing and pushed her.   At playgrounds other parents are often note what a nice big brother he is.  Always helping her along and wanting to play with her.

Lately he's the one who gets her out of her crib, an awkward, almost painful feat. A few weeks ago he said "Mom, can I got get Esme?"  "No, she's still asleep" "But if she sleeps too long she'll die."  He was very concerned.    

And when someone gives him a treat, he asks for another for his sister.  I'm sure sometimes because he doesn't want to share, but other times he does it when she would never know he got a treat.

Eli's Birthday Party

Today was the first party I ever hosted.  We've had a few last minute gatherings, but this was complete with invitations, decorations, activities, and dinner. And now that I think about it, all guests were from different times in our life. Brian's parents came from Oregon, my mom from Idaho, my old roommate with her kids, Brian's coworker's kids, one from martial arts, a friend from the mom's club I was in, and of course Curt from the condos.  All the kids made friends and seemed to have fun.

Puffy goldfish swimming overhead.

Brian's mom did great work with the limited decorating supplies
I gave her.  Besides wanting fish swimming on his cake, he wanted
maraschino cherries. inside. Yuck. At least I found some with no
artificial colors or sweeteners.

Funny dinner conversation

 Then we had a relay race, it was a hit!  There were obstacles to cross: monkey bars, a balance beam...

Whack a baseball...

a wheel barrow ride...

tape to run through at the finish line...

and medals.

Then came pinata time. Everyone got a turn and it broke with the last kid.

Eli too busy with his sucker
to blow out his candle.

Brian set up the rabbit in the yard during
all the excitement, then it was discovered.

The birthday boy had tons of fun. 

School So Far

Eli has really taken to school.  He's always dressed before I tell him, has wolfed down breakfast and is asking if it's time to go yet.

I was worried since last year he was scared and refused to even talk about school.  He's also a shy kid and pretty serious.  And, despite the fact that he hasn't had a lot of other kids to play with, he's very social at school.  When I'm walking him in the other boys yell "Hi Eli!" and their parents say he's the only kid they hear about at home.

He goes to a really great school where everyone's friendly fun things are always going on. In September was the school carnival.

He decided to ride...

after watching Esme go first.

Today was a pumpkin hunt, next week a little birthday party, and then Halloween.

Last week I picked him up and the teacher said, "What is Eli into, what would get him going? I can't even get a smile out of him."  And it's true. Most of the time he's quite serious, even if he's doing something fun, like on a ride at the fair. This has me worried since I'm always worrying and stressing and it's rubbing off on him.  Like today, I started to talk about his birthday party and grandparents coming and he said "I'm busy, I've got to go clean, wash the dishes mom." So I'm trying to be more fun.

He is, however, social.  His teacher also told me that he'd been asking everybody to come over to his house and play. He'd even asked other moms before I was there. So the teacher was glad today when she overheard me arranging something with another mom.

The boy seems to be a good student. Listens to the teacher, always gets a treat at the end of class for being good, which he keeps in his pocket to share with Esme. Besides asking to wear the same shirt every school day (luckily it's every other day) things are going smoothly. And I've noticed his teacher isn't shy about telling parents how their kid acted up that day. He doesn't complain about homework, or "fun sheets," as his teacher calls them, although, it takes some prodding to get them done.

It's fun to see him interact and slowly figure out what kind of person he will be.  And I'm especially glad that he loves school. We always take walks to his future elementary school and play at the playground, so the transition should be pretty smooth.

Eli's Big Day Today

School is serious business.  Eli doesn't remember any names or details, but is excited to go back wearing his new Cars t-shirt Brian got for him in California.  Mousie patiently waited in his backpack the whole time.  On the way out Esme wanted a turn wearing his backpack.  It wasn't pretty. I'm going to have to get her one. Here she is while we were shopping:

She ran around making people smile and
the sensitive door alarms go off.

But this is about Eli.  Last year he was to scared to start school and this year he jumped right in. He's quite friendly, so I imagine he'll be inviting kids over all the time.  Surprisingly I didn't even tear up dropping my first child off to his first day of school.  I wasn't quite kicking my heels like the other moms.  Excited to see what kind of student he ends up being and what friends he will make.

Boys

As the mother of a boy, I had to say I was a little offended when I first heard that nursery rhyme saying that boys are made "of frogs and snails and puppy dog tails" while girls are made of "sugar spice and everything nice."  Lately I'm starting to think it's true.  Whenever he encounters a bug, it must be killed. If it's at home he runs for his kid butter knife and I can hear him saying things like "I'm going to chop you up and throw you away."  And we all love how many words Esme can say. She parrots back anything you tell her to.  Eli's favorite?  "Esme, say poo poo."

Having a Sibling

Enjoying her first lolly pop ever...

Enter brother.... 

The other day Eli did something to make Esme cry, like he does several times a day, and I picked her up for a hug and said "I'm sorry, sometimes it's hard having a big brother."  Eli chimed in from his time out corner in the other room "and it's hard having a baby."

I never thought about it from his perspective.  Now at least once a day he tells me why it's hard having a baby around the house.  She makes messes, breaks things, doesn't share.

Yesterday we had a breakthrough.  Sharing is one of his struggles and he painfully handed a toy that he liked over to Esme, without getting mad.  When it was time for her to give it back he patiently held out his hand and asked for it. At first she yelled, then she pretended to give it to him a few times, and finally she gave it back.  No force, no tears, no grabbing.  Now we talk about how he can help me teach his little sister.

Eli's New Smile

I don't think I ever mentioned it here last winter, probably out of embarrassment, but Eli had cavities. The worst on his two front teeth from me not flossing them. I almost fell on the floor when Brian came home and told me "9". Shut up! That's what happens to kids that eat candy all day and go to sleep with bottles of soda.  After going from disbelief, to anger at the "money gauger" dentist and then anger at myself, we got his teeth fixed all at once.  It confused me because I always brush his teeth, never drank soda/juice, but he does have the same deep molars as I do. In the front teeth the cavities were pretty deep, but the dentist was able to save them with lots of work.  I beat myself up, but at least they're just baby teeth.  His front teeth were fixed and molars sealed while he snoozed away, never learning to fear dentists.  In fact, he's excited to go.

Six months ago his teeth checked out fine.  But two weeks ago I noticed that one was a little loose, just in time for his next appointment, but didn't worry since he didn't complain about pain.  Apparently the nerve had died, there was infection, and his tooth was not longer connected to the root.  To prevent the infection from spreading to other teeth he had to go on antibiotics and .... lose his front tooth.  So, for the next two or three years, this will be his smile.

He carries his little tooth around like it's a toy and shows it to friends when he can. When we tried to prepare him by telling him his tooth had to come out he asked "Why? Me no brush my teeth, it turned black?"  I try and scare him with the consequences, like my mom did to me, so he is happy to brush his teeth. I told a little white lie and said that he's getting bigger and that big kids lose their baby teeth.

Eli Lately

Eli's surprising us a lot too these days. Mostly because his speech is improving and he's finally saying those crazy things that little kids say. Like "Me yes want to go temple and marry Kitty," or just when I thought he'd be bothered by a lumpy batch of cream of wheat he said "mmm, squishy rocks" but these things don't happen too often because he's still a quiet, almost serious kid, with occasional goofiness. He loves to take care of his sister, although when she's "on the crawl" he always closes the door to his room so she doesn't wreck anything. If I need to get something done I'll have him "watch" her in her room with the door closed to keep her away from the stairs. Her room is usually a disaster when I return, but the other day it wasn't. I was so appreciative. I kept saying "Eli, thanks you so much for watching Esme and not making messes so I could clean the kitchen" and he looked down at it and said "thanks for cleaning your kitchen mom." His manners are amazing these days. After two years of training he consistently says thanks for whatever meal he just ate and puts his dishes by the sink. I love it! Finally some appreciation, forced or sincere I'm not sure, after 4 years of doing everything for this kid, not that I need it, it just feels nice. His sweet words are often melting us.

His toys of choice lately? Trains, as always, and a trio of stuffed animals-rat, cat, and dog. Of course his absolute favorite "toy" is a fish his dad caught that he can splash around with in the sink. I wonder if he even sees his kitchen and play food as a toy or if he really thinks he's cooking. He loves to play lions with his dad, where they reinact some sort of Simba/Scar battle. A real treat is to do Soo Bahk (martial arts) with Brian. He takes his turn telling his dad which stretch or kick to do. He just finished a tumbling tots class that I hoped would get him ready to begin martial arts in January. Change is hard for him and I thought the class structure and physical activity would be a good warm up for the timid boy about to start Brian's loud/serious martial arts class. We better talk it up. Brian will be so sad if he refuses to do it.

And Christmas, I must talk about it. He must've inherited his excitement for Christmas from his dad who loves all the decorating and movies and songs. He's waiting patiently for the day, reminding us each day to open that day's drawer in the advent calendar. And it's not just the candy or toy that he wants, he loves the song and scripture too. Also, he's very consistent, having us sing the same two songs for nap and bed time for the past year and he just recently wished for Jingle Bells to join the mix. The other night Brian was noisily wrapping some presents and the boy came in to say we were being too loud when he spied a book. I stopped him, saying it was his Christmas present and so he chewed Brian out for leaving the presents out and ran to the closet to hide it. He's very excited for Grandma and Grandpa to come and sleep at our house for Christmas.

Learning. He has a better memory than me. I will only tell him something once or twice and its in there.  We're working on the alphabet, how to write it and the sounds the letters make and it's really teaching me patience.  For some reason the second I start he gets hyper and starts bouncing all over. I have to get him to focus, stay positive and make it fun.  So far he loves stars as a reward next to a nicely-written letter.  And I started closing my eyes while he wrote the letter because it was just too painful to watch, but turned out to be another way to make his writing lessons fun, he likes surprising me with his creation. Wish us luck. Tomorrow is D.

I imagine he will be a good student since he's very thorough with whatever he does and is reserved in his class at church. Hopefully he inherits homework habits from his dad who used to start an assignment as soon as he got it, where as I would wait until midnight the night before it was due.

Tonight we realized he's growing up when he insisted on sitting away from us with his friend Curt and got mad at Brian for kissing him in front of his friend. It better not get much worse than that.  We're pretty attached.

Whoooo-Whooooo

Eli wants an owl for Christmas and has been into the bird/egg/nest idea. So I copied another idea from someone on Etsy. It was just too perfect. I added the little bark texture and a couple of wooden eggs. Brian says I should make these things to sell. Only problem...it took me so long I'd want to sell it for like $50. The lady on Etsy, only $30. A steal. Now I know.

The Big 0-4

Eli has been waiting impatiently for his birthday since his dad's a month ago when he had to give presents, cake and sing to somebody else. His wishes were surprisingly simple.  A toy turtle, pancakes, a hard-boiled egg, hot dogs, and a brown cake with green ice cream.  I suppose I should start using the names of flavors, not just the colors.  Last night we took him out for a couple of things he didn't think to ask for. Brazilian food and a dinosaur museum.

"Eli 4" 

Chocolate chips are hard to read. 

This morning he woke up to several of his wildest dreams. Banana-chocolate-chip pancakes, chocolate milk, and a hard boiled egg. Sometimes I wonder if the only way I know how to spoil someone is with food.  Well, Esme was also a fan of his mac-n-cheese with hot dog lunch. 

The climax for him was singing "Happy Birthday" and having his cake, which he wanted ocean-themed with a turtle on top.  He didn't even notice the tortoises we bought don't actually swim in the sea. He's so detail-oriented, I can imagine him being bothered by such a mistake in the future.  

He's been the same since he was a small baby- shy, cautious, clingy, and even obedient, yet goofy and hyper when comfortable at home. Lately he's become quite the story teller.  Tonight's tall tale was his reason for not wanting to go to school.  Apparently there are monsters there.  One followed him home and died outside the window.  If you're lucky enough to be on the other side of one of his phone conversations you will hear a long, colorful story.  Still trying to figure out if he's lying or making up stories. 

It's been so long since he was small, it's hard to believe he was a tiny baby. So here are some pictures from around each birthday up to now. 

I love you, my little man.