frolicking

On Tuesday, Eli and I got a real treat! We were able to spend time with my nephew Nathan, who Eli just completely and utterly adores. The day started with Nathan letting Eli basically rough him up!

Eli loves to feel Nathan's buzzed head.

Nathan is such a good sport letting Eli tear his ears off! :) Apparently, judging by the their faces in the picture, ear abuse is something that Eli and Nathan enjoy.....

Um, can you tell Nathan was excited to hang out with us? He was king of the climber!!! (said in Jack Dawson's voice from the movie Titanic)

They played in the water at the park and Eli went to another area of the park where there was dirt on the ground. Water and dirt make mud, if you were unaware. Eli has this way about him that when his hands get dirty, he feels that the best place to wipe them off is not a towel or in water, but on his face!

After the park, we went to get milkshakes at Dairy Queen.....at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Not sure if my sister liked the fact that Nathan probably didn't eat much dinner because he downed that milky, sugary delight in less than 5 minutes....but, I am his Aunt Nee and I can spoil him! :) And this picture shows Eli drinking his first milkshake. It is rare that he tries new things, but watching his awesome cousin drink one, he had to try it too. So we will excitedly add milkshakes to the small list of things Eli will eat. Love it! :)

it happened

Look at that face....that cute, innocent face. I have read some funny stories from other mommies about their toddlers....how shall I say.....dropping the kids off at the pool....in a literal pool, i.e the bath tub. I thought those stories were hilarious, but we had never gone through it (at least in the toddler stage), for which I was thankful. Well, it finally happened. And I am warning you now, this post is not for the faint of heart or for those who have just eaten a meal.... :)

It was bath time Sunday night at the DeBolt home. Eli was having fun in the tub. He stood up in the tub while I washed his legs and then instead of sitting down, he crouched down to play with his toy that makes bubbles in the water. Chad and I are chatting and this goes on for no longer than 20 seconds.....apparently that is all that is needed. I look down at Eli and see between his legs this yellowish log. At first I thought it was a toy, but then I quickly went through the Rolodex of toys in my mind, trying to find something that fits that description and I came up with nothing. So I gave this log a closer look. Bad idea. Along with the log, there came little yellow balls, 4 of them to be exact. It looked like the log was the mommy and the little yellow balls were the babies, floating along behind it.

While getting Eli out of the tub, cleaned off, then having to disinfect the entire tub, toys, everything, it was actually very funny. We told him what he did and that it is not good to poop in the tub. He has done this in the past when he was infant. In fact, we went through the Diarrhea Incident of 2007 when he was a few months old and pooped 4 times in one bathtub session. But other than that, we have never had this problem before. I guess our child is just expressing himself by using his bodily functions in places that are not the norm (click here to see another post about where else our child likes to use his bodily functions).

I guess this is our fault because we have always encouraged freedom of expression. :)

music

Since birth, Eli has been very musically inclined. He loves music in a way that I cannot comprehend or relate to. It seems to be innate. I have no musical abilities at all. In church, if I am singing even remotely near Chad, I know he is thinking "Good Lord, make it stop...." When I dance, it looks like I am doing the worm, only standing up. And my musical tastes are of constant scrutiny. So I don't need to go on to explain that this child's musical inclinations are definitely not from me.




But Chad on the other hand is VERY much into music. He played drums from middle school on through high school, then in a band for years. Whenever he has said "Hey, listen to this song from this band I found.", that band has had a breakout hit soon after. Chad's Mom was always in choirs at church while Chad was growing up and Chad's father was one fourth of a barber shop quartet. Needless to say, Chad has an ear for music and coordination to actually perform it, given to him by both of his parents. So I believe Eli has taken after him and his side of the family in that arena. Here are some signs that Eli loves music:

• whenever he hears music, he stops and exclaims 'music!'
• when he hears music, he breaks out into dance that has evolved from standing still and wiggling to now running around and wiggling
• he does rap beats on cue
• one of his two favorite things to play with is his drum
• anything even resembling a drumstick is used as a drumstick
• any instruments that other kids have becomes an obsession to Eli

To illustrate the last point, we were at a friend's house using their pool and they happened to have this music table with drums, a symbol, and other things I don't know the names of (remember, not musically inclined here...). As soon as he saw this musical table, he was hooked. This music table started out in the house, but when he threatened to wake the other sleeping children in the house with his dismay over having to go outside without this music table, we brought it outside. So here is a little picture story of what occurred after that.

It started out by the door and Eli loved playing it. But then it got to the point where he was obviously not leaving it, so moved it closer so I could try and coax him into the pool (which is what we were there for, mind you). As you can see, he couldn't find a drumstick, so he is using a plastic kids spoon.

Me: "Elijah, why don't you come swim in the pool! It is nice and warm. Your friends are swimming too."

Elijah: silence

Finally I do coax him into the pool for a short swim, but then he eyes the music table and it calls his name in a way that only he can hear.

So here he is, all wet, playing with the spoon, though he has finally found the drumstick. And then when his other friends want to play too, he pretends to not see them......

Seth: sweetly and innocently "Hey Elijah, can I play with you?"

Elijah: bang, bang, clink, pish....

After this day of musical fun, Chad is obsessed with getting him a drum kit and I am not against it......are we crazy? :)

sweetness

flash gordon revisited

Soooooo, I posted a few days ago about our little flasher Eli. To refresh your memory, he likes to run from room to room completely naked before getting into the bath. Just as we have routines for him, we let him have this routine for himself.....well, it is for our amusement too. :)

Anyhoo, we runs from his own bedroom to our walk-in closet, and then back again to his bedroom. This pattern occurs multiple times a night. So one night this past week, after putting Eli down to bed, I started to get dressed to work out. I stepped in the walk in closet and felt wetness beneath my toes. We had just gone swimming that day at my Mom's so I thought it was residual pool water from our swimsuits.

The next night, Eli did his pre-bathtime naked running again and I scooped him in my arms and put him in the tub. It was then that I noticed a small wet mark on my shirt. At that point, at all clicked in my mind. I asked Chad to check for any wet spots in the closet and lo and behold:

Apparently, there was a part of Eli's routine that we never noticed.....until now. I guess we should now call him 'the sprinkler'. Now there are two spots of urine in this picture. I wonder.....did he run in the closet and pee in the first spot and then run away only to come back to pee in another spot? Could it be he has a daily routine of urinating only in our walk in closet and only a little bit at a time? :)

scenery

Tree lined path where Chad asked me to marry him.

Tree in front of which Chad asked me to marry him!
Longwood Gardens grounds.
Interesting spider-like tree.
Mmmmm, maple syrup.

Drinking fountain.
Beauty of a child's hand.

longwood

Yesterday, Eli and I met Chad and our friends The Beans for lunch in Chadds Ford. As Eli and I were driving home, I decided to pull into Longwood Gardens because he has never been there. It was there that Chad asked me to marry him on a very snowy day, December 6th, 2003. So needless to say, it has some sentimental value, not the mention the place is GORGEOUS! I took pictures of every little thing I saw and ran out of batteries twice! So I will spare you many of the pictures and just show....well, I still posted a lot, but I couldn't choose!

If you have never taken your child to Longwood, besides the fact that it is highway robbery for one adult admission ticket, it is so beautiful and alive there. They have a fountain show that is short, which is good for the attention span of a toddler, but it was wonderful to watch. They also have an indoor children's garden which is absolutely phenomenal and uses water in ways that are amazing! Eli did not want to leave the garden!

We had a little spill off of a bench......
.....but Mommy pulled us out and we are ok.
Nothing a little water can't fix.

swing

Swings are for young and old alike
if you need some wind in your hair
if you want to feel like flying
if you want to feel your stomach rise into your chest.
The baby swing is so yesterday.
Eli wants the big swing.
Since mommy has to hold him in place
in order to swing
in the big swing
Eli would rather swing by himself
in his own way.

Independence in a toddler
is just the tip of the iceberg
leading to
mommy gradually not being needed anymore.
Insert sad face here.
It is a double edged sword though
because developing his ability to
walk
talk
eat
on his own is amazing!
But even contemplating for a second
that my little man will be
old enough to drive (yikes!)
old enough to vote (double yikes!)
a husband
a father
a grandfather! (whoa, reign it in, Denise!)
Lord, please give me strength
to accept the things I cannot change. :)

Honestly, I enjoy being needed.
I will miss him needing me.
But my job is prepare him
to be able to
live
thrive
grow
love
and NOT need me to do those things,
but need the Lord, daily, as I do now.
As Eli grows,
the need for me will hopefully be
gradually replaced
by the need for our Lord and Savior.
I guess needing the Lord
is a good replacement
for needing me.

Random ramblings of a mommy.
Thanks for reading! :)

flash gordon

Routines are little pieces of steadiness that make me sane in a life a craziness. Giving Eli his daily bath is a routine that normally takes both Chad and myself to perform, though we have both done it independently. As we trek upstairs, Chad disrobes Eli to his diaper and then they scurry to our bed to play and wrestle on it. I get Eli's PJ's ready, vitamins out, toothbrush in the ready position, towel and washcloth in hand, and then I make my way to the bathroom. Once I turn the handle on the faucet and the water pours out sounding like a gutter in a heavy rainstorm, Eli knows to make his way to his room so Chad can take his diaper off. This one act of ripping off the two tabs of his diaper and removing this cotton barrier seems to give Eli a sort of freedom that he relishes. A freedom to feel the wind in his sails, if you will. Once he is put down to make his way to the bathroom, the following video is my view from the bathroom every night.......lets just say he runs like lightning during a full 'moon'. :) Can I just say that I love my kid with a passion?

happy birthday hubby

On this day, 31 years ago, I was 3 months old. Who knew that on that day, all of my dreams would be fulfilled years later by the most brilliant, funniest man on earth, with a knowledge of God that teaches me every day. This man is my husband and I wish him a happy birthday today. In honor of his talented humor, I chose some pics that accentuate that quality.

I love you hubby.
Love, Wifey.

homegrown?

Alas, no, not homegrown. A beautiful friend gave these to me. Little did she know that sunflowers reside in the top 3 flowers I adore, next to calla lilies and roses. I am a lucky friend. :)

raisins

A sneaky way for me to get Eli to eat healthy things, such as raisins, is that I have to mask them as being something else. To get him to eat raisins, I get yogurt covered (aka sugar coated) raisins. He likes those a lot, actually, which is fine by me. Anyhoo, I gave Eli some yogurt covered raisins to eat while he was watching his favorite show Yo Gabba Gabba. I did some correspondence, put some pictures in frames and then came over to watch the rest of the show with him. As I am walking over, I see a little brown thing on the carpet. I bend over to pick it up and when I do, I see the carpet littered with these little brown, gooey, wet globs. Lo and behold, I pick one up and see that they are ABCSSOSO raisins (already-been-chewed-sugar-sucked-off-spit-out). So much for the sneakiness of me trying to get him to eat healthy....off to the drawing board. :(

farmer eli

growth

Growth is so amazing! Remember this picture I took just a short time ago?

Well, our little Robin is a proud mama bird of 4!

I could not get a good shot of the new babies, so these two pics were the best I could do. In this one above, you can see the shells of the hatched eggs. And it looks like the babies are sleeping.

Here you can see the outline of the hanging basket they are in. They look like they are all nestled up to one another. SO cute!



Proud Mama bird! She is about to wake up the babies for lunch!

Growth sneaks up on you when you least expect it. In our garden, which is basically the dressing up of our central air unit, we planted sunflower seeds between the unit and the house.

Here is the first day of planting. No growth yet, of course. But........

Look at them now! This picture depicts less than 2 months of growth! These sunflowers are growing faster than me in my pubescent years! The flower part of the sunflowers have yet to bloom, but I am so excited that I will soon look out my kitchen window and bask in the yellow petals of my sunflowers!

Soon this little guy will be all grown up......NOOOOOO!!!! I won't let it happen! :)