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! :)