Growing Before My Eyes

Eli is SUCH a joy! I know every parent must feel that way about their children but he is really so fun at this age. Over the past few weeks he has learned several knew things and I love cheering him on as he figures things out. :) He loves being outside and every time we go out he drags ALL of his toys from the garage to play with. He really loves his red wagon. Marc's sister gave us this before Eli was even born and it has been great to finally put it to some good use this summer! Thanks Aunt Jamie!

Eli always has to be carrying something when we go on wagon rides. It really cracks us up. :)

Lately, he has been trying to get in the wagon by himself, but he mostly gets stuck with one leg in and one leg out and starts screaming for help. Once I get him out, he is right back at it again!

My parents got him a little electric car for his birthday that can be controlled either by the handle or by the steering wheel. He is starting to consistently hold down the button to make it go which excites him so much. Now if he can just figure out how to steer the car at the same time we can take that handle off and let him go!

Besides playing with some fun toys, Eli has made friends with a little girl next door named Lucy who stands about 1 ft. tall and loves wagging her tail. Lucy is a dachshund and has chewed a hole in her gate big enough to stick her nose through and Eli loves going over to say hi when he sees her. He now says "daw" when he hears Lucy and barks "oof, oof" at her. I love it! This morning we went over to look for Lucy but she was inside. She had accidentally gotten out of the back yard last week and our neighbors were a little panicked trying to find the dog! I was hoping they would find her not only for our neighbor kids' sake, but also for our sweet boy who loves paying her visits. :) Fortunately, another nice neighbor found and returned her safely.

After we get done playing outside I usually give Eli something to drink. He has loved learning how to use a juice box and a straw. We have tried Minute Maid apple juice and fruit punch as well as Capri Sun flavored water drinks. He likes to drink them by himself. If you try to take it to fix the straw or offer any help he fights to get his drink back and usually squirts half of the drink out onto himself and me or Marc in the process. Strong willed, maybe???

I also feel like Eli is responding well to our discipline and direction over the past few weeks. When he started in the 1-2 year old class a few months ago he quickly started having problems with hitting and being aggressive in general (his class has almost all boys!). His hitting was playful and never out of anger, but still VERY hard. He would usually hit us in the head! We have been trying to teach Eli how to touch people, dogs, or flowers in a gentle way. The minute we tell him "gentle" he starts softly petting whatever he was previously trying to hit or destroy (like my flowers!). I know his sister hopes he learns this "gentle" touch thing well before she arrives in a few months. :)

Marc took Eli back to Dr. H yesterday for a follow-up on his ears and to review his x-ray. I was so glad to hear he thinks it would be worthwhile to try some conservative therapy to shrink Eli's adenoids before we resort to surgery. He wants to try Eli on a nasal steroid for 6 weeks first to see if his adenoids will get smaller and allow better drainage from his sinuses and ears. If we follow up at 6 weeks and he still has lots of fluid behind his ears and his adenoids are still large, then he will need surgery. I just hope he doesn't have any more infection develop from the fluid behind his ears in the meantime. Our trip is two weeks away and we want to send a healthy and happy boy to Arkansas while we are gone!

Well, I think I am going to go grab some lunch before Eli wakes up from his morning nap. Have a great weekend! We are excited about Father's Day and should have some more pictures after the weekend is over.