Just a Few

How cute is it when your little one starts to show signs of intelligence? Or random acts of memory? Those are the moments that are melting me these days. While Eli's personality is coming through with his cape-wearing and his dancing, he is also starting to show us how much he really has been paying attention these last 18 months. The following observations are definitely a few of my favorite things.

First off, when you ask Eli a question about something in his immediate surroundings, or you request he go somewhere, he at least acknowledges he knows what you're saying (even if he doesn't comply). For example, Lehr piles up all of the trash from the mail each day and tells Eli to throw it away in the trash can. Eli loves carrying the envelopes and catalogues to the other side of the kitchen and depositing them. (Usually about half of it ends up on the floor, but beggars can't be choosers.) A few other notes: Eli always puts shoes (his or not) on his feet; Eli points to his mouth signing "water" when we turn on the bath or sink sometimes; when Lehr comes home Eli runs around the corner to see him as soon as he hears the garage door opens; and when I ask Eli if he's hungry and ready for breakfast/lunch/dinner, he nods, points to his mouth (signing food) and goes to his chair to wait for me to hoist him up.

The intelligence part of this is more a display of Eli's keen observation skillz. He really notices when Lehr and I do things around the house, and he loves to mimic them. He's been brushing his own hair for quite some time, which we never showed him how to do, but obviously he's seen us do it enough. Eli loves to wash his stomach or the walls of the tub with his washcloth while he's bathing. Recently he started attempting to wipe his mouth with a napkin if given the opportunity. (We never taught him this, nor did we ask him to. One day he just got ahold of a napkin and started wiping!) The scarier ones include lighting the fire. Now that winter has finally arrived in Georgia, we've had a few fires in the fireplace each week. Although I watch Eli very closely when he and I are downstairs together, I try to give him the opportunity to remove himself from a 'NO' situation (rather than me constantly pulling him away.) Last week he grabbed the lighter (which has since been moved even though there really isn't any way he could manipulate the buttons correctly) and placed it CORRECTLY into the fireplace, next to the starter. (Again, no gas was on, no logs were in the fireplace, and I was right there the whole time saying 'no'; Eli was removed from the area as soon as I got close enough to him.) We've been doing a lot of home improvement projects around the house in preparation for selling, so there is always a hammer or drill or level somewhere (usually out of reach). When we are working we often let Eli play (supervised) with select tools. Recently he had a screwdriver and correctly tried to screw the towel rack into the wall (he was watching Daddy when he did it, obviously).

The memory part is my most exciting observation. As I've mentioned a few times before, we do couch-time/blanket-time with Eli at least five nights per week. Sunday night I figured we'd skip it in light of the Superbowl and a later-than-normal dinner. However, Eli decided otherwise. After dinner (which is the routine), Lehr and I settled in the living room with the game on and a few toys around for Eli to play with. After about five minutes of this, Eli went over to his toy box, pulled out his blanket-time blanket, placed it on the ground, sat down and looked up at us as if to say, "It's time, right?" We were totally blown away, but of course we helped him spread the blanket out and get situated. Also, Eli's diaper trick has not occurred in several days, but the fact that he did it still excites me. His newest trick is lying down when you ask him. It's become quite a game between he and Lehr after bath time. (Although I do not condone the pretend-play of guns, this clip is still cute.)


This one does not fall under any of those categories, but I still thought it was blog-worthy. Over the weekend I left the house while Eli and Lehr were playing in the living room. I said my good-byes and walked out the door. As I was closing it, Eli started to run over to me, so I said "OK, one more kiss". He came to the door, kissed me good-bye, and then shut the door for me. Separation anxiety has passed for now!