Eli, the Toolman, Eliason

Since our house has been in a state of disarray due to boxes and packing supplies for the last few weeks, Eli has found many new 'toys'. With our supervision, some of these 'toys' are allowed (screwdriver, drill with a safe drill bit, the occasional paint roller). Tonight Eli went to town with the screwdriver and drill; he played mechanic with 'Mater for a good 15 minutes or so. I caught a little on video (below) to show everyone. Eli was also a big help after dinner, pushing boxes from one side of the room to the other and helping Daddy carry the heavy ones. Don't you love it when your children still want to help you do things around the house?



Also, Eli ate an entire pear for his snack today. I mean entire. All that was left was the stem - no lie. Nothing was hidden in his tray, his bib, or his booster seat.

Today had some very tough moments again though. Eli cried when we dropped him off in the church nursery yesterday, as did he when I brought him to MMO this morning. He recovered quickly, but he's been much more clingy in the last few days, particularly to me. We also had a diaper battle this afternoon. I've become so tired of him kicking and screaming during these that I will leave him in his crib after his nap until he stops shaking his head, "no" to my question of "Are you ready to come out and change your diaper?" This has only worked once or twice, unfortunately. Most of the time he'll say yes, or at least not say no, but once I get him to the changing pad, he's already whining and squirming. So of course I bring him right back to his crib (in an effort to show him I'm not going to tolerate anything but compliance). This becomes quite tedious though, due to my growing size and the fact that while he's in his crib, I try to make myself somewhat available so when he is ready, I can act on it quickly, so as to reward him for telling me he is ready to behave correctly. A tiring process to say the least. Today Eli stayed in his crib for (no joke) 60 full minutes before we changed his diaper. It wasn't great either, but I finally had to tell him that we had things to do, so he would just have to deal with it. (Luckily, with all of the boxes still to pack, I'm able to keep busy while Eli is in his crib, but after a full hour, I needed to move downstairs so I could make dinner.) Thank you again to everyone who has offered suggestions. I'm reading them all and I still welcome more tricks if you have them!!