Ramble, Ramble

Today I took the kids to Target so we could pick out gifts for the Christmas Child boxes. I really wanted Eli to be involved this year, in the spirit of teaching him how we can give to those less fortunate than us. I explained the concept to him yesterday and even though he knew we were going to Target to buy toys, each time I asked him who we were going to buy for, he told me "udder key-ds" (other kids). Eli picked out small tennis balls, playing cards, stuffed animals, tee-shirts, and flashlights ("pash-lie-tts") for the boxes. When we returned home, the two of us assembled the boxes; Eli was a great little helped throughout the whole thing.

On a separate note, yesterday was an outstanding day for Eli. It was one that I need to hold in my memory when times get tough. We had NO time-outs and no whining with the exception of about 30-minutes of almost whining after Lehr got home. He was seriously the personification of good behavior through and through. Today he has only had one time out, but it was for hitting me while he was having a tantrum (brought on by teeth pain, but unacceptable nonetheless). The good news about it is that he totally understood. Thirty minutes later while I was changing his diaper before his nap he said, "Time Out". I said, "Who was in time out?" Eli responded, "E-I. Time Out." I asked him why and he said, "Hit. Mommy. I tarry, Mommy." So at least my constant stream of telling him why he's in a time out is getting through to him. If nothing else, it's getting through enough so he can regurgitate it, right?

I know I post a lot of these lists, but Eli's vocabulary is expanding so quickly I can't believe it. Other new words and phrases today and yesterday are:
- "gurl" (girl)
- "boy"
- "key-ds" (kids)
- "udder" (other)
- "mmm. good" (in response to lunch I served him today)
- "good tot, mommy" (good shot - while we were playing hoops outside)
- "bess ooou" (bless you - after a sneeze)