Put On A Happy Face

Ouch. Eli cried when they took him out of the car at school this morning. I don't think that has happened before. I know he recovered quickly, but I did not enjoy hearing him say "Mooommmmmyy" with his cry-face* on. In all honestly, I don't think it was me he was missing. One of his two teachers is out for the month and today was only the second day of her absence. I have a strong feeling she is his favorite because he talks about her all the time. Something is telling me the idea of leaving Mommy to go to someone other than "Miss Dane" (Jane) didn't sit well with him. The teacher who put him in my car this afternoon informed me that I had "quite a little athlete" on my hands. She did creative movement with him today and said he was quite good with the ball.

*Cry-face. I've been meaning to blog about this for some time since it's a very common phrase in our house. Around the time Maddux was born Eli's language exploded and he started to make up his own phrases and compound words. "Cwy-face" is one of them. When he would see Maddie crying, he would scrunch up his face and say in a whiny voice, "Baby cwy". He quickly changed that to "Baby cwy-face". Then he moved on to tell us if someone else had a "cwy-face", especially when we read books. Now the tables have turned and I use it on him. When he starts to whine for no real reason (and most of the time, there is not a real reason), I tell him "There is no cry-face." It's amazing how quickly he shuts it off and asks for whatever he wants in a very controlled, normal voice after that.

One more language thing before I sign off. The kids and I take a walk almost every day after Eli's nap. We walk a somewhat consistent path around the neighborhood for about 45-minutes. Each day Eli points out the gutters, the lawnmowers, the dogs and cats, and the "hoops". A large percentage of our neighbors have basketball hoops, so he gets many opportunities. One in particular is knocked down, and it's been that way for as long as we've lived here. Eli always says, "Hoop. Pall down." (fall down) and then "I 'tarry hoop". So yesterday when we walked I asked him about other hoops before we got to that one. I would say "Eli, did that hoop fall down?" He would reply, "No." Then I would tell him he was right; it was standing up. We repeated this about three times before we got to the "pall-down-hoop". A few minutes later I asked him (about a normal hoop) if it had fallen down. Eli said, "No pall-down. Tann-een Ahhh-p." (No fall-down. Standing up.) Monkey see, monkey do!