Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

I don't remember when Eli started waking up happy, at least happy enough to play in his crib until someone came to gather him. For the past week, Maddux has been doing this after her morning nap. I will hear what I think is her, but when I put my ear to the monitor there is silence. Then a minute or so later, I'll hear her shriek again. Eventually I realize that she is making noises, but they are happy, playing noises. This morning Maddux woke up and played in her crib for ten minutes before 'requesting' I come in to feed her. That was a first; I knew she had to be starving having not eaten since 8PM last night. Yet she still hung out for a while and entertained herself.

Also, Maddie is really enjoying the exersaucer. She gets to explore its possibilities at least once each day, and so far she's not been disappointed. She is grabbing objects with much more success in the last week, and she runs in place like Eli did when he was this age too.

Eli woke up quite lethargic this morning. We heard his aquarium turn on around 8:45, but we usually give him 15 minutes or so to wake up on his own. (He is not a happy camper if you rush his awakening process.) In that time we didn't hear any other (talking, etc.) noises. When Lehr finally brought Eli downstairs, he informed me that something was 'weird'. He said Eli fell asleep on his shoulder while they read a book and he was very lifeless. I reached out and took Eli in my arms to investigate for myself. He didn't seem to have a fever or any other obvious ailment, so thoughts of keeping him with me during the church service ran through my mind. As I put him in his high chair I realized what the problem was. Eli ate next to nothing for dinner last night, so his blood-sugar was most likely at an all-time low. This kid eats a LOT, so missing a meal could cause serious havoc. He did not enjoy the dinner I made, so he only picked at a few bites of apple and raisin from the salad portion. In our house we don't cater to the kids: they're at healthy enough weights that I know they aren't undernourished. The choice is what we are eating or a big bowl of nothing. There was no struggle or fight, but last night Eli chose nothing. After 'dinner', Eli and Lehr went to the nearby softball field to watch a few minutes of the softball games. When they returned home Eli was a mad-man: running around the upstairs imitating the base-running and ball-catching. Any calories he might have had during dinner were definitely burned in the 15 minutes before his bath. After breakfast he seemed to be himself again, so we're pretty confident that's all it was. Since Eli is never quiet and cuddly like he was this morning, it almost made me wish he'd skip a meal once a week so I could spend 'down time' with him. That's something that is reserved only for before-bed-books, which Lehr usually handles.

Even though I know this post is already too long, there is one last thing. Eli seems to have found his Lex Luthor (or his Superman, depending on which character Eli might be). There is a little boy who in in the same Sunday school class at church, even though he's about six months older than Eli. A month or so back, this little boy's dad told us that he (the boy) had hit Eli during Sunday School, but that he did apologize. We joked about how it would most likely be Eli hitting him (the boy) next time. That may have happened today (and every Sunday, for all I know). On the ride home, Eli said "I 'tarry, (boy's name)." We asked him if he had to apologize today and he said 'uh huh'. When we asked him why, Eli said, "Hit. (Boy's name)." On the other hand, Eli incorporates this little boy's name into a lot of conversation around our house, even though he only sees him for a few hours on Sunday. I think they tend to play together a bunch in that time, which of course means they end up butting heads a lot. I just hope Eli really did apologize! (I know who worked in Eli's classroom today, so I will be asking for more details soon :)