Catch-Up

That's what I feel like I'm playing with this blog. Nothing but catch-up. Things seem to be so busy that even when the kids do something blog-worthy, I end up writing the blog in my head, but it never makes it to the keyboard. Then, when I finally sit down to transfer the story, details, wit and my thought-process are gone. So I'll just try to update with a few tid-bits now.

There is always a bear where Eli happens to be. If he needs to go upstairs to retrieve his guitar (alone), he'll tell me, "Can't go dere....dere's a bear up dere, Mommy!" Or if he comes into a room where Maddie is playing, he'll say, "Mah-ttix is bear!!" (That's his new pronunciation of her name: Mah-ttix.)

We have another musician in the family: Maddux likes to play drums as much as Eli. When I take her into the laundry room with me to change out clothes, she immediately walks over to the set and picks up a pair of sticks. She's content to stand on the ground and play the drums, but if you set her on the stool, she will reach for the high hat (with the stick) right away.

Maddux calls Eli 'ba-ba'. Or maybe it's 'bubba', but I'd like to think it's not. When I get her up first in the morning, she runs towards his room, chanting, "Bah!! Bah!!!!" I assume it's because she thinks she is saying 'brother'?

Maddux's favorite game is peek-a-boo, even with strangers. She will start a game unbeknownst to anyone but herself though, which makes it hard on the other participants. Usually you're first clue she's playing is her absence. She'll start by hiding under the table or behind a couch. Then she'll pop out and wait for you to say 'Peek-a-boo!' Her response is a hearty laugh. Every time.

Eli says "Less talk boutit" (Let's talk about it.) anytime he wants to discuss something. Usually something we've talked about before, like the car accident (muffler) or a trip to the baseball stadium. His latest favorite topic is when he was born, or when he was a little baby. "Mommy, member I was born? Less talk boutit." Then he wants to talk about fruits or vegetables. That basically means he wants to list as many as he can. He actually knows the difference quite well and is rarely incorrect.

We are still struggling with time-out/obedience issues with Eli. For a while he would go to time out about 90% of the time, even though he wasn't happy about it. This number has dropped lately, which has resulted in other punishments we'd rather avoid. Just by chance I remembered the trick that helped us several months back: a chair to sit on instead of just a section of carpet or a step. We will put that back in his time out area tomorrow and pray that it works.