Pretty Much The Best Day Ever

The kids woke up in the BEST mood. Eli started off sharing and cooperating from the first few minutes of this morning. We all went downstairs after getting dressed and the kids played while I made breakfast. Instead of the standard argument over toys (Maddux taking and Eli complaining), Eli came into the kitchen and asked, SO sweetly, "Max, wanna pway cooking wiff me?" Then he took her hand and tried to help her come with him. The day continued that way. Lots of sharing, lots of sweetness, lots of obeying. At one point, Eli found a bouncy ball and started tossing it around downstairs. Then I heard him say, "Go get it, doggy!" I looked over to see Maddux running after the ball. I was tempted to stop him, since I don't want him to treat anyone like a dog. But he was being so sweet, and knowing Eli's love for the four-legged animals, I knew this was not a put-down in any way. The two played that game for quite a while. I wish I had some video tape of Maddux chasing the ball. It was really quite comical and her expression was exactly that of a dog waiting for her owner to toss a ball.

After naps, we played a little before Lehr got home. At one point Eli asked to go downstairs to play with his trains. I told him he could and Maddie and I stayed upstairs and read. Ten minutes later we went down to join him. Eli had built a great big train track, all by himself. Maddie ran over to it and started to play immediately. This scenario ALWAYS brings about loud, whiny protests from Eli, but he sat back and said, "Pweese be gentle, Maddie." That was it. (Can I just say, "WOW!!")

When Lehr got home, Eli and I left for our monthly date night. I decided to take him for sushi since he's recently figured out how to use chop sticks. (At least some of the time.) We had edamame, ebi (shrimp sushi), and chicken teriyaki. Eli used his chop sticks 97% of the time and even mastered picking up plain rice with them! He told me, "Look, Mommy! I not squeezing it too hard!" He tried a tiny bit of wasabi, but vetoed it immediately. The same thing with ginger. After our dinner, I had a few errands to run. One of those was going to Michael's for a particular sticker. Eli found some food stickers he wanted to get for Maddux, so I let him. He also picked out some pizza stickers for himself. When we were driving home he told me, "I gonna give deez to Maddie and let her have dem. She can rip them, or fold them, or do whatever she wants, cuz they're for her." That was cool to hear because usually Eli is the typical first-born, control-freak big brother that tells Maddux what to do and not do with her toys. We came home and he gave her the stickers. She immediately brought her hand to her mouth, thanking him in sign language. Life is good.