Proof Positive

Ups and downs, yes, but in the last month or so we have had some really cool breakthroughs with Eli. He is entering a cool new phase of make-believe, prayer, compassion, and overall awesomeness. Room time (what he does during part of Maddie's nap each day), starts and ends with a little Mommy-Eli time with books and playing. He loves to read his BOB books to me or create lego cars. He reads the instruction books, but mostly he has memorized them, so he just tells me what to do.

Here are a few short stories from the last little bit:

• We had a really good room time today, and Eli and I were especially cuddly and lovey. Before I left his room to get Maddux, I asked Eli, "Who loves you more than Mommy?" Lehr and I do this with the kids all of the time and the 'correct' answer is "no one". Eli got all wise and answered "Jesus." Touche, little man.
• Eli has shared so well with Maddux in the last month. There are still battles over his legos and his drum/cymbal sets that he creates, but at least some of the time he is very eager to share. This was very evident yesterday when we had our jam session before naps. I let each child pick a song; when it was Maddux's song, Eli said, "Here, you can use my drums." as he stood up and offered her his thrown. And when she accidentally knocked down his paper cymbal (a HUGE offense in his eyes), he just shrugged and said, "It's ok...I'll just pick it up when you're done."
• Recently Eli's favorite thing to do is analyze the pictures he sees in the house. In his room we have two pictures of him as a newborn (less than a week). One of them is on his bookshelf and he can reach it. It was taken the day we came home from the hospital; Eli doesn't even have casts on yet. After room time one day this week, Eli asked me about it. He LOVED hearing about when he was that small.
• As I uploaded some pictures the other day, Eli pretend-made me some food. When it was done, he brought it to me and asked "Are you ready to say the blessing now?"
• Last night the kids and I ate together. At the end of the meal, Eli took a drink of water and then stretched his hands, very slowly, over his head. He said, "Look!! I'm a flower and my leaves are grooooowwwwwing!"