Eli the 4-Year-Old

 Last Friday my oldest child turned four. FOUR! How can Eli be four already?? We celebrated by taking the world's longest scooter ride for a four-year-old and a two-year-old - from our house to our favorite cupcake place, 1.3 miles each way. The boys were tough and at the beginning, Eli exclaimed, "This is the BEST birthday ever!"

Then after we had been going for a while, he said in a discouraged tone, "This is the WORST day ever." :)

But he perked right up when we finally made it to the cupcake place, which has a bucket full of little animals that the boys love to play with every time we go there. Charlie was funny and refused to take his helmet and sunglasses off when we were inside. 

On the way back, we scootered past our friend's house and her son spotted us from the front window (shown in bottom left picture below). The kids were home with their dad at the time so we didn't go inside, but a few minutes later, Krista called and said she was running behind us down the sidewalk (she had been on her way home and saw us walking). She snapped this picture of me with the boys. It was a warm, humid morning, don't mind my frizzies and lovely exercise clothes.  Looking at this picture makes me think about a neighbor that I met earlier this week who thought I was the babysitter because I looked so young. Hmmm. I should probably try to dress my age? But what does that look like, anyway?

When we were nearing the end of the scooter ride, the boys spotted some tiny bugs on the sidewalk and stopped to take a closer look. I'll post more pictures soon from Eli's birthday weekend, but here are some fun things about my birthday boy:

1. He secretly is the third parent in our house. Or third adult. Tonight Eli and Charlie were upstairs, and all of the sudden Eli started crying. I called up to ask what was wrong, and he said Charlie pushed him (keep in mind they were up past their bedtime and Eli was super tired/oversensitive). I said I was sorry that he did that, and Eli responded, "It's not your fault mom. It's Charlie's," in a very serious, mature voice. 

2. Eli is constantly building towers or other creations with blocks, legos, whatever he can find. He calls the creations up in his room on his table his "Batmobile," which is ever-changing and evolving. He is very possessive of this Batmobile and does everything he can to keep Charlie away from it.

3. His favorite tv shows are Jake and the Neverland Pirates (on Disney) and Word World (PBS). 

4. He is my child who likes to be on time. I may or may not have given him a complex when we're always racing to get to swimming lessons on time... when I say we're running late and need to hurry, he'll say, "It would be better if we were on time, Mom..." Why is it so hard to get to those darn swimming lessons on time, anyway??

5. He has a vivid imagination and loves telling stories about whatever he's playing with. 

6. He's obsessed with Angry Birds on Ben's iphone and loves playing in the evening if he stayed dry all day (meaning he made it to the bathroom every time). 

7. He's a sweet big brother to Charlie and always calls him, "Little Buddy" when he's helping him with something.

I love my Eli! He is a sweet, snuggly, little guy who is obedient and bright. He is a wonderful kid and I am excited to see how he grows and changes in this next year.