Eli Stories from Church Today

I know... my posts tend to be very long. Here's a shorter one :)

Preface: Grace is the most amazing, wonderful 17-year-old who sits with me almost every week and helps with the boys since Ben is up on the stand. She's also the only teenager we've ever had babysit our kids - she is so great with them. A visitor leaned over today and asked me if Grace was my sister because she was so good with Charlie. She definitely has a gift with children.

On our way to church this afternoon, Eli asked, "Is Grace was going to sit with us at church?"

I replied, "I think so!"

This answer didn't satisfy Eli.

"YES or NO?" he asked curtly.

"Yes!" I replied, really crossing my fingers that she would indeed be there today. I think Eli really looks forward to playing with her each Sunday.

And thank goodness, Grace was there and sat with us. Thank you Grace! We're so grateful for your help. Eli's "YES or NO?" questions have become more fierce lately. He doesn't like wishy washy answers. Like every day after quiet time when he asks, "Can I watch a show? YES or NO?" Funny guy. Ben is convinced Eli is going to be a manager of some sort because he is quite the boss man.

My second story from today is that toward the end of the Sacrament, it was somewhat quiet in the chapel as the water was being passed around. Out of nowhere, Eli starts doing Spiderman hands and singing (a little too loudly): "Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can. Spins a web, any size. Catches thieves, just like flies. Look Out! Here comes the Spiderman..." and then he looks up at me and says with a questioning look in his eyes, "I don't know the rest of the words?"

I think it was funnier in person, but it was all I could do to not bust out laughing. Grace was cracking up and thought it was hilarious Eli was familiar with the Spiderman song. Thank you, YouTube... (he loves the Spiderman theme song video - but not the Batman song, because it's "too scary")

Oh Christmas Tree…

Ben and I debated whether we should go the live tree or fake tree route this year, but we’ve had a live tree every year since we we’ve been married, so we couldn’t bring ourselves to do the fake one yet. We drove over to the oh-so-picturesque Home Depot to pick out our noble fir.

When you have two kids two and under, the thought of driving super far away to cut down a tree is not appealing. Someday though, I’d like to do it that way.

There is such convenience of loading your heavy tree on a cart, wheeling it over to the check out. At least we didn't go to Wal-Mart. I really don't like that store. Why doesn't Target sell Christmas trees?? I love Target.

Christmas lights were 99 cents since it was Black Friday, so I stocked up on a bunch to decorate the outside of our house (we didn't have it in us last year, so this was our first time with outside lights). Home Depot even handed out free hot chocolate and candy to keep customers happy. See the tree positioning on the car? Ben put his kayak straps to good use.

Eli was super cute while we were decorating the tree (Charlie was napping). He put on his Eli santa hat from last year and sang Jingle Bells over and over. It was a different story when I went outside to put up lights around our house - he wanted to come be with me (Ben was off jogging), but he cried almost the entire time we were out there together. My solution was to have him watch through the screen door's window (the storm screen was down, so it wasn't too freezing). It was much harder than I expected to put the lights up outside. Seven hundred lights later, I feel like it barely looks decorated, but that's okay. It's good for now.

The next day, the magic of it all hadn’t worn off yet. Eli must have said “Ho ho ho!” about 20 times that morning. I loved it.

Yesterday afternoon I ran around a stretch of shops near our house to put up posters for our ward’s annual nativity exhibit, coming up this weekend. When I came home, I found Ben standing on a chair, blowing bubbles for Eli. I can’t believe it was warm enough at the end of November for them to be outside without jackets (well, it was a little chilly, but Eli had no interest in wearing his coat).

I love the magic of bubbles. Kids seem to have a universal love for them.

The picture below shows how skinny this kid is. I have to put his pants on the tightest option with the buttons in the waistband. He needs to eat more. But somehow his diet of cheerios, deli turkey, and fruit seems to keep him going.

Of course there’s always a little attitude mixed in with the bubble happiness when a 2-yr-old is involved. “No, I don’t want to wear my hoodie!” he kept saying, despite my efforts to have him put it on.

Gotta love the body language in this one. :)

My convincing strategies weren’t strong enough. The red hoodie stayed hanging on the back of the patio chair. I figured if he got cold enough, he’d eventually put it on.

With no hard feelings after our hoodie debate, he invited me to come play in his “house” under the playset. Ben was inside our real house at this point, getting Charlie who had woken up from his nap. This was Eli’s front door -

“Come on in, Mama!”

So I did. I love this boy so much.

Throwing Up at Someone Else's House is Not My First Choice

It looks like my good luck is continuing into this week... :)

My slightly funny/mostly really embarrassing story is that yesterday, the kids and I took lunch over to a friend who had an accident last week and could use help with meals. We were all sitting in her kitchen, talking while she was eating, and Eli started coughing. All of the sudden, the coughing turned into Eli throwing up all over her kitchen floor. It wasn't a small amount either, basically everything he'd eaten that morning gushing out (three bowls of cereal, graham crackers, apple slices...). My friend's daughter took Charlie so I could clean up the mess, but Charlie started wailing, Eli was crying and shaking, and I was so mortified as I scooped up the huge mess on the floor.

I am pretty sure Eli threw up because he was gagging on all of the phlegm that he's had running down his throat, because I could hear it in his cough. He didn't have a fever, wouldn't take a nap that afternoon, and showed no signs of being really sick (by the end of the day though, he was EXTRA bossy with Charlie - any time his little brother even turned his body in Eli's direction, Eli would yell, "NO CHARLIE!!!!" Oh boy.

I'm crossing my fingers that today will be extremely uneventful...

Little Growlers

This is from Friday, but it took me a few days to get around to uploading the video. I think it's funny how Eli was growling and Charlie responded with his own growling noises...

Eli Growling and Charlie's Noises at 4 Months from Sarah on Vimeo.