In tune

I am impressed with how in tune Eli is with his body. This morning during breakfast he said:

"Mom, I don't feel good. My throat hurts."

I was a little concerned since he has never 1) identified his throat before and 2) has never complained about his "throat" hurting him. I even had him say "ahhh" so I could look at his throat. Then he said:

"These shiny raisin bran (aka raisin bran crunch) is making my throat hurt. I think I need to poop."

Hum... I wonder where he thinks his throat is.

Wild Banshee

Do you watch 30 Rock? It is one of my favorites because it is ridiculous. There is a character named Kenneth Parcell who is a page for NBC. He is a naive, straight-laced character, supposedly out of the hills of Virginia/West Virginia. He lands in NY and is oblivious to how out of place he is. Anyway he has an annual party, oh yeah he hands out invitations that are on this big giant pink cupcake cards - it is a really funny episode. Anyway everyone tried to avoid him during his invitation week so they wouldn't have to go because he plays polka music and, well you get the drift. Anyway, Tracy Jordan (one of the outlandish characters) starts a rumor that fall out boy and TI are going to be at the party, and all of the sudden the party is a rage and everyone is going. They show snippets of the party and everyone is crazy out of control. They totally destroy Kenneth's apartment and his innocent party becomes an catastrophe. You should watch the episode. Anyway, my point is that this is what our house is like right now. Isaac has been prescribed a steroid for his breathing issues and the steroids make him nuts. Literally crazy, out-of-control. He is running all over the place - it is like he can't destroy the house fast enough. And Eli, though not on these mind altering steroids, is feeding off Isaac's craziness. The two of them are running laps around the house throwing things. I try to stop it but they just running me down like I am non-existent. This is day 2 of TEN of these steroids. If I have a nervous breakdown you now know why....

In for it

Isaac's newest dinner trick is to wait until we are eating to ask to go peepee. Particularly if he doesn't like what we are eating, we can be assured that there will be multiple bathroom break requests. We take him to the potty prior to dinner, but nothing has seemed to work. He has wised up since we now tell him to hold it if he says he has to pee, he now automatically asks to poop, regardless if that is the need. So the other day John said, after the third request, "If you don't poop you are going to get a spanking." Isaac said ok, so John picked him up and as he was walking out of the dining room you could hear Isaac, voice trailing off, saying, "I'm going to get a spanking."
What a stinker!

I can do it

Isaac is currently experiencing a streak of independence. He can do everything and will absolutely melt down if you in any way shape or form try to speed up the process or correct his efforts. As of late he is insisting on putting the potty seat on the toilet before going peep. Unfortunately, the person using the potty before him (Eli) leaves the toilet seat up. My efforts to date to educate/correct Isaac have been futile. Therefore, Isaac puts the potty seat on a toilet that has the seat up, he sits on the potty seat, both he and the potty seat fall into the water, and then crying ensues because his "butt is all wet".
It was my understanding that your kids were not supposed to think you were a complete moron until well into middle school/high school. Did I miss that "Mom your amazing" stage?

Top Ten

Here are my Top Ten favorite Eli sayings

10) Concerning a toy that has disappeared: "Oh, I bet dad broke it"

9) "What do I smell?" - (can pertain to a lot of situations)

8) "I need to check a web-site"

7) "That chicken looks like fish"
It's chicken
"Hum, I wanted fish"

6) When trying to stall - "See, look, I can't walk, my knees are bending"

5) "I want to watch Kung Fu Panda"
We don't have Kung Fu Panda
"I think we do"
No I'm pretty sure we don't
"Check Netflix"

4) I picked him up from school and wanted to know if he liked the roll-up I made him for lunch.
Did you have a good day at school?
"Yep"
Anything exciting?
"No, but I had a really crazy sandwich for lunch"

3) "Let's just rest for a second so I can get the busy out of me."

2) "I am not sure what just happened, but I think you need to change your pants."

1) "Wow, that made a big mess"

And my all time favorite:
Eli it is time to clean up the living room.
"How about I just sit here and watch you do it."

Literally...

I hadn't looked at this picture in a while, but used it today in our craft (or crap) for MOPS today. What a fun memory. This was the first time we had professional pictures of the boys taken together. It was not a fun experience as neither of the boys were interested in being photogenic. In fact we purchased this picture because it was the best, so you can use your imagination as to what the other pictures looked like. I was sweating by the time the session was over chasing Eli around the studio. Oh, but how time has passed. Isaac had just started sitting up (he was falling backwards and Eli was catching him in this shot) and Eli still had a head full of curls. They grow up so fast.

The boys are getting taller and older all to fast. Each day they seems to look less and less like toddlers and are getting that "little boy" look. While I love love love this stage I do miss their littleness. Life now seems to be a balancing act of allowing them to identify and understand boundaries, explore the world without hampering their creativity, and at the same time try to keep them alive. Boys are insanely creative at making the mundane dangerous. Eli was working today on the door. He was standing on a hamper, that was posied on his toy box (placing him about 5 feet in the air), banging on the door frame with a plastic hammer. I need nerve pills.

I am also constantly amazed at how literal Eli's world is becoming. He knows nothing other than reality and so using slang around him can send his small world into a tail spin. Each morning I exercise and when I come up stairs to take a shower I am literally soaked with sweat. Inevitably Eli is waking up about the time I go to take a shower and so we meet in the hallway and I take him to the potty. This morning Eli was wanting to get right to playing and I told him he needed to play quitely in the room while I "jumped in the shower." He laughed at me like that was the most ridiculous idea in the world, because clearly, if I jumped in the shower I would definitely fall. He got a good laugh out of it - such a cute way to start the day.

Isaac

Isaac has become quite the funny man. Here are some of his antics.

A break

Last weekend we took a 4 day trip to Gatlinburg with the family. Here are a few pictures of the boys. The hotel had a great pirate ship park. The saying of the week was "Are we going to make it?" This was instead of, "Are we there yet?" or "When are we going to get there?" I guess there was concern that we were never going to make it to vacation.
And... I usually don't dress them alike but assumed that it was ok to be super cheesy while on vacation and out of town...

The Family Trade

Eli's first dunk.