Conversations with Eli

Before Eli went to school we had started practicing his letters and his sounds. He knew a lot of them, but not all. Since school has started though his recognition of letters has just exploded. Now he goes around saying, "Dere my 'E'! Dere my 'L'! Dere my 'I'!" I LOVE it! When he gets to school in the morning, the first thing he has to do after taking out his folder is spell his name. He knew how to spell "Eli" before he went to school, so he moved on to spelling his last name. He knows how to spell that too now :) I love how his little brain is just soaking everything up!

One of his favorite things to do is to go around and find letters that he knows. He was in his room the other night and saw the canvases above his bed and said, "E-L-I...dat my name!" Then he spotted the growth chart I made him that has his name on it and said, "E-L-I...dat my name too!" Then he found his backpack which also has his name on it and said, "E-L-I...dat my name again!" Then he made a wonderful generalization that made Josh and I laugh. He came up to me and said, "Momma, my name is all o-vuh da pwace!" I guess I have an obsession with labeling things...

Conversations with Eli-The Truth About Beans

A few weeks ago, I made popcorn shrimp, french fries, and baked beans for dinner. It was an easy night for the cook :) Eli was in true form and not wanting to eat anything at all, so I was using all the tricks I had in my bag to get him to take just one bite. Before I knew what I was saying I found myself whispering a rhyme to Eli about beans that my Poppy told me a long time ago. I'm sure you guys know which one I'm talking about but I'll go ahead and write it for the sake of reliving my childhood.

"Beans, beans, the wonderful fruit
The more you eat, the more you poot.
The more you poot, the better you feel,
so let's have beans for every meal!"

By the way, this is why I think I'm a good momma to a little boy. If I had a little girl, I wouldn't be able to share this wisdom with them :) Anyway, Eli immediately started cackling when he heard the word "poot", because any kind of bathroom humor is already funny to him. My rhyme did work it's magic though because he ended up eating, but it was just so he could say the word "poot" every time he took a bite of beans. At that point, I didn't care at all. I was just thankful he was eating :)

Fast forward two weeks and we go to Mammy and Uncle Clare's house for hamburgers, french fries, and beans. Eli was still playing while we all ate, but eventually got hungry enough and came to join us. We were all  talking and laughing when a small little voice was heard above all the others..."Beans make me POOT!"

After laughing so hard I cried, I remember feeling a surge of pride...he's got a great memory! Let's just hope he doesn't decide to show this "trick" at school :)

Conversations with Eli

Eli is getting to be a regular chatterbox these days and I love having little mini-conversations with him. I love getting a peek at what's going on in that little brain of his :) Whenever we drive around town, I usually have the radio off so Eli and I can talk about things we see, things we're going to do, and lots of other stuff. A couple of weeks ago, while we were driving through town during errands, Eli and I started talking about babies and him one day (keyword here, people, being "one day") becoming a big brother.

Me: Eli, would you like a baby boy or a baby girl?
Eli: A baby guhl.
Me: A girl? Really? What would you like her name to be?
Eli: Sosie! (Sophie)
Me: Aww, that's sweet. I like that name too. What would you name a little boy?
Eli: Bay-den! (Brayden)
Me: I like that too, Eli. Well, maybe one day, God will put another baby in my tummy and you can be a big brother. We'll just have to keep praying for that to happen. Mommy would love to have another baby in my tummy like you were in my tummy.
Eli: {Questioning and confused look on his face} Mommy....you eat me????

Makes perfect sense to me, too, buddy :)

Mama Lion

With the weather being quite chilly lately, we've been bundling up in our warmest coats and jackets. This morning before I left for work, I grabbed an old coat of mine that I haven't worn in years. It's a cute coat, but I guess I've got other practical coats that I wear more and this particular coat had just gotten pushed to the back of the closet. Since the coat I wanted to wear is currently still at the Hampton Inn in Southaven, MS (supposedly, they're mailing it to me), I had to grab this one before I left for work today. I must have put my coat on after Eli told me goodbye this morning, because otherwise this conversation would have taken place this morning rather than this afternoon. This afternoon when I walked in to pick Eli up at Mrs. G's house, Eli looked at me kind of funny and said, "Mama, a lion??"

Well, I guess so, son. I see what you mean now :)

Mama, I fix it!

The funny toddler conversations have started and I love it. My good friend, Nicki, started blogging about her son's funny conversations when he was young, and I thought it was such a great idea that I'm stealing it ;) Thanks, Nicki!

The other day Eli and I had to go to Wal-Mart to get a few items and when we pulled into a parking space, I heard Eli say, "Mama, oooooohhhh, nooooo!" Concerned, I quickly got out of the car and went around to the back to get him out of his car seat. I asked him what was wrong and he pointed to a truck parked several rows away from us. "Mama, it broke!" he said. Confused, I looked at the truck again and only then did I realize what he was talking about. We were looking at a big rig truck (eighteen wheeler) that didn't have the trailer on the back of it. In his little mind, it was broken because it was missing the trailer part. I started laughing and he looked at me and being the sweetheart that he is said, "It otay. I fix it!"