Mr. Imagination

One huge change that I have seen in Eli over the last month or so is his growing imagination.  He loves to play and pretend and I love this fun new game of make believe we play!  One way that I see his growing imagination is through his new found love of stuffed animals.  While he enjoyed them before to hug, sleep on, or chew on, now he is actually playing with them. 

You will meet a few of his new "friends" in the pictures below, Doggie Star and Teddy Bear (he named them himself).  As for the rest of his "posse," here is a little run down of the who's who in Eli's world:

-Dolphin and Whale aren't pictured, but they are in Eli's new inner circle.  These two are always good for a laugh as they swim about his crib and go and give him "tickle kisses" (a speciality of Daddy) in the morning.

-2 Wooden Nutcrackers from our neighbors and friends across the street are a part of the gang.  During Christmas time, Eli really latched onto nutcrackers.  My mom had a huge nutcracker in her house and we still talk about nutcracker often around here (about how he will be "night night" until next Christmas.)  Our friend, knowing about his obsession with nutcrackers, gave us 2 wooden nutcrackers and it was love at first sight.  Eli loves it if we just repeat whatever we are saying in a deep voice and move the nutcracker's mouth....the belly aching laughs this rouses are hilarious!

-Another favorite friend is Snuggle Bunny, a white puppet inside of a book.  While the book attached to Snuggle Bunny can work to stifle creativity, you wouldn't believe the things snuggle bunny has done, from singing wheels on the bus to playing basketball. :) 

And finally, one more imagination story... The other day we were out on a playground that had a little play house.  Inside the house was a sink, a pretend stove, cabinets, etc.  Eli was playing and playing inside the house, and of course insisted that I join him in the house, even though I felt a little bit like Cinderella inside the Dwarf's house. :)  Inside the house Eli was just cooking away in his little pretend world.  I asked him what he was making to eat.  He looked at me with all the confidence in he world and said "a hot dog!"  Oh how I treasure these fun moments with my little man.  Thank you LORD for entrusting this precious little one to me, I acknowledge He is a priceless gift from You!

Eli and Doggie Star doing a little shoveling together in the back yard

Eli and his little buddy heading to the tent

Sitting in the tent with Doggie Star

Crawling though the tunnel with Doggie Star :)

Doggie Star may need a little Tylenol later, but at least he'll feel loved :)

Eating breakfast with company

Eli, Teddy Bear, and Doggie Star chatting away on this fine morning

Elijah's best buddies, Doggie Star and Teddy Bear :)

Sometimes I set up the tent inside if it is really windy out.  I had it set up in his playroom while I was making dinner one day and I noticed that Elijah was being really quiet.  I went in to check on him and found him like this.  He'd borrowed a few of Mama's pots and a spatula so he could cook like me.  Of course when I asked him what he was making, he said again, "a hot dog!"  I think he has realized that every time he says this he gets Mommy to laugh!

Just so you don't think all of Elijah's friends are make believe, here is a cute little picture from the other day with his friend Jovie.  So sweet!

While these next few pictures have nothing to do with imagination, I just thought they were too cute to pass up and I didn't want to do a separate post just for them.  Here are a few of Eli just being Eli. :)

I love you Eli!!  Thanks for all of the fun memories I get to make with you daily!

Guitar Upgrades

Eli has recently become a big fan of guitars.  A while back we went to a friend's house who had a little toy guitar.  Eli latched onto it and has been enamored by them ever since.  One day, I was feeling crafty and decided that I could just make Eli a homemade guitar to play with.  Thus began my new hobby of guitar making, as you will see in pictures below.

Eli with his brand new homemade guitar. :) 

Eli's guitar inspiration, Elmo and Adam Sandler singing on the Sesame Street website.

Strumming away

Amazing sound quality from this little three "band" guitar

Cislaghi Handcrafted Guitars, Model 1

Cislaghi Handcrafted Guitars, Model 2
While Elijah loved his first guitar, we had a little problem with the durability of the first model. :)  The cardboard box was starting to collapse from the tension of the rubber bands.   I set to creating a stronger, more durable second model.  This is what I came up with, made from only the highest quality materials...an empty mouthwash bottle, a free paintstic, rubber bands, and duct tape.  I am proud to say that model 2 is still standing today!

Eli playing his new guiter.

Guitar upgrade number 3!  While I am sorry to say that Eli's 3rd guitar is not homemade, I must confess it definitely trumps model 1 and model 2.  The "Red Guitar" has quickly become one Elijah's most prized possessions.  It frequently comes wth us on car rides and walks to the park.  What happened to model 2, you ask?  Thankfully, now the silver guitar has become "Mama's Guitar."  Lucky me! :)

"What a beauty...now that's what I'm talking about!" 

"This is awesome, thank you Nana and Papa!!!"

"Nana and Papa, this first song goes out to you."

Beautiful Eli! A true rock star in the making. :)

Baseball Cards

We have been having fun, fun, fun around here lately! Elijah is such a treasure and we are thankful for each moment we get to spend with our little buddy. I have a ton of pictures and updates that I want to post from the last month, but rather than post it all in one big overwhelming entry, I am going to break it up by topic and hopefully post them all over the next few days. So, without further ado, our first topic...Eli's first pack of baseball cards!

Daddy ran to Dicks Sporting Goods for a few things and came back with an awesome surprise for the little man...

...his First Pack of Baseball Cards!! :)

Ethan:  "Alright, let's see what we got..."
Eli:  "Let me see those Dad..."

Ah, the very first card...a special moment between a dad and his son (with the mom taking pictures of course)

Eli just shoved the rest of his little crescent roll up into his mouth so he could see it for himself.

Eli: "Hmmm. I think that card is going to get much more valuable because he is going to come out strong this year.  I better hang on to that one."

Eli: "What do you think, Daddy?"
Ethan: "Could be, something I hadn' thought of but now that you mention it I think you are right."

Eli: "What are the stats on that guy?"

A little live action:

Counting and Spelling before Bed

22 Months Old

Ethan and I have been having a great time lately with our little guy.  It is hard to believe he is already 22 months old!  His personality seems to come out more each day, and it is fun discovering this little person that God gave us.  Sometimes it still seems to amaze me that this baby of ours really is his own person. :)  Here are a few fun things that we have discovered about our sweet little man:

Eli loves all things sports, as I think has been well documented, but still needs to go to the top of the list. :) 

• He is majorly into golf and likes to play with his indoor and outdoor golf clubs.  Ethan has taught him how to swing with two hands and he does pretty well hitting the ball. 
• He also loves basketball (and can now differentiate in his words between basketball, football, soccer ball, all of which were called "ottball" at one point.)  The people across the back alley from us have a basketball goal in their driveway, much to Elijah's delight.  We frequently go over to Blake and Katy's to shoot baskets during the day.  Even though he can throw the ball just a little higher than his head, he loves to shoot it nonetheless.  He also likes to play basketball at the park.  Sometimes I feel a bit like a crazy mom, because while all the other kids are running around playing on the slides and swinging, my kid is playing golf and basketball (both of which we bring with us in the stroller).  I want to say to the other moms, "look people, I am not making him do this, he wants to play sports, really!"

If anything comes close to rivaling Eli's love for sports, it is his love for "the wheels on the bus." 

• This kid is seriously into the wheels on the bus!  We could run in circles and sing this, and only this, all day long.  If I try to sing another song, I usually get a strong "no!" and then a plea for more wheels on the bus.  Crazy kiddo!

Elijah likes guitars.

• Ethan has a guitar in a stand in the guest room.  It hadn't gotten a lot of attention until recently.  We went to a friends house and they had a little toy guitar.  Elijah latched onto it and played with it the whole time we were there.  After that, he was obsessed with Daddy's guitar.  I made him a little guitar out of cardboard, an old snack box, and rubber bands one day.  This was a huge hit for the day, but apparently not very durable because it was caving in from the tension of the rubber bands by the next day.  The next day I made him another guitar, this time out of plastic and sturdier materials (an old mouthwash bottle, a paintstick, and duct tape to make it shiny and silver).  While this was pretty fun, he is going to be SO excited to know that my parents got him his very own little toy guitar and it will get here in just a few days!    

Eli is a smart boy!

• Clearly I know that I am biased, but I am continually impressed by the way that Eli is learning and growing.  Today he counted all the way to 10 on his own!  We had done this with him before with him repeating after us, but today he did it all by himself. 
• Eli continues to learn and recognize letters.  We got some little animal crackers from the store that are shaped like letters and numbers.  He recognizes, and then eats, a lot of them. :) 
• He can spell his first word...TEXAS!  As you saw in the previous video, he has a Texas Rangers pillow in his bed.  Now he can not only look at it or a Texas shirt and point out all of the letters, but you can just ask him how to spell Texas without looking at anything and he will do it.  Or sometimes he just starts spelling it and then I ask him what that spells and he says "Texas" with gusto.  Whoever thought his first word to spell would be Texas...once again that just confirms that he is being raised to be a sports nut. :)        
• Elijah is definitely in the parrot stage and repeats everything you say!  It is amusing.  The other day he tasted something and I said, "good, huh?"  Then he looked back to me and said, "good huh?"  I laughed and of course he continued to repeat it. :)  Maybe I should work on being a little more refined in my speech.

Finally, Elijah loves to laugh and to make us laugh.

• Like most kids probably are at his age, Eli loves to be tickled, to laugh, to play.  I don't think that I could ever get enough of that squealing little kid laughter...you just can't hear it without it making you smile and cheering you up!
• Eli is starting to notice if he does something that makes you laugh and he will keep doing it over and over.  We seem to have a little comedian on our hands. :)

One sweet picture of Eli and Garfield at the front of Toys R Us.  I can hardly get him to go in the store because he loves to sit and drive the green car with the orange cat. :)