I've caught myself saying a couple of times this month that Eli is going through a mechanical stage...he must figure out how things work. Trying to take them apart, flip switches, on, off, opening doors, undoing latches; he is all about cause and effect.
He has also discovered Blue's Clues. We let him watch in the mornings while we're getting ready for work and school. Eli adores watching it and is picking up on more and more everyday. Yesterday, he requested that I turn it on by using his hands to do the Blue's Clues sign. And I just about fell out laughing as he ran around the corner of the kitchen to do the mail dance perfectly, without missing a step. For those of you novices in the world of Blue's Clues....check it out! It is a cute, interactive, and even educational show. He loves the "routine" of it, and I'm hoping he'll grow up with the show. There is still so much it has to offer that is a little over his head at this point. But for now, we all love it! :)
Eli is also booming with knowledge these last couple of weeks. He's really starting to sing along here and there with songs he's familiar with. He continues to request his favorites to be sung or played on CD. This week, he went from kind of randomly counting to actually stopping as he's finished counting buttons or dogs or whatever it is he's counting. He's made a shift in his brain there as to what it really means to count...and how to do it! I'm amazed!!! And my favorite...he's starting to SING the ABC song. We can take turns and get through the entire alphabet. At the beach this weekend, he just busted out with "h, i, j, k, lmamoaodonp." Yeah, the last part there was a little garbled, but still super cute. Yesterday's favorite letters to sing over and over were W and X. Too cute! He even does, "Now I know my...." And of course, while singing, he's trying to sign along too. Oh yeah, he can also identify some letters by sight...he gets O and S right every time. I love it! He's a genius, right? Or at least he is in my mind... :) FYI...the other song of the week is "Twinkle Twinkle." And the book that we read everyday...multiple times a day is Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. He just adores it and now knows what comes on some of the pages. You should hear him read along. Love it!
It is so much fun to see him grow and learn so much so fast. I'm sure I'm sharing more than you want to know, but I can't help it. I'm just so proud.
Things I'm not so proud of: his inability to share, pushing, whining when things don't go his way, not always listening, getting into things he knows he shouldn't, claiming all things as "mine." I don't think these are unusual at this age...it just leaves us lots to work on. Lots of these things are getting better as the days go by. But it is trying in the mean time.
Here's the picture link of the month.
I'll leave you with one last story:
Yesterday we were getting stir crazy and the toys had been played out. I decided to try and make sidewalk chalk paint. I had read about it in one of my parenting magazines. Eli ended up spilling it, pouring water in to water them down, dumping bubbles while I worked at it, mixed all of the colors rather than actually paint on the patio, and basically drove me bonkers while I tried to make this fun toy for us to try. So much for creativity...next time I'll plan ahead better and make it while he naps. You live and learn.
our mess....it was a fun idea
Eli watching from inside while an exasperated Mama cleaned up the messes_
I love that you made sidewalk paint... and I love that it didn't work out the way you expected it to. Sometimes I get ideas from other parents or websites or whatever that sound really great - until I use them in relation to my little James. He's a world of his own!
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