More Personality

He is such a goober some days... most days. He comes up with ideas for things that I just would never think of. Maybe it's partially because he's a boy, but also because he sees everything with new eyes; he doesn't always know what things were made for, so he makes it up on his own!

Playing in the bathroom cabinet

Oh, those eyes get me...

 Out at a restaurant... 

Looks like he is eating something amazingly good, doesn't it?

Nope!

He was just playing with the paper holding his napkin and silverware. Now it's binoculars. He would look around and tell us what he could see... "oh, bird!" "I see you Daddy!"

Eating ice cream...

The puppy thinks he should get some too. 

Eli is not about to share. He loves his ice cream!

... sometimes a little too much...

Accidents happen with any kid, and Eli is no exception. He always has a scrape or two and bruises on his knees and legs. 

Last week, he was running around at Aunt Diane's house and ran right into the counter top of the kitchen island. It was just the right height apparently. I was at work when it happened, but Josh and Diane patched him up like pros. When I got home from work, Josh told me I needed to show him how to get blood out of clothes. :) 

This was two days after.

This was six days after. No permanent damage, just a little scab!

He likes to hang around while I get ready in the morning, mostly just playing with his toys in the bathroom, but he loves to play with my water spray bottle. "In my mouth," he says. He will "drink" the whole bottle in about five minutes. 

Intent, Headstrong, Persistent

I intended to write a post before this, but really, we haven't done anything! Just day to day stuff; work, park, errands, etc. But in two weeks we have a trip planned to go to the Grand Canyon! I'll try to take a few pictures, you know, if I can. :)

Last Sunday, we met Josh's Grandpa and Grandma Norton for lunch with Aunt Joyce. Grandpa and Grandma live in Colorado, but were in the area for a few weeks. 

Eli's new favorite form of transport: "shoulders", Everywhere he can, he goes like this.

Although, if he could get it to move, this might take over for favorite! Grandpa had brought his 'toys' with them from Colorado and had gone on rides out in the desert. Eli liked this one best (Grandpa also had a 4-wheeler). It was strapped onto the trailer, but that didn't stop Eli from trying all the gears and moving the steering wheel. See the big grin on his face in the first picture?

"I'm sorry did you say something? I can't hear you, I'm driving."

Grandma and Joyce watching Eli 'drive'.

 Eli also explored the RV; the first thing he found was an (apparently) amazing flashlight, which he proceeded to carry around the rest of the time and 'inspect' things.

Look how big Eli is... he is half Josh's size!!

 Eli also inspected the outside of the RV. Unfortunately, I think he found something wrong with one of the back wheels, because he looked up at Grandpa and asked for a "screwdriver". 

Determined to hang on and wait for someone to get him tools.

Later in the week we went to IHOP for dinner; one of my favorites, and Eli will always eat pancakes!

Intently coloring his picture.

 And just as intently eating his blueberry pancakes. He's an intent kind of guy.

See the finger here? It's like he's saying, "I'll get with you in a minute, I'm eating right now."

I looked up synonyms for 'intent', this is what I got: bent, bound, decisive, do-or-die, firm, hell-bent, intent, purposeful, resolute, resolved, set, single-minded, certain, confident, positive, sure, earnest, serious, steady, unfaltering, unhesitating, unswerving, unwavering, adamant, dogged, hardheaded, headstrong, immovable, implacable, inflexible, mulish, persistent, pertinacious, pigheaded, rigid, self-willed, stubborn, tenacious, unbending, uncompromising, unrelenting, unyielding, willful.

This describes Eli so well! I especially like the 'mulish' reference. 

Going Hiking

On my day off on Wednesday, we went hiking in the Southern Mountains (that would be the mountains on the south side of the valley ;) ), It was about a 35 minute drive out there and for the first ten minutes Eli kept saying over and over, "going hiking," like he was trying it out to see how it sounded. After a while, he would very quietly say it to himself at sporadic intervals for the rest of the little trip. It was pretty cute. 

He loved climbing the rocks, finding bugs, looking for 'cool' or 'pretty' rocks, playing in the dirt and riding on Daddy's shoulders. When Eli wants to ride on Josh's shoulders, he will say, "shoulders, Daddy, shoulders." It works most of the time.

It was pretty bright (but not too hot, just about 60 degrees), so I had a hard time getting him to look up at the camera.

He kept stopping in the middle of the path to play in the dirt and pick up rocks. What's hiking without rocks to hold and shoes full of dirt to take home?

We could see the city below us; I though it was cool to see, but Eli was just looking for rocks. What a boy. :)

In the end, we wore him out pretty good. He was asleep halfway home, despite me trying to keep him awake (I was afraid he would sleep for 10 minutes in the car and not take his nap when we got home). I shouldn't have worried about it at all. 

Outside Play

Eli loves to be outside. Hot. Cold. Windy. Sunny. Rainy. Well, actually he's not really sure about the rain, he seems confused... why is he getting wet when he's not playing in water? Speaking of playing in water, he loves to play in water! As long as it is small amounts and he is in control... large pools, not so much; puddles, yes!

Last weekend we made an overnight trip to Tulsa and stayed with GG and Grandpa. Eli loved playing in their big fenced yard, checking out the garden with Grandpa (eating blackberries!), 'playing' with the dog and cat (they are a little too fast for him), and since it was a little warm, playing in a bucket of water!

This morning, we played outside since it was still rather cool from the rain last night. He found the puddles, as I knew he would. Boys don't care about dirt, I don't think they even see it most of the time, they care about what they are doing; playing in the puddle, throwing rocks, working, getting things done. It's what boys do.

Workin'

Throwing rocks in a puddle

That rock apparently didn't land right, have to throw it again.

"Get some leaves!"

Just kidding, getting sticks to throw in the puddle :)

Maybe this one?

No, we're gonna need more than that.

Oh, yeah, this should be enough!

This puddle is looking better already!

Lookin' at his work

Maybe some more rocks will do it.

Stomp 'em down a little bit.

They have to be arranged just right

Poke it with a stick

I love that face!

I don't know what he sees, but he likes it!

Lookin' tired

Dirty and tired, but happy!