This was back during the icy days...The boys had to release some energy and this is all I could come up with.
It entertained them all day and most of the next!
Eli still trying to flip over like Jay!
They flipped, wrestled, and danced all over the cushions....I guess this is one way to fluff your cushions!
"come here Eli, let me flip you in the air!"
As it turns out, picking up a few cushions is a lot easier than picking up toys at the end of the day
the harder they crashed, the harder they laughed!
battle wounds
The couch won.
Watching you tube cartoons at Wes' office
They are glued to Tom and Jerry
Jay's birthday with the Rosses!
He asked for a Ninja Turtle cake...he loved it...Eli is already digging in!
Eli is going in for another taste! haha!
Soooo happy!
Wes and I made this sign about 20min before the party...Jay was ecstatic...I guess it meant we had an official party.
Picture with Papa and Mama Ross
wrestling with Brooks...they love their cousin!
Hugs right before they all body slam each other
Brooks is getting trampled on by those wild boys
singing happy birthday!
He was so excited to turn 5 this year...apparently, you can do everything better and faster when you are 5....
Thanks Uncle Oren....I really wanted Jay to have yet another gun in this house!
the big boys were so impressed
Of course Eli got presents from Mama Ross
He loves that fire buggy!
Wrestling with ninja turtle swords
Obviously, Jay slept well that night
Now celebrating at Mimi's house! Ash and Kurt gave him his Woody costume, which is loves!
Posing for me
We tried to get mom with all of her grands....
It got out of control quickly
Eli is helping Gracie finish her supper
What a grown up boy we have!!
This girl knows how to handle her food!! She is so much fun!
We thought it would be fun for all of them to bathe together. Gracie disagreed. Eli is giving us that "I didn't do it" look.
Jay had $5 to spend from Kurt and Ash and I needed an excuse to go to Target while in Valdosta.
If you ever wondered what a five year old would spend money on, this is it....face paint and silly string.
He asked for an Indian warrior face. I may need face painting lessons.
Jay's birthday present!
Close your eyes, Jay!
"Whoa!!!!" he yelled. he was sooo excited!
I'm not sure how long he will need the training wheels but he has been riding on it every day so I doubt it will be very long.
Look at him go!
He has already had a bad fall....but it didn't slow him down. He loves telling everyone how fast he can ride his new bike!
Granny Curry sent Jay a card that folds into an airplane...he was totally impressed!
Look at that face....Eli is wondering where we are!
We took Jay to the Ga Aquarium for his last birthday surprise for the week.
They loved it! Eli just plopped down on his belly and watched the fish for a while.
We "drove the boat" several times
Look at Eli trying to figure out what to do!
He's going along with it but has no idea what kind of game this is!
We let Jay be the photographer for the day (taking a picture of me in this one). He took pictures of everything....I haven't even looked back at them to see how they turned out yet. But he was so proud to be our camera man that day!
Eli was not into the 3D glasses....
We had the best time that day and the whole week....I cannot believe our Jay is this old!!
I have a lot more pictures to post but I wanted to keep this one all about Jay being the big 5!! I will update with the rest next time. As far as his birthday week....you saw the highlights above but we really did have a great time. I debated on having a party with his friends in town but decided we would do a big one next year after we've been settled in for a while. We did have a party at Jay's school and I brought a pinata for the kids to play with. That was the only other request, other than the ninja turtle cake, that Jay had. It was so funny to listen to him count down to turning five. He was so excited this year. It was like, once he turned 5, he could do anything. The day after his birthday he told me, "mom, but I don't feel different. I thought I was going to feel different since I'm five now." I went on to explain that he is different but has been changing over the last few months so he didn't see it. I reminded him of all the things he couldn't do last year that he does easily now and he finally believed me.
And as I write this I am reminded that I have not made a 5 year well check appt for him yet! He won't get any shots this year though, thank goodness! I also need to see how tall and how much he weighs...I am not prepared for this update, obviously. :)
As far as his other things: He is not as obsessed with super heros as last year but definitely plays with them often, just not daily anymore. He really doesn't focus on one particular toy or game at all. He likes switching around and doing different things every day. He does ride his bike everyday when he gets home from school and is thrilled about that. He is getting better but is not ready to ride without training wheels. After his bike ride, he and Eli usually spend the rest of the afternoon digging in the dirt. He loves baseball, soccer, and football. He is playing baseball with the YMCA this spring. It will start in about 2 weeks. That will be a fun outing for us again. I asked him if he'd rather do baseball or soccer and he chose baseball because, "I get a turn to hit the ball." and in soccer "everybody just runs faster than me so I never get to kick the ball." I thought that was a justified reason, and shows how much thought he actually put into it too!
He still enjoys his pre-k at Mother's Love and loves his teachers, Mrs. Lindsey and Mrs. Lindsay. He complains about how long it is and that he always has to sit still and listen when he just wants to go play. I guess he better get used to it! Hopefully now that it's warmer and staying light later, he will get his after school playtime back. I'm sure that will help his spirits. He knows how to write all of his letters uppercase, still working on lowercase but he's getting there. He can learn to read words when I take the time to sit down and go over them with him. I am going to make that a daily activity of the summer so he will be off to a good start for kindergarten. He is interested in reading but only for a bit, until he remembers he wants to go play. Of course, I know that is normal for his age.
He loves counting and, with a little help, counts to one hundred pretty quickly. We are starting to work on adding and subtracting (there are five monkeys and two go away so three are left), and he has a lot of fun with that. I was watching him from Lynn's office the other day and it was amazing to see how different each child was. For the first few minutes of circle time Jay was very still and engaged. After that he started fidgeting around and propping his head on his hands like he was bored. He never talked or became a distraction, but it was obvious that he was ready to move on. Lynn said he is the type that you only have to say it once or twice for him to understand something so, since others need more repetition, he ends up "checking out" for the last few minutes every time. Wes was the same way and got into trouble in elementary school for talking and daydreaming. I was always intrigued the whole time the teacher talked so I guess Jay is more like Wes in how he learns. I have noticed at home when we are doing a learning activity he gets annoyed when I repeat things a few times (thinking it will help him learn) but he just sighs and says, "I know Mom! You already said that, I understand!"
His personality is still the same. Cuddly, sweet, and talkative. He has that red-headed temper still but does better at keeping it in check. If all else fails, he runs to his room and stays there, pouting, until he is over it. As I think about him as a 3 and 4 year old I realize how grown up he really is. He is so smart and inquisitive. He is compassionate and loves to take care of Eli, Jake, and Kitty. He was trying so hard to teach Eli how to pee-pee in the potty today. Eli didn't do anything but they had a good time making pooting noises as he sat on the potty. All boy, those two! He is so driven and full of energy. He loves to work in the yard and will get completely out of breath before he sits down. He loves his family...all of them; grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles. He prays for all of his family and talks about each one randomly throughout the week. Being close to family is his favorite part of coming to south Georgia.
Jay lit up our lives from his first cry. He has a special gift of making people smile and has such a strong spirit. We love him more every day and are forever grateful for everything that he is and the perfect little child God chose to place into our lives. May God continue to bless him and keep him.
We spent New Years Day fighting off a virus...Wes was worn out from taking care of all of us...he was happy to go back to work the next day!
Eli loves his "hot cocoa". Mama Ross started this for the boys and they don't understand why I don't make it every time they ask like she does....but I give in every now and then
He loves the laptop, my phone, and the kindle. His favorite thing to watch are videos of himself and Jay (he asks to watch them over and over, even I am tired of seeing them!) And he brings up all kinds of menus that I never knew existed with his crazy finger tapping.
This is one of his favorite books right now. It about the beach, boats, and fish (of course!).
"jay! see fish!"
he carefully placed all of these in a row and exclaimed, "eli build Gracie's bench!" (Wes built her one for Christmas so Eli was copying his daddy, of course)
Eli still loves his paci, "wa-wa", and "baby" for naptime (he used to prefer one over the other but now he just has to make sure that he has two in hand)
Jay vacuuming up his mess after he spilled crackers on the floor
Helping Daddy with the fire
Kissing Jake "nite-nite"
Jake is so patient with these little hands
"no jake! no eat fish! no jake!" Eli was about to panic until I intervened.
This is his movie-watching pose, thanks to Jay....It is so funny because he is so uncomfortable and fidgets around the whole time but, since Jay does it this way, he has to also. haha
Mouth full of food
Showing it to me now....and look at how pretty those eyes are!
Jay convinced Uncle Alan to watch "Yogi Bear" with him at Granny's. Jay was thrilled to have a partner in crime that night!
Playing at Mimi's with Gracie
Jay and Gracie came up with a new game that day. They both chased each other around screaming as loud as they could and then cracked up laughing. Sweet Gracie crawled as hard as her little legs would let her. And that girl can scream! I couldn't tell who was louder most of the time.
This is how we've spent most of this week...snuggled in blankets trying to stay warm. Eli had to have his own blanket this time.
For some reason he has started to call this chair "the boat"...it took me a few times to figure it out but when he says, "Eli sit in boat" this is where he means.
Playing on the ice today. The snow missed us, much to Jay's disappointment, but he still had a good time sliding on the ice.
Eli was cracking up every time Jay fell over but it only took him one fall to decide he was ready to get out of there.
Jay is smiling for the camera
Eli's watching from the sidelines
"Jay fell down!"
Ice ball fight.....hurts like crap, in case you ever wondered.
Maybe this child should live up north...he scraped my whole porch off.
I haven't written an official 2 year update on Eli so I am going to try and capture all of those little memories I don't want to forget.
- He is 33.5 inches (34%), 28 lbs (37%). Jay was 36 inches at 2 so Eli is a good bit shorter but so it his weight so he will most likely be smaller overall.
- He says a lot of words...basically repeats anything we say. The other day Jay was telling a story and Eli was his little echo at the dinner table. He says 3 to 4 word sentences as well. It is amazing to watch as his little brain figures out how to get out what he is thinking. If Jay isn't around he constantly talks, narrates the day for me ("get in mama's car", "go play outside", "read tractor book"), says "hey" and "bye" to everything (as he is eating he says, "hey milk!" "hey soup!"), but when Jay is here he usually is quiet and just listens. He is such a thinker, he absorbs everything and spends a lot of time pondering how to do it before actually trying. Is that a little Wes or what?!
- He isn't a picky eater at all. There are few things he won't try and finishes his plate most days. His favorite meal is spaghetti, favorite drink is hot cocoa, and favorite snack changes daily. Even though he likes most foods, he is very opinionated about what he is in the mood for. There have been many times that I've emptied out the pantry before finding just the right snack.
- He loves his gummy vitamins. And remembers every morning without fail. I have been much better at taking mine just because this child is unfailing in his regimen. He says, "bidamin? eli's bidamin?" Then as soon as I get it out he says, "mama's bidamin?" If I don't take it right then he keeps on..."mama's bidamin! mama! bidamin!!!"
- He is just starting to pretend play with his toys. He basically mimics Jay and makes the cars talk, yell, and fight with each other. It is hard to follow, thanks to his limited vocabulary, but he has a plan and at the end he just looks at us and grins. Like, "that was a good story, uh?"
- He wears size 4 diapers. I am going to really start potty training soon (I know keep saying that). He is somewhat interested but not enough to actually give it a real shot. He sits on the potty for a minute, then stands up and says, "all done!" very happily. But nothing is there so the diaper goes back on. It is so cold right now that I can't let him run around naked outside, or inside even. But as it warms up, I am going to have to stick to a plan...and bring out the bribes.
- He has several favorite books that we must read each night. There are two about tractors, one about boats, the beach one in the picture, two train books, a baby animal book, and "Elmo goes potty". And yes, we read all of them before he's ready to go "nite-nite". Luckily, he doesn't know that I read only a small portion of each page and usually skip a few in the middle.
- He sleeps from about 8pm to 7-730am each night. Rarely wakes up at night. When we've read the last book he looks at me and says, "nite-nite?" which is my cue to lay him down with paci and two loveys, and shut the door for him to go on to sleep. I seriously think he trumps all other babies in this department! Except for when he's not at home, then he is a pill to get to sleep!
- He has been a little more clingy to me than Wes lately, which is unusual for him. He is a daddy's boy for sure. He knows when Wes calls that he is done at work and he will say, "Daddy home soon?" And drops whatever he is doing when Wes walks in to run into him yelling, "Daddy, Daddy!!" Jay is right beside him doing the same thing of course. This has got to be every Daddy's favorite part of the day.
- He always runs now, I rarely see him walk unless we are holding hands in a parking lot. He jumps (which was a very proud moment for him the first time he did it), dances, loves to pretend fall down, kicks a ball forward, is a great thrower, tries to catch and does about half the time, loves pushing things around the house (chairs, baskets, boxes), and loves to wrestle.
- We go to music class on Mondays and have a great group of friends there. He watches everyone a lot, again taking it in and figuring it out, but will usually get going by the end of each song. He has is favorite songs and ones he doesn't care for. Depending on his mood he can be kind of belligerent about this. Last Monday he stomped over to the corner every time a song came on that he didn't like. He would just stand there and scowl at us until one he liked came on. He is opinionated and stubborn!
- I finally gave him his first "hair cut" the other day. Wes had been telling me that we needed to cut it...he said he looked like he "had horns" and was "disheveled". I thought the long hair around his ears were precious little curls. But I gave in and gave him an all around trim. You will see the change in the videos. He looks so old now!
I have spent the last few weeks taking little videos of him talking. You can really tell how his language is coming along, and I've learned that the boy loves giving interviews. I think he'd sit forever as long as I'd keep asking him questions. So here are all of my "Interviews with Eli"
notice the "horns"....
Here is his grown up hair cut....
Here is he showing off his new dance moves...there is a funny story about this. He started with those dance moves out of nowhere one day and I kept asking where he learned them. Finally he said, "like Papa Rich, Eli dance like Papa Rich!" And I figured it out. I had been converting old home videos to DVD so Eli saw Dad doing karaoke and dancing (obviously, "dancing" is a loose term here). He watched them over and over while I worked on them and I guess was figuring out his moves! I know Dad would be so proud!
This is one precious of the boys playing. Eli truly laughs the hardest with Jay. They fight as hard as they play but these moments are the ones I will cherish forever.
