Tucked Away

Eli stayed up late last night. When I went up to bed at 9:30, he was wide-awake playing with his trucks and cars. I told him it was time to lie down, and we snuggled. He must have fell asleep pretty quickly because the next thing I remember is Huts coming in. At first, he could not see Eli and thought he was already in his own bed. Apparently Eli was hidden on top of me! Once he realized that, he moved Eli to his own bed and we did not hear a peep from him until this morning. He was a happy boy this morning, tickled to discover that he had fallen asleep on me.

Busy Weekend

We didn’t go anywhere this weekend, but we wore out the kids anyway, Eli and Tori, especially. The fun started Friday night with Dale coming over and watching the kids for an hour while we used his truck to haul some mulch home. Huts and I put out the mulch on Saturday morning, while Tori and Eli played in the yard. Then, that afternoon, Huts put up new exterior lights while I raked up a couple of trashcans of leaves. That night, we ran some errands. Tori and Eli were a ball of energy and stayed up until 11:30. They got up early on Sunday, which turned out to be a beautiful day. Huts finished the lights, while I painted the porch posts and the screened-in porch. He also played with the kids on the trampoline. Everyone had a good day, and by the time nighttime fell, the kids were exhausted. Tori and Eli were both out by 8. They seemed ok this morning, but I am sure they would have preferred to sleep in.

BORING!

Eli used to be like his sister, reluctant to let go of anything. But, now, he has a new philosophy. If it is boring, it is out of there and in the sale pile. And, he is now an expert on what is boring. Before, I could not take his SpongeBob cake topper because it came with his birthday cake. Now, he informed me it was really boring and to take it. He definitely knows what he wants, and last night, he pulled what he wanted from the sale pile and left everything else. I guess he had a lot of boring stuff.

We are trying to get Eli ready for kindergarten, encouraging him to put on his own shoes, clothes and coat. He can be pretty independent when he wants to be. We are still working on the bathroom hygiene, but he is getting better about flushing the toilet and washing his hands. Wiping his butt, well, he still prefers we do it, but that is going to have to change. There will be no one to do that for him at school!

Eli’s diet still lacks. He likes very few things, but Huts has told him that he is eating what we are this summer. That should make for some really fussy dinner times. The ironic part is that he eats whatever the babysitter puts in front of him, so maybe he will do the same at school. Maybe he won’t come home famished because he ate nothing at lunch.

When He's 5

Eli will be able to do many things. He will be able to go to school. He will be able to take a bath all on his own. He will be able to eat a real dinner. He will be able to dress himself, tie his shoes and so forth. What a hoot! Little does he realize that he has started to do a lot of this on his own already from dressing himself to taking care of his bathroom needs. The worst change for him will probably be the meals at school. He has a very narrow range of foods he likes, mostly cereal and pasta, and I doubt he is going to want to eat a cold lunch everyday. He is going to have to get used to PB&J, chicken nuggets, sandwiches and more.

Despicable Daddy

One of the kids favorite movies is Despicable Me.  Christian can recite most of it, Tori loves the girls parts in it and Eli loves the minions.  They watch this regularly in the car.  Unfortunately, this has caused some confusion for Eli.  He thinks the movie is about his daddy.  

For instance, if I ask him if he wants to watch Despicable Me, he responds by saying, I want to watch Despicable you daddy.  While telling Christian and Tori about the movie, he tells them "In the movie Despicable Daddy...".  He even thinks I'm Gru.  He'll tell me, "Daddy, you just blew up the game and got a unicorn!".  

Next time you see someone walking down the street with 3 girls and yellow minions, you'll know it is Eli's Daddy.

Batman

Tori got dolls for Christmas and Eli got loads of Cars and Batman. He now has enough structures for his own town. He has a jail, Gotham city building, a huge helicopter and the bat cave. He also got a Joker set and some Spiderman things. So, now we have one big city and a whole box of superheroes. We found a place for everything, but it is tight. Good thing his birthday is in the summer.

All Better

Eli went to the doctor on Monday for one last check of his leg. He is healed and the doctor told him he could do anything he wanted. Big mistake. He is back to jumping off couches and anything else he can think of. We stop him when we can and warn him he could break his leg again, but that doesn't seem to help. He feels invincible!

Eli has one more day at the babysitter’s before his holiday break, and he is getting that confused with the kids’ two more days of school and the six days left until Christmas. Maybe it will all click tomorrow on his last day at Sharon’s. Poor guy. He needs a break and a day to sleep in!

Cast No More

Eli no longer has a cast, and it is not fun for him. He freaked at the saw and the sight of his crusty, dried leg. He held onto Huts tight, but eventually let go. I imagine he spent most of the day scooting around, but maybe not. He might have forgotten and tried walking a bit. If not today, then most definitely by the weekend. I can’t see him holding out much longer than that.

Chloe

Eli has been sleeping on a mattress in the floor in our bedroom since he broke his leg. For the most part, he is a good sleeper, falling asleep at a decent time and staying asleep. Occasionally, he wakes up to go to the bathroom or find out if it is time to get up. Some nights, he is a rowdy sleeper, moving around and talking a lot. Sometimes he shouts for someone to get away. Sometimes he shoos animals away. The other night, he told Chloe to put on her skirt. I had no idea who Chloe was until Huts told me she was the character on the TV show they watch every morning. Mystery solved!

Huts snores. I jump. Eli talks. Christian sleep walks. I have no idea what Tori does in her sleep.

A Week and A Half

Eli gets his cast off after Thanksgiving weekend, and hopefully, he will be back to his independent self in no time. He has gotten really lazy these past few weeks and accustomed to ordering us around. But that is going to come to an end real soon. We are hoping he adjusts fairly easily and starts doing things for himself again. He can be downright vicious when you misunderstand his wishes!

On another note, we are putting the Christmas stuff up next week. That should really fan the flames of Batman fever. He’s got a whole wishlist of Batman stuff, and he cannot wait for Christmas. Thanksgiving means nothing to him other than Christmas coming up afterwards. The thought of that brings out the Eli grin and handwringing!

Batman

For the longest time, Eli was hooked on Disney Pixar Cars. He has quite the collection of Mater, Lightning McQueen and the gang. He even has a Cars poster and comforter. He still likes them, but recently, he has gotten hooked on superheroes. It all started with some old Super Friends videos we had gotten for Christian a long time ago. Eli watched them, and suddenly, his world expanded. Christian’s old Batman stuff became his favorites, and we have spent many days playing Batman, Robin and the Joker. He has asked for a whole Batman city for Christmas, which Santa is slowly finding. Meanwhile, he is making up all kinds of games with Batman and even has the Batman voice down. The next time you see Eli, be sure to ask him about his Batman cast and his Batman voice.

Better

Eli has made progress in his recovery.  He got his blue cast off on Monday.  He did not like it at all!  They have not changed the cast cutting machine in a long time.  It is loud and scary looking, especially for a child.  He kept scooting away from the machine so I had to hold his leg in place so the cast could be cut off.  He screamed and cried the entire time.  He had me cover his face and ears so he couldn't hear it or see it.  Eventually he got it off.  When it came off, he still wasn't happy.  His knee and ankle were stiff and his skin was dry.  He didn't like it and kept complaining that it hurt.

I carried him into the x-ray room for x-rays and the doctor said everything looked good on those.  I took him back to the room and distracted him by playing dumb about batman characters and what they did.  It worked for the most part, but he was still impatient and "in pain".

The doctor came in and wasn't able to convince him that everything would be ok.  He got a stool for his foot and only put 2 bandages on this time.  He chose black so he could be like batman.  He loves it and is able to walk on it a little bit.  He was tentative for the first few days, but now he is ready to try anything.  I think he was more comfortable with his leg bent at the knee while walking.  Now it's kinda clumsy, especially with the cast being so slippery.  He has a walking boot with a rubber sole that helps on the tile.  Most of the time he scoots around on the tile floor and makes it wherever he wants to go.  In the not too distant future Eli will be able to beat the pants off of his 83-year-old grandpa in a foot race like he did this past summer!

Bwoken Weg

For those of you who do not yet know, Eli broke his leg on Friday. No one knows the real story. He was at the babysitter’s. She was in the bathroom when Eli said he fell down. He was playing Zombies or Green Ninja and probably jumped on something. Anyway, he has two to three fractures in his lower leg. After three hours at prompt care, he came home with a temporary cast and loads of medicine. Then yesterday he got a light blue cast. This remains for the next four weeks. Then he will get a walking cast. He was upset at first, but now he feels better and is milking the situation for everything it is worth. He has his dad running around like crazy, and his brother and sister too. He has me getting him drinks and snacks. He detests the sponge baths, but he loves all of the one-on-one attention. Four hours of video games last night plus a ton of SpongeBob.

Almost There

Eli went to his bed last night without a fuss. We tucked him in, gave him a kiss and that was that. He fell asleep fast and did not get up until this morning. In fact, Huts had a very hard time getting him up and going. He wanted to sleep in—the weekend finally caught up with him I guess. He also ate his dinner without fuss, another miracle. We just might have him ready for kindergarten after all.

Improving

Huts has been working hard with Eli to get him to eat his dinner and go to bed. Thanks to Huts’ efforts, Eli has been sitting down and eating a few bites of food with a lot less complaint. He is also learning to conquer his fears and go to sleep in his bed. Last night, I could tell he was tired so I sat on the bottom of the bed rather than keep going in there to shoo away his fears. He was out in about 5 minutes, and this time, he did not wake up and make his way into our room. He slept the whole night through in his bed. What a big boy! Too bad Christian fell out of his bed and does not remember a thing about it. Must have been sleepwalking.