guess who has the flu

Eliot was sent home from school yesterday with a fever. We went directly to the doctor, where his flu screen came back positive. He was miserable most of the afternoon yesterday and into the evening. His fever topped out about 3am at a little over 104. This morning, however, he has bounced back. It's about lunch time and he is running amok around the house - apparently as if he was never sick. He's eaten a full lunch and is showing no sign of napping anytime soon. This little miracle is due to a little godsend called Tamiflu. If you have never taken it or heard of it, read the website. I'm telling you, this stuff is amazing. Hopefully the fever will not come back later this afternoon, but for now things are looking positive!

sweet dreams

I've been hesitant to say this... but I think we're done with the crib. I really have not pushed the subject at all. Although we've always had a twin bed in his bedroom, I don't mind the crib and Eliot always loved it. He's never tried to climb out or fuss about it. As a matter of fact, when I've asked if he wanted to try the big bed he's always said, "no, sleep in crib." But, out of nowhere** last Thursday he said, "big boy bed" at bedtime. I have to say, I was skeptical. But, I figured, why not, let's give it a shot. So we put the twin mattress on the floor and sat there for book time. Then it was time for lights out. I got him all bedded down, lights off, and said goodnight. No sooner had I left the room before I heard, "MAMA! Where AHH YA?!" "Yep," I thought, "I didn't think so." So I went back in. Eliot wanted his Elmo. We said goodnight again. I just knew that we were at the beginning of a really long night. But true to form, he proved me wrong. He rolled over and went to sleep.

Even with one good night under our belt I didn't want to admit that we had crossed a milestone. But it's Monday now and we have not had any problems (I'm knocking on wood even as I type this). All of his naps and all of his nights have been in the big bed. And he's the first to tell you, "I sleep in the BIG BOY BED!" He's so proud of himself, and we're proud of him, too. The crib is still in his room for now just in case, but we'll take that out soon. I've gotten a little teary-eyed once or twice, but I'm still so proud and pleased with our sweet big boy. I can't believe how far we've come!

**Ok, it wasn't out of the complete blue. He had a little taste of the big bed when we went to Boca Raton a couple of weeks ago. He really liked sleeping in Colton's bed while we were down there, but wanted his crib when we got back home. So I didn't think the big bed thing was permanent.

floss

So last night I was in the kitchen, minding my own business, when who should walk in but Eliot. In his hand he had one end of a string of dental floss. The other end stretched all the way into the living room and out of sight around the corner.
"You got some dental floss Eliot?"
"Uh-huh."
"You sure do have a lot of it."
"It's for my teeth."
Then he proceeded to floss his teeth with the very end of the visible part of the thread. As he did that, it jiggled the other end and the cat became involved. Eliot flossed at one end and Oliver pounced at the other, both unaware of the other's presence at the opposite end.

Mahalo

One of our favorite songs is "Mahalo" by Laurie Berkner. We sing it often; it's really a beautiful song. It goes like this:

Mahalo for the air I breath.
Mahalo for my dad and my mom,
My sisters and my bothers and my good friends,
Mahalo for sharing my song.
(chorus)
Mahalo, mahalo, mahalo for everything
Mahalo that means THANK YOU
Mahalo, mahalo, mahalo.

We sing it so often that Eliot has gotten a little tired of it and he's started making up new verses that are not part of the original. Of course, I help a little, but only with the last rhyming word. He does the rest.

Mahalo for my Elmo
Mahalo for Bearbear
Mahalo for my animals
Mahalo for my hair.

And another favorite:
Mahalo for the doggies
Mahalo for the cats
Mahalo for the dinosaurs
The baseballs and baseball bats.

picture update

There are a couple of new pictures from Boca on the gallery page here.

little snippets of life with Eliot

Out of the blue, Eliot will look into your eyes, concern in his face, pat you on the back and say, "you ok, Mommy?"

Every morning when he wakes up, he hollers from the other room, "Mommy, where AHHH YA?!" louder and louder till you come get him.

He's in a collection phase - where he wants all of his personal belonging to go with him wherever he goes. Before bed, for example, he'll run around the bedroom collecting all portable items and throw them in his crib.

If faced with several items in a group (say, a mural with many different types of balls), he'll muse over them, index finger poised, "I liiiiikkkeee... THAT ONE!" Then, of course you have to pick your favorite, too. This goes on and on and on as long as you can stand it.

Eliot sings in the bathtub. I usually leave him in there and go about my business in adjoining rooms. But I love to stop and listen to him sing and sing when he thinks nobody's listening.

His favorite game is "tent". We spend ungodly amounts of time sitting under a blanket on the floor with flashlights. Again, he must collect all portable items under the tent before he's happy.

He's in that phase where he repeats everything you say. So I've found myself saying large words just to see if he'll repeat them. For example, last night he wanted to eat corn. My response: "We happen to be having corn for dinner, ironically!" Sure enough, he repeated, "ironically!"

Every time he gets naked he says, "don't tee-tee on the floor" in a tone that sounds like, "No, silly! Don't do THAT!"

Instead of saying, "pick me up?" he says, "pick you up?" (meaning, of course, that he want YOU to pick HIM up). This is the only phrase in which he gets his pronouns confused.

trying to sleep

We had a hard time getting Eliot to sleep tonight. Usually he goes down pretty well - we're very lucky in that respect. After several attempts he finally looked drowsey. I placed him in the bed and his eyes fluttered. Half asleep he said, "Mommy, tell the cat to hush." I realized that Puck had been outside the door, meowing at the top of his lungs for some time. No wonder he had trouble sleeping.

to wit:

musical

Have I mentioned Eliot's guitar? No? How did I let that slip? Ok, well, Eliot's favorite toy of all time (aside from Bear-Bear, who is really not a toy, but a friend) is his guitar. His cousins, Colton and Hunter, came to visit when he was a few weeks old. They accidentally left behind a trainer guitar. It's just like a real guitar, only a little bit smaller. It's the only thing that he consistanly asks for. If I put it up he requests it's return, "my gee-tuar? Where's my gee-tuar?" One of his favorite things to do is to sit in a tent (a blanket over our heads) and play guitar. We've tied a scarf around it for the strap. He gets a penny out of the penny jar for a pick. I have no idea where he got that idea, but we just run with it. He would love to sleep with the gee-tuar, but we have nipped that in the bud.

random pictures

I added a couple of random pictures to the gallery. Nothing to get excited about - just three. I just thought I should add something around here. Still, they are pretty cute.