"This tiny hippopotamus has something small to say, and if we're very quiet now he'll say it right away. Listen. 'Be Bo'. You might not know what 'BeBo means, or maybe you've forgotten, it's just the tiny hippo way of saying belly button."
Ok, I'll stop there. I can quote for you the entirety of Sandra Boynton's "Belly Button Book", along with numerous other books, but I'll spare you all.
I thought I'd do a little update on Eli overall. I've posted about his food fights and such, but thought I'd do a more general "here's what he's up to post". And that, my friends, begins with books. The kid is OBSESSED. "Book" was one of Eli's first words (I think it came right after mama and dada). Anyhow, I spent the morning him reading no less (and likely a few more) than 25 books. He finds them, brings them to me and says "book" over and over until I read it. Then, often, as soon as the book is closed, he grabs it, thrusts it at me again, and insists that once just isn't enough. We have several books that were read multiple (up to five) times this morning. I hid Hippos Go Berserk (um, mommy was the one going berserk).
Despite the fact that it is sometimes annoying, I love that he's a little reader :). He is his parent's child in that area, for sure. He will often sit with books along and turn their pages. Still, being read to is his all time favorite activity. I have, on occasion tried to see how long he would sit on my lap and allow me to read, just to check his attention span. I broke before he did (at like 12 books - craziness!)
In other news, Eli:
- is an extremely verbal child. He knows/says close approximately 30 words. Not all of them are crystal clear, but he has that many words that JP and I KNOW what he is talking about. The list includes: mama, dada, book, duck, cat (pronouced gat), hat (at), yogurt (gurt), bottle (aka sippy cup, pronounced bah), button (buh), dog, Nana (for my mom, and banana), Lala (for his Auntie Allison), snow (no), star (dar), light (another obsession), nose (no - will point to it!), mouth (mou - points), ear (points), bye bye, night night (ny ny), baby (sometimes pronounced correctly, sometimes says "be" - this is what he calls himself when he sees himself in the mirror), mum mums (the snack), puffs (says buh). Anyhow, that's a pretty full, but not necessarily exhaustive list. It is SO much fun that we're able to communicate, even if just a little :)
- eats well on the whole. I know the last post was doom and gloom about his eating, but overall, he does well. I hope it continues!
- has never been a fantastic sleeper. He goes through phases where he does SO well, but then seems to regress.
- is not at mobile as he is verbal. He's got a push toy that he likes, and will walk with that, but doesn't seem to have too much interest in trying to walk on his own. He has JUST started to walk holding our hands (he used to let his legs give out), so that's some progress I guess. JP is sometimes afraid Eli won't ever walk. I am enjoying him not being AS mobile as I know he soon will be (the fast crawling is good enough). Plus it makes him feel more like my little baby.
- is doing cute new things all the time. He LOVES to play peekaboo, and will initiate this game often. He has also (sometimes) started laying down and saying "ny ny" when he's tired. LOVE it when he does this. He LOVES playing with Ollie, though he has gotten confused and started calling him a cat (he used to call him a dog, at my parents, when we was outside. And he learned cat at my in-laws, who have inside cats. I think Eli must reason that since Ollie is inside, he's now a cat. We're trying to convince him Ollie is, in fact, a dog, but he's not buying it).
- often asks for either JP or I. SOOOO cute. Sometimes JP will go get him from a nap and he will say "mama" over and over (um, he also did this during the prayer when we visited a new church on Saturday night - oops). At any rate, it melts. my. heart.
- now has 6 teeth, 2 more are in the process of coming in
- doesn't particularly like many other toys (besides books). He's enjoying a stacking toy he got for Christmas, and likes pulling the pieces out of his puzzle. That's about it. He is interested in the shape sorter, but seems to get frustrated when the pieces don't fit (same when he tries to stack blocks but doesn't have the coordination to make them sit on one another).
Even on mornings when I have to read books over and over, after having not gotten the best night's sleep, and then I have to fight him about a nap, I love that child enough that I often feel I'll burst. He is such a sweet sweet little joy. We are so blessed with him and enjoy seeing him grow and develop every day!
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