Eli, my man

Eli is THE COOLEST KID when you get him alone... It's just really tough to get him alone! Not that he's NOT cool when other kids are around (although he is LESS cool because other kids create tantrum-throwing situations) but when other kids are around, he's not around. He's busy! Off running and biking and digging and playdo-ing and whatever it is those kids do. But alone? SO AWESOME.

Case in point: He's been in Sunbeams at church since January (though he refused to go for 3 weeks), and there are 2 or 3 other kids in his class, including his cousin Amelia, so even though he goes now he is very reserved - he leaves it to other kids to have the personalities. Last week, though, he happened to be the only one, and after church his teacher came to me and said "he talked SO MUCH today! It was incredible!" Yep, get that guy alone and you won't be able to get a word in edgewise.

So Eli took a long, late nap the other day and stayed up 'til 9:00 with Joe and I and we were both having fits of laughter with how he was acting; he kept making this funny lip and he'd cock his head and roll his eyes up to the corner - we just died every time! Maybe it was a had-to-be-there kinda thing, but I tried to at least catch the lip for posterity.

 

Sadly, today he was practicing being awesomely sick. He's already the 2nd easiest kid this side of the Mississippi [with a nod to Elsha's baby Daniel in 1st place], and he seems to be even easier under the weather. For instance, he requested both a nap (which he took) and bedtime at 6:15 (which he went down at). Requested it, folks! Took his medicine without complaint! Complained a little when I made him wear a diaper, but eventually acquiesced anyway! Poor guy had a case of the runs and I have no idea how his night went down last night since I managed to completely sleep through it, but in the morning I found FOUR pairs of soiled pajama pants in the laundry basket. In the words of Ron Burgundy, "that's amazing! I'm not even mad!" For a 3-year-old to change his clothes four times in the middle of the night without crying AND put them in the hamper? W-O-W.  But to avoid the same situation tonight I put Eli, who has been potty-trained for 18 months now, in a diaper. He handled the shame pretty well. Hopefully tomorrow brings relief and his funny personality back.