Eli

I sometimes see updates of friends' kids on their blogs and I think it is a cute idea, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Plus, there are some things that I just don't want to forget, so as long as it's written down somewhere I can breathe a little easier :)
Eli has a prayer voice. It is a high soprano and it is hilarious. It has ruined reverent prayers at our house because even when it isn't his turn to say the prayer, he still says it and he says it in his prayer voice. This always starts someone giggling. He only started doing this voice about a week ago and he picked it up all on his own--at least I don't think any of the rest of us have a prayer voice. Maybe? He folds his arms, too, but he's been doing that for awhile, either way, it's still adorable.
He continues to be so little with no bum to speak of. He is always sagging his pants, not because he's gangsta, but because he legitimately cannot keep his pants up.
He seems to prefer being with me to playing with his brothers. When we were at the park the other day, Marcus and Owen quickly went off to do their thing, but Eli just ran around and came back to see me every couple of minutes. At one point I had to go rescue Owen and Eli ran up to Tim and shouted, "Mama? Mama?" so Tim pointed me out and he quickly came running over. He is also really good at saying "Hold you." which means "pick me up" and "up" while he pushes at your legs which means "get up and do what I want."
He still sucks his thumb, lately it doesn't seem quite as much, though.
He is having a hard time with bed time and nap time lately, this is super annoying as I take pride in the fact that my kids are pretty well trained sleepers. We are currently retraining him which really stinks because I don't like listening to my kids cry. Luckily, Owen sleeps through it.
His hair is still curly--hooray! But Tim isn't a fan of the white afro so we cut it again. Sadness. He cried the entire time. I was gone for that one, thank goodness.
He loves watching movies, some of his favorites are Veggie Tales, Thomas, Teletubbies, and Sesame Street. At one time he was OBSESSED with Toy Story 3. His favorite snack is cereal in a bag. The kid could seriously eat cereal All. Day. Long.
He is often referred to as our broken record. He will say things over and over in an attempt to wear you down. And I'm ashamed to say that his tactic usually works. He is very stubborn. He has this way of shouting, "Mom," in a whiny sort of voice and then when I say, "What Eli?" he says whatever he needs to tell me in a much more pleasant voice. For example, after we left the park yesterday we decided to go get an ice cream treat, so I told the boys that was what we were going to do. The entire card ride to the ice cream store went something like this, "MOM!" in loud voice. "Yes, Eli?" "Ice cream treat?" in much more pleasant voice. "Yes, ice cream treat." and a minute would go by and then the same thing again and again. The kid likes to be validated and noticed. He is the type that falls down and can't quite get up or move on with his life until someone (read: mom) has noticed and comforted him.
His language skills are amazing now. He repeats everything we say and says phrases and sentences now in his cute little voice. He can even count to ten and sing what sounds like the alphabet. He sings I am a Child of God with us each night, too. Marcus likes teaching him words and things to say. Tim taught him to say, "What's up homey" and "pop pop" (Community watchers will get that second one).
With nice weather, we are taking more family walks. Eli is a dawdler. He is always way behind the rest of us and in no hurry. His legs get tired quicker, too, and so half of the walk is him walking and the other half is him saying "Hold you" and getting carried.
We love him very much. Mischief, whiny voice, and all :)