The Pleasure of their Company

A conversation with my friend Stacy today reminded me what awesome little boys I have. I have to admit that I had [not very good] reasons for being a little bit annoyed with them today, so I needed a reminder that these two little boys aren't an interruption in the course of my day-- I'm lucky enough that they get to be my day if I'll only let them.

For instance, Caleb is mostly an even-tempered, well-mannered kid. Whenever one of my friends watches him, she'll return him to me with a "Caleb was great, as usual" comment. Many of our friends who are childless, looking forward to being parents someday, say, "If I have a boy, I hope he's just like Caleb." (That's not to say he doesn't have his moments, like when he hit one of his good friends with a solid Melissa and Doug puzzle box in her chest, or when he throws a rousing, screaming tantrum, for instance.) Overall, though, he's eager to please.

That's not to say that he's bland, though. He's interesting and curious and communicative. He can also be quite opinionated. He has an aptitude for puzzles, which he gets from Patrick. At three, he's pretty familiar with the alphabet and he's good with numbers. Physically, he tends to be cautious, so his motor skills are about average for now. He enjoys a good art project (especially involving paint and/or stickers) and he likes to help me cook. He's quite tech-y in his interests lately and especially enjoys video games, computers, and movies. He's always enjoyed a good story, so he loves books. Today, I read him several chapters of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane during Eli's nap. He's always enjoyed getting messy and dirty, which is right up my alley. He recently loves to race-- he's into the competitive aspect of it, but not too much; he's still content to win "too" (meaning second).

He's not a constant cuddler, but he's affectionate, gives hugs easily, and says, "I love you" out of the blue regularly. He's quick to say, "Thank you for this yummy dinner" (which I think he might have picked up from my dad's training last summer). And every once in awhile, he'll start rubbing my back when we're sitting next to each other. He's really an incredible kid, and I hope he'll always know how lucky we feel to have him in our family.

Eli is also a delight. I recently described him to several different people and their laughter reinforced my belief that he's a little person with a lot of character. First off, he so adorable! I mean, as my friend Stacy and I were discussing today, he's really at that perfect, cute, enjoyable age. But he's also just oh-so-especially-cute with his adorable dimpled smile that is so dang infectious.

He's recently become a blanket kid-- not the velcro kind, just the buddy kind (he doesn't need it constantly, but he likes to have it around). He's a climber. If we'd let him, he'd hang out above ground-level most of the day. He loves books (board books that aren't too long) and he regularly shows up to shove them in my hands and climbs in my lap to be read to. He's an insistent communicator. He mostly learns signs and words as they suit him and won't be pressured into learning them just because I want him to. He loves my scrapbooks (which suits my vanity beautifully--smart kid), and he is devastated into a tantrum whenever I put them away. He especially loves pictures of us with our tongues sticking out (of which there are a great deal of Patrick especially).

He is also opinionated. He loathes brushing his teeth and whenever the toothbrush isn't in his mouth, he's insisting he's "ahhh daa!" and saying "no no!" He learned to tickle early (Patrick loves to tickle) and will tickle himself saying, "liddle, liddle, liddle."

He loves Caleb and he falls apart emotionally whenever Caleb gets out of the car to go to Joy School. He also loves to aggravate Caleb already. A frequent sight at our house is Caleb wailing, "I was playing with that! Eli took the toys I'm playing with!" and Eli booking it out of the room grasping said toy tightly in his hand with a big grin on his face, sometimes with laughter spilling out of him wickedly.

Eli is also a bit dramatic. Give him a food he doesn't want--even if he ate it ravenously yesterday--and he'll turn away as far as the high chair will allow crying, "No! No!" with a disgusted look on his face like you've tried to feed him some sort of inedible glop.

He is also affectionate. He willingly gives hugs and will sometimes cuddle contentedly for quite awhile. He is picky about people. He adores many of our good friends who he sees regularly. He will go right up to these women and climb into their lap or ask to be picked up with an "aat! aat!" (which means up). Sometimes there isn't exactly rhyme or reason to it. When my in-laws were here, he immediately gravitated to my father-in-law, who is marvelous, don't get me wrong, but is also a big gruff, tough looking man, and wouldn't give my mother-in-law (who is warm and eager and willing to play) the time of day at the beginning of their visit. Eli's mischief and drama often bring us to laughter, and his hugs add warmth to our home. We're also lucky to have him in our lives.

We couldn't imagine life without either one of our sweet, funny, bright little gentlemen in our lives. Thanks, Stacy and Jared, for reminding me to take notice.