No more magic mullethawk

If you hear taps playing in the background . . . it is because a little piece of me has died. Yes folks, Eli has finally had his first haircut. We had a good run, but it had to end some time.

I really was not ready for Eli to get a haircut and was fine with his unruly bangs (or "fronts hairs" as my friend calls them) but Eli's school was having class photos and Kelvey really wanted him to look a little more cleaned up. We tried to find a local barber shop that works well with kids but we couldn't find one that was open after delaying our search for so long. Thus, we ended up taking him to (*sigh*) Great Clips. The lady who stepped up to the task of cutting Eli's hair was very friendly, but a little too boisterous. She immediately freaked Eli out, and he did not want to even sit in the chair. She adapted well, though, and calmly wet Eli's hair with her hands while he was in the comfort of Kelvey's arms. Then, the bitch did something that made my vision blur and my knees buckle. As she raised her scissors for the first cut, she made a bee-line for Eli's bangs. I tried to say, "Wait! Not too much off the bangs!" but the shock of the train wreck unfolding before my eyes had left me breathless. With two quick snips, Eli's bangs had been shorn down to the middle of his forehead. Ugh. It felt more like she was using those scissors to stab me in the heart than to cut hair.

But what was done was done and no complaining could change what happened. Eli got comfortable enough to sit in the chair and seemed enthralled with watching things unfold in the mirror. Then he saw the spray bottle sitting right in front of him. If you don't know already, Eli LOVES to play with spray bottles. He especially loves to spray himself in the face with them (it is easier for him to pull the trigger with his thumbs than his index fingers so he always holds it backwards). So once he started spraying himself, he was completely oblivious to what the lady behind him was doing. Wish I had someone spraying me in the face to take my mind off of what was happening.

In the end, Eli came out looking a little more clean cut, but also a little older and a little pudgier (isn't the first rule of cutting hair: no short hair cuts for people with round faces?). He also tried his first lollipop without the wrapper still on it, so I would say it was a successful adventure. At least for Eli. When we got home, I cried. Really. To me, Eli's bangs were part of what defined him. Without them he looked like a completely different kid.

I didn't mind the duck tail being cut in the back, but it would have been funny to keep it growing.

Check out our flickr page to see before and after pictures.

The Cutest Werewolf Ever

Just when you think Eli couldn't get any cuter, a full moon rises on Halloween night and Eli morphs into the most adorable little puppy to ever roam the neighborhood in search of candy. Just look at those cute floppy ears! We actually chose the dog costume for Eli because he is pretty darn good at barking like a dog and loves to imitate his brother and sister (our dogs, Roxy and Bosley) whenever they wrestle and play. We also considered getting him a cow costume because he is pretty good at mooing too, but the puppy costume was soooo much cuter.

I knew it was going to be a great Halloween night as soon as I took out Eli's costume because he began eagerly pointing at it before he even finished his dinner. Kelvey and I were initially worried that he would not want to wear the costume because the first time we tried it on he seemed uncomfortable and did not want to wear the hat at all. Thankfully he was in the Halloween spirit, and he keep the costume on the entire night. He even swished his head side to side while walking between houses so that he little ears would flop back and forth! He did need some encouragement to walk up to the houses and get some candy, but this was his first time trick or treating, and we did not have much chance to practice with him beforehand. He got the hang of it pretty quick and was soon plucking out pieces of candy and putting them in his bucket on his own.

After a trip around the block, we headed back home and, in true little kid fashion, Eli dove into his bucket to partake in the booty he had collected. Our elderly neighbors were nice enough to put together little packets of animal crackers and other healthy snacks especially for Eli so we did not mind him stuffing his face before bedtime.

Be sure to check out Eli's flickr page for more pictures!

Ketchup Time: Our little Mountain Goat

Eli is EVERYWHERE these days. Running from room to room, opening cabinets, pulling things off the shelves, tackling the dogs . . . he's EVERYWHERE. There was a brief period of time when he was old enough to walk around on his own and find things to entertain himself, but he was too slow to get far from us and too short to get himself into any real trouble. Those days are long gone and, oh, how I miss them. Nowadays he's a few inches taller and a few steps quicker, and that, my friend, has danger written all over it. Well . . . at least Kelvey and I see the danger. Eli is having a ball exploring the word beyond a foot and half off the ground. One second he's playing with puzzles on the living room floor and the next second he's climbing on the dining room table chairs and working his way onto the table top just so he can finger paint with all the salt he poured out.

The little bugger is quicker than a jackalope and nimbler than a mountain goat! Luckily we have been quick enough to catch him in the act and he has yet to feel the bitter sting of his face meeting the cold linoleum. So far the worst predicament he has gotten himself into is getting stuck in his toy truck:

Catch Up Time: Word Up!

It's been a while since the last blog post but even though I've been slacking on my communication, Eli has been beefing up his. He is now saying Mama, Daddy, Doggie, Uh Oh, Tree, Bubbles, and Eye (even though he can point to his hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, tongue, teeth, arms, legs, feet, toes, belly, and belly button when you ask him to).

While we are very impressed with his ever increasing vocabulary, the thing we love to hear him say the most is "Hi". Imagine a bunch of ladies huddled up at the office sharing gossip about the hussy in accounting, but suddenly the hussy happens to walk by and the lead gossip girl turns around and says, "Oh Hiiiii Susie!" in a high-pitched and obviously fake exchange of pleasantries. That's what Eli sounds like when he says "Hi", but similar only in tone. He says his with such enthusiasm and sincerity that it makes us feel like we are really something special in his life and he is not just parroting a sound. As soon as he sees us enter his room in the morning he greets us with a smile and spouts off a barrage of "Hi! Hi! Hiiiiiii!". We get the same greeting when we pick him up from school, when I come home from work, and when Kelvey comes home from a week of travel.

His primary form of communication, though, is sign language because the signs make it easier for him to get across more complex thoughts like "I'm hungry", "I want that", and "More please". He's had a mastery of Food, More, Milk, and All Done for a while, but now he is starting to do Water, Doggie, Duck/Bird and Please. Eli's teachers at his montessori school deserve most of the credit for helping him learn the signs so we thank them for making our lives easier. Eli still has his fits of frustration when he wants something and we helplessly respond, "What do you want? Your water? The phone? Is it the phone? Do you want your stamper? How about a phone? Ooh, look a phone! Just take the phone."

Enough already!

I need to find a cryogenic freezer to put Eli in for a while because Eli needs to cool the f--- out with all the cuteness. I mean, there I am just minding my own business and doing the crossword puzzle when Eli comes up and sits next to me with last week's crossword and a pen and pretends to write the answers. How cute is that?! I'll tell you how cute it is: It's so cute it makes me want to never have another kid again because I am sure Eli absorbed every single drop of of our cuteness genes and our next kid is bound to be pure evil.

If that wasn't enough, Eli is now comforting US as we try to put him to bed. Since he's too big to cradle in our arms and rock to sleep, we now just hold him against our chests with his head on our shoulders as we rub or pat his back. One night as I was holding him and patting his back, he began patting my arm and rubbing it in a similar way. It was so cute I didn't want to put him down, but I eventually broke the evil trance he had on me and put him in his crib. Maybe that was his genius plan all along: if he's cute enough, we won't want to put him down, and he can sleep comfortably in our arms all night long. Well not this time buddy. Let some other chump like Grandma or Nana fall for that.

That's not even the worst of it! Dig this: a few weeks ago Eli and I were hanging out in the living room while Kelvey was sleeping in, and Eli goes ahead and pulls the ultimate bonding moment on me without warning. He was doing his usual morning routine of pressing as many buttons as he could find, but when I sat down to play with him he walked up to me and gave me a big hug. I picked him up and sat him in my lap in the easy chair and together we watched the Disney channel in utter silence. This moment of silence was highly unusual for Eli because he is usually making his way around the house as soon as he gets up. So there we were, watching TV together with him slouched in my lap and just enjoying the peaceful morning. I give him a little hug and rub his belly a few times just to let him know how much I love him, but when I stop rubbing his belly he gently grasps my hand and moves it back and forth over his belly indicating that he wants me to rub it some more. I oblige and when I stop again, there is a slight pause and then he grabs my hand again without taking his eyes off the TV. It was one of those moments that you never want to end. It still makes me a little misty eyed just thinking about it.

Since my past attempts to surgically replace my hand with our camera have been unsuccessful, I can only show you the random acts of cuteness we are able to capture. Without further Apu (that's a Simpson's reference by the way), here is Eli trying to put on my shoes:

Big City Boy

Kelvey has been traveling a lot for work this summer so instead of being apart from Eli for 2 weeks during back-to-back trips, Eli and I packed our things and joined her in New York. Eli and I still had to entertain ourselves during the day while Kelvey toiled away at work, so we strapped on our skinny jeans and off we went to take in as much glitz, glamour and evils of the Big Apple as we could. The first day was bright and beautiful so we decided to spend most of our time in Central Park. We hit a lot of the playgrounds and played in the little water fountains but didn't get to see some of the more famous sights because even the park was a little overwhelming for Eli to take in with the large number of kids that were out enjoying the day as well.

The rest of the trip was pretty rainy so we decided to spend a day indoors at the famous FAO Schwarz toy store. On the way, we passed through Times Square so I could show Eli all the flashing lights. Because Eli was at stroller height, he was more interested in what was passing by him below on the street than everything that was way above him. I actually felt bad walking around the city with him in a stroller because he spent most of the time with his ears covered and I was constantly worried about him being at the same level of all the cars' mufflers. We probably should have taken a taxi more but I thought to myself, "Meh, as long as he doesn't have a seizure or start coughing up black stuff he's probably fine". Anyways, Eli's favorite part of FAO Schwarz was hugging all the enormous stuffed animals but I loved seeing him play on the famous floor piano. He didn't know what to do at first and just stood by me watching all the other kids run back and forth, but there was a small window when Eli was the only kid on the piano and I was able to get him to run across it. He didn't really notice that the keys were making noises and lighting up beneath him, but then again he wasn't heavy enough to light up all the keys he stepped on:

We also went to the Toys R US in Times Square and Eli was enthralled with the giant animatronic T-Rex in the Jurassic Park section. Did you know they have a full size Ferris Wheel in the center of the store?! Crazy. We were able to spend a little more time with Kelvey on our last day and explored the city some more together, but I think we were all worn out by then. Thankfully Eli slept the entire flight back to Austin and we didn't have to end the trip with a fussy baby on the plane.

By the way, I love this picture of him in Times Square because he looks like one of those cliche poses of a dashing young model fresh off the bus and full of moxie, just trying to make it in the big city.

Sweeps Week

When I was a little kid I remember telling my mom I wanted to be a sack boy at the local grocery store because it seemed like an easy enough job and I could just talk to people all day long like the teenagers I saw doing it. Well it looks like Eli is following in his dad's high aspirations for employment because he has already started his training to become a master of the custodial arts. He has been taking hold of our little broom every chance he gets and will walk around the house trying to sweep up the entire floor. He even grabbed a broom at the restaurant we went to this past weekend and tried to bring it to the table to show everyone. He's pretty coordinated and, hopefully, with a little more practice he can start earning his keep by doing some proper chores because his mooching off of us is starting to get annoying. We've already started a college fund to send him to the most prestigious janitor school in Texas. After that all he will need is some crazy sideburns and a hula girl tattooed on his forearm, then he can start sprinkling sawdust on the puke of any school he wants.