It's Hard to Keep Up When You're Having Such Fun

Blog? Blog? What's a blog?

It's so hard to keep up when you're having such fun!

Most of these pictures are from the fun week we spent up north in Hyde Park, UT over the Fourth of July. Of course, in the time it's taken me to actually post these photos, the fun has just continued. A couple days ago, an RV pulled up with my Great-Grandpa John Wells, his wife Elaine, and my cute teenage cousins, Katelyn, Kathryn, and Jeanette. They traveled all the way from Long Island, NY just to spend the afternoon making playdough cupcakes with the kids. While our visit was short, we really enjoyed the chance to catch up. Just as lovely, Grandma Susie made the trek south to spoil the grandkids with even more love and attention. At the moment, she and Jason are watching "Hairspray" with the girls at Tuacahn's lovely outdoor amphitheater. And the fun goes on!

So without further delay, our Hyde Park Summer Vacation:

Tony Grove Lake. Stunningly beautiful. And surprisingly, the water wasn't quite as cold as expected. (Not that I actually got in...)

Eli makes a canine friend.

Eli once more, in the lap of his favorite Grandpa Charles.

Talia climbs a rock to dry off.

Stylish with her new haircut. She says she looks like a schoolgirl, and I have to agree. Oh-so-grown-up!

Talia, Grandpa Charles, and Eli pause on a log before our hike around the rest of the lake.

It's important to stay hydrated, right Eli?

And here's Brooklyn hiking.

It's not hard to imagine the day when she'll be the bride donning the white dress. (Sigh and a tear in my eye.)

Our next day's adventure, the American West Heritage Center. Here's Eli, pretending to be the original Almanzo Wilder, Farmer Boy.

Talia helps with the milking.

Brooklyn's turn!

Brooklyn checks out the lazy pigs...

...while Eli lends a hand of the washing.

Time to put those towels through the ringer. Good work, Talia!

Of course, Talia was naturally drawn to the petting zoo. Here she is with the donkey she lovingly forgave for nibbling her finger. She told me that he felt bad and promised he wouldn't do it again.

Talia scratches a goat...

...while Brooklyn steps in for a closer examination of the donkey. Good thing she doesn't resemble him as closely as she does her baby doll!

Grandma Susie, riding the train with her stylish purple umbrella. Perfect for a blazing hot afternoon.

Checking out the teepee.

Taking a look around inside.

Brooklyn breaks for a pony ride. The girls are becoming quite the experts.

Even Eli got a turn this time around. Giddyap!

Talia and Brooklyn take a break to mine some gold. The cool water felt lovely!

Better yet, the kids found enough nuggets to trade in for some chocolate at the mercantile. Nom nom nom! The trip was a resounding success.

We celebrated the Fourth of July with a family picnic and Freedom Fire spectacular. Jason's cousin Erin was kind enough to host of all. Here she is, pictured with her mother, Nancy, and uncle, Charles.

Erin's husband Scott, the master of the grill.

Jason and Eli, thoroughly enjoying their hot dogs.

Brooklyn and Talia, likewise loving the experience.

Uncle Mark, caught mid-chomp.

And cousin Jeff, tossing a frisbee. Perhaps he can bring a disc with him when he departs soon for his mission in Mexico.

Jason would have loved to linger longer to play frisbee with Jeff, but we hurried to the stadium instead so we could hear Grandma Susie sing with the American Festival Chorus. While Kansas was the main act of the evening, the chorus was just as outstanding. Of course in the end, the fireworks ultimately stole the show. Just as it should be for the Fourth of July. Happy Birthday, America.

Back in Hyde Park, here are the Wheeler Munchkins playing at Lions Park. Isn't this slide nifty? I love how it's built into the hill instead of requiring a rickety ladder.

Brooklyn monkeys around.

And the mastermind behind the project, Grandpa Charles. During his many years of service on city council, Charles played a critical role in the development of Lions Park. While an enormous amount of work, the result is really beautiful.

Of course, here we are on a different exploration. What's so exciting, Talia Lily?

We're off for a hike in High Creek Canyon. While Eli prefers to walk by himself nowadays, he gets so distracted that it's much faster to give him a lift. Fortunately, a snack bag kept him quite satisfied aloft his perch. Hopefully Grandpa Charles eventually got all the Golden Grahams out of his hair...

Admiring the crystal clear stream.

Ah, the beauty of water.

Few wonders are as enticing as a rickety bridge. Grandpa Charles popped below and played a marvelous troll for the reenactment of the Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Pausing for a family photo. Jason must have missed the memo about red...

Grandpa Charles and Grandma Susie with the grandkids.

So silly!

And the dusty road home. I love this picture!

Talia tripped and landed face first in the dust. Jason immediately pointed out her resemblance to Parzival's Feirefiz. Dirty or not, Talia's always got spunk...

And still the adventure continued. While the rest of the family stayed in Hyde Park, Brooklyn ventured off for two days of Girl Scout Camp at Camp Cloud Rim. High above Park City, the camp is nestled by a lake in the midst of aspen groves. You couldn't ask for a more beautiful setting.

Checking in with one of her counselors, Ela.

Posing by the lake where Brooklyn would canoe, but not swim. Apparently Brooklyn declined to get in the water after some older girls explained about the fish who nibble the dead skin off your feet.

Even so, Brooklyn had a lovely time. Here she is setting up her sleeping bag on her cot. I'm sure I missed her much more than she missed me.

And Brooklyn's cabin, the Eleanor Roosevelt. The facilities were so nice that next year I may check myself into camp. A far cry from the musty, spider-infested platform tents that I remember from my childhood. Even so, it's neat to pass on the tradition of camp to yet another generation.

More Fun at the Park. Lest ye fear, we still had plenty of fun while Brooklyn was off at camp. Here's Susie swinging at one of our last trips to the park. How many grandmas can do that?

Jason and Eli building a sandcastle. Eli's such a ham: I don't know if we'll ever get another normal smile out of this kid.

All too soon, it was time to head home. We stopped off in Salt Lake on the way so that Talia could celebrate her graduation from Upstart, a free online preschool program. Here she is with Rusty and Rosy, the preschool superstars. If you live in Utah and have a child getting ready for kindergarten, I highly recommend the program.

Back in St. George, here are my little cousins, all the way from New York. So when did they get so big? I know, I know, they're gorgeous. Boys, hands off anyway. :)

Here are Kathryn and Jeanette exploring the top of Pioneer Park.

Elaine likewise came exploring. Meanwhile, Grandpa Wells stayed behind to finalize their plans for Vegas.

Jason gladly brought our rope and harnesses, getting Katelyn all set up. What a natural!

Jeanette bravely lowered herself down as well, even staying calm when her hair got caught, despite being pulled back. Good thing she's such a feather-weight--Jason was easily able to pull her up for the rescue.

Another shot of Jeanette. "D" is for Dixie...or Daring...

Kathryn was content to keep her feet on firm ground, having recently satisfied all her rappelling desires in Costa Rica. Even so, I think the girls all had fun together. I know that my children were delighted to play with their "cousins" and are counting down the days until they get to see them again in New York.

Last but not least, here are a few photos of our fun with Grandma Susie. Susie's been immensely helpful in managing our day to day routine: shuttling kids to swim lessons, Girl Scouts, doctor appointments, even helping us get our car into the shop. Still, we've managed to squeeze in quite a bit of fun, whether bumper boats at Fiesta Fun, ice cream at Marv's, or just painting our nails at home.

Love the color!

Talia shows that painting nails is serious business.

Naturally Eli didn't want to be left out of the fun.

Painting nails--yet another illustration of all the things that grandmas do best. Which reminds me of a funny story--Talia was positively flabbergasted last night that I made the ranchero casserole. In her mind, it was so tasty that she thought it absolutely had to be Grandma Susie's cooking. Of course, it was Susie's recipe, so she wasn't far off...

Thanks to everyone for your lovely visits and lovely hospitality. Summer vacation may be fine on its own, but becomes great only when you share it with family and friends.

I'm not to be Trusted

My dear hubby left town this morning for a brief business trip. While I'm generally a fairly frugal person, when left on my own, I'm really not to be trusted.

No sooner had I dropped Jason off at his rental car than the kids conned me into frozen yogurt at Menchies. What can I say? I have a weakness for popping boba. We spent a delightful hour and a half coloring and enjoying our sweets before tumbling into the car to head home.

Or, almost home. First we had to swing by a Redbox to pick up Journey 2: A Mysterious Island--the girls' strange new favorite. I probably drove an extra two miles out of the way to find an outside rental box, rather than dragging the troops all the way into the grocery store that was right on the way home. What can I say? When the weather soars above 100, anything goes.

Back in private quarters, I turned the lunch making over to the girls so that I could have more time to indulge in my novel, a historical fiction book Moloka'i. Normally no one is allowed to eat downstairs, but given the special circumstances I let them dine by the Blu-Ray so I could have more peace. I did make sure they each had an apple to munch, so I can't be that bad of a mother, right?

Even though my novel wasn't finished, I did rouse myself from the sofa when I heard the DVD playing for the second time around. (At least I think it was the second time... It surely couldn't have been a third... could it?) Once again, I was easily suckered, this time into going to Learning Express, our favorite toystore, for playtime.

Who was I kidding? Even though we talked in the car ahead of time about how we weren't going to buy anything, I walked out with three full bags. (Actually, I only carried one bag. While the kids may not love to help with everything, when it comes to toting toys, they willingly oblige.) Truth to be told, the munchkins were very well-behaved. They hardly asked for a thing. But as for myself, I shouldn't be left unattended. With Melissa and Doug puzzles priced to go at Buy One Get One, I just couldn't resist. After all, there are birthdays and Christmas and friend's birthdays and next Christmas... I checked out once, but while I was waiting for the free gift-wrapping, I discovered another entire aisle of BOGO. And all of a sudden, oh, we just HAD to have some more goodies to entertain us on our upcoming drive to New York. Before I knew it, I was standing at the cash register once more. See? I'm really not to be trusted.

Hungry from having blown the day's budget, I initiated the next move. Dinner out in exchange for kidcare at the rec center, both tonight and tomorrow morning. We had a deal. (While the kids usually enjoy the Rec Center childcare, they still fuss if I try to drag them there too often.) As I waddled onto the treadmill after, I wondered whose brilliant idea it was to eat at Taco Bell before attempting strenuous exercise...

Fortunately I survived, and so did the children. We finished off the evening with skee-ball and air-hockey before returning home to act out a few Bible stories. Eli latched onto a battle scene reenactment, and gleefully swung his imaginary sword for the next thirty minutes before finally drifting off to sleep. (Okay, the sword only became imaginary after he poked Talia with the sharpened pencil he'd commandeered.)

And now, I really ought to go fold some laundry or scrub some toilets or mop the floor. (Fortunately there aren't too many dishes, gracias a Taco Bell.) But I won't. Because my book isn't finished, and left alone, I'm really not to be trusted.

***
Come home soon and safely, PB. We need you in more ways than you know... :)

So at least I posted...

All spring I managed to put off the major cleaning, convincing myself that I would get around to dusty screens and baseboards once the heat of summer arrived.  After all, there are so many beautiful places to explore in lovely spring.  Once the blazing heat of summer hits, we're stuck indoors without much better to do anyway.  Right?

Wrong.  Well, mostly.  Yes, the heat is blistering, and yes, I dread the walk even between the parking lot and the grocery store.  But summer cleaning?  Forget it.  I don't know about the rest of you, but when the summer sauna hits, I get SOOO lethargic.  Even blogging seems a chore.  My fondest dreams revolve around a three-hour uninterrupted siesta (only a pipe dream, I know.)  You know your personal motivation got snagged on the cobwebs when you measure the success of a day by whether or not all the plastic otter pop wrappers made it into the trash can. 

Tonight, however, I'm determined to pull myself up by the bootstraps by posting some pictures.  That way there's proof that at least I did something today.  And as for those pesky cobwebs, well, I'm sure there will be plenty left tomorrow.

***

News update: Papa Kay came to visit! Since NomiAnn is quite busy leading middle school students all around England, Scotland, and Ireland with People to People, Papa Kay came by himself to enjoy five days with the grandkids.

Iphone or not, I'm just not sure how anybody's supposed to take this law professor seriously. Siri, what do you have to say about that?

Posing with the grandkids. But wait, Talia's looking just a bit too normal.

There, that's better!

Brooklyn of the scary eyes.

Terror in triplicate.

Of course, we all know that Daddy's a clown.

But quite a good-looking one, at that.

We had all sorts of fun adventures with Papa Kay, ranging from a family bike ride through Tonaquint to the Hydrotube at the City Pool. Ever the "net-giver," we abused Papa Kay for his babysitting, took advantage of his Costco card, used his rental car to facilitate some minor car repairs, and even borrowed his brawn while snagging a bunkbed off Craigslist. Too bad I forgot to take more pictures!

Fortunately, I do have photos of one major highlight--a two hour horseback ride. Papa Kay treated Brooklyn and Talia to their first-ever trail ride.

Here's Papa Kay riding Jazzy:

And Brooklyn on Miss Mariah:

Talia rode Trixie. Sounds like the perfect match!

Aren't these helmets snazzy? Papa Kay took one for the team when he gave up his cowboy hat in favor of a too-small helmet, just to set a good example for the girls.

Settling in for some serious business.

In the end, the guide Mike decided to lead Talia's horse since it's hard to stay seated when your legs are so short.

Brooklyn managed Mariah quite well.

And here's Papa Kay, bringing up the rear as the group sets off. His horse Jazzy was accustomed to leading, so he had to use a bit more skill. Fortunately, everyone made it back safe and sound.

Thanks so much for your visit, Papa Kay! We absolutely loved having you spend time with us, even if you did spoil us rotten with Tic Tacs. :)

You probably noticed from the previous pictures, but I just wanted to point out that Brooklyn chopped a full ten inches off her hair and donated the ponytail to Locks of Love. The new summer hairdo is adorable.

So adorable, in fact, that instead of waging another battle on the snarls, I offered Talia the choice of cutting her hair like Brooklyn. She accepted.

It's not perfect, but also not terrible, considering it's my very first foray into the world of cutting hair. (Oh wait, a haircut--I did two things today!) The bangs aren't nearly as short as they look--the wind was blowing. At any rate, Talia definitely likes it. She smiled at herself in the hand mirror for five full minutes before commenting with a sigh, "I wish I could never stop looking at me!"

And here's the whole gang.

More to come soon.

Scatterbrained

So before school let out, I felt so enthusiastic about having all the kids home. With emptier schedules, I was going to establish some incredible routines, we'd all work happily together on the chores, and boy, was I ever going to get stuff DONE. Photo albums labeled, closets organized,  interior decorating, landscaping--you name it, I would be all over it.

I know, I know. You can stop your guffawing now. Even as I dreamed my pretty dreams, I knew that my expectations were unrealistic. But still, one always hopes...

On the positive side, I have enjoyed having all the kids home together. Yes, there are times when they argue, and yes, there are times when they make too much noise (okay, that's almost all the time). Still, it's delightful watching them all play together. Even if their play is ridiculously creative. Even if "playing" usually involves rearranging the furniture and digging into the craft supplies and dumping out half of their toys to create these elaborate forts and offices and castles and ships and seascapes. Even if Eli cries when he doesn't get to be the princess. And even if they don't put things away with as much gusto as they took everything out. It's great to be together as a family.

So since we haven't been transforming our home into a finely-tuned, precision cleaning machine, what exactly have we been doing?  My thoughts are as disorganized as my dresser drawers, so please forgive the scatterbrained response.  Maybe someday I'll finally get organized: after school's back in session.

***

Running.   While I haven't been covering any remarkable distances,  I've been doing my best to get out regularly, mostly for my personal sanity.  I relish the solitude as I run through Snow Canyon, often going for many miles without seeing another person.  Recently I particularly appreciated the privacy when I suddenly felt the urgent need to take care of some personal business.  Miles away from the nearest outhouse, I picked my way through the desert landscape for a minute before accepting the fact that there simply aren't enough (any?) trees to provide adequate cover.  While I successfully managed to avoid mooning anyone, I discovered that it's difficult to find makeshift TP in the desert.  All those soft, tender, deciduous leaves of the Midwest?  Forget it.  EVERYTHING has thorns or spines.  Jeepers.

All the same, I think I preferred my desert hole to the outhouse I visited before this morning's Chuckawalla trail run.  While the toilet was in decent condition, a black widow had spun its web right beside it.  Yikes!  I'm certainly not dropping my drawers for that trap.


***

Hiking.  Last week I felt particularly brave and took all of the kids to hike up Taylor Creek in Kolob Canyon while Jason was at work.  Well-equipped with sunscreen, swimsuits, and snacks, we conquered the entire trek without any worrisome melt-downs.  The kids absolutely loved all of the wildlife that we encountered.  Tadpoles, frogs, water skeeters--biology at its finest.  Of course, there were also those two water snakes...  Another kid favorite, but certainly not mine.

***

Swimming.  Now that the summer heat is officially upon us, we've been hanging out quite a bit at the City Pool.  The kids love the giant Hydrotube slide, and I enjoy the chance to soak my tired feet.  While I still need to enroll the girls in a session of swim lessons, all of the time splashing around has been helping.  When Jason took the kids swimming on Saturday, he reported that the girls were jumping off the diving board and swimming in the deep end all on their own.  While I'm not quite sure that I would have been brave enough to allow that, everyone came back healthy and extremely happy.

***

Cooking.  On Friday night we had a lovely dinner with some good friends in Gunlock.  With three apricot trees covered in ripe fruit, they generously invited us to pick as many as we wanted.  After 30 minutes of picking, we toted home three giant buckets full.  Ever since, we've been drowning in fresh fruit.

Yesterday Jason and I spent a fruity Father's Day playing in the kitchen.  We made three different kinds of apricot jam, a double batch of apricot fruit leather, an apricot pie, plus we froze about fifteen cups of apricot puree to use sometime in the future.  Even so, we've still got an entire bucket overflowing with apricots.  So if anybody has some great ideas on how to use up lots of fresh fruit, please share!  We're out of canning jars and desperate...

***

Giggling.  Why, you might ask, are we so full of smiles and chuckles?  While laughing needs no reason, we're particularly pleased because Callie has once again been featured in Peter Jackson's latest Hobbit blog.  You've got to check out minute twelve.  It's totally worth it.  P.S. The ending's pretty rich as well.  :)

***

Camping. Okay, okay, not all of us went camping. But Brooklyn and Talia accompanied Grandma Susie and Grandpa Charles to the Wheeler family reunion in Swan Valley, Idaho.

With so much family around, a great time was had by all, despite the cold and a touch of wet.

Brooklyn and Talia were particularly thrilled to have a chance to meet all their "cousins."

Talia made instant friends with an adorable little girl named Avery.

This picture of Brooklyn and Taylor cracks me up because Brooklyn seems much more enthused by the new friendship than her pal.

The girls made out like bandits at the reunion, coming home with all sorts of fun crafts and other memorabilia. One fun memento was a white dishtowel just like the one that the Wheeler kids used to wave to Grandpa Wheeler when he was out on the farm in order to call him in for dinner. As you can see, there were some excellent demonstrations as to how this should best be done.

Naturally, it wouldn't be a true Wheeler get-together without some excellent food.

For posterity's sake, here are the Wheeler siblings. From left to right: John, his wife Diana, Uncle Merlin, Diane, Kathleen, Nancy, and Charles.  Missing are Uncle Mark (who is excused due to being in Singapore), and Merlin's wife Alayne, who passed away a few years back.

Far more amusing is this picture of all the photographers.

Thanks, Aunt Diane for organizing such a great "Make and Bake" reunion.

***

Playing hooky. So the real question  is, if Brooklyn and Talia were at the family reunion, where in the world were the rest of us? Playing hooky. Jason had a work conference in Salt Lake City, and I panicked at the thought of making the long drive on my own. And so, after spending the night in Hyde Park, I headed back to Salt Lake City with Eli to relax in the hotel and enjoy the perks of "big city" life.

Overall, I think the two of us did a pretty good job of painting the town, even if I do say so myself. We enjoyed the elephants splashing at the Hogle Zoo...

...and saw an amazing bird show. Worth the admission all on its own.

Very patriotic.

Eli made his first trip to Temple Square.

No matter how many times I see it, the temple always inspires me.

We played at the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum...

...and listened to an organ concert in the tabernacle. Eli was so well-behaved, except for between numbers when they switched the background lights. All of a sudden he blurted out into the silence, "BLUE!"

After lunch, we played with the dinosaurs in the new City Creek mall...

...before heading over to the downtown library to make superhero masks.

The crowning moment, of course, was dining out on some outstanding Vietnamese food at Indochine with Dad.

All in all, it was delightful to have some uninterrupted one-on-one time with our little boy. Even so, I'm glad we're all back together.

Eli Jameson: 2 years, 10 months

Yesterday Eli and Talia stayed home from church due to a nasty stomach bug. When I came back after the sacrament service, I found Eli sleeping like this.

Poor little guy! (Cute, though.)

For weeks I've wanted to post an update on our Eli Jameson. Funny thing about kids--they insist on constantly changing, regardless of whether or not you get around to capturing the moment. The past couple of months, Eli has grown rapid-fire: perhaps not physically, but certainly developmentally.

Most notably, Eli's begun to talk--in entire epistles. Back in the fall, Eli participated in a developmental screening at a community event. While he was on target in most areas, his speech clearly lagged behind. "Please share an example of a two-word phrase that your child uses." Awkward silence. "Ummm, there aren't any." At the end of the evaluation, they concluded that Eli wasn't lagging enough to require formal intervention, but ought to be closely monitored. Well, somewhere over the past few months, Eli leaped straight from one-word utterances to complex grammatical phrases. Almost overnight, he switched from "House" to "Mom, I want to go home now, please." His vocabulary surprises me--a couple days ago he broke out with "That's awesome!"

All the same, Eli's pronunciation is still developing, so interpreting his baby-talk can take quite a bit of guesswork. Just this morning I mistook "puppy" for "poopy." Brooklyn is "Blooblin," and NomiAnn is "MommyMan." As for Papa Kay, Eli insisted on calling him "Gwampa Chawels" for most of our Memorial Day vacation. "Chawels" has long been both a favorite word and a favored grandparent. Even if you don't understand him, it is quite obvious that Eli is sharing quite specific messages when he jabbers. Often he will repeat himself over and over and over again until you're finally able to decipher what it is he's trying to say.

While generally happy and easy going, our Easy E has a temper that can flare up unexpectedly. His two year-old tantrums are so passionate that they're almost comical. Okay, I confess. To me, they are comical--downright hilarious, even. Maybe it's the come-what-may attitude of having three kids (after a point, you just stop stressing as much about what everyone else thinks), but I simply can't help but giggle. Out of nowhere, Eli will get upset about something totally irrational and suddenly launch himself on the ground. Feet kicking, arms flailing, lungs wailing. Fortunately, the wails are usually masked as he buries his face in the ground, no matter whether it's dirt, gravel, carpet or grass. I'll stand back, trying hard to suppress my chuckles as he works through the rage.

In all seriousness, it must be extremely difficult to be two: yearning for independence, yet having so little control over your life. You want to do it all on your own, but the truth is that you still need a lot of help. A couple of weeks ago Eli was really angry with me. While I can't remember the cause of his wrath, I remember that he finally got so upset that he came running up to me for hugs and snuggles to help him feel better. In this moment, I couldn't help but think about my relationship with my Father in Heaven. So often I too want to be independent and do it all myself. I get angry when things don't go my way and storm off in an angry huff. Yet inevitably, I finally feel so rotten that I come running back for comfort and consolation. And just like an earthly parent is grateful when a belligerent toddler returns to their lap, our Heavenly Father likewise welcomes me home.

As challenging as tantrums can be, I'm grateful that Eli's hitting phase has been over for awhile now. Right around the time Eli turned two, he started walking up to random kids and pushing them for no reason whatsoever. Generally not hard--it was more like a science experiment. "Gee, I wonder what will happen if I push this little girl. Will she cry? Will she shove me back? Will I get put in time out? Will we have to go home?" No matter what the inner-workings of that little mind, as a parent I positively cringed every time I dropped Eli off at nursery or the gym's childcare. Play dates were cancelled, talks were had, apologies were made, and just when I thought I was going to rip my hair out, it stopped. The hitting disappeared as mysteriously as it began. This was a good reminder to not become too distraught with the challenges of specific phases--time passes, and usually kids grow out of their worst habits.

Eli's best habit has to be his boundless affection. He is the snuggliest, huggiest, friendliest little boy! I've often thought that I ought to bring him around to hospitals and nursing homes the same way that people share their therapy dogs. Never having met a stranger, he greets most everyone with a cheerful "Hi" and a hand wave. He loves to give hugs and cuddle. He's proud to share his name, "I Eli!", and up until last week when you asked him how old he was, he'd hold up an entire hand and say "Five!" It was so fun to watch everybody's reaction as they processed his response. Delighted to be the center of attention, he quickly learned to add "No, six!" just to get a few more laughs. But alas, maturity is catching up with him, and our little boy has recently graduated to being just two.

While Eli may be pushing three, he still relishes his role as the baby of the family. In no great hurry to grow up, he still sleeps in a crib, prefers his high chair, and insists on wearing diapers. We haven't even bothered with potty training because every time we ask if he wants to use the toilet like a big boy, he responds with "No, I a little baby. You change my diaper." Frustrating? Perhaps slightly, but I feel confident that he'll let us know when he's ready.

Typical boy, Eli still adores trains, cars, and trucks. Yet with two older sisters he also enjoys wearing headbands, playing with dolls, and toting their pink puppy purses.

The past couple of months, it's been delightful to watch him emerge from the world of parallel play and actively engage in the pretend world of his sisters. They now treat him as an equal as they play school, house, church, princess, or dolphins. Many times I've responded to the call of "Mom," only to hear "Not you, our pretend Mom!" I'm a little worried about Eli being bored next year when Talia leaves for kindergarten. He likes Mom fine, but his sisters are definitely best when it comes to entertainment.

Academically, I suspect Eli will be ridiculously well-prepared for school because he's paid such close attention as Talia's kindergarten preparations. Every time that Talia does her fifteen minute "computer preschool," Eli stands on the chair behind her, mimicking all of the letters and sounds. About a month ago we finally allowed him to have his own computer school account, so he's subsequently become pretty adept with a mouse. He counts well, knows some letters, and is surprisingly good with all the colors. I remember it took the girls forever to sort out colors--we actually worried Brooklyn might be color-blind.

And of course, being part of the Wheeler family, Eli loves to both read and help cook. This bilingual story, "The Empanadas that Abuela Made," let us combine the two, all while practicing a bit of Spanish.

With a storyline modeled after "This is the House that Jack built" and empanadas reminiscent of pumpkin pie, the book was a great hit all around.

Love you, Eli!


***

Over the past few days, we remembered a couple of additional Eli-isms. They're such an integral part of your personality that we just had to go back and add them in.

First of all, you LOVE breakfast. While you enjoy eating in general and will happily sit perched in your high chair for hours, breakfast is by far your favorite meal of the day. Without fail, your very first word in the morning as you stand up in the crib will be "Frekfast!" You eat a bowl of cereal before your sisters even crawl out of bed, only to insist on eating once again when they sit down to the breakfast table. One Sunday I was talking to your nursery leader about how we really do feed you well at home, no matter how greedily you devour your snacks. When I told her about your two breakfasts, she started calling you her little "Hobbit" with First Breakfast, Second Breakfast, Elevenses, and so on. Pretty funny, considering our Hobbit kinship.

Next, you are SUPER ticklish. Your neck, your back, your knees, your toes, your armpits--heck, we don't even have to touch you before you start laughing hysterically. The really amusing part is that even though you look like you are dying from laughter, you positively LOVE it when we tickle you and beg for more. If we stop, you'll start lifting up your arms just so we'll start again. The complete opposite of your mother, who has threatened to divorce your father only once--for tickling her armpits.

Lastly, well, there are too many lasts to list, so let me just say that you are SUPER cute and we are so glad to have you as part of our family.