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Oh, the rain

Well it was mostly the wind that kept us from going on a long walk this morning. A short neighborhood stroll had to do. Eli went out in jammies (his insistence) with mismatched socks (apparently), but a little bit of fresh air is always good. Now back to the sun!

getting your dominos in a row

(while I'm sorting the closet and making sure this jacket still fits him for fall)

(Oh, and the Christmas bell? Cracks us up how much this kid loves it. Makes him easy to detect when he's running all over!)

Hangin on to summer

the little dipper

monday, monday

Happy Labor Day!
Here's to all the closet organizing, cleaning, and cooking this day holds for us.

And to hoping the little man can be distracted by some music playing long enough to let us get a few things done. (Without getting another forehead bump. First one ever is being logged for last week on a table while playing the toddler version of "let me put my blanket over my head and walk around the house while giggling, until I trip and hit a table". Moon and I were both present and our smiles of how cute he was toddling about having fun playing ghost quickly turned to the hands outstretched, wincing sort of thing. Anyways, swelling went down within hours and the next day, above pictures, was hardly that obvious. Whew.). Happy Labor Day!

today

Walking by the river... down by the boats.

Dear Eli,

We've documented this so that one day you will know that once upon a time pay phones did exist. Now lets hope you didn't get exposed to any bad germs from that phone! Xo, mama

portrait of a toddler

Art easel: picked up at garage sale over the weekend.
Potty chair: the boy seems thoroughly convinced this is just another chair that happens to be his size. He drags it all over. Habits to correct another day...

Sous chef

The kind who likes to lick the spoon. And is deeply troubled when there is no more spoon to lick. (He was quickly appeased with fun splashing around in the bath).

This moment

"the way we spend our days is, of course, the way we spend our lives." –annie dilliard

morning

This morn he grabbed my hand and led me to the front door. Daddy had just left. There were tears. But there was a messy post-breakfast kitchen too. And a mama in pajamas. So I opened the balcony door and grabbed my coffee. The trucks, the big ones, come out in the morning and you should see and hear this boy when a big garbage truck passes. To him it's the greatest show. Plus there is the exercise class in the building across from ours. Usually Eli doesn't notice, but they were doing some leg exercises that caught his attention and I'm pretty sure I saw a little boy put his own leg up in the air to mimic. So here we are, just soaking in the cloudy morning on our ghetto balcony (sand everywhere, basket of plastic sand toys, bike trailer, random chair), loving it--and celebrating that its Friday!

Apples!

Discovering a backyard

Also known as the community garden that is a block away from us. We have been venturing inside its nice fenced boundaries with shovel in hand. We play with the garden tools, pull the wagon, dig in the dirt, and take a break as needed (smile). It's yet another nice place to take the boy and let him run and play.

Walking home

We ran some errands downtown yesterday and as daddy uses the car for his rotation, we streetcar + walk our way these days. Eli got out of the stroller on our way home and walked along the river.

Pearls and a stick

He really wanted some earrings to wear as he saw me put some on (perhaps for the first time in his life!), but these pearls from my jewelry box had to do.

Sharing

Eli is generally pretty sweet with other kids. He is social and likes kids. So whenever we go to the splash pad near us I make a point to take several water toys so that if other kids are there I can hand them out. I'm glad that (so far!) Eli seems to have little trouble letting go of his "stuff", like the idea of possession isn't entirely there (unless we are at home and one of his parents wants it :) yet. So I love the beauty in kids sharing without being told or even understanding it beyond this very organic gesture of friendship. This little girl became fast friends with Eli over a shovel that they together shared with a four legged friend (well, they each had a shovel). And Eli has been on the receiving end of many a kind gesture of sharing, letting me enjoy watching my son playing and sharing other kids toys. So I definitely refrain from the "it's not your toy!" when we are out playing. (Of course there is still sadness or tears sometimes over toys he wants to play with, but often it has nothing to do with 'whose' toy it is and can be quickly fixed by the kids themselves.)