School days

Hard to believe how big he is already...next year is kindergarten!

New preschool for him this year but it doesn't seem to be phasing him. I think I was more worked up over the school change than he was! He just really likes going to school. I'm so glad he has the opportunity to attend a good school, and that he enjoys it so much. I always liked school and I think the experiences I had and the knowledge that I gained from my school years are so valuable to me...I hope Eli continues to enjoy school!

Field trip - Jacobson Bear Creek Park

I had planned this as a late morning trip to a park we hadn't been to yet. On the agenda was a picnic lunch, followed by a walk to explore the trails in the small wooded area. Eli had other plans in mind, I guess! Let's recap through some pictures, shall we?

Eli took this picture on the way to the park. He is enamored by our town's water tower...thinks it's pretty cool.

Entrance to the park

"Mom, can I run over there before lunch?" Yup!

"Mom, can I stand on the table before lunch?" Sure, why not?!

Just a few pictures from around the picnic tables.

 Yummy lunch...string cheese, grapes, hard-boiled eggs, apples, PBJ (sans crust, of course) for Eli

AND

Diet Coke for me, of course :-P

"Mom, why do we eat celery with peanut butter?"

"MOM, this is really crunchy and tasty!" Those were his actual words...little goof!

So, we finished lunch and began our walk into the wooded area. Eli was talking my ear off the entire time about bugs, squirrels and birds. 

THIS is where it got good...he's walking with his back to me and suddenly stops, turns around and says

"Hey Mom, did you know that 7+5 is 12? And I know that 6+6 is 12, too! Did you know that 8+7 is 15? And know what else? 9+4 is 13!"

I tripped...literally. I was trying to take his picture while walking toward him as he was doing what I would say is "Preschool AP Math" in his head. And I tripped over a tree root. This is the picture I got when I fell!

Okay, so I picked myself up and asked him where he learned that. He said "Oh, I don't remember. Sometimes you help me do math but I think that stuff was just in my brain." Yeah...no kidding! I think I was still counting on my fingers at 4.5 years old! Good grief. But as soon as it began, it was over:

"Look Mom...it's an acorn!" Nope...black walnut. "Yeah, that's what I said, Mom...walnut." Sure ya did...

He was having a blast taking pictures of all sorts of things.

"MOM! Come on...keep up with me!" He took off walking super fast...almost lost him around the tree in the picture below on the right!

It was at the end of the trail that we noticed that many of the trees had signs on them for identification purposes. Eli was super excited by this and we had to walk the trail in reverse to look for trees with signs.

  

 
He wanted pictures of all the trees with leaves next to the signs but I was unable to reach leaves from the tall trees...sycamore, honey locust, etc. He seemed to understand :)

And finally, some misc. pictures:

  

Eli loves these toys. Anytime we go to a park with one of them, he says he "has to do his work" with these! :-)

All in all, we had a productive "field trip". Lunch time was for discussing healthy food (minus Mom's Diet Coke, of course!), there was some math class, some biology and botany, and of course, PE at the end! Productive schooling followed by nap time for a sleepy little guy!

The enormous heart of a little boy

Elijah is very kind-hearted. Sometimes, he can be pretty mean (particularly to his parents!) but in the big picture, this little boy has a lot of compassion in his heart. Today, God used this little boy to truly touch my heart. Here's our story:

We had a lot of little errands to do today and Elijah has been sick. I knew he wasn't going to be super thrilled with the idea of sitting in the car for so long so I tried to keep things fun...singing and looking for interesting things outside that we could talk about. We were headed out of town to Boone and we saw a house being built. Elijah started talking about it as soon as he saw it...the machines, the little bit of the frame that was up, the men with hammers, etc. I explained that it was going to probably take a little while to get the whole house up. Elijah's face fell a bit when he thought about that but suddenly he perked up.

"I think that MAN found a house, Mommy!"

"What man?"

"You know, that man from by Walmart..."

Now, you need some background about the man, I suppose! It was late November, possibly early December, this past year. Elijah and I were out shopping and it was bitterly cold. There was a homeless man standing near Walmart's entrance, with a simple cardboard sign that said "I would appreciate any help...God bless". I had seen this man many times, and one or two winters ago, I had bought him lunch once. There is something about this man that always tugs at my own heart. I don't know his "story", and I see other homeless people around from time to time. But this particular man...I'm not sure what it is. When I see him, I start thinking more about those who are less fortunate. This particular day was the first time Elijah had seen him. As we pulled into Walmart's parking lot, Elijah wanted to know why the man was standing in the cold and what did his sign say. I tried to explain it, but poor Elijah didn't quite grasp how someone wouldn't and couldn't have a house to live in. Wouldn't he be cold? Well, yes, he would. Where does he keep his food? He doesn't have food to keep, or a refrigerator to keep it in. We kept talking while we were shopping at Walmart and I decided this was a good opportunity to teach Elijah a little about compassion and kindness to others.

We left Walmart and I drove towards Dairy Queen (the ONLY fast food place on this end of town!).

"Mommy, why are were here? We ate lunch already!"

"I know, Eli. We're going to buy that man some lunch, okay?"

"But mommy, where will he keep his food?"

"Eli, he can't keep it anywhere but he can eat it. That's why I'm going to buy him something that he doesn't have to put in the fridge."

"I'll bet he's really hungry, mommy!"

Yes, I thought he might be, too. And cold. I despise being cold, and I can't imagine being cold all the time. After we got through the drive thru, I parked the car and talked to Eli for a moment:

"Eli, you know Jesus wants us to show kindness to everyone, including people who don't have as much as we do. We can't help everyone, and I can't buy this man lunch every time I see him, but we can do it today. And that hat and gloves from Walmart? We're going to give those to him, too, because he doesn't have a hat or gloves on and it's very cold outside. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes. That man has no house, we have a house. He doesn't have a hat or mittens like I do, so we are going to give him some. And he's hungry, so you bought him lunch just like you bought ME lunch when I was hungry!'

"Yes, and why are we going to do this for him, besides that he's cold and hungry?"

"Because Jesus wants us to be kind to other people."

Excellent...he understood what I needed him to. So we drove up and I jumped out of the car. The man and I exchanged a short conversation and I told him that my little boy and I wanted to help him a little. He looked down at me, eyes a little tear-filled, and said "thank you so much. God bless you and your family!" I simply said "I'll pray that God blesses you as well." Elijah sat in the car and waved, smiling so sweetly.

Eli and I talked about that man for a little more that day, and then we didn't. Every time we went to Walmart after that, we didn't see him. Eli would ask me where he was and I said I didn't know...that it was now VERY cold and perhaps he was in a shelter or something. We haven't seen that man another time, but every time Eli asked me about him, it prompted me to think, and pray that he was okay.

SO, back to today. Elijah said "You know, that man from by Walmart!"

I was shocked that he remembered him now and said "The homeless man, Eli?"

"YES! The man who we gave lunch and the hat and gloves to. Mommy, I think he's building that new house!"

I smiled. I don't know if that is true but I certainly wasn't going to destroy Eli's vision for this man. And it really made me think for a moment. My little boy never stops thinking about this man...the man who had so much less than we did. The man that we gave something very small to, in hopes of helping him just a little. That man had a big impact on Eli's life, because Eli thinks about him even now...months later. Eli remembers him, and even has a vision that the man is now in a better place in his life.

My little boy was thinking about this while I was busy wallowing in an ocean of self-pity today. In all reality, my problems are small compared to what some other people must deal with. My problems are real, and the hurt is real, but do I need to allow that to bring me down? Nah. So I decided I wouldn't let that happen today.

Thanks, little buddy...and thank you, God, for using my little buddy to get through to my heart today.

Stripes

Eli has a toy Beanie Baby tiger whose name is Stripes. This little tiger once belonged to me but I gave him to Eli a few years ago. Stripes has been living in Eli's toy box, undisturbed, for most of those years. That is, until about 2 weeks ago.

2 weeks ago, Eli found Stripes and started playing with him pretty much non-stop. The interaction that Eli has with Stripes is very different from his other stuffed animals. He seems to go through phases where different stuffed things are more important to him than others. When we first moved back to Iowa, when Eli was about 19 months old, he had three things that HAD to be with him at all times: Puppy-puppy, Gi-gi and Lamb. (Gi-gi is his baby blanket). When he would get upset, he would immediately ask for those three items, and only then did he feel better. When I visited my family in Pennsylvania in February of 2010, Eli had a new attachment to a stuffed red, jalapeño- shaped cat toy...aptly named Pepper. We visited my cousin Heather in Wisconsin in April of 2010 and Heather's son Nate gave Eli a stuffed dog, who became Roger Retriever, or just Roger for short. Roger took Puppy-puppy's place for a long time, and I think I was more upset about the replacement than anyone else! Eli would make Puppy-puppy sleep on the floor because he said that Puppy would "gas on him" at night; or Puppy wouldn't stop licking him. Eventually Puppy-puppy was allowed to join the others on the bed at night, and I felt better.

Back to Stripes. Stripes is NAUGHTY! Seriously...first of all, Stripes "talks" in this rather annoying high-pitched meow, and it's usually very loud. When it first started, I would tell Eli that he needed to be quieter and his response was "Stripes, be quiet! Daddy is sleeping!". The more I watched, the more I noticed just how sassy this bean-filled tiger really was. He jumps all over the living room, knocking things off book shelves and speakers. I found Stripes running with scissors a few days ago. He runs all over the house and attacks the LIVING cats! He sometimes attacks my face for no apparent reason and continues to pester me until I say "Eli, you need to stop now...you're hurting me now," and Eli replies, to the tiger (of course) "Stripes, stop hurting Mommy! That's NOT nice!". Stripes never wants to eat dinner...he's always too tired. Stripes never wants to take a bath...he's having too much fun playing. Stripes puts up quite the fuss at bedtime, and is disruptive while we're trying to read bedtime stories. I told Adam yesterday that Stripes is everything that Eli WANTS to be, but he knows he can't get away doing those naughty things!

Now, Stripes isn't ALL bad. Stripes is very inquisitive and likes to investigate things in our house, too. He found a small hole in our carpet, and I was informed that Stripes wanted Eli to tell me about it. Stripes gives great hugs and when he's not hyperactive, he gives wonderful kisses, too. Stripes provides a great amount of comfort to Eli when he falls out of bed. Stripes makes Eli feel better when I tell him something he doesn't want to hear (such as "we have to leave Grandma's house, now"). Stripes is truly one of Eli's closest non-human companions right now, and I think they're very cute together. As I type this, Stripes is launching himself (with a little Eli help!) from the top of the cat scratching post into our window. Oh, and attacking a pumpkin. Eli loves his crazy, sassy little tiger...

Stripes is HOBBES!

I wonder what the future holds if this relationship continues? Perhaps I should brush up on my "Calvin and Hobbes" :D