Eli and the chalk...

Okay, seriously, this kid is a monster.  He is a little hilarious monster.  We have a few names for him, Pompei (the volcano that caused mass destuction, you can probably see the paralell), petit monstre (little monster), the crier boy (that is Tae's name for him), and I could go on, but I think you get the point.  He is our little weapon of mass destruction and our house can attest to that.  (or maybe I am a bad house manager.... nope, I'm going with Eli) 


Anyway, recently he has found that he enjoys himself a little chalk from Tae's chalk board.  I haven't tried it myself, but he must think it tastes good.  He just loves to sit there are knaw (sp?) on it.  He thinks he is sly too, like no one knows what he is doing standing by the chalk board 'just chillin.'  He puts his hands in the tray and pushes everything around.  He'll grab a marker, just to try to throw us off.  And then he decides it's a good time, he just goes for it.  'Eli, no! Touch pas, Eli!'  He just looks smiles a bit, bounces up and down and tries again.  "Eli, no!  No Eli!'  Then Tae comes to 'help' and moves Eli away from the board.  Eli kicks his feet as he is being dragged away by his big brother.  But, to no avail, he just crawls right back over to the board to try again.  When he has finally, successfully put the chalk in his mouth, he gives it a good crunch and then he is caught.  Someone takes it from him and this does not make him happy.  He lets us know it but throwing a little temper tantrum (I thought he was too young for that?)  and then trying again.  He is a battle because he is stubborn. Maybe like some other people in our family, can't name names (Grammy Sherrie, Poppy, Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Johnny)  Needless to say, we have our work cut out for us.  But he is cute.  Super duper cute.  And I think he might be aware of that. 



And here are some pictures of the wonderful faces of Eli.  Gotta love 'em!

What Mom?

Crazy Boy!

I'm not touching anything...

Look at those cheeks!

Silly boy!

Proud Momma

Today is the first day that Tae is staying full day at school!  Ever!  I am a little torn about it.  After all, I am a stay at home mom and I stay home so I can be with my kids and raise them.  But now I am sending Tae off to school full days?  So part of me feels a little guilty about it.  Then, with the help of my always sensible husband, I started to think it through.  First of all, Tae needs to go to school.  He is a social kid and loves to be around people and have friends.  To keep him home would be torture for him.  Second, he needs to learn French.  It is the only way that he is going to feel comfortable here and be able to make and maintain friendships.  Not to mention that it will be awesome when he is older.  Thirdly, he wants to go.  He likes his classmates and enjoys whatever it is they do there.  Anyway, all that to say that the good out way the bad and it will make it easier to make things fun for him at home.  Like I said, today is the first day, so we will see!

French school is very family centered.  Or at least I think that is the reason.  It could be that the teachers don't want to work as much.  But French school starts at 8:30ish and goes until 11:20.  You take a break from 11:20 to 1:20 and then the kids go back.  So you get a nice little break to have lunch as a family.  Then they take a nap at school and stay until 4:20.  Then you come home for the day.  So the good part is that I am not leaving him all day.   He does get the nice little break.  But he loves it.  He loves his friends and teachers. 

So now I must say, I am so proud of him.  On a few occasions I have seen kids in his class, these are 3, 4, and 5 years olds mind you, with a doudou (remember that post?), and a BINKI!  A binki??  These kids are not even toddlers anymore, they are kids.  They have teeth.  And they can't go to school without a binki and a doudou?  Today Tae walked back to school after lunch and right into that classroom.  He went to his teacher who showed him his nap-time bed and he said "bye, mommy!" and was ready to be back at school.  No binki, no blanket, no doudou.  He is such a big boy.  As I was trying to prepare him before he left that the other kids were going to have those things (I didn't want him to see them and think he needed them), he just said "ya, but I'm a big boy, mommy.  I don't need those things."  Wow.  I must attribute most of this toughness to Lavar.  He is an excellent dad.  I know most people that see him in action think he is too strick, but we are raising an eventual man, not a boy.  And this eventual man is going to conquer the world. 

{Sorry if I offended any moms out there who let their older kids have binkis.  But seriously, it might be time to give it up... :)}