A Milky Mess and Other Eli Moments

A mess. Who likes to clean messes? Not me! There is enough to do around the house without having to clean unnecessary messes. Since Eli was about eighteen months old, he has been throwing food on the floor. Despite Stephen and I both trying to be consistent with removing the food from Eli's tray when he does this, Eli continued to throw food up until maybe a month ago. But, even now he does it on occasion. The other night, he made the biggest mess he's ever made, not with food but with milk! As I was preparing Eli's dinner plate, he was sitting in the booster seat, out of my field of vision. He didn't want me to move him into the kitchen while I was getting his plate ready. He wanted to stay at the table. I found this odd since he always wants to know what's going on in the kitchen, but I left him by the table. I wasn't worried. He was buckled in, so I knew he wouldn't climb out. He didn't have any food yet, so I knew there would be no food on the floor. When I walked around the counter to give him his plate, there was milk all over the place! He had obviously shaken the cup until all of the milk came out of the straw and landed on the floor, the rug, the kitchen table, and all over himself.


It was as if he had planned to make this mess from the moment he climbed into his booster seat. I could not believe the mess my little boy had created! Timeout wasn't an option at that moment since getting him out of the seat and putting him in timeout would have only added to the mess. When I looked at his face and saw all of the little dots of milk splattered all over him, I tried to hide my smile. This would have actually been funny if I wasn't the one who had to clean it. When I asked, "Why did you do this, Eli?" he responded by telling me that he "spilled" his milk. That's an understatement if I've ever heard one. Although I was very irritated, how could I not kiss all over this face?

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As I was getting dressed last night, Eli, noticing the product of a spur of the moment decision Heather and I made in our early twenties (the tattoo on my lower back), Eli said, "Mommy got a sun on her back." Knowing how Eli questions every single thing and not really wanting to answer questions about tattoos, I replied, "Yes, Eli that is a sun," and quickly pulled my shirt down. "Where'd it come from?" I heard in response. I should have known that was coming. My reply... someone drew it on my back a long time ago. Then I changed the subject.
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I, personally, have never liked to see a kid run around in only a diaper. I can remember living in NJ when I was younger, and a lady Mom was friends with would let her kids run around in their underwear all the time. It was like they didn't own any clothes. Anyway, lately Eli hasn't been wanting to wear clothes. In the morning, when I change his diaper, he always says, "Mommy, no put my clothes back on." If we are not going anywhere, I will sometimes give in and let him leave his clothes off and run around in only a diaper.


I found it very comical when, after his bath last night, he didn't want to put on his pjs. He wanted to sleep in a diaper only, so I told him he could. A few minutes later, he appeared with a cape and mask in hand wanting me to help him put them on. He didn't want to wear clothes, but he wanted to wear this.


When he finally did go to bed, he went to bed only in a diaper. After being in bed for a short time, he reappeared in the kitchen, naked, and said, "Mommy look!" That boy cracks me up.
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Eli is a curios little boy. He asks questions about everything. His latest inquiries have been about what happens when: you flush the toilet, water goes down the sink, and the water drains out of the bathtub. It all began with the sink. "Where that water going, Mommy?" Eli asked one day. I was able to show him the pipes under the sink. We turned on the water and listened to it go down the pipes. This seemed to satisfy him until he went looking for the "bathtub pipes" and the "toilet pipes." Telling him that those pipes are under the house wansn't a good enough answer for him, so I found a diagram online that showed the parts of a toilet. After clicking on the flusher, it showed where the water went. He liked watching this. After watching that, I took the top of the toilet off so he could see the water level rise and fall when he flushed the toilet. We had to stay in the bathroom for quite a while doing this. When he woke up this morning, the first thing he asked about was the toilet. "Oh Mommy, remember? Remember flushing the toilet?" and then he asked to go do it again.