When I Get A Little Bit Older...

Who hasn't, at one point in their life, thought about the things they could do if only they were older? I can vividly remember being twelve and being so excited about turning thirteen. At thirteen, I would be a teenager and be able to well, that's it, I would be a teenager. What did I think I was going to be able to do at thirteen? Nothing happens at thirteen. I, of course, was excited to turn sixteen, obviously because I would be able to drive. I also remember being excited to turn eighteen because being eighteen meant that I was an adult. An adult at eighteen? Thinking back on that now makes me laugh.

Well, Eli is at the age where he wants to do some things he isn't quite able to do yet because he's just not old enough. He will ask to do things, and if it's something he can't do, I will say, "When you're a little bit older, you will be able to..." Some things he has wanted to do lately... chew gum, drive the car, drink coffee and Diet Pepsi (I need some coffee, Mommy), ride Mommy's bike, and mow the grass (with the real lawnmower). A lot of times, he will tell me he wants to do something and before I tell him that he can do it when he's older, he says, "When you get a little bit older, Eli can do that," in a kind of yeah, yeah, I know Mommy voice.

Eli will pee on the potty just about anytime you ask him if he needs to go. This started when I started giving him five jelly beans as a reward for using the potty. But, he will still not poop in the potty. He tells me every time he has to go, but he never wants to do it on the potty. A couple of weeks ago, tired of changing poop diapers, I said, "Eli when are you going to start pooping in the potty?" His response, "When I get a little bit older, I go poop in the potty." I guess I set myself up for that one.

This past weekend, I discovered a tiny wart on Eli's finger. I was examining his fingers and hands so he, of course, was concerned. I had to explain to him what I was doing. I told him that he had a wart. The next morning, he kept talking about that wart. He wanted to know where Mommy's wart was, so I pretended to have one on my finger. That didn't satisfy him. "Mommy, where's Bella's wart? Eli want to see Bella's wart." Not wanting him to go poking and prodding on Bella, I said, "Baby, Bella doesn't have any warts." With is eyebrows raised, Eli came back with, "When she gets a little older Bella can have a wart." I'm sure Bella was really excited to hear that.

I, of course, don't want to use any kind of wart remover on Eli's little finger, so I guess I'll let Momma try to remove it. Since I was a kid, Momma has believed that she can take warts off by wrapping a piece of wool thread around a wart and touching it. After she does this, you have to take the string and bury it under a rock. When the string rots, the wart will fall off. When I was a kid, I believed this, but now I guess you could say I'm a bit skeptical. I asked her how she knew she could do this. She didn't remember. She only knew that it was "a gift from the Lord." James and I have both had warts that Momma has "removed" with this hocus pocus. After she worked her magic, it took a very long time for them to go away. Did the string rot, or did it just go away on its own? We'll never know.