The sweetest

The weather has been beautiful this week (above 40 degrees, that is), so every evening we have taken Elijah for a wagon ride after dinner. Only one night was warm enough for a longer ride, so the other nights we just walked around the block and got the mail. Two nights ago, after a short wagon ride, as Dan was pulling the wagon into the garage, Elijah gave me a sideways glance of disapproval. A second later he was a heaping mess. We have heard a lot of fake crying lately, but this was the real thing. He laid his head on Dan's shoulder for a solid couple of minutes and just sobbed. Apparently the wagon rides and being outdoors are a hit! Then last night after our short walk (because it was a bit windy and chilly), he looked sad when we pulled into the garage, but he didn't cry. I picked him up and carried him inside and I saw his bottom lip starting to come out. I used my mama distraction skills and with a huge smile on my face and my eyebrows raised high, I said, "DO YOU WANT TO TAKE A BATH?!" He adores his bath time, so he instantly forgot about being outside. After his bath, I put his jammies on and we were sitting in the living room playing. He crawled over to the banister and starting reeeeeeeaching up for his jacket. I took it off and handed it to him, and he handed it right back to me like, Put this thing on me, woman! I told him we were done with being outside for the night, but he could wear his jacket inside if he wanted to. I put it on over his jammies but didn't zip it up. He kept trying to close the front of it with his hands in hopes of magically fusing the zipper together. Then he pointed outside and looked at me hopefully. He wanted to go back outside so badly and Mommy was saying no. Mean Mama! It was really sweet, though, because he handled the emotions in such a big boy way. He did everything he could think of to appropriately let me know what he wanted, and when I said no, he didn't freak out. He just slumped his shoulders and looked down at the ground with disappointment. That made my heart ache enough to cuddle up with him while we watched an episode of Veggie Tales! Bob and Larry cure everything.

All night last night he repeatedly pointed at Dan and me and each of the Veggie Tales characters and said, "Dada!" Ummmmmm, no, Bob the Tomato is not your father. I think it's a good sign that he is finally pointing to people/characters and verbally labeling them, even if the labeling is wrong. Baby steps!

Oh, and when I got home from work Elijah was munching on a rice cake (what 2-yr-old likes rice cakes?). I brought him upstairs with me while I changed out of my work clothes and I turned around to see him trying to stick the rice cake into his belly button. Since that didn't work, he set the rice cake down and tried putting the corner of a piece of paper into it instead. That boy and his belly button.

p.s. His cough and snot flow are improving. PLEASE GOD, no more sickness for my little boy this winter!