Today's tidbits

He's growing so quickly! This morning for the first time he was able to climb on my back for a horseyback ride all by himself. He also climbed up the stairs today mostly without using his hands. He still likes to be picked up and carried around, but he's so big now I just can't keep up with the demand--nor should I, at this point. Getting him in and out of the carseat can be rough, but my car's so small he can't really get in himself.
We played catch quite a lot today.  He usually initiates this be running up to me with a ball in hand and throwing it in my face while yelling "catch it!"  He's actually really good at catching, much better than throwing.  Today I noticed he correctly says "I caught it!" as well as as me to "catch it."

Elias is my alarm clock.  He used to wake up the same time every morning within 1-3 minutes.  Not so much anymore.  Worse, this week he's been sleeping in a whole hour, not waking until around 7:30, about the time when we should be packing up to leave.  Good thing my work is pretty forgiving about what time I walk in the door; but still, it's been a little embarassing being SO late every day this week.  I was really looking forward to sleeping in this morning--even kept him up a little late.  Wouldn't you know it:  he was up and ready to go at 5am.  More, he really wanted Mommy's company, and not even Thomas the Train videos kept him distracted very long after a while.

I'm writing this while listening to him stirring in his room.  I couldn't get him to go down for his nap until 1pm (rather than ~12:15), but at that time he told me he'd take a big nap.  He certainly did!  It's nearly 5pm.  I have a high regard for the importance of sleep, especially for kids, so I usually let him sleep as long as he'd like.  Problem is, it's hard to predict, so hard for me to take best advantage of this time.  If I'd known it'd be this long, I may've taken a little nap myself, rather than laundry, making dinner, vacuuming the basement, and some "quick bill paying" on the computer.

Some other tidbits: 

• He's taken to proclaiming "Hallelujah!" throughout the day.  I think he got it from a Fernando Ortega song I occasionally listen to.  I wonder if the daycare folks know what he's saying.  He likes the way it sounds. He also loves the word "joy."
• Last night we read about a character who said "Ahoy, Mateys!"  He really liked that, and this morning greeted me with 'Hoy!  'Hoy, Mommy!
• Verdi's still his favorite chicken.  He was happy I let them out today.  He greets Verdi by calling Cock-a-dooooo!
• I used to say he eats pretty much everything except lettuce.  Last night he abolished that by eating a good portion of my salad, as well as his own spaghetti & cheese/ham/brocoli/noodle dish.  So, yeah, he pretty much eats everything.  His least favorite thing now may be rice.