obsessions

Like many toddlers, Elias gets swept away with various obsessions where he just seems never to get enough of something.  Some are relatively constant (Thomas the Train), whereas others seem to wax and wane.

He's actually lessened up quite a bit with his reading obsession.  Reading a book with me is not longer the very best thing he can think of doing, at any time and for unlimited times.  He still does it more than any other kid his age I know, and we still read several books every night, but now he'd rather watch TV and sometimes play outside or with his toys.

TV...ugh.  He'd watch all day if he could.  He watches in the morning as I get ready for work, and sometimes in the evening while I make dinner.  At other times he's prone to beg insessently for it, following me around trying to get me to accept the proferred remotes (which in his eyes constitutes a binding contract that he does indeed get to watch), but if I'm consistent with limiting it to those times he's pretty good at grudgingly accepting it.  Usually it's DVDs or PBS, with a strong preference for Thomas.  The best way to wean him away without too much trauma is to turn it to a cooking or travel show.

His love of music continues. For a while he spent much of his playtime operating the simple CD player I got him, carefully choosing, inserting and playing his own CDs, always at full volume whether he was dancing to it or simply using it as "background." It only had a lifespan of a couple months before he removed one of the operating components, and very sadly for him I haven't replaced or repaired it yet.  Just before going to sleep I sing him songs.  His favorite right now is Amazing Grace, and he knows all 5 stanzas--and immedately calls me on it if I transpose words or verses!  He also especially likes Old MacDonald, There's a Hole in My Bucket, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Joy to the World.

He (and I) love my iTouch because of the music, but mostly the games.  It's amazing how quickly he learned to navigate around on that thing.  Sadly, due to a leaky-sippycup-in-the-diaper-bag incident, the backlight stopped working, which pretty much renders it unusable.  When he asked for it ("game? game?") and I sadly reported it was broken, he immediately ran to the other room, opened up the high drawer of the sewing table (which I didn't know he was aware of), found the screwdriver in there, and ran back to me and tried to "unscrew" the iTouch.  After all, that's how Mommy fixes Thomas the Train when his batteries run out!