Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Happy Baths are here again



I am happy to report that as of last week, Elem is back to enjoying his nightly bath! And boy are we excited to report that good news. The anti bath stage was one I was more than happy to see come and go with a quickness, because it was not only annoying, but just down right gross if you let it go for a couple of days. If you know what i mean. :) The key to getting this whole thing going in the right direction was .......da da da da-the shower head! Last week I was racking my brain of things to get Elem excited about the bath, and I finally decided to pull the shower head down to let him hold the sprayer and just have fun with it. Being that he hates showers I wasn't sure if he would go for this, but what do you know-the shower head was a HUGE hit! He played in there for about an hour, and is still excited about the shower head each and every time it gets to come down for some fun! Pretty easy fix for what I thought was such a huge problem. It makes me really happy to see Elem changing even when it is as minor as him hating the bath one week and then loving it the next. He is learning more about testing his boundaries and telling us what he likes and dislikes. Although it is challenging at times, it is so amazing to watch and see his little personality coming together more and more with every day that passes! Currently he is very verbal and demanding, and very direct in what he wants! Although he is quick to anger when he doesn't feel he gets his way immediately, he is quick to apologize, and back down with a little talking to. He is so sweet and loving, and cuddely, and silly. Laughing all the time, and leading the way for his friends to follow his every step!

In addition to the shower head fun, the bath time basketball goal is always a favorite and probably gets more play time than any other toy in our house! We will have to invest in a couple of these before they pull them off the shelfs!

And my little fish has also been brushing up on his swimming skills. I caught him trying to swim and shake around as fast as he could (as much as he could in the limited space!) and he was so proud of himself while he was doing it! I think he will be on the swim team like his mommy! ha!


I snapped this video last week on the first day he decided he was into baths again! I was so excited I had to capture the moment. The audio is good for the first half, but about mid way through I started doing something annoying with the camera so please ignore the shuffling! I was preoccupied with trying to keep the camera above his waste so I could actually use the footage! This really shows just how obsessed Elem is with basketball and what he calls, "2 points"! Those words are heard about 100 times a day at my house-literally!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

At school

Elem has been going to work/school with me ever since he was about 4 months old. He has gradually staid longer and longer until he finally started staying all day since about 16 months old. These days school is old hat for him. He knows as soon as we hit this certain spot on the interstate that we are going to school. And when we hit it, he always says, "gon pay Robo", meaning, gonna play with robert? And the answer is always the same, Yup, we are going to school and gonna play with Robert. Robert is his very best, most favorite friend in the whole world. Although Robert is 4 years old, since my school is very small and the kids are always changing, Elem gets to hang with the big kids and do crafts and things that they do. So every circle time, every art project, every story, Elem is right there with Robert. And in return, Robert loves every minute of it. He has definatley taken Elem under his wing, and takes care of him throughout the day. He always lets me know when Elem needs something, or comes to me to let me know he is playing or sharing with Elem. It is so cute. I dont know what I will do come August, when Robert is off to kindergarten!! Hopefully, Robert will continue to come to the after school program even after he has moved out of the shelter. I dont know how Elem would feel about losing his BFF.

Here are some pics of Elem and Robert at school. They arent that great of pics, but I always want to remember Robert. He is such a sweet boy, and has totally won Elem's heart. :) He has the biggest most contageous smile! Ill find some better pics but these are all I have at work!






Its cute to watch them at school in regards to some little things they dont even realize they do. Like if you notice in all the pictures, they are doing activities with some other students, but they always end up sitting or standing next to each other. Elem always seems to find himself on the carpet next to Robert for circle time, and they are always right next to each other in line to go outside or to lunch! On a side note, Elem also finds himself in the bathroom stall next to Robert while Robert is using the big boy potty and Elem is pretending to go! I find that quite funny every time it happens-because it happens every single day!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Happy Birthday to you, Aunt Becky!

I almost forgot, yesterday was my sisters birthday and Elem wanted to wish her a very "happy birtay becky" as he would say it. In honor of their tight bond and to show their true love for each other, he requested that I include this pic:

We love you Becky and hope you had a great birthday! Cant wait to see you soon!

My Bank-me

Yes the blankey. Every day it seems to grow more and more important to Elem, and he seems to become more and more attached to it. On Sunday, he had already taken his nap, and I thought he would be good to go without it for a few hours, since we would be playing, and going outside and what not. So I tossed it into the dirty clothes and threw them all into the wash. Because goodness knows that thing does not get washed as much as it should. So I am washing it for literally about 5 minutes, and Elem is playing in his room and sees this changing table cover that is in his dirty clothes, that is the same color as his blankey and almost the same material, and he runs over to it, saying, my bankmey my bankmey. So I show him it is not it, and pull it out, but then try to give him another blankey that looks kind of like his and is the same color to. No good. He yells, "not my bankmey." So I tried another one, and he yells the same thing. It was horrible. Luckily I had it on the short wash and I threw it in the dryer for about 10 minutes by itself and it was done. What am I am I going to do!? He is seriously attached to it.

He mostly needs his bankmey when he is getting tired, in the car, when he is getting stressed out, when he gets out of the bath, during breakfast, after I get him dressed, and then on and off during the school day when he sees it from a distance after I have shoved it back in the cubby. Hmm...seems like pretty much all day doesnt it? Well I am slowly trying to take it away from him when he has dropped it or doesnt know he isnt holding onto it anymore, and hopefully we can get it to where he only needs it a at night. However I dont see that happening any time soon. Here are a couple of shots of Elem and his bankmey:

As you can see, he is needing it every single time we get into the car. Its almost automatic, as soon as he sits in his car seat, and while I am buckeling him up, he immediately says, my bankmey. Very cute.


Here you can see his little habit, where he rubs his bankmey through his fingers as soon as he gets it. It is automatic as well. Any time you look over at him when he has his bankmey he is usually doing this. Its adorable. Just his calming action I guess.



There we have it. The good ole soft green and white blankey, that will most likely forever be a part of our life. Haha. Lets hope when I am posting about the first day of kindergarten, those pics are bankmey free. :)

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Warning Please

No one ever warned me about the morning when I would walk into Elem's room, after hearing him say, "mommy, coming?" meaning mommy are you coming to get me?. And then seeing him standing up in the bed grinning from ear to ear without any clothes on. I mean no clothes at all, diaper off, room stinking, and him covered from head to toe in poop! Yes I said poop. All over his hands, legs, arms, including his sheets, blankey, pillow. And the thought of him standing there playing in it....eeeew. Haha it is kind of funny to look back on, but yeah, when I walked in, it was a little grose. I immediatly scooped him up out of the bed and stuck him in the tub. This is by far the grosest thing I have walked into thus yet. No more playin in poop Elem Zane!

Friday, February 13, 2009

Good Times with Family

About 2 weekends ago Elem and I headed to Memphis for some quality time with my mom, sis, and nephew. This was our first official trip in the car with the DVD player, and it couldn't have gone better. Elem slept the first hour and 1/2 on the way down, and then he watched Barney the rest of the way. he did great, and I am a super huge fan of the DVD player these days-anything to make a long trip fun, and easier on the little ones. We got there Friday afternoon, and and just chilled with everybody, trying to break Wyatt into hanging with Elem easy. Wyatt is not, or was not really around a lot of kids very often, and Elem is what you would call...a very loud and touchy feely kind of boy. He is all about some hugs, kisses, and lots of baby love, and it took Wyatt about a day to realize Elem wasnt all that bad-and with Elem came lots of toys and lots of attention and playing.

By Saturday morning, we were so excited, got the boys up and took them to a little photo shoot in hopes of getting them some good pics together. My mom picked this great photography studio and the kids did so well. I couldnt not believe how silly the man was and how he actually was able to get an almost 1 year old and a wild and crazy almost 2 year old smiling happily on a couch together. Although at one point Elem got really close to Wyatt, and Wyatt gave him the look of shock and awe, and the biggest eyes I have ever seen him get. But he hung in there and made the pics happen! (We actually got o see them this week, and they are soooo good)Short after that, Elem and I quickly realized we HAD to oblige by Wyatt's strict nap schedule. One day I will get my sister for that one, so we got booted out of the house, along with my mom and headed to the Chick Fil A playland (of course) and the park right down the street:

My little stud, all dressed up in his brand new outfit courtesy of Memaw


On a huge slide-still trying to get that great mommy and Elem pic (hoping one day we will haha)

After the park, we still were not allowed to come back to the house just yet, and went on to the library. Elem is sooo into the library these days. Although he has only been a handful of times, he loves him some big truck books:

After a long morning out and about, my sis let us back into the house, and I finally got to spend some time with baby Wyatt. Of course, now was Elem's nap time, so he got stuck in the bed while we all went outside. Wyatt is in a stage where he is obsessed with walking around but doesnt have the best balance just yet, and is killing my sis with walking around all day holding onto her fingers. So she got these instead: walking wings-and they are insane-like a leash for your kid. But just look at that grin.

Wyatt tryin on Elem's hat-arent they the cutest mom and baby? so sweet. He has the biggest brown eyes and reddest hair. And just a couple of teeth, hence the keys in the mouth-I guess some more are coming in soon!

And Wyatt LOVES my mom. Every single time she spoke to him his little face just lit up. And a huge smile came across his face. I guess Aunt Mindy has to come in second place to Memaw. Although Vincent has a big family-Ill have to beat out a lot of people for best Aunt! :)

I mean doesnt this scream Best Aunt ????

Finally, the boys got to play together-and they did so great! Wyatt overcame his fear of closeness and broke down and joined in with the loud fun-

And I do believe somebody had fun!


Becky got to spend some quality time with Elem, while Wyatt was taking another one of his much needed naps. :) We went to the Children's Museum in Memphis, and it was HUGE! And simply insane. I mean more things than I could ever think for Elem to do from shopping in a pretend grocery store, sliding down slides, playing in police cars and fire trucks, shooting paper airplanes, coloring on the walls, and dancing in the mini disco room to name a few. Elem's favorite of the day...none other than the fire truck. I think we made about 75 trips or more to the fire truck station.


Becky did a remarkable good job of chasing Elem around with me the entire time. I should have made her carry him-I am used to tugging the 29 pounder around and feeling myself sweating and out of breath just in time to start all over again, but she on the other hand, has the tiniest lightest baby ever. Who isnt running her ragged just yet. So she did good. :) Love you Beck.


That night the kids played well together and we all just took it easy hanging out with cousins Amy, Jeff, and Amanda. Elem did soooo good, and was super friendly, giving hugs and kisses galore, and playing like crazy, as well as introducing them to the Backyardagains. While on the trip, we also introduced Wyatt to Barney. he seemed to enjoy it, and played really close to Elem for quite some time.


And finally kisses. Sweet kisses from one cous to the other.


I know that was a long post, but I could have even blogged more. So I will quit on that note. The weekend was so much fun and I hated to head back . I really miss seeing my fam and we always have a great time when we see them. I was so proud of Elem for handeling the trip really well. The drive, sleeping in a different bed, not having all his stuff, you know all the things that make home-home. But we will be seeing everybody shortly in about a month, for Wyatt's first birthday! So until then, we love you Beasleys. And miss you tons!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Ordering Take-out

Tonight Elem and I were out running a few errands and in an effort to save some time, I decided to run through a drive through, grab some food, and head back to the house, just in time to torcher both of us in attempt to get Elem to take a bath. While anticipating the much dreaded episodes to come, as I am looking at the menu options I hear my son scream out, "I WAN PRITE.......CHICKEN!". I looked back to see Elem looking out the rear driver side window at the same menu I was looking at, and soon realized he was placing his order. Mimicking me if you will. :) It was at that moment I forgot all about the bath "aches" to come and simply laughed out loud. And then thought to myself it is indeed some time for some good ole home cooking. We dont even eat out that much, and Elem never even gets sprite unless it is a special occasion, but I guess he was under the impression, if you yell it out the window, you get it. Seems to look that way if you think about it. Smart baby.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Anti-Bath Phase


Who knew the anti bath phase would ever exist with my child!!! He had everything going for him-mom loves the water, dad loves the water, everyone around him including Cecilia loves the water, and until last week, Elem Zane loved the water! These days he is so anti bath it is ridiculous! Over the course of the last week I have been trying everything to coax Elem into getting into the bath selling him on the idea that it will be so much fun! Some things I have tried include: buying him a mini basketball goal to play with in the water, new bath toy cups, giving him a bath in the jacuzzi, sitting in his bath tub with him, giving him food in the bath tub, giving him a bath in the sink...and the list goes on, but nothing is working! Former water lover turned anti, who knew! Any ideas on what might have caused this? I have no answers for this one-he didnt fall, he didnt slip, or go under water or anything, just a change of heart. Hope to see this phase come and go with a quickness, because my 30 pound child has legs of steel and is super heard to force into bathing. Poor Seth and I have been taking a royal beating over the last week and ar full of scratches and hurt feelings of the rath that we end of taking when bath time comes up. However we are thinking happy thoughts and I will think of something! Send your ideas my way, if you have some good ones! Anything is worth trying!
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