2,772

People who meet Elias for the first time often ask me if he is talkative. I usually just smile politely because I'm at a loss for words to even begin to describe how much he really talks. And talks. And talks.

And it's not just talking. It's the questions. Constant questions. 99% of them are not real questions actually (meaning the answer is unknown). They're mostly questions with obvious answers. Such as, "Am I a boy? Are you a boy? Is Daddy a boy?" etc.

On top of that, he almost always asks "What?" after everything someone says. I often respond "You tell me" and he can usually repeat word for word what I said.

So because I'm a dork, today I was pondering how many questions Elias asks in a typical day. Too hard to count. So I thought about narrowing it down to one hour, then ten minutes, and finally decided to do a quick five minute test. As Elias talked, I simply made marks on a piece of paper each time he asked a question.

I should mention that this was over lunch at Taco Bell, which means that he was chowing down on a taco and beans for much of this time. Not that that would slow him down or anything.

(And I should also mention that these results are not very scientific because they were recorded with a half-melted blue crayon that I found in the bottom of my purse onto a crumpled, old receipt.)

So, the final count after five minutes?

Twenty-one.

Doesn't sound like much, but when you multiply that by 12 to estimate the total questions in one hour, the number is 252.

And if you multiply that by the eleven hours a day that he is awake (2 hour nap and 10-11 hours sleep at night) that comes out to a meer 2,772.

Two thousand seven hundred and seventy two questions in one day.

Wow.




What?

New crinkle-nose question face

New Addition

His name is Ruger (Roo-Ger). His presence in our home has certainly kicked things up about 10 notches. But he's a great dog and in the end I think I'll survive and actually enjoy him. :-)

An unfortunate and accidental introduction to jalapenos

We tell Elias all the time to not put things in his mouth without asking us first. For one, he's allergic to just about everything so we don't want him to eat something that will cause a reaction. But of course there's the other logical reason that some things are just not good for him to eat. (Like my secret stash of chocolate chip cookies for example).

We were in the middle of preparing dinner the other night when Elias suddenly started screaming. I looked and his hand was grasping his mouth and tears were pouring out of his eyes. On the counter right above his head was a cutting board with remnants of jalapeno that Chase had been cutting up for salsa. Uh-oh.

We felt so bad for the little guy. We tried everything we could think of to help him, but as everyone knows, relief is only temporary when your lips are on fire from jalepeno.

Finally I started taking pictures of him to distract him and then let him see his picture in the camera like he loves to do. As pitiful as the pictures are, it actually helped to distract him for a while.

In the end Chase gave him a spoonful of sugar and that seemed to do the trick.

I'm sorry he had to learn this lesson the hard way! But now we have some great documentation of his first encounter with an unfriendly little pepper.

(I will add here that I am not being calloused and laughing at my child's pain. I was extremely compassionate and kind at the time. But to be honest, it was just a little funny at the same time. Elias' facial expressions are pretty dramatic but I promise you he wasn't really crying that hard the whole time, but the spice sure did make his eyes water!)

And so I will now share the pics to the masses.

Camping Trip

We have had quite a whirlwind of summer traveling and activity lately. Best of all for Elias is that he has spent more than half of the last month with his cousins. Elias LOVES his cousins!

He spent several days with the cousins while I was in Rochester. Then three of the cousins came to our house in Austin for a few days. Then we all drove back to Dallas and on to Kansas for the Schroeder family reunion. Then all seven of the grandkids stayed with Nani and Papa for the annual Camp NiPaw while I helped my sister paint her house.

We had a few days of separation then met together again at Inks Lake State Park where we camped for the weekend. It was hot, hot, H O T! At least 100 degrees each day. But we had the lake to swim in and park store nearby where we could buy unlimited bags of ice to keep us and our food cooled off.

It's difficult for Elias to walk with his prosthetic leg on uneven terrain, but his new foot helped him tremendously and he was a champ walking up and down hills and over and around big rocks. He had a few spills, but nothing too major.

Chase asked him last night what his favorite part of the weekend was. His answer: "You, me, and Mommy." :-)

Chase hard at work to set up the tent

Hot, exhausted children waiting for dinner to cookMmm. Yummy, campfire-roasted corn.

Nani went to the camp store and returned with cold Sprite for the kids to share. Elias savored every last drop! (It was his first Sprite).

Final family pictures before we all head home.

Elias and Ruger were fast asleep before we even pulled out of the state park.

The Evidence

We have a cat, Davidson, who is obsessed with my hair rubber bands. He has figured out likely places for these things to be lying around and I find him prowling on top of the dresser or around the sink at all hours of the day or night, trying to find my hair bands.

I rarely see him actually carrying one in his mouth- he's sneaky. I do however find a pile of them around his water bowl. I used to try to wash and dry them near the kitchen sink, but when I would go back to retrieve them, the whole pile had already vanished. So now I just pick them up directly from his water bowl area and put them in my hair. I know. Gross.

So we were out of town all weekend and when we returned I discovered evidence that Davidson had broken TWO of our house rules, apparently at the same time.

1. Don't play with the fish.

2. Don't play with hair rubber bands.

(Notice half of the water from the fish bowl is gone, which means he must have stuck his paw and splashed water around for a long, long time).