The "lavander loo's" newest patron

The last few days (and weeks) have really flown by! Eli continues to wow us with his extending vocabulary and his "shrinking" clothes. Daily I watch my "baby" recede to make way for a little boy that is growing up much too fast! He is as polite as ever and tries (usually successfully) to do everything Ava does. His newest passion is the toilet. I certainly don't relish potty training and the memories of "Potty training boot camp" with Ava do nothing to encourage me. Eli is adamant to the point of temper tantrums that he wants to "Pee-pee ah potty yike Ah-va". So, on Oct 23, 2007 it is "P-day" in the Conderman household. For three days Eli will go pantsless and I will thank my lucky stars for hardwood floors and organic cinnamon smelling disinfectant (thank you LL). Pray for us...and our children.

Unfortunately, kids just don't understand photo ops.

Ava is ever my amazing, brilliant, funny, fashion conscious little girl. She has to be bribed to wear anything but a dress. She loves making up jokes and getting Eli to laugh. It sounds sappy, but she reminds us daily just why we had children. Eli (at nearly 2) challenges us daily on that very decision, but we remain confident that he will continue to remain brilliant and funny, and his constant rebellion at EVERY DECISION WE MAKE will slowly (or quickly:) fade away.
*As a little bonus Ava story: Today Eric and the kids dropped me off at work for a quick meeting. Ava asked if I was going to "eat another dead horse". "Beat a dead horse", Eric corrected and no she only has to meet with her commander. Ava thought about that and then asked, "Does he eat dead horses?" Boy, I hope not!