Over the last few weeks, it’s become increasing clear that my little baby, my sweet little boy who would cuddle with his momma all day long, is turning into a little boy. Oh the horror! And I’ve come to the conclusion that all of his boy traits are inborn, because neither Mike nor I have done anything specifically to bring out this side of him. I think that it was always there, lurking under the surface, ready to jump out just when I thought my little boy would always be just that, my little boy.

Three weeks ago, I was busy making another round of various muffins (I don’t know why, but I’ve been a major baking spree lately). I think this time it was blueberry. Or chocolate chip. Regardless of the kind of muffins, Dad-oo was on toddler patrol. Our kitchen is only about 3 feet away from our living room, so I was able to over see the following events (and run to the rescue should anything go terribly wrong).

It was laundry day, so there was of course a basket full of clean clothes that had probably been folded by not put away yet. Eli has just figured out that he can take all of the clothes out, scattering them ever so nicely around the living room, turn the basket upside down and crawl on top of. Well, let me know tell you, he was one proud little boy. But he wasn’t willing stop there. Pretty soon he discovered that he could push the basket over to our extra tall couches, and crawl up and down with ease. All afternoon, it was up and down, up and down. Up, crawl around on the couch, back down again. Stomp on the pugs. Back up onto the couch. He was amused to no end.

But he wasn’t satisified with his new found talent. No, he wanted to see how far he could push it before Mamma or Dad-oo stepped in. With the basket about 2 feet away from the couch, he crawls on top and sits down. Looks over at Mamma, looks over at Dad-oo, then stands up and walks to the edge of the basket, eyeing up the couch. You couuld just see the wheels going in his mind, he was determined to jump from that basket to the couch. Now, in Eli’s mind, there was no way this plan could possibly go wrong and he would end up safely on the couch. But of course in my mind, I’m thinking this is going to end in tears and we should probably put a stop to it. But, as I said, Dad-oo was on toddler duty, and he chose a different reaction. Instead of gently guiding Eli off the basket and telling him that he couldn’t jump that far, Mike helps him jump!!! Of course he didn’t make it, but Mike was there to guide him to the couch, so he didn’t get hurt. Which just added more fuel to Eli’s desire to jump onto that couch and he continued to jump back and forth for about 10 miutes, until I finally stepped in and said maybe we shouldn’t really be encouraging this yet.

And it’s only gotten worse since then. I’m sad to see my baby boy growing up and I really miss the constant cuddle time (but not the unpredictable sleep schedule). But I’m so fascinated to see him growing into a little boy, looking and acting more and more like his daddy every day. So far I think that is one of the best parts of being a Momma, seeing who Eli is starting to grow into, guessing what he’ll do next, and always being surprised.

[/caption] Over the last few weeks, it’s become increasing clear that my little baby, my sweet little boy who would cuddle with his momma all day long, is turning into a little boy. Oh the horror! And I've come to the conclusion that all of his boy traits are inborn, because neither Mike nor I have done anything specifically to bring out this side of him. I think that it was always there, lurking under the sur" data-image="http://alli-n-son.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/IMG_7474.jpg" data-site="Alli 'n Sons">