Daddy-Elliot time

After his soccer game ended on Saturday, Mandy took Noah to Branson and Elliot and I got to hang out together for the weekend.

Noah, Elliot and I went for a bike ride to the coffee shop (or, "the muffin shop" as they call it), and Noah ended up playing hard at the nearby playground for about an hour before his game. He was already tired out from the night before, but he did score a goal during the game.

But off they went, and E and I had lunch, then he went down for a nap.  Afterwards, we rode bikes, chatted (non-stop; Elliot takes after his mom in this regard) and played outside.  He even helped me clean the upstairs deck - he loves the sprayer on the hose, but it's tough getting him to actually spray what I needed sprayed. That night, he kept asking me when Noah was coming home, and every so often he'd say, "I miss Noah."  They fight like an old married couple when they're together, but they really do want to be around each other.

We went to Starbucks for our usual coffee and chocolate milk at the crack of dawn the next morning.  Since it was such a nice morning, we took it to go for a change, and strolled the Plaza "discovering" all its fountains and animals.  We even toured a couple of parking garages - one an underground garage, because as he put it, "My mom told me there was a dragon in this dungeon."  We went looking for the dragon, but never found it.

I had a good time walking and talking.  It's good to separate them once in a while, not just to provide a break in the brotherly squabbling, but to actually get to talk.

After we got home, it rained - poured - for a good three or so hours, and we were stuck inside.  We played a few games, read a few books and cleaned a little house.  We even watched a few videos - one Elmo video got Elliot to laughing, and he kept saying, "I need to tell Noah about this one!"

Eventually, we got out of the house and ran a few errands.  We stopped by Indian Creek to look at the waterfall created by the rain, then he got to pick the place he wanted to eat dinner.  Culver's (or Culbo's as he pronounces it) was what he eventually settled on.  Elliot told me, "I like Daddy-Elliot time."  I did too.

"What happened to their heads?"

Crack of Dawn

Despite all our previous efforts - late bedtimes, short naps, even no naps - Elliot remains an early riser.  This isn't conducive to anyone else sleeping late, especially Noah who, by week's end, is usually tired and running behind in the sleep department.  And he's not a quiet early riser.  

For this reason, I often take him out of the house when he wakes up early on weekends so Noah (and occasionally Mandy) can try to sleep late.  In the winter, it's too cold for a walk or bike ride, so sadly we are a well-known feature at Starbucks at that early hour.  Elliot picks out his chocolate milk, and politely tells the barista that his daddy wants some coffee.

We then sit and talk over our respective drinks for awhile, and chat about his week.  Then if it's still too early to go home, we cruise around the Plaza for a little while and look at the fountains and lights, and the moon if it's up. He loves the dark morning time, like me.  Sometimes when its warm enough, we walk over the bridge, and look at the 'fountain' in the middle of Brush Creek.  

I enjoy the time alone with him, listening to him chatter away.  These quiet times will disappear soon enough.

Crack of dawn

Noah and Elliot slept pretty well together last night, but the power inexplicably went out for a couple of hours around 1:30 AM.  Without the white noise of the fan, the boys woke up.

We had earlier decided if they woke up during the night, we would put them back to sleep in their own beds.  Our reasoning was based on them waking each other up, not due to it being quiet, but we did it anyway.  As Mandy was leading Elliot back to bed, I heard him say, "I want Noah to put me to bed."

Despite being up for about an hour during the night, Noah woke up super early and couldn't be convinced to go back to sleep.  I decided to take him to Starbucks to help keep the rest of the house asleep.   The Plaza Art Fair was going on, so the streets were all blocked off and artist tents were everywhere, and we had to park a couple blocks away.  It was 46 degrees outside, so by the time we got there, Noah decided he wanted hot chocolate.

Crack of dawn visits to this 'bucks were pretty routine back when Elliot was little and waking up so early all the time.  It's probably been a year since I came in that regularly, but the guy behind the counter remembered me enough to mention that I hadn't been there in awhile, and to ask where Elliot was.

Afterwards, we walked around the Plaza a bit, and over to Brush Creek to see the sunrise.  We'll both need naps later.

Hot, hot, hot!