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?"

Crown Center Fountains

I took the boys to the Crown Center fountains this morning to get some exercise before nap time. The pool doesn't open until 11:00, and we were hoping to get Elliot down for an early nap because we're going bowling this afternoon for Mandy's birthday.

Mandy suggested I just put Elliot in a regular diaper because he wouldn't get in the fountains anyway. I don't know where she got her information, because Elliot was just fine with getting in the fountains. That diaper must have weighed 20 lbs by the time I replaced it with a swim diaper.

Typically, Elliot foiled Mandy's plans by not going to sleep until 1:30. We tried to let him put himself to sleep, but he destroyed the crib and his room. When I finally came up there to rock him to sleep, he was laying on top of the blankets that he had thrown onto the floor. As I entered the room, he yelled, "I'm free! I'm free!"