Eli the escape artist...

My youngest son is rather amazing at escaping these days! He's turned into a regular sprinter usually in a direction I don't want him to go. Not going to lie though, it's pretty funny to watch those little legs go and the half grin on his face as if he's out smarted us all.

The parking lot: this is the one that really makes me mad for all the obvious danger reasons. All you mom's with multiple children understand how challenging it is to get two toddlers out of the shopping cart, into the car and buckled in car seats without one of them being required to stand and wait at some point in the process. News flash, one and two year olds don't know how to stand and wait!

From Dom's grip: Eli is the ultimate instigator for the simple reason that he wants to be just like Dom. Sometimes this makes Dom a bit angry, here is how it happens to play out several times a day.

Dom: Playing with a truck

Eli: begins to eye the truck and the way Dom is playing with it

Dom: Still playing as if he is the only one in the room in some strange land of trucks.

Eli: wonders if he could do it just like Dom. He makes his move, snags the truck and takes off sprinting to another room to try it just like him.

It's really hard to keep in mind Eli's motive while I watch Dom crying because his bubble has just been severely popped.

Last but not least, his room: Eli just upgraded for good to the big boy bed. This is our second round because a month ago when we first tried it was still too many changes at once. He's still settling into our family. So, round two began about a week ago and it's been pretty easy until yesterday. It was as if the lightbulb switched to on and he realized he really could escape the bed, and if fast enough, the room! This is so funny to me because really, where does the kid think he's going? I watched Nick (it was his turn) carry Eli back to bed many times in the first five minutes last night. The room finally got quiet and for close to five minutes we were sure we'd won the battle to stay in bed for the night. Then, he must have started to dream about escaping because he got out of bed, ran out the door and came barreling into the kitchen in his footie jammies. Again, I laughed because really where did he think he was going?

I know it's a new phase and a new challenge and I'm sure I'll be missing this phase someday soon but it can sure be a frustrating one at times and hysterical at times.