mirror, mirror...

Eli has been under the weather for the past two days so I let him sleep with me last night since Sherri was at our son's house baby sitting. Anyway, Eli wakes up and starts making assessments of the things around him, primarily ME. Dad, did you know that the skin on top of your eyes is a different color from the rest of your face? How come you have little hairs on your face? Dad, dad....dad, you have little lines on your face by your eyes. How come your lips look like that? Dad, your eyeballs are gross when I do this ( as he pulls up my eyelids to have a look)
I have decided that I no longer need mirrors in my house...I have Eli to tell me the truth.

love has limits...

Yesterday Eli brought his Maw-Maw a Valentine's day present...some pretty soap that smelled good. As we were leaving, she was hugging Eli from behind and thanking him for the gift and added...next time you sleep over, we will have to use these in the bathtub. I wish that I could have taken a picture at that precise moment. I guess Eli took what she said to mean that they would bathe together, because he got this look like he had just been given the worst medicine followed by a lemon. Sherri and I started laughing and had to explain what we had witnessed...and to make things extremely clear, Eli added, that's NOT gonna happen Maw-Maw...NEVER!

always prepared for the sneak attack...

Ninja gear...This is what Eli plans to wear to sleep, "just in case"!!! 

just a note to say, I love you...

Today is the Big Valentine's Day party at Eli's school, with a mixture of Mardi Gras mixed in. Eli will be handing out goodie bags with gold fish crackers, a rubber ball, bubbles and purposely selected bug Valentines (I picked them...they have a gel bug that clings to the window). I say "purposely selected", because Eli wanted to buy Abigail a large red heart card complete with a heart shaped box of chocolate. I figured that the bugs might help slow the romance...I'm not so sure though. Eli woke up this morning with a spring in his step and some pretty cool dance moves...we will see what the afternoon brings....

sex-ed for second graders...

Erica our daughter is about to have her baby and Eli overheard me talking to Sherri about it. Eli from his room: Dad, how is her baby going to come out? Will it burst out of her stomach (as he made a clawing like sign) I told him that babies don't pop out like that. Eli: so how do they get from her stomach to the outside? Are the doctors going to cut her open and let the baby spill out? I told him that there was a special way to get them out. That wasn't good enough for Eli. He thought a moment and asked if they came through the belly button, to which I said no. He went back to thinking...sure of the answer he said Dad, they come out ( and pointed at his bum). I said NO! But I could see that the questions were going to keep coming and the body parts were getting fewer. I was starting to feel the sudden warmth of the interrogation , I know that I started sweating, things began spinning and I was afraid that I was going to have to explain the great mystery of life at 7am (and my sock puppets aren't ready yet...) and a voice from the bathroom came gloriously to my rescue and I heard Sherri say, "Tell him they use a special portal" it was perfect! It was in Eli language! I said Eli, they come out of a magic portal that God created. Immediately Eli's mind wrapped around the idea and he was making swirly movements with his hand and telling me that when the portal opens a blue light comes out with sparkles and the baby materializes on the other side...he imagined and swirled and talked for about 30 minutes...I was safe
My wife is a genius and the first and second grade have been spared sex ed class!

bow...

Eli loves being a member of Club Penguin...I wonder if they know he plans on HIS penguin being the King of Club Penguin, which would involve all other penguins addressing him as "Crown Champion"... :)

8 years...

It was about this time(3:43am, Jan.27th) that I was introduced to the most amazing person. You may know him as Elisha James Harris or Eli. I know him as the Wonder of my world. I remember everything about the moment that Sherri told me that I was going to be a father. She told me to wait until we were sure before telling people...I got on the phone immediately to let people know. There was a moment about two weeks before he was born that I had a mini melt down because I didn't think I could meet the challenge of being a good dad and the responsibility that comes with the job. Luckily there was a friend and a dad around that assured me that all would be ok. On the 26th of January 2005, Sherri told me that the baby was on his way. I had friends over that night and Sherri asked me to tell them that it was time for them to leave and go home...she didn't want me to tell them why we were asking them to leave but I went in to the living room and told them that it was time to go because my baby was coming! Most people would be heading for the hospital, but not us. Eli was a home birth ( I never really thought that I would be a part of a home birth...I imagined a Lucy and Ricky (I love Lucy) kind of birth where the woman goes in, has the baby and the man paces back and forth until the nurse comes and tells him that he is a father). The home birth wasn't so bad...actually...my wife is an amazing woman, able to put up with home birth, remodeling, me and so much more... one of these might send lesser women over the edge...but not Sherri, we were right in the middle of a kitchen remodel and we had NO running water in the kitchen and NO appliances (actually, we just had four walls and NOTHING ELSE! Babies really don't care about that, they just want to know where the food is and who the supplier will be. When the moment came and I caught my baby in a towel, I didn't even look to see what we had, I was in shock...awe... I was caught up in the miracle of life that I had just taken part in. The mid-wife told me to take a look and see what we got. I looked and we had an Eli! He was an answer to a promise. I remember crying out of love, exhaustion, emotion, fear...it was at this time Sherri decided on his middle name...James.
We have had Eli for 8 years now. I still don't know everything about being a dad, but I've learned that you learn as you grow and you are equipped as you need it. I know Eli has changed my life - for the better and I can't imagine what my life would have been like without him. He has taught me so much about myself, about God's love, and about the world around me. I love that he is a story teller, a hero, an artist, a singer, a dancer, a dreamer, an explorer, and he calls me dad. I am so blessed and so happy to have a son named Eli and I love the adventure that we are on!
Happy 8th Birthday!