Hoop Dreams

Hello! So, in the extremely long absence since my last post (sorry about that), I have developed quite the love of bap-a-ball, it's a game where you dribble around a ball and throw it through a hoop. It's a crazy amount of fun. When I was a little baby, I used to have a tiny hoop set but now that I am a huge toddler, I dwarf the entire system and I can throw the tiny bap-a-balls like nobody's business. My love of that set did lead me to be a Mizzou bap-a-ball player for Halloween. Then they got Michael Porter Jr. Coincidence? I think not.

For the third year in a row, (for the purposes of this blog) I was really into the NCAA tourney and once again filled out a bracket. I am learning to count, but can only seem to say the numbers 2, 3, and 8 which I repeat over and over while counting to 10. While this drives Mommy and the tall man crazy, it helped a lot with the bracket because I just picked all 2's, 3's and 8's! I didn't too bad either, I finished right in the middle of the pool, which I'm not allowed to swim to yet, but is ok for gambling. It was a pool for DaDa's (the tall man) work. He finished tied for 1st place. If GoneSagga would have won, he would have won fair and square and MaMa would have taken 4th: not a bad haul for the Fox Family!

My love of sports balls and my ability to say Bap-a-ball has led me to call every ball I see Bap-a-ball, even polka dots and the sun. For Christmas, Nana and PaPa gave me a bigger hoop set and with the weather being nice, I broke it out this weekend. How did I do? Well, take a look at the video below and tell me I don't look like Mike. Now, I'm so obsessed with my new set, I constantly want to go outside and play with it. Hopefully, it stays nice so I'm not freezing my bap-a-balls off. I'm learning some of the other sports names, like Base-ba-ball and Golf-ba-ball because the tall man can't stop watching them on t.v. but for now, bap-a-ball is my jam.

Summer (went by in a) Breeze

Holy cow has the summer flown by. I had a birthday, went to a 'Cardinals' game and watched things esplode at the ocean. Now, as I prepare to go back to Miss Lawrie's house next week, I thought I would peruse my memory banks and give you a nice little synopsis of the last two months. (that word-a-day calendar is really paying off, eh?)

Since I last talked to you, I turned one year old. People came over to our house and gave me all kinds of presents and I got to bury my face in a big cake! Actually, Creepy Uncle Cooper helped me out with that a little bit. I got all kinds of cool toys, books, puzzles and even clothes that I could get into, literally and figuratively. I've tried to play with everything but I really enjoy my gyrating crab and Royals/Cardinals Bat/Ball from the Tall Man's shorter friend and a dumb truck from Uncle Brian and Aunt Jen that I like to ride around in.

Fourth of July with Nana and Papa was cool for me in more ways than one. I'm told the temperature was lower than normal and even though I was around for last year's holiday, I was like a month old so I'll have to take their word for it. I also got to see strange men and women set things on fire and make them go boom. Which was awesome! If this is what it means to be Merican, count me in. Unfortunately because of the weather we didn't get to travel the seven seas, but I plan to go out on the ship later this month.

Then last weekend I got to hang out with Grandma Fox and crazy Aunt Suzy (and of course Mom and the Tall Man) as we went to Springfield to watch the Baby Cardinals play baseball. Even though they were babies like me, they use biggers bats and balls than I use at home. There was good food and drinks and I did my best to boogie down to the seventh inning stretch. I can't wait until we see an Adult Cardinals game.

Mom and the Tall Man want to see me take steps to get where I'm going but I don't really understand why. I get around really well by crawling and cruising along the furniture and walls. They also want me to start talking like them. I think they should learn how to talk like me! They are supposed to be the intelligent ones. Perhaps I'll start walking and talking at Lawrie's...that'll show em!

I Was On a Boat!

Guess what you guys? I've almost been out and about in the world for a whole year! I feel like the Tall Man - old. More on my birfday in a later blog. Today, I thought I would tell you about the week I had leading up to it. It's been the first week where I haven't been at Miss Lawree's. Mom's been real busy trying to get me to stop doing things.

Over the weekend, we celebrated Muhmorial Day by going to Nana and Papa's house at the ocean. The first day we were there, I got to go out on their ship in the ocean for the first time. I had a blast! I really love the wind in my face so Papa going full-throttle was really exciting. I had trouble finding a life-jacket that was snug enough for me to be the proverbial bug in a rug. I think I pulled it off though.

That same day, the Tall Man was completely embarrassed by the rest of the family in a little neighborhood wasyurs tournament. After that though, he lifted me up so I could dunk a basketball on what seemed like a 20 foot rim, but my perspective may have been off. The next day, the rest of the family went out with the ship again and I stayed at the ocean house with Nana for some quality time.

Speaking of quality time, Grandma Fox came over Monday and we went out to eat barbeeque, which I was told was what you do on Muhmorial Day. The rest of the week Mom and the tall man, mostly Mom have been getting things ready for my party. It's going to be a Cardinals theme, but the Tall Man's shorter friend Crabtree thinks I still have time to be a Royals fan, of all things. He even got me a Royals bat and ball set to go with a Cardinals bat and ball. He also got me a shifty crab that shuffles around on the ground: I've been obsessed with it. I can't wait to see what else I get for my birfday. And I can't wait to let you know after this weekend!

Not Once, Not Twice, But Thrice

Life is rough, y'all. I have a multitude of rashes happening. The doctors are nice and baffled. Some say eggzima, some say a virus, some say I just can't keep the drool off my skin. I'm worried it may be all of the above. I have always had some kind of rash on my lower face: you know, my chin, my other chin, my double chin. So, that's just parfer the course. But it's not the main course.

That would be the little spots all over me. They washed over me two weeks Lawree ago. The 'doctor' said it was a virus like in a computer but it never went away and I went back this week and my doc, Dr. Wielder, said it's eggzima, (eggzima, Gross!) but I also have Hand, Foot, Mouth, Hoof, Diaper disease. Strike Two, Nothing ever materialized with that, so I pretty much just have the eggzima, which is better than several virusi.

Dr. Wielder did say eggzima is usually chronic when I'm this young...soooo, I'll be battling it for about a year before we can truly get a handle on it. Awesome right? I'm a hot mess. But, you know me: I'm still very happy-go-lucky and I'll get through this and be as adorable as always. Humble too :). Here's a stupid picture of me with my hair in the tail of a pony. I think I need another haircut. What do you think?

Bunnies, Eggs and Opening Day

Your boy Eli is knocking through his firsts: I had my first Easter, which included my first Easter egg hunt, my first full week with Nana and PaPa, and my first Opening Day. But, before I get to those things I thought I would update you on the happy-haps...In the Tall Man's office pool for his talkie show, I didn't do as good as I would have liked. The team I picked to win it all was Kansas and they lost before getting to the final four. The Tall Man was really happy when that happened, but it made me sad. I didn't come in last though, so that's something. Not bad for a guy that picked using Cheerios and Puffs.