Elijah Moments

Life is flying bye at the speed of light. It feels like yesterday we celebrated Eli's first birthday, and here we are a little less than 2 months out from his SECOND birthday. It has been such a fun adventure. But I feel like I will never be able to remember all the little moments with him and that scares me. Every day is a new phrase that he has picked up, every animal is a new sound to learn, and every sound is another question.

Some phrases I don't ever want to forget:
"What's dat?" - literally EVERYTHING... sometimes he even asks me when he already knows the answer. I'm pretty sure he's testing me to make sure I know what it is.
"Where'd ______ go?" - EVERY time something is not where he remembered it being, or somebody had to leave..
"What happened?" - EVERY time he hears or sees something that is out of the norm..

Today at lunch I gave him his favorite - a cheese quesadilla - but added refried pinto beans into it. After I set it on the table he looked it up and down and asked, "What's dat?" I told him it was his favorite, a cheese quesadilla. He responded with, "No, that's PEANUT BUTTER!!!"  The horror.. to think I had added peanut butter to his precious cheese quesadilla and was trying to pull a fast one on him. My stomach hurt from laughing so much. He eventually tasted it and decided it was in fact beans, and not peanut butter.

A few weeks ago we went through a phase where he insisted on calling his Daddy, Jason. Every time he was doing something with Jason, or asking where he was, he referred to him as Jason. Quite a few evening football or baseball sessions went something like this - "Nice throw Jason!" "Nice, Jason!" "Nice catch, Jason!"

He will be a wonderful oldest sibling. He constantly tries to control any and all situations. When we are at the park I constantly have to remind him that other children don't have to listen to him, only their parents. When he hears a parent tell their child to get off the playground, or stop climbing up a slide, he takes it upon himself to make sure they heard their parents - "Get off! Get down, right now."

He is a very imaginative little guy. Lately he has been having all sorts of conversations with his animals that are laying around the house. Offering his zebra water, or his huge rubber ducky a sandwich is only the tip of the iceberg. He also tells his tractors to be nice to each other, and tells his giraffe - "No, that's Eli's quesadilla. Don't eat Eli's quesadilla."

Riding 4-Wheelers with Grandma is serious stuff!

Reading books and singing songs are favorite pass times of his. He likes to grab a few books so he has options. Then, he pulls them up on the couch and says, "Mom, read a book... how 'bout Tiger book, no? How 'bout ABC's Book, No? No like ABCs book?" and on and on until we find a book that I he thinks I would like to read to him. Songs go about the same way... "Let's sing Row Row Row Boat (just as I start to sing) NO, how 'bout Twinkle Tinkle, NO... how 'bout Jesus Loves me!"

I'm constantly amazed by how smart and aware he is of everything. If you let him, he can sing all the way through the ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and a few verses of The Wheels On The Bus (his favorite being the shhh shhh shhh verse). He knows his favorite books cover to cover - one of them - Barnyard Dance (Cockadoodoo Book) has a cow standing on a table about half way through the story, and EVERY time we read it he yells, "Bad Cow!!! Get off table, cow!" He never hesitates to point out a motorcycle, train, bus, truck, tractor, balloons, or water that we might happen to drive by on the road. He is obsessed with stickers and coloring right now, and could do them for an hour if I let him - however he did get carried away when I wasn't looking the other day, and colored blue highlighter all over the rocking chair..? Ooops! Good thing the cushion flips over!

Eli is so excited to meet is baby sister, I can only hope the love and excitement carries on once she has arrived. He loves to blow raspberries on her (my tummy), give her hugs, kisses, and snuggles. And every now and then he will even sing to her.

Three Generations <3

I could go on for days about how much this sweet boy has stolen our hearts and makes us laugh till we cry, but I'll leave it at that for now. We are so looking forward to the next many many years with him bringing laughter and joy into our home, but for now, I want to remember each little sweet moment. They seem to be slipping bye too quickly right now.