So here is the beginning of Elias talking. With an older brother to entertain him, he has been very patient with talking (in English), walking, etc. But he is very communicative - perhaps moreso than Ole was at 18 months. He is absolutely adorable, and we are so thankful for our boys and each other. God is great and good!
Bop
Uh-oh
Boppa (Eli says this very often, and many times in one "paragraph," whenever he thinks Boppa - my dad - is around. Boppa could be in the bathroom, in his office, or right in front of Eli, and Eli will go toward him saying Boppa, Boppa, Boppa. He also loves to tap on the bathroom door while Boppa pounds on it in return.)
Eli makes a nearly perfect - and a very frequent and cute - guinea pig squeal when he wants things.
Ya-ee / Ya-yee (Daddy)
Mommy
Yook / Wook (Look)
Ki-kum / Ti-kum (Thank you / You're welcome / Here you go - with perfect intonation)
(At 19 months, Eli initiated a nice big tongue-to-tongue with Grandma's dog...yuck!)
E-I-E-Uh-O (from "Old MacDonald Had a Farm")
Mmmmoooe (same vowel sound as in "toe" - instead of "mmmmoooo" for a cow sound)
Cow (not quite a hard "c," but more than a hard "g")
Babbo / Babble (means lots of things: apple, bagel, potato, )
Boopy (when he has a poopy; or, hilariouly, if Daddy toots, he says it as he comes over and puts his hand on my rear)
Oooooh
O- (the correct vowel sound for "on" and "off," but lacking the consonant)
(From 0-2, "Little Critter" is Daddy's main nickname for Eli.
O-e (Ole)
Daaaat. (That, usually with much intonation.)
Se go? / Se O-e? / Se bobba go? (Where'd it go? / Where's Ole? / Where'd the bottle go? 'Se go' we hear a dozen times a day.)
Maymen...yay! (Both a request to pray, sometimes several times a meal; and saying amen after a prayer...plus yay, with clapping, after the prayer. )
Minute (started when we asked him to sit on his potty for "1 minute," but he uses it in many different contexts, most of which seem unrelated to time)
Help (can mean "help" or can mean "pick me up")
Moi (more)
Oat-oat (oatmeal)
Gin (with a hard "g" - means "again")
Offfff ("off" with several extra f's and a scrumpled up nose - totally adorable and many times per day for many weeks)
Huh dat / moi / bagel / offfff / go / Mommy / yum (Basically like the "ya" before names in Arabic, Eli seems to enjoy saying a quick "huh" before many questions or exclamations)
Yeaaaaaah (loud, while smiling ear to ear, as he awaits "moi" American cheese or other favorite snacks)
Eli loves food! - lots of food, new food, and binge food...Some of his binges between months 10-30 have been graham crackers, peanut butter, bagels, oatmeal, American cheese, "ola bars" (granola bars),
Around 27 months, Eli started pretending to be Ole going into time out - even whimpering while sitting in the time out chair.
Baba, me / Oat-oat, me / Canny, me / Book, me. (Often preceded by "huh," Elias pauses briefly for breath after a word or phrase, then says "me," meaning "please give me x," or "that is my x.")
Pun-key (pumpkin - with a slight delay between the syllables)
Huh Mommy, huh O-e, huh E-i, huh baba...(all in a row, with many smiles, much pointing, and a general sense of announcing all things in sight to all people in sight - he does this often)
(After Ole had a timeout for something and apologized...) Eli said "ime-out" (no "t") and shuffled over to Ole's timeout chair, sat there for a minute, then came right over to me and said "sorry" and gave me a hug!
Daddy! (Yes Eli?) Daddy! (Yes Eli?) Daddy! (Yes Eli?) Daddy! (Yes Eli?) Daddy!
Often when I threaten Eli with a spanking, he drops or quits whatever he has or is doing and runs away like a shoplifter from a security guard.
Eli enjoys looking at / for the moon and bright stars and planets with me.
Eli LOVES to copy / mimic Ole's words and actions. If Ole sits or stands or lies down, Eli likes to do the same, often glancing at Ole in the process to make sure he is doing it right. Another example is that he likes to sit down with books and pretend to read by pointing to the words, letters, and pictures and talking about them - just like the reading first grader Ole seems to be doing.
When "reading," Eli said "oh no - all gone / se go?" when looking at the blank inside cover of the book. He tried to open that non-page, then declared that it was "yuck" (stuck) when he could not.
When we ask Eli to say please, we sometimes tell him we want him to be a polite boy. On his own, he started copying us saying that, quite calmly and adorably: "polite-uh-boy."
Adding an "L" in his pronunciation of words beginning with "br" or "pr," Eli often said "br-lead" or "br-loke" or "br-lown" or "pr-lesent" for bread, broke, brown, or present.
No some; no want; no ok; no one; no Ole (I don't want some; I don't want it; it is not ok; I don't want one; it is not Ole's)
Shrocket (chocolate)
Hoo-hoo (train whistle)
Daddy, / Mommy, / Boppa, come! (said quickly, with a mix of enthusiasm and command, followed immediately by two claps of his hands)
Daddy, sandals. (a sweet reminder or a command, not sure which, right after I woke up and Eli saw my sandals next to my bed)
Blow datt out! (He loves to blow out candles, or tell others to do so.)
Eli likes to try new words, and seems to feel like he's saying right on the first try - even long words.
Eli is super cute so many times - not least of which is when he is so tired that he knows it, comes over and puts his head in my lap, and requests: "Daddy, ni-night?"
Bist fump (Fist bump)
I did it! / I got it! / I found it! / I eat it! (always with a smile and emphasis on "I" - and frequently with arms outstretched)
Fick its / Daddy - huh light! Broken - fick its! (often in restaurants or stores as well as home, complete with pointing and loud excitement)
Eli is an enormously tidy boy - going out of his way or stopping whatever he's doing, even if it's urgent like needing to go to the bathroom, to put something where it belongs or in its proper position.
Four-lay / Fer-lay (four-wheeler)
In response to me asking, "How are you doing, Eli?" he answers, "How you doing, Daddy?" (again and again, for months, in an answering tone as if answering, not in an asking tone)
Too much! (again and again right after Eli misses baseball pitches or other things)
Eli just about went nuts the first time he got to see and throw those little firework Snap-Pops.
Often when Eli throws balls or other things (at age 2-3), he gets so excited that he drops or throws them behind his back.
Eli is usually as sweet as they come, with many love you's, bye-bye's, pleeeeeeeease's, thank you's - and perhaps best of all, he usually uses people's names when addressing them thus, even if he repeats himself several times.
Eli also...has major temper tantrums: hitting for a little while - but we seem to have gotten that mostly under control by age 2.5; throwing things; and SCREAMING! Help us / me now, Lord! (Psalm 70)
The end of one of Eli's prayers: "1, 8, 9, 11, Amen."
Pick-oo-up. (Pick me up.)
Eli loves to pretend to be a kitty - including, a few times, pretending to play fetch with a ball, getting it with his mouth and dropping it at my feet, with a few soft meows throughout the game.
Eli rolled a big toy truck down the stairs (lots of crashes). Afterward he simply looked and quietly said, "Bonk." Then he ran down the hallway saying that the truck needed a bandaid.
Daddy, fick-its the light. (Daddy, fix the light...this happens not only in the house, but also in stores, churches, and wherever else he sees a light out.)
Eli: Daddy, light that candle. Daddy: No, it's broken. Eli: Broken? Needs new batteries.
With countless words and topics, Eli gets a big smile and very high and increasingly higher pitch in his voice when slowly and happily saying or repeating a word or phrase in a questioning tone.
Mommy: Eli! Eli: Yeah? Mommy: Come upstairs to show me where the poopies are? (terds that missed his diaper in his bedroom during quiet time) Eli: Okay. Daddy, I go upstairs to show poopies to Mommy. (run, run, run)
I'll be right back! (says it often and adorably)
Eli has always been a little fuller / chubbier than Ole - in his cheeks, tummy, limbs, etc. It is always cute to watch him run, a little jiggle here and there, arms up under his chest, head forward and down, total focus, and usually good balance.
Puter (computer)
Olay (Ole)
No, puter down! (To play catch with him...then he glances at the screen...) Please watch it?
From age 2, Eli has had a strong and accurate and frequently-used throwing arm!
Yay / Good job! You did it! (Eli likes to praise others for doing a good job - even if it's something we mastered when we were his age!)
Eli also likes to boss people around - a lot. But it's often cute.
Daddy, peeze see? (Daddy, my I please see that? Then, if we show him whatever it is, he almost always looks very satisfied and says, "Ooooooooo!" This happens daily, and for many months!)
I-du-wan / I-do-wan (Said rapidly, as if it were one word, with only a slight difference in the middle vowel, "I do want that" / "I don't want that.")
Parent: Hi Eli. Eli: Good. Parent: How are you? Eli: Eli. (He says this to lots of people who tell him "hi.")
Eli likes watching me put my contacts in; so one morning he said, "Daddy, want one?" I reply: No, you have good eyes, Daddy has bad eyes. He answers, "Daddy, want bad eyes!"
At ages 3 and 7, respectively, Eli had missed Ole one evening - so he "read" (described) the pictures in a board book to Ole at Ole's bedside at ni-night time. Ole and Daddy just smiled and listened the whole time. Unfortunately, Eli continued to try to care for Ole long after bed-time, and the sweetness wore off fairly quickly.
One morning we all were happily joking about whose fault it was that Mommy and Daddy had an abbreviated date the previous night due to children's noise. We asked Eli if it was all his fault, and he responded in a cute voice: "Eli's fault? Noooooo."
Pa-pack (backpack)
Eli (in a whiny voice): Please help! Parent: Ask nicely. Eli: Ask nicely. (Frequent exchange!)
About once a day, Elias clearly speaks with a thick accent - sometimes a New York accent, sometimes a Michigander accent, sometimes others. We have no idea where it comes from! Frequent example: Oh yes, I do. (with all four words sounding like different accents!)
Hoink (pig - not a pig sound, just a pig)
(At 39 months, lying on the couch while holding his red light-bulb flashlight) Daddy, Jesus He God, He died on a cross, and come back to life! (But then he played with his light a little before adding, "A dog died on the cross, too!")
Daddy toots...then Eli says "Daddy toots," and pats me on the bum.
Ole abruptly gets up from the table to get his water. After returning to the table, Daddy, politely asks for the water, puts it back on the ground, and tells Ole he needs to ask to be excused first, so please try it again. Ole smiles and begins to protest, then before anything else can happen, Eli quietly picks up Ole's water, brings it to Ole, and slams it on the table with a laugh. (Brothers won that battle!)
Eli came out of nap time with Lamby and said, "Daddy, I sing 'Jesus Loves Me' to Lamby." :)
Eli daily gets a slightly shy smile and chuckles, hehe, especially when he comes up to someone with an idea or comment or something to show.
Eli also gets the cutest and shiest of smiles, and the humblest of voices - and even moreso when tired - when he has a request for help or permission. He also makes very detailed requests, like putting a single Lego on a particular square inch in his room.
Once I was not paying attention while making my thrice-daily mocha, and began to froth my milk before heating it up. I said: "Oh, Daddy made a boo-boo." Ever attentive, Eli characteristically said, "Wanna see boo-boo?" I showed him, and he declared, "Eww, that's a boo-boo."
Daddy run, Daddy run! (So half-way down the hallway I start to run.) No, Daddy, no, run right here. (He goes to the start of the hallway and points. So I oblige, and...) Good job, Daddy!
Dear God...for long day...for da name...(at 3+ he says these two phrases in most of his prayers, and usually more than once, and we just don't know what he's saying)
La-yah (Y'alla)
La-yo (Yello)
Daddy, I drank a little of your wine. (From my glass, on the kitchen table, when I was in the next room.)
(Very first line to me from Eli one morning) Daddy, I die. I die on those (pointing) chairs at the cross.
Ola bar blue (blue-wrapper granola bar)
(Eli, near Big Timber, on his first "adventure" drive with Daddy hauling cows to Billings) I see the benture! (Daddy) Where? (Eli) I don't know. Not yet...there it is!
(After Daddy accidentally but literally tickled the pee out of Eli - all over both of us - Eli exclaimed with arms raised in victory) I did pee all over Daddy's pants!
Eat my dust! (He got it from the movie "Planes," but still, he uses perfectly proud intonation)
While Daddy was sitting on the toilet one morning, Eli opened the door, came in, pointed to his midsection, and told me Mommy's pee-pee is gone - at the hospital. Then he added that he wanted to sit down and watch me.
With his toy kids camera, Eli always confidently, agilely, and quickly looks through the lens the wrong way, clicks the button, and puts it down - certain of his accomplishment.
At 41 months, during the latter part of potty training - having earned several pairs of "big-boy wear-wear" - Eli discovered the front middle slot of his underwear (for boys to pee). Mommy described it as a "pocket" - unaware of how a 3-year-old might interpret that. Days later, he happily pointed to it, assertively called it a "pocket," then proceeded to take out a little wrapped candy he had stashed in there! A couple weeks later, he tried to use his "pocket" as a holster for his toy guns!
After Daddy finished singing The Doxology to the boys at bedtime, Eli told me not to sing "Amen" at the end of songs - "amen" is only for prayers.
Regarding Eli's accent, it also includes explosions: bee-yoom (boom, with much drawl and emotion)
Another rule we parents never thought we'd make: Eli, no sticking swords in people's butts.
After an accident, I put him in the tub with soapy water and let him play awhile. Fifteen minutes later, not yet actually washed, he climbed out by himself, found and put on clean underwear, then came and found me and Mommy saying, "Look, I pretty. Look, I pretty."
Mommy took a phone call, and Eli decided he was at the other end of the line. He started walking around in two rooms with a hand by his ear, talking and saying "yes" or "no" as if answering questions, gesticulating, intonating, and then taking his hand down when she said "good-bye" and pretending to push lots of buttons and hang up the phone.
Eli really likes rules - and likes enforcing them on anyone, even adults! It could be a rule he's known about for 5 seconds, but he's ready for making sure people follow them. Bossy? I mentioned that up above, but I'm not so sure anymore. He's tidy, and likes order, and if there's a rule to be followed, so should it be.
Eli likes to run downstairs at bedtime to give mommy hugs...multiple times.
Eli laughs often - and he may have the cutest and most hearty laugh of anyone I know!
One or two Sunday mornings in a row, around the very beginning of Eli attending Sunday school at age 3, they apparently covered the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, because for months afterward, at random and about once a week, Eli would start saying "kindness, goodness, gentleness, control."
Eli unwittingly pulled the string off a little paper kite Ole had made him. He looked at it for a minute, then found Ole and said sweetly, "Ole, can you please fix it? It broke by himself."
Eli was pounding on something, like a drum, and singing loudly. Then he interrupted himself to tell me he had been singing a very loud version of "Jesus Loves Me, This I Know," before repeating that it was loud.
Eli loves to make his points with the verb "did" or "do." This happens in two ways: adding "did" before a verb that doesn't need it, and / or adding repeating the clause at the end of his statement. Examples: I did go potty. I did eat. We did go to Jesus house, we did. Ole did clean up the mess, he did. I do love you. I do like them.
Daddy, I did open my head at Landon's house from yesterday, I did. (Daddy, You did?) Yes, I did. I opened my head and found some things in there, I did.
Daddy, we need to go outside and get the (one inch of) snow off Ole's airplane. (Daddy - no, not right now.) We need to, or we're gonna die!
I need medicine (holding up a TUM he snuck from the bathroom). I got hurt right here (pointing to his back) from Landon (whom he last saw days ago).
Many of Eli's bedtime prayers are dramatic - hand gesticulations, jumping or falling movements, and "boom" sounds - while he is praying about his books or stuffed animals or revisiting moments of the day (his or other people's). And for good measure, when I ask, "Eli, are you still praying?" he quickly responds with yet another "Dear God..." and then carries on essentially as before. Finally, after 1 or 2 minutes, he ends with a clear "in Jesus' name, Aaaaaamen."
Mommy asks, "Have you ever crashed into a fence, Eli?" Eli, without a second thought: "Yes, when I was a cow, I crashed into a fence and a clock, and there was a boom!"
Eli often says things don't work, can't be done or found, or some other thing along those lines - sometimes accurately, sometimes not - in a perfectly cheerful voice and followed by an even more cheerful "Sorry!" Put another way, his tone sounds like how one might say "too bad."
White now! / White here! (right now - usually in a chipper, rather than demanding, voice)
Daddy? (Yes Eli?) Daddy? (Yes Eli?) Daddy? (Yes Eli?) Daddy? (Yes Eli?) (again and again)
When giving one-word answers to questions, he often says them lots of times, such as: good, good, good, good, good; no, no, no, no, no; yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Chokey button (the top button of shirts, and he likes them buttoned)
After changing his diaper, Eli comes out of the bathroom naked, swinging his diaper in circles, and asks Mommy: "Want to catch it?!"
When Mommy or Daddy say, "Maybe when you're older," Eli usually responds enthusiastically: "I am!"
For months, many of his prayers begin, "Dear God, when someone does something..." Usually the someone is the last person who did anything remotely interesting to him - usually someone in the room during the previous 60 seconds. Then he goes on about something totally different, and often unintelligible.
Mommy says, "I want you both to have selfless hearts," but Eli woefully shouts back, "Nooooo!"
In the car one day, Mommy says, "If you want to sing loudly, you have to do it in your room." Eli responds without missing a beat, "There's no room in here."
Circle strawberry (an off-brand strawberry-flavored Oreo)
Ride my bike (at 3-4, Eli would "walk" his bike while Ole would ride his - and he still loved doing it regularly at age 5!)
I'll catch you, Daddy. (Daddy, please catch me.)
From yesterday / from before. (all points in history before today)
From this morning. (any point in time today, and possibly previous days)
A bracelet goes on my eye.
(We have been watching the old BBC Chronicles of Narnia movies, so then after I randomly tell the boys how to say Germany in German - Deutschland - Eli says...) Is Deutschland the same as Aslan(d)?
Ole said something about a coconut cup, and Eli immediately said something about wanting or having one. He went to the cupboard, took out one of his plastic cups, and proclaimed it his coconut cup.
An octopus has a lot of tails.
Heace (pronounced like "peace" - for about a year, this was how Eli pronounced "his," and he used it for boys, girls, animals, Mommy, etc, because he didn't seem to know the word "hers")
Daddy, did I go poopy tomorrow? (Daddy responds, after laughing: I don't know, do you want to go poopy now?) Yes...(then, after success...) look at that one, it's like a castle!
At 3-4, Eli daily says his cause and effect sentences in reverse order, such that the conjunction "because" makes it all sound funny. Examples:
Daddy, do you see this pokey thing (a toothpick)? It is for poking lions and bears in the eye. Then they will die. But not tigers, because tigers are very nice.
Daddy, look, this is Mommy's desk (which I had helped her buy and move into the room that week).
I had a beaver. (I had a fever.)
Daddy: You're so sweet, and you're so smart, and you're so...Eli, interrupting: Cute?!
Eli took quite awhile to get the pronoun "her," calling most things "him." My favorite example was of Eli turning it into a double mistake one day, when I stated randomly, "Who (meaning which cow) got 509 (meaning a calf with that tag number)?" Eli grinned, pointed to Mommy, and declared, "Him!"
One morning, Eli wanted to give away some of his stuffed animals...but just not to his brother.
The parts of a shovel according to Eli: dig-up and hold-on
Eli: Daddy, do you see that turkey over there on that mountain (a hilltop a mile away on our ranch)? Daddy: Oh no. Is it walking or standing or flying? Eli: Um, it is walking toward the trees and the kitty and the doggy and the giraffe.
Daddy: Do you want to go to Canada someday? Eli: I don't like that Canada. But I like the other Canada.
Mommy slapped Daddy's butt, then Eli slapped Daddy's butt. Then Mommy said, "No, that butt is mine." Then Eli said, "And Ole's butt is mine!"
Yahoo! (called out like a cowboy multiple times a day at age 4)
(After touching some strawberries...) Daddy, can I have hand sanitizer? Cause I have strawberry crumbs.
Fever head / fever mouth (thermometer for head / thermometer for mouth)
I did, already! (He says this almost daily about numerous things - always in an excited, high-pitch-and-rising tone.)
As for his accents noted above, he very often says "thanks" very genuinely and in a cowboy accent.
When the boys put improper things in their mouths, I taught them for years to answer my question of "what goes in your mouth" with "food, water, toothbrush, and medicine from Mommy and Daddy." They generally did a good job, but one day the little Eli goofball answered with, "Carrots, snow..."
Instead of the movie title "Shaun the Sheep," Eli pronounced it almost perfectly as "Sharm el-Sheikh."
Hanitizer (Eli's contraction of "hand sanitizer")
Regarding the disposable cleaning pad that goes onto the bottom of the mop, Eli cheerfully says, "Ole, give the mop a diaper!"
Eli regularly says versions of the following in a very assertive, bossy (cute) tone: "If you don't, you do," or "If it isn't, it is," or "If it wasn't, it was."
On the day Daddy, Ole, and Eli went to Big Timber to get tested for COVID-19, Eli happily announced, "Mommy, we're going to get COVID!"
Ole to Eli: Oh no, a storm's coming! Eli to Ole: Quick, shoot it!
Eli's description of a male deer, or the reason he gives for a buck having horns, is that "it is an elk-deer."
(While big brother was reading a book about bones...) Daddy, I don't have any bones. If someone doesn't have any bones, he can still walk.
Just now (at age 4, Eli says this all the time, usually sweetly, to indicate his pressing desires)
Mommy: Where did you come from before you were born? Eli, adamantly about his friend: Stephen's house!
Sthank you (when he was 4 and 5, he said it correctly when he was 3!). He particularly says it during his prayers - for everything!
Mommy: Did you wash your hands? Eli: Yes, but I don't want you to smell them!
Eli likes to discipline Monkey and Lamby - harshly - with long timeouts and huge spankings.
Tringle bells
(On the broken compass big brother recently gave him) If it points this way (north), it leads to the road and to home. If it points that way (east), it leads to the Moon!
Daddy: Wait, wait, don't eat it (boogers he just picked out with his finger)! Eli: Ok (as he turns his head to hide his misdeed). Daddy: No, do not eat it! I will go get a wipe. (I go get the wipe, wipe off his finger, and ask) Any more in there? Eli: Nope, I checked around with my finger. No more - sorry!
(In response to Mommy doing a little dance...) Mommy's shakin' her booty!
I have to go potty. Can I go poopy first?
I'm grapeful for... (I'm grateful for...)
Whenever we play baseball, and 3-4-year-old Eli gets any hit (including a foul ball - and none of them go more than 5-10 yards anyway), he immediately drops, or throws, or carries his bat and runs all over the baseball field - in no particular or repeated direction - hollering like a cowboy fighting an Indian (yahoo / yehaw / I did it)! The whole celebration takes a full minute, then he returns as if nothing had happened, and is ready for more pitches. If he gets a hit three times in a row, the celebration also happens three times in a row.
Boppa and I did go on a boat to North Dakota today. It's where we go'ed.
Often on a grumpy day, Eli will simply and suddenly collapse to the floor like a rock, and lie there for several minutes and whining, "Can't get up!" Sometimes he flops his legs around as if he's making an effort to stand - but he really is not. (Sometimes it's very frustrating, but generally very cute - and with patience, he generally comes out of it with some help.)
Eli asked me to draw a picture of his 4-year-old self. But he got very upset when my stick-figure image of him had a mere three spike hairs on top! "No, do it this way," he demanded.
Very randomly - during Holy Week - Eli came up to me and said, "Daddy, I don't cry when Jesus dies, because I don't like to scream." Hopefully he will cry one day - and uh, yes, he seems to like to scream regularly!
Can I have four of those, Mommy? (No) More hopefully - Can I have two? (No) More quietly - Can I have one? (No) Okay.
Our rules boy loves to micromanage, albeit usually cheerfully, but sometimes sternly. For example, when he wants me to do something, he will tell or show me exactly where to stand, exactly when to move, exactly what to say (and how to say it), etc...Very cute all the way through age 4 - in the future we'll see how God uses the strengths and weaknesses of this tendency in him!
Haves (has) It haves a picture / It haves two sides / He haves a present.
Eli thought "all Mommy's dollars" should go toward buying a fancy camper like what Boppa (my dad) has. Not Eli's allowance, not Ole's allowance, and not Daddy's dollars, just Mommy's dollars.
Daddy, that guy is turning up there, because you can't wave at him. (The correct cause-effect of this statement was its reverse.)
(Mommy) What did he say? (Eli) Cottage cheese! I mean, yak!
Okay but Daddy? (Intentionally no comma after "okay" - this is Eli's rapid response to 10% of the things I tell him, and 50% the things I tell him to do.)
Purple bugs are for girls and mommies.
You need to cut my heart out (meaning a paper heart for him to draw on).
(Quite randomly, while in the bath...) Apple cores and onions, they taste good.
Eli loves to shout while plugging his ears, putting them under water, or wearing headphones - thinking we can't hear him because he can't hear us.
Basic-ally (4 syllables - sometimes he uses it properly, sometimes not!)
Often Eli inserts a "hmm" pause in the middle of his comments or questions. It's reflective, like he's trying to think of the best way to say something, and it often sounds a lot like Jarrod's "hmm" for the same purpose. Only Eli's is much cuter!
Eli: Did you ever go in the water in an airplane? Daddy: Not yet, and I hope I never do. Eli: No, with the doors closed!
Drump / drumping / drumped (jump / jumping / jumped)
Eli often ends his -ing words with just -in; and a lot of his t's in the middle of words he makes d's...like rollin' or runnin' or eadin'
Eli cheers loud and long for himself, and sometimes for others, too. This can include big "yeahs" and gesticulations and running or jumping.
They look like fishes! (Eli watching swimmers in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics - in 2021 post-COVID.)
(Daddy, during the Olympics) It looks like he's going to win. (Eli) I think they're all going to win.
(Eli) When all three of us were inside your tummy...(Mommy) It was Ole first, then you, then this baby...(Eli) Then Daddy?
When Ole taught Eli how to have a staring contest, Eli claimed victory over and over again after he had blinked.
(Eli) Do you know which guys are on the red team? (Daddy) The red guys? (Eli) No, there are no red guys.
A little more taller
Eli is often super sweet, eager to trade / give up his toys or treats if someone else wants them - even to Ole.
Eli prayed for a zebra from Arizona, and he wanted to build a "kennel" to keep it from running away.
Eli made me a sandwich with 3 slices of bread, 4 slices of ham, and 10-12 M&Ms.
Eli loves to contribute to any conversation - especially when Ole is talking - by adding his two cents and then some - whether he has any clue or not. For example, after Ole identified the times on the various clocks in the room, Eli said, "My watch says [pause, thinking] 50 PM. But the battery was dead, so Mommy came down quietly when you were sleeping and gave me a kiss and told me it was 5-0 PM."
Eli is getting very clever...when Daddy said picture of a bridge over calm water looked like a circle bridge, Eli looked closely at it, and said, "No, it's a bridge and the shadow of the bridge in the water."
When Eli humorously doesn't want to do something, he says in the cutest voice, with the cutest smile, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no."
Dear God, thank You for all the things that we have. I pray we don't get bad news in our house, like fire monsters...and thank you for all the bad things we don't have, and for all the stores that don't have bad things in them.
When I was bigger...
(This is a paraphrase, the main point is the idea...) When the baby is born, Ole will be little and I will be big.
I don't want that baby. (When Mommy showed a picture of what first-trimester baby looks like.)
Mommy told Eli he could have a bandaid for an owee. When she next saw him, he had five bandaids on an old scratch.
On another bandaid situation, Eli had to look around for awhile before finding his supposedly bad owee.
Mommy went into the bathroom, closely followed by Eli...Eli: Mommy, I have to go potty. Mommy: Oh, do you need to go 1 or 2? Eli: I want to go first!
While looking through a picture book, I asked Eli if he saw cows. No, he said, then pointed at the cows with horns and said they were "horn-pans." I said I thought they looked like cows. He said there are 3 horn-pans, and "tons" of bulls.
Hey Daddy, one time I tooted, and Mommy said thank you to my toot!
On his first overnight camping trip in the woods (in our camper up in the mountains by the Middle Fork Creek bridge in September 2021), Eli looked for "pairs of eyes" in the dark by pointing his flashlight at the ground and searching carefully.
Often when we give Eli the 3-2-1 countdown to punishment, we say "3," then Eli interrupts cheerfully and says, "2, 1," as he starts to listen and obey.
A week after we celebrated Rosh Hoshana when Eli was 5, I discovered that he got something out of it when he and I hiked above Sjurson Field together one day...Mostly, he got the pronunciation down very well. But he also talked about how we're supposed to change how we say all kinds of regular words on Rosh Hoshana.
When you were big like me...
Dolk (bowling pin - no idea where he got that!)
Looking through a catalog one week, Eli circled tons of things that he "got" or "is getting." He also circled lots of things that he "did get" for every other member of the family.
Elias fell down some stairs and was crying as Mommy held him. "Do you have an owee?" she asked. "I don't," he half-yelled. "Oh," said Mommy, "Can you tell me where it hurts?" Eli pointed to his side and said in a humbler tone, "Right here."
My lamby (a favorite stuffed animal) has 3 names: Lamby, Spider Man, and Darth Vader.
Can we go to a park today? I want to go to a park that Ole likes.
Eli: What day is it today? Daddy: It's Friday. Eli: Does that mean it's Sunday?
Eli loves to do echoes, normally all on his own - starting very loudly, then getting quieter and quieter.
Eli loves to chant "mine, mine, mine, mine" or "I'm bad, I'm bad, I'm bad, I'm bad" from kids movies.
While losing his very first tooth, having carved his pumpkin days earlier, he went and removed one of his pumpkin's teeth.
One Sunday evening, after learning about the crossing of the Red Sea that morning in church, Eli unzipped his red, one-piece Spiderman pjs and said he was parting the Red Sea, and his chest was the dry ground.
It's fiiiiiiiine. (Eli often says this in a quasi-comforting, quasi-condescending tone.)
Oh fiiiiiiiine. (Same tone as above, but when he is reluctantly-yet-fully agreeing to compromise his previous stance on an important 5-year-old issue.)
You can play with that, Ole. (In a very sweet tone, all on his own initiative, and quite frequent with all kinds of toys, special or not - several times a week.)
Eli loves to ask me if I would sing a particular song to him. The song itself varies, but it is never one I know or have heard, because he's making it up in the moment. Yet he earnestly wants me to sing it, even after I tell him I know neither the words nor the tune! Recently he did this while playing the piano as well, wanting me to sing while he "played" something no one, including him, had ever heard before!
One day, Eli was making "chemical Legos." A couple days later, he was making "credit cards."
Eli came upstairs one morning and said in a sweet voice, "Daddy?" I responded, "Yes?" Then, in sudden and strong frustration, he said, "I don't want this [stack of Legos] to fall off [another stack of Legos]." I said, "I'm sorry, can I help you with it?" Then, in stronger frustration, with a stomp of his foot and on the verge of tears, he said, "I don't want you to!"
Daddy/Mommy: Eli, you're cute / clever / sweet. Eli, in a silly-snarky voice: No I'm not!
Not-for-kids park (a park without any swings or slides, just for adults to walk...and not Yellowstone)
Eli often tries to cover up his little emotions by saying things like, "I like it, but don't want it," or "No, I didn't want it anyway."
Eli told me about a dream: Our real cat "Nutsy" was in his dream, but she wasn't ours yet. When we first met her in his dream, she had an amazing name for a 5-year-old to either invent or recall: "Molly Henderson"!
His body is the bread, and His blood is the wine!
At age 5.5, Eli thinks his full name is Elias Jonathan Grosfield Lane.
Many of Eli's prayers begin exactly like this: "Dear God, Thank You for that we/I did get to..."
Many times Eli says, "Daddy / Mommy...wait...Daddy / Mommy...wait..."
Eli often wants us to turn or "look away" right before he shows us something. It's his own dramatic buildup, even if we already know what it is. Or, he shows just me something, but asks me "don't tell" Mommy, because he wants to come around the corner and show her for himself. Or, he sneaks upstairs with whatever he wants to show me / us - which we often hear - then he proudly bursts into the room with his outfit or toy or whatever. Or he asks if we want to see something, then declares, "Wait!"
How do you like it / my shirt / my toy? A proud question he often asks after doing something himself - but also often a sweet question he asks if he does something for someone else.
Daddy, I want to pray, too. My prayer will be better than yours...Dear God, thank You for our sins...
If you're hot, you can just turn the heater to cold.
Eli would hardly look at Simeon for the first week or two after he was born. Then he would touch him by the end of the first month. Then he would start helping with Simeon by the second month!
If you see one of my drawings with a line down the middle, so that it looks like pizza, it isn't pizza - it's a book.
Daddy: Please don't shine that flashlight in my eyes. Eli: Why not? It makes your eyes water!
Eli hands Daddy a blue Lego and calls it gold. Daddy says he doubts gold is blue. Eli says gold is lots of colors.
Eli hands Daddy a picture he drew. Daddy opens it: "Who is it?" Eli: "It's you." Daddy: "Oh, I didn't know I have 3 ears." Eli: "It's not 3 ears. It's 3 horns!"
Eli loves making gifts / drawings for people. He puts in lots of time and thought, writes their names on whatever it is, and often wraps it or tapes it. He does this most for big brother, but also for us parents. It is incredibly sweet and sometimes he does it daily.
Eli: Do you think it is pink or purple? Daddy: Purple. Eli: Ok! Wait, which is purple, the darker one or the lighter one?
After learning he might get to have his first overnight alone away from us (with Grandma Syd at 5.5 years old, an idea that makes him super excited), Eli says maybe his big brother can come, too, "so that you and Mommy can have all your fun." As I burst into laughter, he says maybe Mommy and I could sneak around together and get some of his candy.
Eli informed me about his new favorite pillow one night. He went on and on about it, concluding that most likely it was the best pillow in the world.
When someone says "guess what," you're not supposed to guess.
Mommy, you don't need a hug.
After measuring a cardboard box carefully, Eli says, "Daddy, would you please make me a cardboard that is 11 size?"
Speaking of that... (several times a day at age 6)
For all of ages 5-6, Eli loooooooooongs to save face - though usually in a nice tone of voice. If you tell him he can't have something, he might casually say he didn't want it anyway. If you tell him something is incorrect, he might say he knew that already. Or tonight, "I'm cold...but I want to be cold."
Another side of Eli telling others to follow rules: when he says "you have to" or "you can't" or the like, he'll often use a very matter-of-fact voice with almost a smile and a sigh: "Ole, you have to do the dishes [or your math homework] first. You do!" On the other hand, when it concerns something of his (including his pride), he may be anything but calm or gracious...Hence part of why we still call him our one screaming kid!
Mommy: Eli, you have to mop. Eli: No, it doesn't say (on his daily chore list). Then he turns and runs away.
Mommy told Eli about Sodom and Gomorrah, including about Lot's wife. Eli got confused and thought she died because she looked back at the fire too many times. But in his own life, Eli has only looked at fires once, so he hasn't died from that.
Eli likes to come to us, or go past us, just to wave or say hi or hello or bye - always with a big smile.
Eli made up a song, and called it "God Is the Shepherd, and His Sheep are Man and Woman." He also was pretty sure that a book somewhere in the world had that same title.
Eli's marching cadence: "Hut 3-2-1, hut 3-2-1, hut 3-2-1."
Cave up = cave in
One thing / ...Eli often likes to preference his explanations or memories with these phrases.
Eli was laughing and laughing. When Ole asked him what was so funny, he answered: "Everything!"
In the car we were talking about mammals, and how Elsbeth and other mammal moms feed their young...Simeon was almost 1 year old at this point, so obviously the boys had seen Mommy feeding their little brother many times. Eli said Ole was not a mammal, "because you don't have boobies!"
On his first day of skiing at age 6, Eli got a big smile when he first put on skis and started sliding around. At lunch I asked him if he fell down some during his lesson. "I fell tons of times...but mostly because I didn't want to go too fast." Then during his second break indoors in the mid-afternoon, I asked if he wanted to go out to ski one more time, and in typical Eli fashion, he said, "No, I want to go three more times." And then, also in his natural way, he said on the drive home that he never wanted to ski again. Good day!
On Christmas Day, Eli promptly gave away parts of two of his Christmas presents to Boppa and Ole.
Simmy-doodle (Eli's nickname for his little brother, usually uttered in a cute, high-pitched tone)
Ever our boy of extremes...Eli often either refuses to do something we ask - literally kicking and screaming (which we try to punish calmly and promptly, or sometimes try the "5 senses" calming technique, but sometimes weakly are "afraid" of him); OR he often takes the opposite route of quick positive attitude, doing exactly what we ask with smiles or even silliness, sometimes doing more than we say and even asking if he can do anything else for us when he finishes!
Also, ever our boy to save face, Eli insisted that he knew how to play the card game "War," and showed Ole how to do it. He was wrong, but he kept on going very cheerfully. At the end, when Ole said that wasn't correct, he simply and matter-of-factly said, "I know."
When I listened to a podcast by Nate Bramsen, who mentioned "Elohim," Eli piped up next to me that he remembered hearing that name on the "B.EA.V.E.R.S." Odyssey episode...and Yahweh too. Praise God!
Whittaker (Eli never says "Mr. Whittaker" when talking about Odyssey - adorable)
Eli: Why do they call it Livingston? Daddy: I'm not sure. Eli: Maybe it's because a lot of people live there.
At dinner with Boppa one night: Ole is not Boppa, because he is not old and he his not fat. (Dad took it very well!)
At almost 7 years old, Eli still CONSTANTLY tries to save face. He doesn't want to sound ignorant or wrong on anything, but he always gives his 2 cents in the calmest, most confident manner possible - even if he has to think for awhile before saying his thing.
In Boppa's hot tub one afternoon, Eli wanted him and me to see how many MINUTES and seconds we could stay underwater. Ten seconds or so for him, almost 30 for me, but he kept on talking about minutes.
After 6.5, by God's grace, Eli's temper tantrums finally started to become less dramatic and frequent...We started to "descriptively praise" him and Ole a lot that year (thanks to the book "How to Raise Calmer, Easier, Happier Boys"), and he also just seemed to start accepting more foods, chores, punishments, responsibilities, etc. (Later update when Eli first turned 7 - the temper returned, and perhaps worse than ever, so we started [finally?] spanking him hard at times...and praying harder than before as well...hopefully slow progress is coming after a couple of tough months.)
Eli probably has the best laugh in our family!
Eli still has real shyness with being up front in any scenario. But he will quietly / secretly dance or sing or otherwise "perform" on his own or in very small, well-known groups.
Eli responds very well to 1-on-1 time with / attention from almost anyone.
Eli memorized his first Bible verse and song a couple months before turning 7: "This is the day that the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24) Hallelujah!
Two months ago / a hundred bucks / et cetera (Eli wants to use numbers well, but like Egyptians who will just give you directions to be "helpful," Eli will regularly use any numbers - or units of measure! - he thinks will communicate his point.)
When I grow up, I wanna be a spy. I've been doing a lot of spying lately. This morning (at church), I was spying on Mr. Jason and Mr. Kirk.
At 7, after we first went to the Lewis and Clark Caverns (which scared Eli at first, but then he wanted to go into "every" cave), Eli said he wants to go to some Indian caves - but only if Indians are not there.
After talking about Ozzy Burkholder for awhile, Eli said, "Wait, I forget, did he move away, or did he die?"
While Ole and Mommy to pick up a friend of Ole's for an overnight, Eli dressed up in his Darth Vader costume, then said he was going to try to scare Ole's friend, "because he might really think I am Darth Vader."
Goose Tape (instead of Duct Tape)
When Eli owed me $2, I never reminded him about it. But a day later, he gave me 5 quarters wrapped up in paper with tape and a note "To Daddy" like a present by my coffee. He said it was all he had, and I happily forgave the rest of the debt.
At least twice during year 7, I have overheard normally very shy Eli telling grown-ups seemingly random, but very detailed stories about this or that. Still in his shy way, but he is maturing!
While telling me one of his dreams - about our dog Noel having a second litter of puppies (yikes!) - Eli said, "Mommy didn't think Noel could do it again."
At dinner, Mommy said something about boys having to pee farther (to the ground or the toilet) than girls. Eli responded, "Yeah, and Daddy has the biggest cliff of all of us."
When looking at the clouds, Eli exclaimed, "I see a shape!"
Eli: Ok, but, I just need to go number 2. Daddy: You just did go number 2! Eli: Yeah, but that was, uh, a half hour ago.
On one of Eli's first evenings with me at my telescope, Eli pointed to something in the sky and said it was "next to that, that barely star" (meaning "that, that faint star").
A song Eli sang one day: "Daddy is great. Daddy is the best."
Daddy: How many kids were in your ski lesson - 5, 15? Eli: Hmm, maybe 55. Daddy: 55?! Eli: Hmm, maybe 20.
At age 7, Eli can't cook much yet, but he loves to make Mommy breakfast or lunch in bed - formally on a tray and everything. Every 2-3 months or so.
At age 7.5, Eli mastered making basic paper airplanes. And within a week his were as good or better than Ole's! But as with many of his creations, he does not seem to parade them around: he makes it, briefly enjoys it, then possibly gives it away or simply starts making another one. (But Ole, don't take it without permission!)
Eli approached me one day and asked me to write down the following as a note he intended to use somehow, sometime, somewhere later. He was most serious: "We got nothing. We need something. Please ask your Santa Claus to give us something." Okay then!
Until about his 7th birthday, Eli continued to announce and / or ask permission for bathroom trips. Very cute!
Not always, but often - and since Day Two of his life on earth - Eli can be VERY LOUDLY ANGRILY STUBBORN about anything he wants to do when we say "don't," or anything he wants not to do when we say "do." HOWEVER, whenever he does a task, subject, or activity (fun, school, or chore), he does it thoroughly and wholeheartedly.
How many years until Ole's next birthday?
Often upon receiving a compliment, Eli says, "I know." He doesn't seem to be arrogant or humorous about it - just matter-of-fact, as in, "Okay, this is clear, let's move on now."
Elias continues throughout his seventh year to make frequent, seemingly random gifts, cards, and "I love you" notes for Mommy and Daddy, as well as anyone else we say is special (like for Grandma's birthday), or for Trace - his 20-year-old "best friend" - or anyone else he thinks of.
Eli made a menu (of foods he's easily able to access and prepare). Then one evening downstairs, he set up a big tub upside down as a table, used a 5-gallon bucket with a top as a chair, put a #11 folded card as his table or order number (as in a restaurant), and I found him sitting there alone, eating away at his PBJ (from his menu). Adorable!
Eli made a small sign that read "Pile" with an arrow. Then he put it on the floor next to his dirt pile while he was sweeping (with the arrow pointed the right direction). Then he told me the sign was to help keep people from stepping in the dirt pile and scattering it.
Eli climbed to Swamp Lake in the Crazy Mountains for a day hike at age 8 - his first big hike - with Uncle Nay-Nay, Ole, some of my Bible study guys, and me!
Eli had a homework assignment on an adjectives/adverbs page which said something like: "Write a sentence using the words wise and wisely." Technically, he followed the instructions correctly, as they didn't actually specify how to use those words: "Two men named Wise and Wisely came over to my house."
Eli flew in an airplane for his first time when he was 8. He and Elsbeth went to MSP for Grandma Lynne's 70th birthday. To me, he asked if airplanes go straight up when they take off! And to Grandma Syd he said he had been on a train before - and he knows both trains and planes can burn up! (Poor kid! On another evening I tried to help by giving him my best portrayal of flying - something I've always loved to do. It did seem to help!) UPDATE: ELI LIKES FLYING!!! :)
Eli often guestimates widely by saying something like "2 or 5 days ago" or "I gave Ole 8 or 12 chips."
The execute place (the cows' head-catch in the barn)
Our first two years at DADCAMP (2024-2025), Eli did not "ever" want to go home, but rather stay at DADCAMP with me "forever."
