a doctor, a crayon, and cookie monster!

After Daddy did an impersonation of Cookie Monster (while reading a book to Elijah), our Cookie Monster toy moved from the bottom of the toy basket straigh to Elijah's bed, where he's been spending every night (and a good part of most days, too). Not only that, but Cookie Monster gets a good night kiss from Mommy and Daddy right after Elijah and Sweatshirt (his favorite pal of all times, pictured below for your reference). To top it off, Elijah consented to wear a Cookie Monster costume for all of our Halloween events, albeit only after we would solemnly swear to take it off him as soon as picture time was over and not a second later.

plymouth apple orchards

Elijah's pre-school class went on a field trip to Plymouth Apple Orchards this Fall. They learned about how bees pollinate the apple trees, took a wagon ride, and got to pick apples and pumpkins. Oh, and did I forget to mention cider and donuts? Yum! The best part is that parents got to come, too!

another visit from Russian grandma

Grandma from Russia came to visit us again at the end of September. We had two weeks full of travel and visits with friends and family. We started off by spending two mornings downtown Detroit trying to get her a Canadian visa. Upon success, we took off to see Niagara Falls in Cananda. Our friends Marvin, Doris, and Kathryn joined us for this two day adventure. We saw the Falls, swam in the pool, hung out in a hot tub, ate out, and generally had a great time. Elijah's Russian once again improved more than I expected and he continues to speak it far more than before the visit. I also hear him jabbering and singing in Russian to himself. It is music to my ears!

uncle Tim's and aunt Billie-Jean's wedding

In the middle of September we took a trip to Suffolk, VA, to be at uncle Tim's and aunt Billie-Jean's wedding. While the rest of us enjoyed special time with family and friends, Elijah was mostly occupied with grandma Shannon's iPhone.

wheels

pre-school reports

"Heather wore a pink dress!"

"Dawn has a brother AND a sister!"

"We had cheese-it's for a snack. I said, 'Mrs. Workman, may I have some more cheese-it's please?' And she said, 'Thank you for asking me nicely!' And she gave me more, and I said thank you!"

no surprises here

Daddy, kissing Elijah Good-night: "I love you."
Elijah: "Do you?"
Daddy: "Yes, I do."
Elijah: "I am not surprised to hear that!"

trip to WA

We took two weeks to visit family in Bremerton, WA this July. Below are some pictures from our trip. But first, here are some fun things that Elijah said during the trip.

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Daddy: Elijah, we are going to Seattle to see great-grandma and great-grandpa.
Elijah: Yes, we are going to see Attle!
Elijah (upon leaving the plane in Seattle): So, is this where Attle lives?

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Elijah (after one of the first visits to great-grandma's and great-grandpa's): Where's great aunt Chelsea? (Explanation: In Elijah's mind, aunt Chelsea always goes with grandma and grandpa, so if we are seeing great-grandma and great-grandpa, there has to be a great aunt Chelsea somewhere nearby).

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Elijah: Mommy, I don't have a question for you. I need to go buy one at the store!

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Elijah (having just gotten on the plane in Seattle to go back to Detroit): I want the clouds down!

Elijah on the plane on our way to Seattle with a monkey stuffed upside down into his seat belt.

Swinging with great-grandpa and Daddy.

Watering great-grandpa's tomatoes.

Stop and smell the roses.

Picking cherries.

Eating cherries.

Swimming with Nathan.

Elijah with great-grandma Lindley.

At the ocean with Mommy.

At the ocean with Daddy.

At the ocean.

what starts with an L ?

Elijah and Mommy were playing with Russian alphabet letters and finding words that started with them.
Mommy: Elijah, this is the letter L. What starts with an L?
Elijah: ALlie! (That's grandma's and grandpa's dog.)
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Mommy: This is the letter B. What starts with a B?
Elijah: May Be!
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Elijah (the next day playing with the English alphabet): Mommy, this is the letter Y! What starts with a Y? Y did you go potty in your underpants!

colorful questions

Elijah (at breakfast, exploring the word "question"): Mommy, I have a question for you!
Mommy: OK.
(silence)
M: Do you have a question?
E: Yes!
M: Well, what kind of question?
E: An orange one!
M: Really?
E: Yes! And a blue question, and a red question, and a yellow question, and a green question, and a purple question!

pk no more

For those of you who may not know, PK stands for "pastor's kid" or "preacher's kid". Elijah officially qualifies to bear the title since his Dad is an associate pastor (and does preach about once a month). Elijah will maintain the title for a little longer (until the end of June), at which point he will have to lay it down, perhaps for good.

The reason is that Ryan has resigned his job as an Associate Pastor of Trinity Church in Livonia, MI effective the end of June in order to ... become Orthodox. And yes, that was a capital "O" - Orthodox as in Eastern Orthodox. As soon as we begin attending an Orthodox church in early July, he will be a layman like the rest of his family, and Elijah will no longer be a PK.

what's your name?

We were at an upholstery shop ordering new cushions for our glider (the old ones were ruined in storage). The lady at the counter made conversation with Elijah, "And what's your name?" "Elijah," replied Elijah, but it sounds more like "Eyidya" still. She tried to clarify, "What was that?" He looked at her very seriously and spelled, "E-L-I-J-A-H. Elijah!"

ducks in the pond

We have two small ponds in our back yard. Two ducks come to splash in them every day. Elijah checks up on them several times every day and lets me know if they are gone or if they are back. One morning I overhead the following conversation:
Elijah: "The ducks are back!"
Daddy: "Yes, there are two of them! A mommy duck and a daddy duck!"
Elijah: "Where is Elijah duck?"

countries

Many years ago, when I first came to the U.S., I bought a place mat with the map of the world, thinking it would be kind of fun to brush up on my political geography. My plans never materialized.

A couple months ago we dug out that place mat to use for Elijah. It's laminated and easy to clean. Daddy showed him a couple of countries and it was an immediate hit. He can't get enough of it! We learned the big ones first (he liked the big orange one - Russia!) and then moved on to smaller ones. We even made it a little more challenging by naming each country in two languages. The two videos below are both in Russian, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out what's going on.

two grandmas

Two grandmas came to visit us in December '08 and January '09, one of state and one out of the country. Their visits overlapped for a few days in January, during which Elijah had no lack of attention. Here are a few videos from their visits.

three year old check up

Name: Elijah
Age: 3 years 1.5 months
Weight: 33.95 lbs (0.5 lb less than 6 months ago) - 69th percentile
Height: 39.75 inches - 82nd percentile
Favorite drink - Chocolate Milk, closely followed by Apple juice
Favorite food - Cheerios for breakfast, quesadilla (with guacamole and sour cream) for lunch, cheerios for dinner
Favorite dessert - ice cream
Favorite country - Russia
Favorite island - Madagascar
Favorite person - Mommy ("I just LOVE Mommy!")

love triangle

Elijah's latest discourse while sitting on the potty (in Russian): "Mommy loves Daddy. Elijah loves Mommy. Daddy loves Michael." (Michael is the senior pastor at the church where Ryan serves as an associate).

new house

As you have probably already figured out from a previous post, we moved. Ryan got a job at Trinity Church in Livonia, MI, and we moved into a rental house not far from the church and not far from the Grandparents with whom we spent the previous year. The house sits on a half an acre of land right next to a day care (which we are not using at the moment).

Elijah loves his new house. If a cashier at a store strikes a conversation with him, he immediately informs them that he lives in a new house and that he loves it. He also tells them that there are two fans in the house!

We (the parents) like the house, too. It has lots of natural light and is located in a quiet neighborhood. Most of the pictures below are from an online profile of the house when it was advertised for rent. The dining room picture is the only exception.

three years old

We were hoping to have a gathering of friends and family for Elijah's birthday, but schedules didn't quite line up this year. And even a small family celebration was thwarted by Elijah catching a stomach flu. He was just over his vomiting bouts by the time his birthday arrived, so we felt a cake was a bit of a risk still. Thus, the three candles went into his pancake. Below is a little clip.



Daddy ended up having to blow out the candles, although Elijah practiced on other candles earlier that week and was able to blow them out.

The breakfast was followed by opening of a new set of Lego's and spending the next 30 minutes building two construction vehicles with Daddy.

Aunt Chelsea came to visit the next day and we did have a small celebration with a cake. This time Elijah managed to blow out his own candles.

not quite a big boy yet

We haven't really started potty training yet. With our move and settling into a new house there were plenty of other things to keep us busy. Plus, we didn't want to introduce a new thing while everything else in Elijah's life was new as well (new house, new room, new bed, new fans). However, we have been preparing. First, we bought family toilet seats. Next, we bought a potty training book, since neither of us have any idea how to approach the project. Then we ordered some training pants from Amazon. And finally, the potty training date has been officially set for this coming Friday.

Meanwhile, we'd have Elijah sit on the toilet every once in a while before his bath. But nothing ever happened until two days ago, when all of a sudden he peed. Mommy was on the couch sick, but Daddy was present and made a huge deal out of the event. "What a big boy!" he said. "What a big boy!" echoed Elijah.

Two minutes later he was in the bath tub and... peed again. Noticing what he'd done, he looked up at Ryan and triumphantly exclaimed, "What a big boy!"

Well, not quite yet.