let's chat

Elijah: "Daddy, let's sit around and chat!"
Daddy: "OK. What do you want to chat about?"
E: "Oh. The stuff you and Mommy chat about."
D: "Like what?"
E: "Oh, like budget and stuff..."

where's YOUR number?

Elijah: "Daddy, where's your number? The one that tells you how old you are. Is it in your tummy?"

He later asked me (mommy) the same question. I told him mine was in my head. He then said his was in his legs and feet.

russia 2010

As is our custom (sort of) we went to Russia to visit grandma and grandpa since it's been 3 years since our last trip, which is how long grandpa hasn't seen Elijah. Unlike our last trip of only 6 days, we splurged and spent 8 days in St. Petersburg this time. The weather was cooperative for the most part, especially considering that it was still late April / early May.

Elijah mostly loved the modes of transportation we had to take to get to Russia and then to get around in St. Pete: planes, air train in NY, trams, metro and buses in Russia. Ever since we came back one of his favorite games is to re-enact the entire trip to Russia: a short flight to NY, a long flight to Helsinki, another short flight to St. Petersburg, a car ride to aunt Ira's house, then a tram ride to the metro, a metro ride with a transfer, and finally a bus ride to grandma's and grandpa's house. Oh, and how could I leave out going through security before getting on each flight, complete with removing your shoes and having a bag to put on the belt. He always has to have one of us "come along". We move from one bedroom to another, from the living room to the kitchen, from the first floor to the second, each place signifying another stage of the journey. The stairs are the escalators. The bathrooms are trains. I am thankful that the long flight to Helsinki usually happens in the rocking chair. The whole adventure has been known to take over an hour and a half. Once we are finally "there", he wants to do the whole thing in reverse order, but by that time I am usually done role playing for the day (and for the week!)

Here are some of Elijah's favorite pictures. We had them printed and put in a little book. Those of you who live nearby have already seen them (sometimes multiple times).

Riding the metro train one of our first days in St. Petersburg.

Alexander Nevsky Lavra

Alexander Nevsky Lavra close up. Elijah likes to call the monks on the left "dudes" and then laugh his head off. :)

At the Kazansky Cathedral with grandma.

At home with grandpa.

Watching a metro train leave.

Riding the escalator in the metro.

Grandma's friends. They say it takes a village to raise a child. This is part of the village that helped raise mommy.

A tram and a bus.

Eating breakfast with Misha.

name suggestion

I was at an airport restaurant in Chicago getting dinner while waiting for my delayed flight. A waiter came up and after the usual "What would you like to drink" etc he glanced at my big stomach and said:
Waiter: Boy or girl?
Me: Boy. (I was expecting him to ask what I'd like to eat, so a though crossed my mind that I generally don't eat children for dinner.)
Waiter (pointing at his name tag that said 'Constantine'): You should name him that! It means "born to be a king"! ... Or a waiter. What can I get for you? (Who knows how many times he'd used that joke, but it was still funny.)

After dinner as I was paying my bill:

Waiter (pointing at my name on the credit card): Not many people named that here, but a lot in my country.

He turned out to be from Bulgaria. I happened to spend a summer there about 20 years ago, and it was a beautiful country. I told him so. He went on to tell me about studying Russian as a kid, and that one of his favorite memories was memorizing Russian poetry. I don't know if he was telling the truth. He went on to quote Pushkin for me in very good Russian:

Я помню чудное мгновенье:
Передо мной явилась ты,
Как мимолетное виденье,
Как гений чистой красоты.

We probably won't name our second son after a Bulgarian waiter from a Chicago airport who quotes Pushkin in an unaccented Russian, but he did make an impression.

stomp rocket

Wide screen version available here. (The one below is somewhat truncated.)

grackles

We have two bird feeders outside of our windows. A small one and a larger one. The larger one is meant for birds like cardinals, but some other birds, particularly grackles and blue jays frequent it as well. Daddy told Elijah that he should scare the grackles away, but let the smaller birds eat.

One day a small bird was feeding at the bird feeder. Elijah ran up and scared it away.

Mommy: What kind of bird did you scare away?
Elijah: It was a grackle!
Mommy: No, it wasn't. It was a little bird. You are not supposed to scare the little birds away.
Elijah: Yeah, but it was going to turn into a grackle!

of little brothers and dogs

Here's a story recounted by a friend from church:

"I was talking to Elijah about having a little brother, and that my little brother is now so big that he has his own baby. This is what followed:

Elijah: Was he in your tummy?

Me: Who? My brother?

Elijah: Yeah.

Me: No, he was in my mommy’s tummy.

Elijah: Oh. (thoughtful pause) What about your doggy? Was she in your tummy?

Me: (suppressing laughter). No, she wasn’t in my tummy. Baby dogs come from mommy dogs.

Elijah: Oh. So nothing was in your tummy?

Me: Nope. Nothing was in my tummy.

He seemed truly disappointed that I couldn’t have puppies. Maybe he was hoping for one of his own?"

a boy or a girl?

Someone at church: "Elijah, do you know if Mommy is having a boy or a girl?"
Elijah: "She is a boy!"

feeding birds

who's who

Elijah (to Mommy): "When I am 20 and I am a daddy, what will you be?"
Mommy: "I'll be a grandma."
Elijah: "Will Daddy be a mommy then?"
Mommy: "No, he'll be a grandpa."
Elijah: "Oh, will you have a dog named Allie?"

kitchen

Daddy (to Mommy): We need to pick up that kitchen.
Mommy: Which kitchen? :)
Elijah (pointing to the kitchen): THAT kitchen, Mommy!

Isn't HE helpful?! :)

good morning

Elijah: "Good morning, Sweatshirt! Good morning, bear! Good morning, cat! Good morning, Daddy! Good morning, Mommy! Good morning, baby in Mommy's tummy!"

sweatshirt doesn't have teeth

Daddy was brushing Elijah's teeth. Sweatshirt, as always, was accompanying Elijah. Daddy threw it over his shoulder so it wouldn't get wet. The following is the narrated account of this even by Elijah.

"Daddy put sweatshirt over his shoulder, and then sweatshirt was trying to fall down and brush his teeth, and I said, 'Sweathshirt, don't try to fall down and brush your teeth! You don't have any teeth!' And then sweatshirt was like 'Naaaay!'"

where cereal comes from

Elijah: Daddy, do we have Life cereal?
Daddy: Yes.
E: Did you buy it at the store?
D: No, it fell from the sky.
E: Oh.

Jesus' birthday

Elijah (at breakfast, between spoonfulls of cheerios): Mommy, is today Christmas?
Mommy: No, today is Monday, and Christmas in on Friday.
(We have previously discussed that Christmas is Jesus' birthday.)
Pause.
Elijah: So, how old is Jesus?
Mommy: Oh, about two thousand years or so.
(Thinking pause, then back to his cheerios.)

things we love

Elijah: "I love balloons, presents, bears, lady bugs ... and girls!"
-------------------------------
Elijah, watching a girl in a pretty dress pass by at church: "Mommy, see, there's a girl over there!" Then, shaking his head: "But I don't know what her name is."

pre-school nativity program

Elijah was one of the three wise men at his pre-school Nativity program. Grandma Rachel, aunt Chelsea, aunt Doris and Kathryn came to witness his first on stage performance.

four years old

Elijah turned four! We celebrated twice: once on the actual birthday and then again a couple days later with Grandma, Grandpa and aunt Chelsea. Elijah also celebrated at pre-school and then at church school. He loved the whole thing this year! He joined in the Happy Birthday song to himself every time and requested it later whenever we'd pull out the leftover cake.

how to tell a girl

Elijah: "Mommy, you are a girl! Girls wear dresses, you wear dresses, you are a girl!"

Pretty good logic, I'd say. :) It's a good thing I recently started wearing skirts on occasion. :) Or we'd have one really confused boy!

counting bites

At meal time:
"Elijah, you need to eat two more bites, and then you can be done."
"OK! Zero... One... Two."