ponytails

different

The other day we had a play date with some friends. When Eli's friends got here, Eli immediately said to them "Hey guys, let's be tornado chasers! We can use our computers in our tornado chasing car and find the tornadoes and videotape them!" His friends looked at him in utter confusion. Noticing this look, Eli then said "How about we play zoo and we can be tamarins while people come to see us!" Again, looks of confusion.

These times happen more and more. I wonder if he is different than most kids....no, I know....Eli is different.

He would rather use furniture for spatial boundaries than play with toys from the toy store. Cases in point:

-uses the coffee table, couch and toy bins to create a cage for him to be a tamarin at the zoo'

-uses the inside of an easel as an elevator or a bank

-empties toys out of our toy bins so he can get in with his toy laptop and pretend to chase tornadoes

-has me lay on the edge of the couch while he is on the inside and he pretends he is in a boat


And did you know that Eli has brothers? They differ in number every time he tells you about them and they almost always do something better then what you just talked about.

"Eli, did you know that it is going to snow 4 inches today?"

"Well my brothers live in Duckytown and Duckytown has 36 90 inches of snow."

Eli cries at slow songs because he says they makes him sad. He is afraid of being alone and sleeps with a pillow against his back to protect him. Eli loves to cuddle and wrestle and touch people's noses because it calms him.

Eli knows every state in tornado alley. He knows a ridiculous amount about tornadoes when most kids are obsessed with Diego or Dora. We went to Barnes and Noble and while playing with the trains, he asked a mom who was there with her kids if she liked tornadoes. Her response? "No, they are dangerous and deadly." You should have seen Eli's face. My heart broke for him.

It was then that I thought to myself "You know what? I don't want him to be like everyone else. I love his special interests and qualities." I would rather have a son that is unique than one that follows the crowd and just wants to fit in. I was one of those. I did not want to stick out. I was tall, but slouched because I hated being tall. I had no self esteem and wanted to fit in with crowd, be accepted. But trying to be like them led to doing things I am not proud of JUST to be accepted. So if Eli wants to go his own way and be unique, I support that because it is who he is and I want him to be confident in that. I want him to know that being different is being special and God made him special for a purpose.

There is a book we read to Eli that he calls the puppet book, but it is called You Are Special by Max Lucado. It is about these wooden puppets that give each other dots for bad characteristics and stars for good ones. One of them, Punchinello, got only dots and no stars and was sad about it, until he met a girl named Lucia who had no dots OR stars. That is the way Punchinello wanted to be, judgementless and free. Lucia told him to go to Eli up on the hill and He will help him to be dot and starless. So he goes up to meet Eli, who was the maker of all of the puppets. Eli said that the dots and stars only stick if you let them. Eli told Punchinello that it didn't matter what others thought of him, it only matters what He thinks of him and when he believes that, the dots will fall off. And Eli told Punchinello that He not only made him, but made him perfect and loved him no matter what. Punchinello didn't feel worthy or believed it, but after more talking and as he was leaving Eli's home, a dot fell off of him.

If my son is happiest pretending to chase tornadoes, then I want to not only support it, I want to chase them with him! I want any dots that people may put on him to not stick and just fall right off.

So if a little boy comes up to you and asks if you like tornadoes, tells you about his 'brothers' doing something better than you and asks you to chase said tornadoes with him, that's my boy and I am proud of his uniqueness and will raise him to be proud of it too.

quotes

Since the end of the year is approaching, I thought I would gather up some memorable quotes uttered by my dear son Eli this year. I just love my son.

"Mommy, I have to go poopy now and I am going to go a huuuge one, bigger than YOU!"

Eli: "Mom Mom has a big house..."
Me: "Yes, she does."
Eli: "How did she get that house?"
Me: "Money."
Eli: "We don't have money..."
Me: "No, we don't."

Eli: (on the potty) "Mommy, they are talking."
Me: "Who is talking?"
Eli: "The poopies in my hiney."

Eli: (poking my love handles) "Mommy, why is this squishy?"

Me: "Wow Eli, a year ago today Evie came out of me."
Eli: "But how did she come out?"
Me: "God made her come out."
Eli: "Yes, but HOW did she come out?"
Me: "Want some more goldfish?"

Eli: "Mommy, I want to say something to God!"
Me: "Ok, what do you want to say?"
Eli: "GOD, I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Eli: (yelling from the bathroom) "Ah, this is the most terrible day!! I peed on the wall, I peed on the floor and I peed on the toilet!!"

Eli: "Mommy, I want to see God for real."

Eli: (after hitting his head on the ceiling of the car) "Ow!!"
Me: "Aw Eli, I know that hurt, but you are a tough cookie."
Eli: (serious as can be) "Mommy, I am not a tough cookie, I don't have chocolate chips in me!"

Eli: (playing with his stuffed Mickey Mouse) "Mommy look, Mickey is popping and locking!"

Eli: (after being told that the president makes the rules) "...like not being allowed to say 'butt'"?

Eli: (dancing, after being told not to pick his nose) "No Mommy, it is a new dance called the finger in the nose dance!"

Eli: (after seeing me look at my dog bite wound) "No Mommy, don't touch it! God will fix it."

Eli: (on our way to Mom Mom's house with donuts) "Mommy, I will share my donut with Mom Mom....but do you now what my favorite thing to share is? Love."

Eli: "Mommy, what did the bear say when he lost his socks? I lost my socks! Get it?? Socks!! Get it??? Hahaha!"

Eli: "Daddy, what does pee and spit mixed together make?"

lovely

Evangeline....we don't know her as Evengeline...just Evie. She is almost 19 months old. She has gone 18 months with only 2 words: her first word, 'Eli' and her second, 'up'. At her 18 month appointment, the doctor said in two months if she is still not saying anymore words, we would have to involve speech therapists. So I had my prayer warriors, aka my women's bible study, pray for Evie to speak to us. Over the last 2 weeks she is talking up a storm! Most of it is crazy babbles, screams and delightful banter. But she now says 'mee' for meow, 'hop' for rabbit, 'pwissss' for please, 'puh' for pooh bear, 'cup' and a few other words. This communication is so special because it just brings us all closer!

Evie loves giving zerberts to our bellies and wrestling with Daddy....but she is really all about her big brother. Not only was Eli her first word, but every morning when she wakes up I will hear in the monitor "ella, ella, ella!' which is how she says Eli. He makes her laugh constantly and also makes her angry a lot too. But she truly is enamored with him and it is so heart warming to see.

Evie delights in making funny faces. She can make a scared face and a surprised face when asked to. But it is her faces she just normally makes just to be funny that is hysterical.

He takes such good care of her too. She likes to so somersaults, but it takes her a bit to get all the way over. When she gets in position, Eli always goes over and helps her roll over. He keeps her safe by saying "Evie no, don't do that!!!" when she wants to go behind the television or any other places she isn't allowed. He loves her.

This little gem is such a joy and I love her dearly. She is so fun that I cannot wait to see how her personality develops!

tornado tim!

Eli is obsessed with tornadoes. It is a crazy obsession. He has checked out every tornado book out of the library that they have...multiple times! He was a tornado for Halloween. He loves to watch videos on the computer of a certain tornado chaser named Tornado Tim. He LOVES him and wants to be him so badly. We even play TT (as I like to call him...'cause I'm cool like that) with one of his Diego Jeeps and he has a matchbox car inside the jeep who is TT and he drives around looking for tornadoes. He often asks to pull the car over so that we can pretend to watch and videotape a tornado. Whenever he has a crayon in his hand, he draws tornadoes every time. Ummm, so do you believe this is an obsession yet??? :)

So more than a month ago, I sent TT an email and told him of Eli's love for tornadoes. He wrote back and said he would try to send him something. After a few weeks went by and I didn't get anything, I was happy I decided not to tell Eli that I contacted him. BUT.....last week, there was an envelope with Eli's name on it! When I saw it was from Tim Baker, I started to scream! Eli was so excited and we opened it right away! He sent Eli photos of his tornado chaser car and him on film because he is on a show called Tornado Road on the Weather Channel. He also sent a tornado chaser book. This little boy is in HEAVEN!

birthday 2 and 3

Eli had 3 birthdays this month....one with his friends, one with my side of the family and one with Chad's parents. Now, you may think I did it that way so that I wouldn't have to host and you would be correct.....just kidding. Anyway, Eli is a lucky kid to have so many friends and family that love him.

tornado cake as requested

devouring said tornado cake

eli's expression when he saw that nana and poppy got him a bike!

who knew desean jackson liked bikes with training wheels....

the days was crazy for evie too and during dinner she just passed out. it was cute.

celebrating at my parents' house....eli loves his 'neminems...and consequently, so does mommy.

more cake....

the ultimate....real golf clubs! goodbye plastic taped up cheapo clubs!

evie doing what she does best....bite and eat EVERYTHING!

eli strutting his stuff

i am sorry, but this 4 year old kid is awesome.

giggles

The belly laughs that come from this girl are just mesmerizing!