This little soul...

Today James and I were outside working in the yard and due to a misunderstanding, I removed a plant (that I thought was dead and James wanted me to remove). Long story short, James did not want it removed and was upset that it had been.

There might not be a better time to see what a lovely soul your child is than when he is stepping in and providing insight and understanding when you are lacking that.

This little old soul talked to us about "frustration," "feeling better," and getting "out of your frustration and making things right."

He asked us how we felt and if there was anything we needed to feel better. He was a beacon and a little healer of sorts.

I might not be the best mom on earth, but seeing him step into that role was him speaking to James and I the way that we speak to him when it is his frustration we are dealing with. He turned it all around, took the driver's seat, and lead us to resolution...like a champ.

Yay to our parenting (at least for today).
Yay to our son for being so open, responsive, smart...for being a leader of love.

wordsman

Some words I forgot to mention from the previous post that Elliot uses regularly:

disconnect
electricity
responsible
realize

Just fun to hear his little voice and big words.

So lucky

The overwhelming feeling these days is that we are so lucky and so blessed to have this amazing kid. I actually can't believe how easy he is--how sweet, charming, connected, and well-adjusted he is in so many (even tough) situations.
I have grown an extra heart inside my chest.

Yesterday as Elliot and I were upstairs, he called down the stairs (which have a turn in them near the bottom to take you downstairs). He called out to daddy to come up and help us bring some things down.
After he called out to daddy, he looked at me and said,
" Your voice lines have to bend to get to the other person's ears."
yowzers if that isn't completely correct!

Once when he was newly 3, he came to me as I was getting ready for the day and told me that I had left (the night before) a chocolate bar out on the end table next to the couch.
He told me, "Mama, you left your chocolate out so I put it on the island, high up where the dogs can't get it."
I told him how happy that made me (literally, it was a whole bar of DARK chocolate) that the dogs wouldn't get sick now from eating.
Then I asked him, "and did you eat any of it?"
To which he said, "no Mama."
I told him how he had done the right thing and I was so proud, then we promptly marched out to the kitchen where I gave him a piece of that chocolate! :)
Thanks to my 3 year old I didn't have a huge vet bill that day!
---
Big words:
Elliot opts for the "big words" and coming from his little mouth with his high-pitched voice, it's awfully cute. Some of them I can recall right now:

-attach
-condensation
-actually
-completely
-definitely
-difficult

There are more, but they have left my brain for the moment. Sometimes James and I refer to him as "Rainman" as he has a child's outlook but a super-smart mind!

Elliot overwhelmed by Emalina's Presence

There are far too many things in this video that are funny. Rather than me write them all here, just have a look for yourself at sheer, unbridled, excitement...

some videos from the past 3 months

Dentist

Elliot had his first dentist apt today and really put all of us adults to shame.

This THREE year old did EVERYTHING that the hygienist asked. He did it with a smile, with poise, respect, and joy.

Basically, he SHOCKED the hygienist...

But he didn't shock his Mama ;)

He declared, " we got the goop off of my teeth!"

**note: before I took him today I acted very excited and told him that we were going to the dentist to get sparkles on our teeth.

He held a mirror up and watched as he got his teeth cleaned and flossed. Then he pointed out his new sparkles (they were in his eyes too).

* the photo is when E was newly 3. Though you can't see it well here, this is his first scultpure with a distinguishable face. It actually had EYEBROWS!

bedtime

When I put E down most nights we continue to call to each other even after I have left his room.

We call out, "I love you! sweet dreams! Happy day! You're the best in the whole world!"

And then when I am all out of things to say, Elliot calls to me, "Have a great weekend!" (** it's Monday ;)

Tonight Elliot wanted me to be be one to hide under the blanket while he pretended not to know where I was...as you can imagine, the roles are reversed here as to what normally occurs.

He put the blanket over me and then he put a pretend puzzled look on his face saying, "I don't know where Mommy is, she was just here...I guess I need to go have some coffee."
Then he hopped down from his bed, picked up one of my brown flip flops and pretended to drink from it.
As he got back on bed he said, "Oh there you are! I just had to go have some coffee and now I found you!"

So tonight as I left his room (after making a sandwich because he actually did get ravenously hungry again) he called out:

"Thank you for having us have fun!"

What a joy these little beings are.