Where does the time go?

It seems like the weeks are just flying by here, and I think (cross your fingers) we’re all healthy again for the most part! Eli’s great, and I’ve just got the tail end of my sinus/cough thing hanging around still. We’ve been cooped up for the most part with us being sick, so not too much has been going on. We went bowling (post to follow) and last Thursday the girls and Eli and I played on the HUGE snowplow pile in the driveway – but I didn’t bring out my camera. I wish I did since the plow pile was the same height as me (we’re having a lot of snow this year!) and looked ridiculously huge next to Elijah. I cut steps in to the pile so the kids could climb up one side and sled down the other. We had fun, but the snow was so deep that the little ones had a really hard time walking in it. Snow was all up in their snowpants and we ended up going inside pretty quickly.

So besides some snow fun, going bowling, and BSF, we’ve been hibernating these last two weeks. Elijah’s been keeping us entertained with his antics though – and he’s begun talking more in paragraphs than sentences. You have to listen close to catch everything since he talks a mile a minute, just like his daddy! Here’s some of what Eli’s been saying:

• Mommy was singing the ABCs to Elijah last week and he kept saying, “Be quiet, Mommy! Be quiet, Mommy! No, those my ABCs!” Apparently Eli thinks he has a proprietary right to the ABC song now, since he also told Daddy a few days later that they were his ABCs and Daddy couldn’t sing them. Somehow I don’t think his claim would stand up to copyright scrutiny, but he could try!

• Last week Saturday night Elijah, Grandma, and I went to the Laundromat (exciting, I know). Before we left I told Eli that when we got home we would have frozen pizza. Eli looked at me funny and said, “I don’t want frozen pizza! I want warm pizza!” New thought about that phrase from a two year olds perspective, and I agree, I wouldn’t want to eat frozen pizza either!

• Elijah has started differentiating between “want” and “need” and knows that he’s more likely to get something if he “needs” it. He has also started using his toys and cars to try and wrangle food and treats, using the same pretense. Did you know that Mr. The King (from the Cars movie) NEEDS Cheetos for breakfast? And here I thought he ran on gasoline! Also, when it’s snack time Lightning McQueen NEEDS heart candy (our chocolate treat from Valentine’s Day). If you ask Eli if he wants those things he’ll say something like this, “No, I don’t want heart candy. Lightning McQueen needs it.”

• Earlier this week Daddy was playing cars with Eli and had the blue Chick Hicks, while Eli had the green “official” Chick Hicks. Daddy said, “Ka-chigga, ka-chigga,” (which is Chicks saying) and Eli said, “Hey, that’s my bit!” Jon and I just burst out laughing. We couldn’t figure out where Eli had picked up the phrase “that’s my bit,” until Jon remembered that Lightning McQueen says that in the Cars movie when Chick steals the name Thunder. Can you tell someone has watched Cars about a zillion times?!

• Still on the too-much-Cars-theme, tonight after dinner Jon and Eli were playing race cars on our Aquadoodle mat (we draw a race track with a start and finish line, pit road, the whole deal), and Jon pretended to be Doc Hudson from Cars, telling Lightning to repave the road (quoting the movie word for word too). Elijah, as Lightning, replied, “You’ve got to be kidding!” Grandma and I thought it was cute, and then Jon clued us in that “you’ve got to be kidding” actually IS the next line that Lightning says in the movie after Doc tells him to repave the road. Too much Cars and too good of a memory, little boy!

• With dinner tonight (pizza, nummy) Elijah wanted some pop. We said he could have a sip of Grandma’s or a sip of Mommy’s. He insisted he wanted his own - "Need my own!" - but that wasn’t going to fly with me. Finally, about half an hour and many pleadings from Eli later, Elijah decided that a sip of Grandma’s pop was better than none at all. He took his nice long sip, then said, “Ahhhhhh. I love it!” with a goofy grin on his face. This kid cracks me up. :) I hope the next child is as silly as the one we already have, because Eli sure does make our days happier and more full of laughter!